This man is hiding Canada's largest pinball arcade in a Toronto basement

Toronto is home to the largest pinball arcade in all of Canada, and it's all hiding in a Koreatown basement.

Steve Lefort, the owner and founder of Bloor West's Antisocial Pinball Lounge, admittedly, didn't know much about pinball before he bought his first machine four years ago. 

Little did he know then that, over the following years, he'd go on to collect over 70 specialized and rare pinball machines, build a passion of his own and go on to open up his very own arcade.

Steve plays one of Antisocial's dozens of pinball machines. 

Also the owner of board game and miniature retailer, Meeplemart — which just so happens to be a favourite of director Guillermo del Toro — Steve tells me that his passion for pinball was born when he moved into his first house and thought to himself, 'how cool would it be to have a pinball machine in it?'

That's exactly what he did, settling on a Stern machine themed around the 1981 Canadian film, Heavy Metal.

"I was completely floored at how good modern pinball machines are," Steve tells me. 

"It was the first time I've ever played a brand new pinball machine where you could actually hear the audio properly, and everything was clean and working. I was like, 'this is amazing.'"

A Pulp Fiction machine features a topper of John Travolta and Uma Thurman doing the twist.

A bona fide member of the gaming industry and community for decades, Steve tells me that he was immediately struck by the potential that pinball posed when the machines were well taken care-of and presented in their intended form, rather than the dinged-up machines collecting dust at bowling alleys that introduced all too many of us to the game.

Pinball, Steve emphatically explains, is just as complex — perhaps more — a game as any, but reasons of improper education (perhaps due to the decline of pinball's popularity in recent decades) and misunderstanding have created an idea that pinball is just about hammering the buttons and making the ball move. It's not, and Steve wants people to know that.

Each pinball machine, Steve explains to me, comes with its own set of modes, battles and quests that the player must accomplish. It can take years for a person to actually beat a pinball machine, and here I was thinking the game was over the first time the ball drops.

Admittedly, I hadn't had much experience with pinball prior to my visit to Antisocial Pinball Lounge, which is located unsuspectingly in a basement unit near Bloor and Bathurst, beyond the inevitable tales my dad would occasionally regail me with about his childhood visits to arcades in the '70s, and the occasional half-hearted attempt at O'Connor Bowl as a kid myself. 

To say that Steve, and Antisocial Pinball Lounge on the whole, opened my eyes to the potential that pinball actually holds would be an understatement.

With 73 playable pinball machines, Antisocial Pinball Lounge is the largest of its kind in Canada.

Upon entering, you're greeted with the bar and check-in desk, where you pay a flat rate for unlimited play, and can pick up a beverage (the Pinball Wizard IPA from Hamilton's Clifford Brewing Co., is a particular favourite), along with a smattering of arcade and pinball games.

Round the corner, though, and the real show begins. 

Row upon row of brightly-lit pinball machines, each of which comes equipped with a custom sound card that plays scores, dialogue and catch-phrases from the IP it takes inspiration from, on top of a large number that boast unique toppers and shakers that cause the machine to move and vibrate when certain features are triggered.

The Jersey Jack Pirates of the Caribbean machine is a truly rare addition.

A Pirates of the Caribbean machine — the only publically playable of its kind in Canada — features a Kraken topper whose tentacles wriggle as you play, the Jurassic Park machine features a T-Rex that roars as the ball approaches, and the Rob Zombie machine plays a different song coresponding with the level of the game.

The degree of detail in each and every game, to say nothing of the maintenance required to upkeep them, is nothing short of incredible, and, even having only tried my hand at a few games for which, suffice it to say, I didn't make it on the leaderboard, it's easy to see how Steve's interest was so quickly and passionately sparked.

Steve believes, in much a similar way to how Meeple Mart introduced a younger generation to the vast and exciting possibilities that board games hold, that Antisocial Pinball Lounge can bridge the generational gap that has seen pinball's widespread popularity fall by the wayside, and I'm inclined to agree.

"In the 70s, pinball was actually bigger than the music industry, the film industry, and, I think, the sports industry combined," Steve says. "It was enormous. But since that time, it's kind of always taken a back seat."

"So when I got this new machine, the first one I bought four years ago, I was floored," he says, "and I really think now it's its own form of entertainment. It doesn't have to play a back seat to video games."

Enthusiastic regulars appeared at the arcade just minutes after opening.

It's not just those who are new to the pinball landscape that Steve hopes to capture, though, as he notes that the sheer number of rare, premium and collector's edition machines will almost certainly appeal to seasoned pros, too.

"All the machines that we have here are the complete game," Steve tells me. "It's not missing parts of the game, so that's a huge thing if you're a pinball enthusiast."

Among some of the most rare or unique machines on the floor at Antisocial Pinball Lounge, which Steve hopes to add a machine to every month or so, are a linked NBA Fast Break machine, where two players can play a game at once, as well as "10 to 15" machines that are the only publically playable of their kind in Canada.

In short, these are no old O'Connor Bowl machines.

Having officially opened their doors in late 2024, Steve tells me that, despite an at times rocky opening, he's already managed to achieve some of the goals he set when opening the business.

"The objective in opening it was to be the best pin pinball place in Canada, and the biggest pinball place, which kind of go hand in hand," Steve explains, "so I kind of already accomplished the goal; it's already the largest pinball collection playable in Canada."

Steve's XARC machine is one of only two in Canada.

Not satisfied merely by checking off boxes, though, Steve tells me that he hopes to continue growing the collection, and expanding their arcade game offerings, of which the lounge boasts almost 40, including one of two XARC machines, a new Japanese machine that utilizes 90s arcade game philosophies, in Canada.

There may be road blocks in achieving this goal ahead, though, Steve tells me, as pinball machines, of which a vast majority made in the past 30 years were manufactured in Chicago, fall under the counter-tariffs proposed by the Canadian government.

"It's kind of crazy niche to have, but pinball is as Americana as apple pie," Steve says.

Whether tariffs get in the way of Steve's expansion plans or not, though, there's no arguing that Antisocial Pinball Lounge is, sincerely, something to behold — even for an admittedly initially less-than-enthusiastic player like myself.

Having now visited the lounge, I can safely say that at least one burgeoning pinball enthusiast has been added to the game's growing ranks, and who knows; Steve really might be on to something when he says pinball is due to come back in a big way.

Antisocial Pinball Lounge at 570 Bloor West.

Antisocial Pinball Lounge, located at 570 Bloor West is open from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursdays, 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Fridays, 2 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Saturdays and 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Sundays.