Just a few years ago, pinball was sort of hard to find in Green Bay, Wis. Sure, there were machines scattered around the bars and bowling alleys in town, but nowhere with more than two or three. Then a man named Erik Thoren decided to find some warehouse space just south of the city proper in order to house his massive collection of games, and everything changed.

Since then, Thoren’s District 82 Pinball Arcade in De Pere – interchangeably pronounced dee-PEER, dih-PEER or dah-PEER depending on where you’re from and how many beers you’ve had – has quickly become one of the nation’s premier pinball venues, and that’s no hyperbole. District 82 regularly hosts some of the largest and most lucrative multi-day events in the U.S., including the 2023 North American Pinball Championship, and is now a destination for anyone trying to boost their IFPA score (which can earn them access to the most exclusive tournaments with the largest prize-pools).

District 82 Pinball Arcade; De Pere, Wis.

District 82’s reputation as a place someone can get a whole lot of points in a single weekend has made it so attractive that I’ve recently heard some of my Portland friends starting to talk about making a trip to Titletown, and thus, as a native of Green Bay, I’ve found myself in a unique position to evangelize about my hometown. Here, now, is all the information I have to tell you about how to maximize a pinball vacation near the banks of the Fox River.

Travel

Driving from Portland to Green Bay will take you about 30 hours, and unless you plan to camp along the way, you’re probably better off flying.

Starting in June 2023, Allegiant Air is operating a direct flight between Portland and Appleton, Wis. located about 30 minutes southwest of Green Bay. Since you’ll need to rent a car in order to get around anyway, this is your best bet for a flight if you can make it work with your schedule. Otherwise, you could fly to Minneapolis (Delta) or Chicago (United) and drive the remaining distance if you’d rather save a few hundred dollars, or you can fly to Green Bay or Appleton with a connection if you’d rather save a few hours on the road.

Again, you will need to rent a car in Green Bay, as the public transit and Uber/Lyft are fairly limited in my experience, especially if you’re anywhere outside of the center of the city. That said, Green Bay has about as many residents as Gresham, Ore. and it’s situated around a network of wide highways where the speed limit is 70, so you won’t have to drive more than a half-hour matter where you’re going in the area.

Food

Two supposed experts once called Portland the best pizza city in America, and with all due respect to the fine places that one can share slices in my current home, nowhere out here does pizza quite like Northeast Wisconsin. The closest I’ve found to Green Bay’s square-cut, ultra-thin-crust magic is Bridge City Pizza in Woodstock and the short-lived Jerry’s Pizza, which for its abbreviated run at the Bear Paw Tavern would routinely sell out every single day before its founder/pizzaiolo decided to take an indefinite hiatus.

My favorite pizzas of this or any style in the Green Bay area can be found at Cranky Pat’s, at Jake’s Pizza and at Luigi’s Pizza Palace 2.

My parents used to take my sister and me to Cranky Pat’s (then known as Frank & Pat’s) every Friday, where after running out of quarters on the arcade games I’d watch through the plexiglass barrier as the chefs prepared the discs of heaven that they’re still making today. I frequented Jake’s as a teenager, mostly since it was kitty-corner from the all-ages punk rock venue where I used to go see shows. It shut down for a few years after I moved away, but re-opened in the former location of a coffee house I also used to go to a ton in high school, and I’m proud to report the pizza is still just as good (and, true to tradition, takes just as long to arrive at your table). Luigi’s is a more recent favorite thanks to my sister’s move to Suamico, but for a lot of folks the 25 minute drive from District 82 might be too long. I have to drive 25 minutes to get to the Ship Ahoy from my house, so that’s nothing to get some of the world’s greatest pizza.

Pat’s Special at Cranky Pat’s (Double Mushrooms, Double Sausage)

Another one of Green Bay’s better-kept secrets is the wide variety of small-company frozen pizzas that can be found anywhere that sells packaged food. Thanks, I assume, to the availability of cheese and the city’s proximity to TNT Crust, I can find better frozen pizza at the gas station three blocks from my parents’ house than I can find at any supermarket in Portland. If you’re doing an Airbnb during your stay or otherwise have access to an oven, pay a visit to a Woodman’s or a Festival Foods and head straight to the freezer aisle. Prepare to be overwhelmed.

Do you like cheeseburgers? What about cheeseburgers that use butter as a condiment? It’s a true Green Bay specialty, to the degree that I once did a butter burger tour with my dad and put it on YouTube. I’ll give you the Cliff’s Notes version here: Kroll’s East is my dad’s favorite, and it was the first place I ever experienced this particular regional delight. Kroll’s West (different owners, believe it or not) is located directly across the street from Lambeau Field, so the scenery is pretty great for a visitor. Finally, Drift Inn is the closest one of these to District 82, and their chili is just as great as their burgers.

