UPDATE: Bos Pinball Lounge has officially opened to the public as of January 3, 2019.
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The retro pinball trend that's firing up Dallas keeps on rolling, and soon we'll have another place to play. A bar venue called Bos Pinball Lounge will open in October at 680 Beebalm Ln. in Garland, at the Firewheel Shopping Center.
The letters "BOS" are a winking abbreviation for "Balls of Steel." Owner Marcus Trevino, an avid pinball devotee, determined that initials would be a safer, possibly less offensive bet than a place called, you know, "balls."
"I nicknamed it 'Balls of Steel' as a lark, but I heard from a few folks who didn't like that name," he says.
He says it'll have an '80s retro vibe, and the format will be that you pay $10 to get in and then can use any machine you want. He'll have about 20-30 machines, including the newest models by pinball manufacturer Stern including Iron Maiden, Star Wars, and Guardians of the Galaxy.
He'll also do a menu of casual comfort foods, such as hot dogs, nachos, burritos, maybe ramen, and Frito pies. "I'll do bar food-type items that I don't have to grill or cook in big vat of oil," he says.
Trevino caught the pinball bug after moving to Atlanta where he bought a Freddy Krueger machine at an auction on a whim. Then he bought a Party Zone machine for $1,100. "This is the most I'll ever spend," he vowed. Then a Twilight Zone machine came along that he had to have, and that was $3,000. And so it went.
After moving back to Dallas, he sought out a pinball bar where he could hang out, but most were directed at kids. "I wanted a place targeted to adults where you could have a drink and play pinball," he says.
The space he's going into used to be a dance wear shop, and Firewheel may not be the first place you'd think of for a pinball bar. But Trevino did his homework.
"I spent some time researching who goes there," he says. "It's close to a movie theater and I watched as people came out after a movie and wanted to go somewhere. The only thing up there is a burger place, and I think this would do well. And Firewheel was very interested. They see it as a way to attract a different crowd."
