Pinball Liquors: Xingfucun's Newest Addition is in Running as Beijing's Funnest New Bar
Roger Daltrey may not be there to wax lyrical on pinball wizards, but you'll certainly see AC/DC, KISS, and a number of other bands, adorning the displays of Pinball Liquors' glowing, ringing throwback machines. Opening earlier this month, the Xingfucun arcade and bar (also known as 公路商店 or "on the road store") serves as a unique stopover for a much-needed top up next time you're out boozing and selfie-snapping in Sanlitun.
Shanxi-born owner and founder Kang Yang proudly calls the venue China's first ever pinball bar, and while we’re not sure as to the veracity of that statement, we can honestly say we've never experienced anything quite like it Beijing. We can also say, that we had more fun here than at many of the other venues we’ve reviewed recently. That enjoyment is likely the result of Yang's hard work, who says he was inspired to open the place after seeing pinball machines for the first time during a trip to Italy. "I was shocked and thought they were fabulous," he recalls.
From there, he and his business partner began mulling over how to parlay those addictively fun retro machines into a business plan, though it took a year before they finally found the right hardware provider: a Chicago manufacturer called Stern Pinball that's been in business since the 1930s. Yang was overjoyed when the Windy City company accepted his offer "to cooperate with us in China," describing Stern as a "family business" and "the only company that insists on manufacturing pinball machines with pure American IP."
That intellectual property is certainly part of the appeal, with machines at the new Sanlitun bar spanning everything from Adam West-era Batman to the aforementioned classic rock bands, to newer hits like The Walking Dead and Harry Potter. During our visit, a staff member told us that of the odd dozen options on hand, the Spider-Man machine was the easiest for beginners. Despite that, and our sadistic button slapping, it didn't take too long for our ball to bounce right off Dr. Octopus and past the tips of our outstretched flippers.
You can test your own pinball reflexes all the more by getting properly sloshed on the bar's selection of beers. It's by no means as an extensive a roster as say Heaven or even QS or Republic, but for a venue less than half the size of those notorious beer fridge mammoths, Pinball Liquors holds its own well enough, slinging everything from bottled Jing A Flying Fist IPA's (RMB 40 each), Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ales (RMB 45 a pop), and Goose Island and Vedett bottles for RMB 35 each, not to mention Asahi and Kirin cans for RMB 20. To keep you in the game, every RMB 20 spent on beer gets you a free coin to pop in the slots. Or simply pay RMB 10 per coin if you're looking to remain clear-headed enough to aim for record scores.
We don't think there's quite enough variety here to make Pinball Liquors an hours-spanning hangout à la 8-Bit (RIP) or even Hatchery's Arcade. But you have to hand it to Yang and his team for being gimmick-free pinball purists, creating a vintage vibe and an ideal destination to begin or wind down your next night out in Sanlitun. That's especially true given the spate of recent closures (GLB #12, Sanctuary, Anchor, and BBC) that had threatened to snuff out Xingfucun's former pub crawl glory. We only wish more Beijing entrepreneurs had as fresh and fun a concept as Yang and his team have struck upon here, akin to a pinball wizard scoring bonus points with one well-timed flap of a bumper switch.
Pinball Liquors
Daily, 5pm-2am. 55 Middle Xingfucun Road (between O'Steak and Cannon's), Chaoyang District
公路商店：朝阳区中幸福村55号
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Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
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Photos: Kyle Mullin, courtesy of Pinball Liquors