Kroll’s Cheeseburger

No matter where you go for food, you should definitely order cheese curds either as a side or just go full-blast and get a basket. They go great with ranch or with ketchup and for my money they’re still the best accompaniment to a few beers. Before someone brilliantly thought to batter pieces of cheese and then drop them in hot oil, though, cheese curds could be found in cold, raw form, and in my opinion they’re just as good as the fried version. Be warned, however: the easiest way to eat a half-pound of cheese without really thinking about it is by consuming it in curd form.

If you still haven’t gotten enough dairy, but now you want it to be sweet, you should swing through the drive-thru at one of the area’s five Culver’s restaurants (still not available anywhere near Portland, much to my continued chagrin) for some frozen custard. Better yet, if you’re in town during the warmer-weather months, you can drive five minutes from District 82 to the outdoor Zesty’s for a sundae and then sit by the river as the sun sets. I love ice cream, but frozen custard is even better.

Looking for something a little bit nicer than burgers or pizza? The Green Bay area is chock-full of locally owned, decades-old supper clubs where you’ll be treated to multi-course dinners and tasty drinks. Most of these places do a Friday fish fry and Saturday prime rib. My buddy Ryan, who also grew up in Green Bay and has made a home there after briefly moving to Madison for college, recommends Club Chalet, Colonial House and Maricque’s if you want to give this dining style a whirl, and especially that third one if you want the city’s best fried fish.

Colonial House Supper Club

Finally, you’re going to need somewhere to fuel up before competing in daylong pinball tournaments, and there are four local breakfast spots within a few minutes of District 82. My parents go to the Black Honey Hashery (a literal two-minute drive from District 82) at least once a week, and all of the staff now know nearly as much about their lives as I do. I eat brunch with them at the Hashery every time I visit, and it’s solid. The trio of other nearby De Pere breakfast restaurants – Julie’s Cafe, Nicolet Restaurant and Oak Street Cafe – can also be relied upon for large portions and low prices, and I’ve definitely been to Julie’s at least 100 times. If you go to the Nicolet, get the Farmer’s Feed, but order the hollandaise sauce on the side if you don’t want it to be drowning.

Need more suggestions for places to eat? Visit Josh Eats Green Bay for some detailed and appetite-whetting restaurant reviews.

Drinks

Those of you who regularly see me out at Portland’s pinball events (and a few of you who I’ve hung out with in Green Bay as an adult) know that I like to put ’em away. Wisconsin in general has a rightfully earned reputation of being a heavier-drinking state, and Green Bay is typically listed at or near the top of various publications’ Drunkest Cities in America, including a number-one ranking this year by something called 247wallst.com. I say all of this to suggest that while I might be a clown who isn’t very good at pinball, I know what I’m talking about when it comes to drinks, so you’ll do well to heed the following advice.

If you like drinking beer, the first beer you should drink upon arriving in Green Bay is Spotted Cow, from New Glarus Brewing Company. While Spotted Cow probably isn’t the “best” beer you’ll ever have, especially if you’ve grown used to Portland’s abundance of flavorful IPAs, it is thee iconic Wisconsin craft beer and the one that introduced so many Gen-Xers and Millennials to something beyond Miller Lite and PBR. New Glarus doesn’t distribute outside of Wisconsin, so I always get at least a 12-bottle variety pack when I visit. Moon Man is a crisp pale ale that I used to think was considerably hoppy before I moved out west. Totally Naked is the sort of light brew that’s perfect for a little day-drinking. My favorite, though, is Two Women, New Glarus’s country lager, which is just about the easiest beer to drink on the planet.

New Glarus Two Women Lager

Green Bay also has a handful of breweries in and around town producing some terrific stuff if you’re looking for something hyper-local. I can only personally vouch for Stillmank Brewing Company, whose Guava Juiced IPA is almost dangerously smooth, but every restaurant and bar in town will be serving up something from the area.

The only other drink that you need to try when you’re in Green Bay is a brandy old fashioned. While you can get a whiskey old fashioned anywhere in America, I don’t even bother ordering its more delicious brandy-based cousin unless I’m visiting my family, because most bartenders outside of Wisconsin don’t know how they’re made. (I’m not saying that to be an asshole, like bartenders make bad brandy old fashioneds outside of Wisconsin. I’m saying that bartenders outside of Wisconsin literally do not know how to put together a brandy old fashioned.)

