The local ABC television affiliate in San Francisco just released an excellent video on San Francisco's largest pinball location, Free Gold Watch. My family and I had the pleasure of visiting it back in 2019. Below is the recently released video, a link to that article and a copy of my full write-up on Free Gold Watch from several years ago.
2019 SUMMER ARCADE TOUR STOP 6: Free Gold Watch - San Francisco, California (July 2019)
After a brief hiatus, the arcade road trip has resumed...all the way across the country. Today I present to you San Francisco’s Legendary Free Gold Watch arcade.
Part Printshop / Part Pinball Paradise, Free Gold Watch has an amazing collection that has tons of variety- older EMs, the newest games from Stern, Chicago Gaming, Jersey Jack, classics from Bally / Williams and Gottlieb...a little bit of everything. Even better, the vast majority of the games are in great working order.
Check out this lineup (copied from the awesome Pinball Map, because I’m not typing all of this in on a phone lol)
AC/DC (Premium) (Stern, 2012)
The Addams Family (Bally, 1992)
Alien Star (Gottlieb, 1984)
Attack From Mars (Remake) (Special Edition) (Chicago Gaming, 2017)
Baby Pac-Man (Bally, 1982)
Batman 66 (Premium) (Stern, 2016)
Beatles (Stern, 2018)
Black Knight 2000 (Williams, 1989)
Black Knight: Sword of Rage (Pro) (Stern, 2019)
Cactus Canyon (Bally, 1998)
Caribbean Cruise (International Concepts, 1989)
Centaur II (Bally, 1983)
The Champion Pub (Bally, 1998)
Cirqus Voltaire (Bally, 1997)
Creature from the Black Lagoon (Bally, 1992)
Cyclone (Williams, 1988)
Deadpool (Pro) (Stern, 2018)
Dialed In! (LE) (Jersey Jack, 2017)
Eight Ball Deluxe (Bally, 1981)
El Dorado (Gottlieb, 1975)
Fathom (Bally, 1981)
Fish Tales (Williams, 1992)
Foxy Lady (Game Plan, 1978)
Funhouse (Williams, 1990)
Ghostbusters (Pro) (Stern, 2016)
Guardians of the Galaxy (Pro) (Stern, 2017)
Hoops (Gottlieb, 1991)
Hot Shot (Bally, 1994)
Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure (Williams, 1993)
Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast (Premium) (Stern, 2018)
Iron Man (Vault Edition) (Stern, 2014)
Jet Spin (Gottlieb, 1977)
Jurassic Park (Data East, 1993)
Lady Luck (Bally, 1986)
Lord of the Rings (Stern, 2003)
The Machine: Bride of Pin-Bot (Williams, 1991)
Medieval Madness (Williams, 1997)
Metallica (Master of Puppets - LE) (Stern, 2013)
Monster Bash (Remake Special) (Chicago Gaming, 2018)
Night Moves (Gottlieb, 1989)
Paragon (Bally, 1978)
Pirates of the Caribbean (Jersey Jack, 2018)
Prospector (Sonic, 1977)
Rack 'Em Up! (Gottlieb, 1983)
Royal Flush (Gottlieb, 1976)
Scared Stiff (Bally, 1996)
The Simpsons Pinball Party (Stern, 2003)
Snow Derby (Gottlieb, 1970)
Spider-Man (Stern, 2007)
Star Trek: The Next Generation (Williams, 1993)
Star Wars (Premium) (Stern, 2017)
Tales of the Arabian Nights (Williams, 1996)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Williams, 1991)
Total Nuclear Annihilation (Spooky, 2017)
Twilight Zone (Bally, 1993)
Wheel of Fortune (Stern, 2007)
White Water (Williams, 1993)
The Wizard of Oz (Emerald City LE) (Jersey Jack, 2013)
Wizard! (Bally, 1975)
World Cup Soccer (Bally, 1994)
Zodiac (Williams, 1971)
Whenever I hit up an arcade, there’s always a game that I end up liking much more than I thought I would. This time that game was the new Stern Black Knight Sword of Rage. I realize that I’m a little late to the Sword of Rage party, it’s been out for a couple of months, but my family and I couldn’t stop playing it. It’s super fast and brutal, yet really fun. My one criticism is that the game still isn’t intuitive for people who aren’t familiar with it, but once I explained the shots to my wife and sons they really liked it.
Another group of games that we had fun with was Free Gold Watch’s not one, not two, but three cocktail pins...Caribbean Cruise, Night Moves and Foxy Lady. I know that they’re not great games, but I have a thing for cocktail pinball machines. They’re so quirky and uncommon.
In addition to its vast pinball collection, the venue also has a number of video games, including the always cool Dual Monitor Nintendo Play Choice 10, a bunch of neat mini cabinets (Not Arcade1Ups), a Big Buck Hunter, two very appropriate San Francisco Rush drivers, the always fun Ice Cold Beer, Super Chexx and a couple more.
I flew into San Fran this morning and much to my chagrin Free Gold Watch is nowhere near my hotel down by the water. Even so, FGW is so incredible that I had to make it happen. Hopefully later this week I’ll have a report from another amazing arcade.
Thanks for reading 🙂
