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Ding, ding, ding…the Donation bell has rung again and this time it’s ringing loudly as we got a $250.00 dollar donation from Nathan Tonnies! Nathan said: “Thanks for doing what you do Marty. Seeing Peoria through your lens is a beautiful thing.” Well, that’s so nice of you to say, Nathan and thanks so much for your very generous donation of 250 dollars! That will pay for some Ubers and beer this weekend for sure!

If you’d like to donate to help fund this 365 bar crawl, just click here and scroll on down to the Donate button. Thanks again to Nathan and everyone who’s donated so far, it’s really helping with the expenses of this bar crawl!

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Even though we’ve started a new chapter for the year of 2026 here at MBIP, there’s some traditions we can’t let go of and one of those is the annual counting of the gumball machines at the Northwoods Mall.

We started this tradition back in 2013 and have done it yearly ever since. And we’re always joined by MBIP commenter and Professional Gumball Machine Counter, Chad Wallace.

In fact, he’s here now, let’s say hello to him!

There he is in all his Chadly glory, armed with the tools of his gumball machine counting trade!

We’re off and running and Chad has donned his shades because once again, he’s high as a fucking kite!

We are here at the Northwoods Mall and Chad is ready to let the gumball machine counting begin!

This is truly an exciting moment…okay, it’s really not, but we can pretend, can’t we?

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The Official 2026 Counting Of The Gumball Machines!

Okay, there goes Chad and the counting and buynig of gumballs has begun for 2026! The excitement is at a fever pitch…or something like that.

There’s the Cry Baby Tears machine, almost a classic, but not quite, I’m sure the classic will turn up soon! Let’s keep on counting!

Here we are at the next gumball station on the other end of the mall and yes, there it is, the classic Cry Baby Guts!

Oh geez, there’s Chad mesmerized by this woman’s gumballs. Come on Chad, we’ve got gumball work to do!

There’s another classic, Bananarama. One minute you’re on MTV and the next thing you know you’re a gumball machine in the Northwoods Mall. Sometimes life is a little unfair.

Check out this machine, it just says, “BALLS.” That’s borderline vulgar, but let’s just keep moving along here!

Here’s the total for the first floor: 44 gumball machines down here, nice counting, Chad! Time to move on up to…

The second floor and the Sweet City bank! There’s Chad in action, there’s no stopping him now!

Okay, there’s just two more gumball banks and this year’s countdown is done.

Hey, look at that one, “Tasty Boners Candy?” And I thought the “Balls” machine was bad.

Wait a second, this one just says, “BLOW ME.” This is starting to get a little out of hand here! Luckily, Chad has informed me this year’s count is done, just in time, it appears!

The count for this year is the same as last year’s count, there is 104 gumball machines in the Northwoods Mall.

Wonderful work by Chad Wallace and after all that, it’s time for a drink at the 12th bar on the 365 countdown!

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Bar Number 12: Tilted 10, Wednesday January 21, 2026

Luckily, there’s a bar in the Tilted 10 Bowling Alley and Arcade in the Northwoods Mall, so we didn’t have far to go for our 12th bar of the 365 tour.

You just enter and make your way through the arcade, go down this hallway and boom, there it is, the Tilted 10 Bar! Let’s settle in and start our afternoon at the 12th bar of the 365 tour!

We grabbed a couple stools and our pretty and friendly server Alexis delivered us two bottles of beer! I love it when this happens!

Cheers from Chad Wallace!

They have a nice selection of food in here, so we placed our luncheon order and while that’s being prepared, I’ll take a few more photos in here.

As you can see, they have a whole wall of bottled beer and seltzers in here and there’s the beers available on tap.

There’s dining tables behind the bar and comfortable booths line the side and back walls.

Meanwhile, back at the bar…

Lunch is served!

We got an order of the Buffalo Wings and their cheeseburger sliders.

The wings were a spicy treat and the sliders were tasty with bakery fresh buns. The food was really delicious!

And there’s Chad giving Alexis this year’s annual bag of gumballs!

Thanks to Alexis for the wonderful and friendly service and thanks to Chad for coming along and doing an excellent job of counting gumballs once again! We’ll do this again in 2027…you’ve all been warned!

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