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https://www.pinballmap.com/ https://www.pinballmap.com/ As already mentioned, The Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas is probably the most well known collection

by vgeek 4y ago

https://www.pinballmap.com/ https://www.pinballmap.com/ As already mentioned, The Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas is probably the most well known collection on a national level. Pittsburgh has two good collections-- Pinball PA, with various solid states up to modern machines, and Pinball Perfection, with more old (wood rail) tables and rarer tables like Banzai Run and the often-broken Circus Voltaire. There is a growing number of public collections of modern Stern/Jersey Jack/CGC/American/etc. typically in barcade or enthusiast collections made public environments-- like The Pinball Garage outside of Cincinnati (the owner builds/built vpin cabinets), The Pinball Museum of Corbin in rural KY (50 or so modern tables, mostly Stern) or The Asheville Pinball Museum. They will all vary in quantity and quality (both in games and maintenance)-- so use Pinball Map and see where your favorites (or rare tables) are actually at. Visual Pinball X and Zen Pinball are probably the two most prominent emulators. If anyone likes other coin operated esoterica, Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum outside of Detroit is worth a visit. Lots of 19th-early 20th century rare mechanical attractions and maybe 10 new pinballs.

busterarm 4y ago
I wanted to add Modern Pinball, in NYC to the list, but sadly they closed due to COVID. While it was a small shop, they rotated machines frequently and had a number of historic machines available for play. Also the legendary Steve Epstein was involved in the business. Steve ran Broadway Arcade, which at its height in the 80s had over 144 pins. It was my local arcade growing up and sat where the Times Square Church and McDonalds on 51st st now occupy today. Palace Playland in Old Orchard Beach, Maine used to be a great location for pinball as well but has long since gone the Family Fun Center route instead. I think most of what they had moved to Maine Silverball Tavern in Saco. I also hit the PHoF in Vegas every time I go. Great collection.
- Projectiboga 4y ago
  Yes Modern Pinball closed in 2020. It was fun to live a few blocks from there. I think we did two birthday events for my Son there. Always a nice rainy day event for me and my kid. Glad to see a list of these places. There used to be on in New Jersey near Philadelphia and it is now one of the mentioned Bay Area ones.
- pipnonsense 4y ago
  I am going to the PHoF in Vegas this weekend and hopefully you (or anyone who is reading) can help me with some doubts I have. Do I need to bring cash, so I can change into coins there to play? Would they accept international credit cards to buy coins? (I am not from the US)
  - busterarm 4y ago
    Bring cash. ATMs are everywhere in Vegas though (but I don't think inside the PHoF), because gambling.
- quartz 4y ago
  I'm so sad about modern pinball closing. It was such a gem.
mhink 4y ago
> As already mentioned, The Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas is probably the most well known collection on a national level. I've heard that a lot of their games have various maintenance issues, is this true? On the other hand, I've wanted to get over there and play the only remaining copy of The Pinball Circus!
- vgeek 4y ago
  Any routed machine will require maintenance, but I believe they have 2 or 3 part time techs based on what I have seen in my few visits. I don't recall experiencing any blatantly broken machines, but there were a number with weak flippers and worn/unwaxed playfields. Maybe <5 machines unplugged each visit?
- popctrl 4y ago
  I went there around 8 years ago at their old location, then last year at their new location. Many more machines were disabled last year. I get the impression that the guy running it is very old and maybe is unable to keep up on maintenance. It's a shame, the place has many old games beyond pinball and is truly a museum of gaming. If you get the chance, support them. I hope someone takes up the torch.
jnovek 4y ago
I had a Visual Pinball cab in my living room for a few years and I would tweak the emulated machines to get close to gameplay on real games that I could play nearby. I could get it pretty close -- certainly enough to learn the ruleset and flow of a game. After a certain point every copy of a particular table plays differently and V-pins were sort of another variation of a table that you could find in the wild. The big thing that was missing (at the time) was good nudge support. I did have an accelerometer in my cabinet but nudging never felt very realistic.
TylerE 4y ago
No mention of maybe the best of all of them, Silverball in Asbury Park? They own over 600 machines, of which they'll have a few hundred on the floor at any given time. Games run the gamut from the latest licensed stuff to purely mechanical games from the 50s.
beaugunderson 4y ago
Seattle has the Seattle Pinball Museum as well, with ~50 machines: https://www.seattlepinballmuseum.com/ https://www.seattlepinballmuseum.com/
SubiculumCode 4y ago
It didn't inlcude this one in Roanoke Virginia that a colleague runs: https://roanokepinball.org/ https://roanokepinball.org/
ryantgtg 4y ago
Since people are posting about big locations here. I help maintain Pinball Map. Here's a query of locations in the US, sorted by number of machines. Limited to places with 60+. Not sure how well this will be formatted... name | city | state | country | count -----+------+-------+---------+------- Pinball Hall of Fame | Las Vegas | NV | US | 337 Pinball Perfection | Westview | PA | US | 311 Next Level Pinball Museum | Hillsboro | OR | US | 242 Pinball PA | Aliquippa | PA | US | 176 Game Galaxy | Smyrna | TN | US | 169 Wizard's World | Fort Wayne | IN | US | 144 District 82 Pinball | De Pere | WI | US | 114 Pacific Pinball Museum | Alameda | CA | US | 106 Game Terminal | Nashville | TN | US | 105 Silverball Retro Arcade | Asbury Park | NJ | US | 100 ElectroMagnetic Pinball Museum | Pawtucket | RI | US | 96 The Pinball Palace | Brunswick | GA | US | 92 Pocketeer Billiards and Bar | Buffalo | NY | US | 85 Pinballz Arcade | Austin | TX | US | 83 Recbar 812 | New Albany | IN | US | 80 Pinball Gallery | Malvern | PA | US | 79 Grumpy's Arcade | Glendale | AZ | US | 77 Silverball Retro Arcade | Delray Beach | FL | US | 75 CP Pinball | South Roxana | IL | US | 74 Idaho Pinball Museum | Garden City | ID | US | 73 Pinball Long Island | Patchogue | NY | US | 73 Recbar | Louisville | KY | US | 71 Clubhouse Arcade | Fremont | MI | US | 68 Crazy Quarters Arcade | Bay City | MI | US | 67 Lucky Snake Arcade & Sports Bar | Atlantic City | NJ | US | 67 Flippers Arcade | Grandy | NC | US | 67 Western Mass Pinball Club | Palmer | MA | US | 65 Roanoke Pinball Museum | Roanoke | VA | US | 65 Replay Museum | Tarpon Springs | FL | US | 65 Captain's Arcade Showroom | Anaheim | CA | US | 65 Pastime Pinball | Manchester Center | VT | US | 64 The Pinball Palace (Dezerland Park) | Orlando | FL | US | 60

