With the opening of "The House of Targ" quickly approaching, I am still completely blown away at the idea that this Is a real thing..... And that it's happening.......... In Ottawa....
A few years back, when I first came into acquaintance with Yogi, I remember confronting him after noticing an exedy TARG cabinet enter the rehearsal space my band at the time had been practicing at. I had just recently signed the rental contract for the first Ottawa Pinball & Gameroom show, and thought, "I should probably get to know this guy, I bet I could bring a pinball machine in here."
After setting up my Williams Diner there for a few weeks, I ran into Yogi at the space. We got to talking, and I mentioned it was probably about time to sell the diner, as I was buying a few new games. I got as far as the word "sell" before I was interrupted by a loud "I'll buy it" from Yogi, and the lives of all involved changed ever so slightly. At first.
The next few years were a whirlwind of jam space couches and apartment pianos quickly being replaced with arcade and pinball games, and the talk of opening a public place was soon to follow. I had always just thought of those talks as wishful thinking or lottery winning type fantasizing, but these guys were dead serious!
As a guy who has spent an enormous amount of time and effort promoting and sharing this amazing display of art/engineering/creativity we call pinball, I can't express how much joy, excitement and pride I feel to be involved (in any capacity) with this new venture, and great group of people.
I'm honoured that the guys at H.o.T asked me to do an article in their newsletter. I believe I'm supposed to be regaling everyone with anecdotes about arcade history, the joys of rebuilding classic games, and introducing the games line up/new games coming in etc. That is something I look forward to in the coming months, but for now, I think this little introductory piece will suffice.
There are plenty of games to prepare for the April 17th opening, and many of the titles may change between now and then. What I can tell you, is there will be a substantial amount of games spanning all of the top manufacturers and eras in the history of the silver ball.
I very much look forward to opening day, and hope to see you all there.
Josh MacKay
OttawaPinball.com