You can order a number of different variations on this wonderful cocktail. A lot of people like them sweet, which means that the drinks are finished with a splash of 7 Up or Sprite. Others prefer them sour, which means they’re finished with sour mix or a grapefruit soda. I usually order a brandy old fashioned press, finished with a mix of 7 Up and soda water, which gives it just enough bubble while still allowing the brandy to be main thing I taste. Most brandy old fashioneds are garnished with some maraschino cherries, but some swear that the drink’s best decoration is actually green olives. Not me, but I don’t really like olives.

Brandy, the Old-Fashioned Way

If you go out to breakfast in Green Bay, you can probably get a good bloody mary. Some places, like the popular stadium-area bar, Anduzzi’s, will do one of those outlandish deals that has a slider and wings as part of it, but everywhere you go will serve a small beer on the side. I always ask for the beer kicker when I get a bloody in Portland, and all of my favorite places to eat breakfast are also the ones that will hook that up.

More Pinball

District 82’s success, and the recent expansion in the popularity of arcades and pinball more generally, has resulted in Green Bay gaining a few new venues that have a handful of machines. Player 2 Arcade Bar is right in the heart of downtown along a several-block stretch of bars and restaurants right by the river, and currently has more than a dozen games. A few blocks west is Titletown Brewing Co., one of the city’s most popular places to bring guests and home to a pretty neat nine-machine lineup.

Player 2 Arcade Bar

If you don’t feel like driving the 15 minutes “all the way downtown” from De Pere, though, you can check out Lumberjack Johnny’s, much more conveniently located about 10 minutes from District 82 in Ashwaubenon. (If you can pronounce this village’s name correctly on the first try I’ll buy you a beer.) Coupla caveats on this one: I have never personally been there and it is an axe-throwing bar, but outside of the giant pinball venue that houses more than 100 pins, it has the best spread of games in town and also hosts tournaments from time to time.

Green Bay is a bar town, and you can use Pinball Map to find some other spots that have more than one machine, but the three above have the most.

Etc.

Outside of the weird Allegiant Air route, which is only available two days per week, Green Bay is not a super easy place to get to from Portland, so as long as you’re making the journey for some pinball you might as well take a few more days and make it a real vacation. Here are a few more things to do in the area if you have some more time:

I alluded to downtown Green Bay’s commercial district a little earlier, but the city has done a great job making its city center an attractive place to go. This is especially true once the snow melts and people don’t have to wear body armor in order to go outside. I’ve been encouraged by all there is to do each time I look at one of the city’s events calendars, and my trips downtown to the Wednesday Night Farmers’ Market have always been a lot of fun. Either way, many of the city’s most popular bars and restaurants are located near the river, and you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised at some of the prices you see.

For being the third-biggest city in Wisconsin, Green Bay boasted a robust rock and roll scene when I was growing up, and while its landmark late-’90s venue, Concert Cafe/Rock & Roll High School, has now been closed for more than 20 years, there is still plenty of great music to see in town. There are at least two shows during each of my forthcoming trips to Green Bay, for example, and I plan to drink a few beers and do a little dancin’. My good buddy Matty Day has taken to collecting and sharing all of the hippest haps in town every week, so check out his Facebook page if you’re looking for something to do besides pinball.

If you have an extra full day or two, make the hourish drive northeast into Door County (the thumb part of Wisconsin). My family spent many, many weekends walking around Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Ephraim and Sister Bay when I was a kid, and the “Cape Cod of Wisconsin” is a vibrant vacation locale in the summertime. Get some ice cream at Wilson’s and some candy at one of the Door County Confectionery shops. Walk around Peninsula State Park and drive up to the car ferry landing in Northport (one of my favorite stretches of road in America). Grab a drink at Husby’s in Sister Bay and then find out what to going a fish boil is like. Go hang out by the water with the book you just bought from the Peninsula Bookman in Fish Creek and make a stone priapism. On the way to and/or from, you can even find some pinball at Cherry Lanes in Sturgeon Bay. Door County is great.

A Rock Beach in Door County

I know I’ve given you an awful lot of suggestions here, but if you forget everything else, you need to remember this: If you are visiting De Pere for a pinball event, you must get some chocolate at Seroogy’s, located just five minutes from District 82. Seroogy’s has been a staple in the Green Bay area for more than 120 years, and continues to produce some of the best chocolate my unrefined palate has ever tasted. I always buy a bunch and bring it back to Portland, and you should too.

Seroogy’s Chocolate

Enjoy your visit!