by vgeek 4y ago

busterarm 4y ago

I wanted to add Modern Pinball, in NYC to the list, but sadly they closed due to COVID. While it was a small shop, they rotated machines frequently and had a number of historic machines available for play. Also the legendary Steve Epstein was involved in the business. Steve ran Broadway Arcade, which at its height in the 80s had over 144 pins. It was my local arcade growing up and sat where the Times Square Church and McDonalds on 51st st now occupy today. Palace Playland in Old Orchard Beach, Maine used to be a great location for pinball as well but has long since gone the Family Fun Center route instead. I think most of what they had moved to Maine Silverball Tavern in Saco. I also hit the PHoF in Vegas every time I go. Great collection.

Projectiboga 4y ago
Yes Modern Pinball closed in 2020. It was fun to live a few blocks from there. I think we did two birthday events for my Son there. Always a nice rainy day event for me and my kid. Glad to see a list of these places. There used to be on in New Jersey near Philadelphia and it is now one of the mentioned Bay Area ones.
pipnonsense 4y ago
I am going to the PHoF in Vegas this weekend and hopefully you (or anyone who is reading) can help me with some doubts I have. Do I need to bring cash, so I can change into coins there to play? Would they accept international credit cards to buy coins? (I am not from the US)
- busterarm 4y ago
  Bring cash. ATMs are everywhere in Vegas though (but I don't think inside the PHoF), because gambling.
quartz 4y ago
I'm so sad about modern pinball closing. It was such a gem.

