U.S. Pinball cities

[Potrzebie]

I'm sure this has been touched on in previous threads. But, I want to start planning a trip for next summer. Would users like to chime in on must-visit pinball arcades/museums/etc.? I've read various plus and minus things about the Las Vegas museum, Silverball in NJ, Seattle. There's even references to a huge place in Milwaukee that I haven't been able to find out much about aside from a reference to its owner, Tom Taylor. All recommendations are welcome.

 

[Kolchak357]

I'd check the pin shows/conventions. Try to schedule one of them into your travels if possible. Don't know if you have ever been to one, but they are a blast.

 

[PiN WiZ]

Pinballz Arcade in Austin, Texas. Take the virtual tour below and see for yourself.

http://www.pinballzarcade.com/games-to-play/see-for-yourself

 

[gooche77]

Portland, OR is a pinball mecca.

 

[Crawley]

Shows are certainly the best way to see a large variety of pins. The Tom Taylor tour is paired with the Midwest Gaming Classic in Milwaukee Wisconsin. It's a hybrid show of video games and pinball. And its a pretty massive show. There was an incredible number of pinball machines on display this year, it was kinda crazy. But you basically get to play for free over two days. The Tom Taylor tour is paired with the show but happens off-site on Friday at Tom's warehouse. He has about 200 which are mostly EMs - he of course has a lot of the popular more "modern" pins from the 80s-90s.

So I basically head out on Friday. Hit Tom Taylor's place that night. Then Saturday/Sunday hang around the hotel and play pinball and video games. I've been to that show twice now and plan to make it a yearly trip. Its just great and you'll never get bored.

If you want pure pins I would go to the Ann Arbor Pinball Museum, in Michigan. It's only open to the public a few times (once?) a year. It had its first show this year and blew me away. It has about 200 pins, and quite a few unique/rare ones. The venue is fantastic too as they sell a limited number of tickets. That means its not over crowded and you're not waiting to play pins like at other shows. I did a write-up of that show here. And I'll also mention that this show had the most well-kept pins I've ever played on. It was like night and day playing on those vs the same machines at shows that were beat up or not well maintained.

Around that same area is The Arcade. I haven't been there yet, but its open to the public on specific days - check their facebook page. They have about 100 pins. However it's pay-to-play. So you'll be pumping in quarters/tokens in to each game. I'm more partial to the flat fee and play all you want model but I figure I'll head out there and spent like $100 over two days.

The other big show is the Texas Pinball Festival. Its another yearly thing but they have something like 200-300 pins during that event. I haven't been to it yet but plan on going at some point.

In the Chicago area there's a few locations with a few pins each. Probably the two barcades have the better selection of pins and might be worth going to. There's smaller venues like Underground Retrocade and Galloping Ghost Arcade. But those are more focused on video games. There's also the Chicago Street Pinball Arcade in Joliet which is focused on pins and has a decent selection.

In any case I would start looking at shows. That's where you'll get your greatest exposure to a lot of pins in once place.

 

[Bowflex]

Around that same area is The Arcade. I haven't been there yet, but its open to the public on specific days - check their facebook page. They have about 100 pins. However it's pay-to-play. So you'll be pumping in quarters/tokens in to each game. I'm more partial to the flat fee and play all you want model but I figure I'll head out there and spent like $100 over two days.

Also in that area is Pinball Pete's. Used to be absolutely awesome but the last time I went the whole place was kind of shoddy and sad. Quite a few fun tables are still available (They had about 2 dozen last time I went) and most of them were in good condition. Also Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum is great. They only have a small number of tables but combined with all the other wonders inside, it is worth the trip!

 

[jbejarano]

If you make it to Northern California, you'll need to visit the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda, California.

 

[IGoFirstIndy]

Pinball wizard in Pelham NH.

 

[Shaneus]

Can confirm first-hand that Pinballz in Austin is an amazing arcade. I've also heard that as far as cities go, Portland (Oregon) has pinball machines around every corner. There may not be one specific place, but lots of smaller places have machines in them (again, apparently).

 

[Jeff Strong]

This is a very helpful resource too:

http://pinballmap.com/

 

[SydyneBall]

This site has good search also:
http://www.pinballrebel.com/locator/index.php

 

[k88dad]

Around that same area is The Arcade. I haven't been there yet, but its open to the public on specific days - check their facebook page. They have about 100 pins. However it's pay-to-play. So you'll be pumping in quarters/tokens in to each game. I'm more partial to the flat fee and play all you want model but I figure I'll head out there and spent like $100 over two days.

The Arcade, in Brighton, Michigan, is open Friday - Sunday for the school year. They were open every day this past summer. The Facebook page will clue you in to the once-a-month-or-so flat-fee Saturdays. They're $20 for a 12-hour, or so day. The machines are generally about 90% in working order. Only small (or private) places can beat that.

 

[mudtoe]

As Crawley said, the Tom Taylor spot in suburban Milwaukee is only opened to the general public once a year (as far as I know) during the Midwest Gaming Classic in April. The main focus of his large collection is electro-mechanical tables, and Gottlieb in particular. I attended this year, and as a fan of EMs in general, it's certainly the coolest collection I've ever visited (& I've been to the last two PHOF locations in Vegas). I plan to attend again if it occurs in 2015.

Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda, California is also on my bucket list. The current space and collection aren't huge, but there were plans to expand into a vacant library with their massive warehoused collection.

 

[whoozwah]

My local arcade here in Nashville has a pretty awesome pin selection. Games Galaxy is the name of it. They have a lot of good ones, Addams, both Elvira machines, Monster Bash, Dracula, Twilight Zone, most of the newer stern tables, Data East Star Wars, Congo, T2, Fish Tales, Black Rose, Bride of Pinbot, Haunted House, Elektra, old and new spiderman, a ton of stuff.