![]() The focus is on the games, not the decor. What immediately struck me on arrival, is the lack of ceremony about the place. The facility is away from the main strip, so you’ll probably want to drive or Uber your way there. The unassuming building that houses the Pinball Hall of Fame So this isn’t your average arcade – given its genuine not-for-profit status, significant contributions have been made to local charities each year as a result of its efforts. And since it’s a non-profit, excess revenues go to non-denominational charities. It’s all pure pinball (and a few arcade novelty games) from the past. There are no ‘ticket spitters’ here (aka kiddie casinos or redemption). Since it is a non-profit museum, older games from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s are the prevalent, as this was the ‘heyday’ of pinball. The games belong to one club member (Tim Arnold), and range from 1950s up to 1990s pinball machines. A not-for-profit corporation was established to further this cause. The Pinball Hall of Fame is an attempt by the members of the Las Vegas Pinball Collectors Club to house and display the world’s largest pinball collection, open to the public. I’ll save myself a job here and quote from their website: ![]() One thing’s for sure: the ‘town that never sleeps’ is geared up to taking your money one way or another.Īside from being a tourist doing touristy things while in town, there was one attraction above all else that I really wanted to visit, and that was the Pinball Hall of Fame. It’s a smorgasboard of lights, noise, hotels, casinos and chaos. It would be fair to say that Vegas is exactly what I expected. They’ve sung its praises for years, and so I finally relented, and managed a three-day visit there earlier this year, after finding myself a few hours away at Arcade Expo 4.0 in Banning, CA. I have a couple of friends who swear by the place, and go annually for a full two-week vacation. Located some 270 miles north-east of Los Angeles, Las Vegas from the outside in never really struck me as a city I ever wanted to visit. In 2021, the Pinball Hall of Fame moved into a 25,000-square-foot location on Las Vegas Boulevard, which is now home to an hundreds of pinball machines and dozens of classic arcade machines, each representing a pivotal piece of the story evolution of this American pastime-all promising fun nights and days of nostalgia for old pinheads and younger newcomers alike.įrom vintage Bally’s, Williams, and Gottlieb games to cutting-edge Stern and Jersey Jack tables, check out the list here prior to your visit.Sin City. Any excess revenue from the Pinball Hall of Fame also benefits other charities.Īfter years of fantasizing, Tim Arnold brough the Pinball Hall of Fame into existence in 2009 at a warehouse-sized location on Flamingo Road, which housed enough vintage coin-ops and classic video game consoles to get people in the door, but with a focus on pinball machines built between the 1950s through the 1990s-including many of the most beloved tables from the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. ![]() The Pinball Hall of Fame is a registered non-profit and to this day there remains a candy vending machine area where 25 cents gets you a handful of sweets and serves as a donation to the Salvation Army. In the early ’90s, Tim Arnold moved to Las Vegas and began donating large checks from his businesses to the Salvation Army. Pinball fans owe it all to Tim Arnold, the mastermind behind the operation and an active member of the Las Vegas Pinball Collectors Club, launched his lifelong passion in Lansing, Michigan, where he and his brother owned a business called Pinball Pete’s. ![]() History of the Pinball Museum of Las Vegas Pinheads, rejoice! In addition to the most classic and very latest solid state machines, pack your quarters for plenty of EM tables from every decade-including the pre-flipper days-rare finds, oddball experimental concept tables, and more at the world’s largest collection of pinball machines. From old-school electro-mechanical marvels and some of the rarest tables ever made to ‘90s solid-state classics and brand new machines, there’s something for everybody to flip out on here. Situated at the south end of the famed Las Vegas Strip and curated by a troop of lifelong “pinheads,” the Pinball Hall of Fame invites veteran and soon-to-be pinball aficionados to pack their quarters and play. Home to more than 150 coin-operated pinball games, the Pinball Hall of Fame lays claim to the largest known collection of pinball machines on Earth. ![]()
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