6/17/2023 0 Comments Pinball museum vegasThis is one of only five or fewer units ever produced, and the hall acquired it last summer in Texas for $1,500. Hoops fans should check out the Sega Basketball two-player game from 1966.For baseball purists who crave the simplicity of pushing a button to bat a pitched ball, there is a 1934 Chicago Cubs Deluxe World Series model that supplements the traditional fastball and curveballs with a startling “slider” that darts erratically and is about as unhittable as the Angels’ Huston Street closing out a game.The 11/2-pound hard rubber balls that players bowl down the wood surface roll over metal brackets embedded in the floor, triggering pins that don’t scatter, but fly up and away, as if heading off to pinball heaven. The machine’s long wooden alley seems to stretch to forever. The big draw was an 18-foot-long Chicago Coins’ “Grand Prize Bowler” unit that was built in 1963 and acquired last year from the Inferno Bar in Bullhead City, Ariz. ![]() The business itself is a not-for-profit museum and the staff – proudly self-described “pinheads” – are mostly mechanically inclined volunteers who spend much of their time at the back of the hall tinkering on machines to get them in playing order.ĭuring a visit a couple months ago, these were among the latest reclamation superstars on the floor: ![]() Many of those quarters plopped into the machines head directly to the local Salvation Army, which has received close to $400,000 in a single year. Idiosyncrasies: All profits beyond expenses go to charity. While founder/owner Tim Arnold matter-of-factly notes, “I have one of every model,” he continues to buy machines of interest that come on the market, rehabbing and rotating them onto the floor for play. Another 800 or so are stored in an off-site warehouse. Totality: The Hall of Fame’s 9,000 square feet – about the size of a medium-size slot machine parlor at most of the mega-casinos – sport close to 250 pinball machines. What passes for the only nearby landmark is a deserted building kitty-corner across the street that once housed the Liberace museum (no, there’s not a Liberace pinball machine in the hall, but probably only because, unfortunately, it doesn’t appear there ever was one). For many years there was nothing to indicate the place even existed, though in a recent major design upgrade it now sports a sizable yellow billboard announcing “Pinball Hall of Fame.” Location: It’s in a nonglitz cinder block building on Tropicana Avenue away from the New York New York/MGM Grand/Excalibur/Tropicana nexus. The Pinball Hall of Fame is a Vegas highlight for me because it is decidedly un-Vegas-y in so many ways. Pushing buttons to cause balls to fly, lights to flicker and all manner of sound effects to bleep, blurp and bellow apparently has enduring appeal no matter your epoch. While the place, which has been in its current spot since 2009, glorifies the misspent youth of generations gone by, it’s surprising how many kids you find here. ![]() Admission is free, and the cost per play is what the machine’s original charge was, so a few of the oldest games come as cheap as a nickel or dime, though most are a quarter or two. Stretching back into the early and mid-1900s, the hall houses the largest accumulation of pinball in America. This sprawling arcade of mechanical action and early-era video games reflects an age before iPhones, tablets and phablets. See, for experiencing all the town’s cool hot spots – and to me that means checking out the recently opened Mob Museum, having a drink in the psychedelic fireside lounge at the Peppermill Restaurant and Lounge and maybe taking an after-dark tour at the Neon Museum – my favorite is the Pinball Hall of Fame. And every time I play – and while I play hard to win, I have no desire to get any money back – it’s for charity. Mind you, I drive about 2 miles east of the Strip. My goal driving into Las Vegas is probably like everybody else’s: have fun! I can’t wait to park, get inside and throw quarters into the first machine I see.
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