On our last trip to Las Vegas in 2017, we visited the Pinball Hall of Fame. More accurately, I should say that this was MY trip to the Pinball Hall of Fame, as my wife, Sharon, really couldn’t have cared less about the visit (Note from Sharon: true story! But you went to Frankie’s Tiki Bar with me, so…). This time was all mine, so I never had to make sure to take advantage of every second until I felt guilty about keeping her there any longer.
On my most recent trip to Las Vegas, I was traveling solo. That’s the perfect time for a return trip. And while the Pinball Hall of Fame and Museum has moved, the experience was mostly the same. The pictures in this post are a mix of the ones we took on that 2017 trip and my recent solo visit.
Pinball Hall of Fame
4925 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV 89119.
The Pinball Hall of Fame is on the Las Vegas Strip, just south of Mandalay Bay and near the Las Vegas sign. The new location opened in 2021 and is twice the size of the previous location on Tropicana Blvd.
Here’s a description from the Hall of Fame website:
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. A not-for-profit corporation was established to further this cause. The games belong to one club member (Tim Arnold), and range from 1950s up to 1990s pinball machines. Since it is a non-profit museum, older games from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s are the prevelant, as this was the ‘heyday’ of pinball. There are no ‘ticket spitters’ here (aka kiddie casinos or redemption). It’s all pure pinball (and a few arcade novelty games) from the past. And since it’s a non-profit, excess revenues go to non-denominational charities.
When walking in the front door, you’re welcomed by several newer pinball games. You know, the kinds you’d likely see if you walked into any “arcade” that still had one or two pinball machines just for decor.
One big difference is that the Pinball Hall of Fame is leaning into the pinball machine revival and features most of the newest games, which feature online tracking of your gameplay.
While I enjoyed playing the Rush-themed machine, that’s not why I went there, so I ventured deeper into the building, hoping to find some of the games I remembered from my wasted youth spent in bowling alley arcade rooms.
Terminator 2. Yes, please. Just in case you were concerned about my pinball skills deteriorating, I still was able to spend 30 minutes on this machine with 50 cents and I popped it twice. I even was able to shoot the gun for the jackpot bonus (I can’t remember the last time I played one of these machines when the gun actually worked).
Addams Family. I can’t begin to tell how many hours I spent playing with this machine when I was supposed to be working at the bowling center’s front desk. Cousin It, Thing, The Mamuska, SHOWTIME!!!! One of the best pinball games ever!!
I eventually found many of my old favorites, including Pinbot, Comet and Mata Hari. Unfortunately, most of these machines were out of order during my recent visit. That’s one downside of visiting a museum. Older machines tend to break down, and when they’re not working, the museum takes them out of commission instead of having guests play on a broken machine.
There are more older pinball machines on display than in the old location. Only a few of them were functional, but just like last time, I saw it. Old Chicago.
You don’t understand. I was spending so much money on pinball machines when I was a kid that it was actually CHEAPER for my parents to go and buy one for me to put in the house. This was the machine we had. It was in the den for many years and eventually moved to the basement (between the washing machine and the storage racks of my mother’s ceramic molds). It was as boring of a machine to play now as it was when we owned it. Only a couple of bumpers, five targets to knock over (and over and over) and one spinner. I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF PLAYING IT!!!!!
The Hall of Fame is always fixing up old machines, as evidenced by several of them around the building in various stages of repair.
The collection of older machines was very impressive.
Once again, I spent a little over one hour touring the Hall of Fame. I got my fill of playing pinball games and other video games I remembered from my past, along with checking out some of the newest games on the market. It’s free to visit the Pinball Hall of Fame, but I’d encourage you to put a few quarters into the slots of these games to allow them to keep the place open and donate the excess to non-denominational charities.
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