mhink 4y ago

> As already mentioned, The Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas is probably the most well known collection on a national level. I've heard that a lot of their games have various maintenance issues, is this true? On the other hand, I've wanted to get over there and play the only remaining copy of The Pinball Circus!

vgeek 4y ago
Any routed machine will require maintenance, but I believe they have 2 or 3 part time techs based on what I have seen in my few visits. I don't recall experiencing any blatantly broken machines, but there were a number with weak flippers and worn/unwaxed playfields. Maybe <5 machines unplugged each visit?
popctrl 4y ago
I went there around 8 years ago at their old location, then last year at their new location. Many more machines were disabled last year. I get the impression that the guy running it is very old and maybe is unable to keep up on maintenance. It's a shame, the place has many old games beyond pinball and is truly a museum of gaming. If you get the chance, support them. I hope someone takes up the torch.

jnovek 4y ago

I had a Visual Pinball cab in my living room for a few years and I would tweak the emulated machines to get close to gameplay on real games that I could play nearby. I could get it pretty close -- certainly enough to learn the ruleset and flow of a game. After a certain point every copy of a particular table plays differently and V-pins were sort of another variation of a table that you could find in the wild. The big thing that was missing (at the time) was good nudge support. I did have an accelerometer in my cabinet but nudging never felt very realistic.

TylerE 4y ago

No mention of maybe the best of all of them, Silverball in Asbury Park? They own over 600 machines, of which they'll have a few hundred on the floor at any given time. Games run the gamut from the latest licensed stuff to purely mechanical games from the 50s.

beaugunderson 4y ago

Seattle has the Seattle Pinball Museum as well, with ~50 machines: https://www.seattlepinballmuseum.com/ https://www.seattlepinballmuseum.com/

SubiculumCode 4y ago

It didn't inlcude this one in Roanoke Virginia that a colleague runs: https://roanokepinball.org/ https://roanokepinball.org/

ryantgtg 4y ago

Since people are posting about big locations here. I help maintain Pinball Map. Here's a query of locations in the US, sorted by number of machines. Limited to places with 60+. Not sure how well this will be formatted... name | city | state | country | count -----+------+-------+---------+------- Pinball Hall of Fame | Las Vegas | NV | US | 337 Pinball Perfection | Westview | PA | US | 311 Next Level Pinball Museum | Hillsboro | OR | US | 242 Pinball PA | Aliquippa | PA | US | 176 Game Galaxy | Smyrna | TN | US | 169 Wizard's World | Fort Wayne | IN | US | 144 District 82 Pinball | De Pere | WI | US | 114 Pacific Pinball Museum | Alameda | CA | US | 106 Game Terminal | Nashville | TN | US | 105 Silverball Retro Arcade | Asbury Park | NJ | US | 100 ElectroMagnetic Pinball Museum | Pawtucket | RI | US | 96 The Pinball Palace | Brunswick | GA | US | 92 Pocketeer Billiards and Bar | Buffalo | NY | US | 85 Pinballz Arcade | Austin | TX | US | 83 Recbar 812 | New Albany | IN | US | 80 Pinball Gallery | Malvern | PA | US | 79 Grumpy's Arcade | Glendale | AZ | US | 77 Silverball Retro Arcade | Delray Beach | FL | US | 75 CP Pinball | South Roxana | IL | US | 74 Idaho Pinball Museum | Garden City | ID | US | 73 Pinball Long Island | Patchogue | NY | US | 73 Recbar | Louisville | KY | US | 71 Clubhouse Arcade | Fremont | MI | US | 68 Crazy Quarters Arcade | Bay City | MI | US | 67 Lucky Snake Arcade & Sports Bar | Atlantic City | NJ | US | 67 Flippers Arcade | Grandy | NC | US | 67 Western Mass Pinball Club | Palmer | MA | US | 65 Roanoke Pinball Museum | Roanoke | VA | US | 65 Replay Museum | Tarpon Springs | FL | US | 65 Captain's Arcade Showroom | Anaheim | CA | US | 65 Pastime Pinball | Manchester Center | VT | US | 64 The Pinball Palace (Dezerland Park) | Orlando | FL | US | 60