How Capital Pinball Club built a thriving community in Concord

Finding a welcoming social space can be hard. Creating community takes time. Building a pinball arcade from the ground up in the 2020s? Ludicrous to some.

Jeremy Corson and Courtney Bazarian dived all in on it and created the club of their dreams.

Corson and Bazarian have day jobs in the software industry. The couple works from home and desperately needed something to do outside of work in Concord, but found their options to be, well, limited.

The two loved pinball and arcades. They were driving out to Dover for Token’s Taproom, Funspot in Laconia and down south in the state for variety. It was a long ride every time.

So, what better way to solve their problems than to open up their own place? They explored the “bar-cade” option, but the licensing, liability and kitchen setup required too big of an investment to dump into a new, niche small business they weren’t sure would even work.

They went for a club model instead. Now, Capital Pinball Club boasts over 70 members with 24/7 access, leagues, board game nights, a book club and limitless pinball.

“What it’s become has quickly, quickly grown. So that’s been pretty crazy. But yeah, it just started out as an idea to create a community space and just do something with friends that quickly turned into a third space,” Bazarian said.

The Machines and the Playfield

The neon boards, pinging of flippers, dings and sound effects fill the room with life.

Every member, and pinball player for that matter, has his or her own taste in machines. Some people like the classic, old-school stuff with no frills and a simple, spread-out playfield. Others enjoy the fancy, zany, video-heavy new stuff with all sorts of challenges and nuances.

They’re all challenging in their own way, and each individual has his or her own style of play too. Think of it like golf or tennis, adjusting from place to place, opponent (in this case the machine, yourself or in league play), and having preferred methods of playing each ball.

What makes the club a bit different from a regular arcade is the structure of bringing the machines in, maintaining them and playing them.

“It’s about transferring what we do to other people and enabling them to do it,” Corson said. “Keeping the same amount of space that we have, putting new policies in place that make things run better, be more self-sufficient, and that’s very much the phase that we are in.”

One game-changer has been the club’s “re-pin” program, to keep the inventory of games fresh.

New machines get the classic coin drop treatment and everyone pays to use them, which pays for the depreciation of the new machine. Once they bring in the next machine, they’ll sell the machine to a member under the condition it stays in-house for a few extra months. Some members just choose to keep it there longer, too.

It’s connected to another innovation Bazarian and Corson implemented. They developed QR Codes and an app, which allows members to track their progress over time, enter tournaments and pay for new machine plays.

Keeping the machines running entails teaching people how to repair them. In the club, tucked away in a back corner, a room lights up the hallway. Circuit boards and the guts of a pinball machine are sprawled in orderly fashion.

It’s all about members knowing the ins and outs of the club. Everyone plays a part in keeping it going.

Sustainable Community Building

It would all be for naught if nobody was playing pinball. Fortunately, the community is alive and well.

On a Friday evening, the club fills up slowly. Friday nights are New England Pinball League nights.

Josh Moran of Hopkinton, an 18-year-old pinball phenom, warms up and goes around playing a few different machines. He’s the No. 1 player in New Hampshire.

“This place helped me build into a very competitive, very good player. I only say that because the first tournament I ever won was the first tournament held here,” Moran said.

He’s tough to beat and holds quite a few high scores, but Capital Pinball isn’t just for competitors.

It’s meant to be leisurely and inclusive, too, and that shows through its programming. Video game night, board game night, Magic: The Gathering, Queer Pinball night and a book club are all part of it.

One of the rooms features over 300 board games to pick from, a couch with a video game system, tables and a fridge for members to store snacks.

Two other frequent members, Andy Hoffman and Will Prescott, are old enough to be Moran’s parents’ age. The love for pinball connects generations, from Boomers to Gen Z.

Hoffman, from Barrington, and Prescott, from Londonderry, grew up playing in arcades back when the scene was thriving. They found Capital Pinball in the early days and blossomed into engaged members.

Hoffman runs video game and pinball streaming for some events. Prescott runs board game night. They love it all.

“The thing about this place that’s special is like in between the cracks,” Hoffman said. “Sometimes it’ll be like 10 o’clock on a Friday night, just like you might have a conversation with someone that’s like insightful or hilarious. … When you hang around long enough, you see, like, more sides of people than you would certainly at just like a bar or an arcade.”

Bazarian and Corson said the same thing. Their circle of friends has expanded greatly through the creation of Capital Pinball. Between plays, there’s always time to talk and socialize, and the rotating league matchups allow everyone to get to know each other.

They hope people can continue coming, whether they’re a kid who grew up playing at home or someone looking to get back into it after losing their favorite arcade.

The space will be there for people when they need it most.

“Someone will pull you aside and then tear up and just be like, ‘Thank you for this.’ And then you forget, like, holy crap! I put 80 hours into this month behind the scenes. Now, like, it’s all worthwhile. So that’s our reward out of the whole thing is those people that need that space,” Corson said.