FLIP OUT LONDON

In December 2017 London’s first and, so far, only pinball club opened its doors to its members and to the public.
The Flip Out London logo
The opening of Flip Out London was the culmination of many months of planning and preparation, including cleaning, decorating, repairing and installing machines and equipment.
The premises which were to become the club’s home started out as a storage building rented by Matt Vince for his London Pinball operation, which hires and sells pinballs across the south-east of England. But Matt had dreams of establishing a dedicated pinball club with a large collection of machines where casual play could be combined with leagues, tournaments, parties and even corporate events.
Matt wasn’t alone in having that dream, and soon found another nine like-minded pinball fans and collectors. Together these ten founding members took up their paintbrushes, mops and cleaning cloths to turn the dusty storage room into an attractive, welcoming facility. [Disclaimer: the author is one of those ten founding members]
In came machines from the founders and other collectors willing to offer their top-quality games for the club’s members and public visitors to enjoy, and pretty soon there were thirty pinballs set up, ranging from electro-mechanicals to the newest DMD and LCD titles. Some basic decisions were made, such as the club’s name and then its logo. Fibre internet was installed, as were security systems and cameras, and then the club’s website, e-mail and Facebook page were set up.
The desk at the entrance to the club
Three machines next to the entrance
The view of the main room from the entrance
The front row as you enter the club
The front row machines
Part of the row on the left side of the main room
Some interesting solid-state titles alongside an EM Spin-a-Card
More older titles
Some classic solid-state games
Some of the older titles in the side room
More of the older titles
A row of Williams/Bally titles
More of the Williams/Bally dot-matrix titles
The building is on a light-industrial park in Croydon, south London. It’s not the kind of location people would stumble upon and the exterior isn’t the most attractive either, but with rents in London being hugely-expensive it’s