A couple weeks ago someone removed all their machines from the map. Normally that would trigger the location to be automatically deleted a couple days later, but someone else added a couple machines back before that happened. So that’s where we’re at. Personally I would like all the machines to be listed, but I’ve stayed hands-off. That most recent edit was simply a user hitting the “confirm” button for no reason.
All right–in that case, I’ll add them back in.
We locked down the API. Meaning, if you need write access to the API, contact us to obtain an auth token. Also meaning, if you haven’t updated the app version, you can’t edit a map. In iOS you get a sweet message telling you this. But in Android you’ll be confused and annoyed. That’s just how it is.
blog post: http://blog.pinballmap.com/2017/04/14/api-authentication
I was looking on the website but could only find contact me stuff for the local regions. I was just wondering if there’s going to be a t-shirt reprinting?
You can use the Portland contact page for that. No plans to reprint right now. But still, we might in the future!
Has there been any consideration to change Philadelphia to Eastern PA? Those from the area know that a lot of what is listed comes from north of Philly already. Naming it Eastern PA may encourage others to continue adding games found in areas like the Lehigh Valley (Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton) area.
I agree that Pennsylvania should be changed. I think the 2 regions make sense for Pittsburgh and Central PA/Harrisburg. Philadelphia should probably be changed to Greater Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley should be split off into its own region
I upgraded to the latest version so I could create an account and log in to update some machine conditions for some local games. (They were broken, now fixed.). However, the app crashes as soon as I click the “sign up” link.
I’m running iOS version 8.4 on an iPhone 5s.
Thanks for the great app!
I’ll talk with the Philly admins to see what they think.
That sucks. We’ll check into it! I haven’t heard any other reports of this. In the meantime you could sign up here Join - Pinball Map (then confirm your account through your email), and then try logging in on the app. That way you’d skip the “sign up” part.
I’ll give that a whirl and let you know how it goes! I did try some things thinking it was possible it was an issue with my phone – a hard reboot, and also tried deleting and reinstalling the app – but no change.
Appreciate the quick response! The pinball map is an awesome service to the community.
I’d recommend getting that thing updated to iOS 10 for security reasons…
You might be right. I don’t do any banking or anything of the like on my phone for just that reason, but I suppose I do use my credit card info.
However, my issue with upgrading Apple’s OS is that they don’t seem to take older phones into account with respect to performance. My wife updated her phone (same model) to the latest OS and we had to disable a number of features to resolve sluggishness.
…and then, of course, Apple won’t let you downgrade if you decide to go back to the previous version… Sigh!
Your suggestion worked great! Up and running here.
Just registered and added a new location (not mine) to the bay area map and wanted to say thanks to all involved with this site/ app. It’s an invaluable tool that I use all the time. Thank you to all for your contributions to the hobby. It is appreciated.
Had to laugh at the latest entry on the Seattle map:
The Funhouse has added Funhouse
Well duh. d:^)
I saw your submission - thanks!
We just updated the back-end to streamline the location approval process. It was less automated than we’d like to admit (though in some ways that was by design). So from here out, the burden for admins will be reduced, and locations should be added quicker.
Yeah, when The Funhouse was submitted, the person didn’t list any machines. I almost didn’t ask for the list, because I knew Funhouse had to be there.
We added a new website feature: Redo Results When Map is Moved.
To use it, perform a search. When the result loads, you’ll see this checkbox in the upper left of the map:
When checked: if you move or zoom the map, then the results will reload, showing all the locations within the map window. This is similar to Yelp’s “redo results when map is moved” function. Now you can more easily browse around an area to find pinball machines. You won’t have to do new searches; you can just zoom around!
We made a quick video showing how it works:
(Identical blog post. Also, we actually wrote the functionality for this FOUR years ago, but then totally failed to add the toggle button. Sorry about the delay :< because this is a good addition!)
If you take a look at the San Diego map, there’s a place called the Corvette Diner that has Corvette and Diner. I’m sure a patron must have suggested these two machines.
As part of our ongoing partnership with Stern, we’re giving out prizes to Pinball Map’s top contributors!
We’ve laid out the details in a blog post, which I’m pasting below.
Subject: Stern Pinball Prizes for Top Map Contributors
We try to thank our map contributors at every opportunity. After all, the maps would be much less cool if they were out of date. But they’re not! You all continue to make your local pinball map useful for the casual “is there still pinball in the world?” person as well as the seasoned pinball warrior, while we continue to make the maps easy and fun to update. It’s working, people! Over the years, we’ve individually said thanks to hundreds of operators, thousands of users, and over one hundred map administrators. And in the past, that’s all we could do: props! shout-outs! keep it up!
Now with our user system, we can do a little more. First we gave you the User Profile. Your profile is a nifty way to see which locations you’ve edited, and an overview of the types of edits. Your User Profile is cool and all - and some sweet stats can be a reward unto themselves - but how about a bonus for being an extra great contributor? Sounds good!
Since we’re tracking contributions, we can rank our contributors. When we partnered with Stern Pinball last year, we told them that we had the user system coming around the bend, and would love to work with them to give rewards to our top contributors. They were totally into the idea. So that’s what we’re doing!
Here’s how it works:
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A couple times a year we’ll rank users by quantity of contributions during a set period of time.
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The top 3 contributors will receive signed translites from Stern Pinball!
That’s it! We’ll contact you if you’re in the top 3, and will share news of your victory on the blog. We hope this serves as a reward for all your work, as well as an incentive to do more! In the last two months, Pinball Map grew from 0 to well over 1,000 official editors (along with many times that non-editing active users who may soon become editors), and that field is growing every day. So competition will be tight!
In the future we may get crafty with it and assign different scores to different types of contributions. But for now, this is a great start!
Again, THANKS!
We added a Buffalo Pinball Map!
Buffalo has a great scene, guided by Buffalo Pinball. The map has the support of Buffalo Pinball, and is administered by a member. They have been tracking locations on their site (which makes adding a region on ours much simpler). Hopefully the new map will further grow interest in the area and help their scene continue to flourish.
The new map is still being populated.
That’s cool (the prizes). I haven’t gone prowling for pins for years (partly because of the map, ironically), but this may put me back on the hunt. Not so much for the signed translite. More for a shot at being the GC of adding new locations. A real life Johnny Pinball Seed. d;^)
Thanks again and happy hunting to all.