The Tilted Turret is an arcade pub bringing the pinball experience to Thunder Bay. Located at the corner of Miles and Archibald, it was opened earlier this year by Steve Vares and Andrew Young and the response has been incredible with guests of all ages trying their hand at pinball.
The dream of bringing pinball back to Thunder Bay began with Steve Vares became interested in the games a number of years back. He began collecting games, learning how to service and repair them and installing them in various bars and bowling alleys across town. Along the way, Steve became acquainted with pinball enthusiasts and groups of local players who frequented the machines around town.
“As the popularity grew it became evident that the city was ready for a business dedicated to pinball itself and I was even encouraged by some of the local pinball enthusiasts,” said Andrew.
They had the dream, they had the passion, and they had the games. The only missing piece was the perfect, pinball pub place. The eclectic Coo House, originally built in 1898, became available and the duo instantly knew this was the one. “This is going to be the future home of many pinball games and pinball wizards alike. Honestly we couldn’t believe it was available and in the condition it was in. The iconic building really suits a pinball pub perfectly,” Andrew gushed. The eclectic building had already been renovated for a previous restaurant and presented a unique, steam-punk, industrial-meets-technology aesthetic. The only work required was a few minor equipment repairs and making space for the pinball machines. Andrew said the previous owner was kind enough to pass on the iconic Santa that lived in the turret previously. “We gave it a little touch-up and he will be back in the turret for the Christmas season every year”.
Customers can enjoy classic bar dishes, an assortment of cocktails, as well as a variety of import, domestic and local draught beers all while experiencing fun and games unique to the Tilted Turret pinball pub.
Small towns in rural, isolated areas just like Thunder Bay are experiencing the challenges of staff shortages in the health care system. Some local clinics and emergency rooms are even forced to close due to staffing issues, leaving patients to travel hundreds of kilometres to receive care for urgent health matters.
Dr. Sabrina Slade, Resident Physician at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, encounters these patients first-hand on a regular basis. She also is aware of her peer's difficulty in navigating potential post-graduation job opportunities in the healthcare field. “In most rural areas job opportunities are spread by word of mouth or cold emails to current residents and recent graduate lists,” explained Dr. Slade. With hospitals and clinics in dire need of health care professionals and new NOSM graduates looking for jobs, Dr. Slade came up with ‘Scout’ - a web application that streamlines the process both for physicians and healthcare recruiters.
Dr. Slade has teamed up with cofounder and software engineer Drew Payette and the Community Economic Development Commission to develop one app with two user interface experiences. On one side, a healthcare recruiter can post a job opportunity and receive applications and resumes while the other side is for healthcare professionals who are looking for available positions. As one of the greatest challenges faced by smaller cities is marketing their communities to potential candidates, ‘Scout’ will provide recruiters with the opportunity to build up their location and raise the profile of their community. “As the first application of its kind built specially for rural areas, we are focusing our attention on shining a light on Thunder Bay and similar underserved areas. We believe each community has a lot to offer and we want to bring this to the forefront”, explained Dr. Slade.
‘Scout’ is set to launch in late fall of 2022. Dr. Slade says she is excited to showcase what our rural areas have to offer and she hopes this her app will help reduce hospital closures and remedy staffing shortages.