So my hometown of Beacon, NY is one of those places where pinball is still illegal. Specifically, "amusement centers" with three or more post-1980 pinball or post-1990 arcade games are banned. This rule had previously been used to shut down a neat little retro arcade museum in 2010 (at which point the rule was updated to allow for pre-1980 pins/pre-1990 video games). The Times covered the incident here: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/nyregion/13towns.html

I've been pushing the mayor and City Council to overturn this ban, and spoke on the topic at a City Council meeting last night. In case anybody is interested, video is here (begins at 2 minutes in): https://vimeo.com/299136243#t=120s

I admit I come off as somewhat of a crazy person ranting about pinball (the WTF looks of the people behind me are very telling), but think I win them over at exactly 5:56 in when the dude behind me starts nodding his head and doesn't stop until I'm done.

It's ridiculous that anti-pinball laws are still on the books anywhere. Speaking to members of the Council, I feel it is very likely we can get this one overturned. If anybody else is aware of any other lingering anti-pinball laws in their towns, let me know and I can share my playbook if I'm successful here.

The Beacon law (viewable here: https://ecode360.com/14825794?highlight=amusement#14825794 ) is not state, but city. Not a lawyer, but I know of no such state laws, and encourage you to definitely start that museum. Perhaps in Beacon, once we overturn this rule!

Feels tragic that the guy's awesome little museum got shut down, and hope to keep that from happening again.

Yep: I believe factors such as a landlord dispute and noise complaints played a part. But the anti-pinball law (which the landlord seems to have dusted off) was used as a weapon to shut down the business. It still needs to go.