For the whole story on the Pinball Hall of Fame, go to its website, www.pinballmuseum.org.
But in a nutshell, the Pinball Hall of Fame is the labor of love of one Tim Arnold, another arcade freak from Lansing, Michigan, who bought his first pinball machine at age 16 in 1972 and opened his first arcade in 1976. He rode the arcade wave for the next 15 years, "shoveling quarters into five-gallon buckets and taking them to the bank," in his words, till he sold his businesses and retired to Las Vegas at the ripe old age of 36.
Oh, did we mention that he brought upwards of 1,000 pinball machines with him?
The long detailed history is on the website, but suffice it to say that his collection has turned into the Pinball Hall of Fame, which moved a couple months ago to a 10,000-square foot space at 1610 E. Tropicana, across the street from the Liberace Museum (hours are 11 a.m.-11p.m. Sunday-Thursday, till midnight Friday and Saturday).
It contains a total of 206 machines, 152 pinball and 54 arcade; the machines range in age from 20 to 50 years old and the cool thing is that they all work. Perfectly. Tim Arnold is obsessive about that. Most cost 25 cents to play, though some of the newer models are 50 cents.
Another cool thing is that the PHoF is a non-profit. Admission is free, so it makes its money via the quarters from the machines, the sale of restored machines, DVDs on how to repair the machines, contributions to the Las Vegas Pinball Collectors Club, and plain old donations. After expenses are covered, the excess goes to the Salvation Army; you can see scans of some of the checks to the Salvation Army on the website.
We know plenty of arcade aficionados just like you and we highly recommend this "museum" to get a pinball fix like you’ve never had before. The machines keep changing, too, so if you don’t see what you’re looking for, it might be there next time.
