Oh absolutely! Free Gold Watch is awesome! They have a great collection of games, including the latest such as Ghostbusters Pro, The Hobbit LE, etc. There are other venues in the Bay Area besides Pacific Pinball Museum and Free Gold Watch, but those are the two largest. Definitely recommend both!

Sounds like a good plan! I usually stop at Amoeba when I go to Free Gold Watch as well.

Yes definitely!

I took Uber their and had a good time.

My Bay Area vacation last summer had 3 stops.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/sf-bay-area-pinball-tour

I went there last month on my trip to San Fran. Highly recommend it. All the newest games along with a ton of classics.

Pete

As others have said, definitely. Just make sure to check their hours. The operate more of a 9-5 type deal, as opposed to being open later like other arcades. I was there a couple months ago, and all the pins I played were in good working order. They also maintain a whiteboard right as you enter that lets you know of any issues on the pins. Cool place.

Free Gold Watch to me is a must not miss.

Ameoba records is great!

Rasputins is skippable and owned by a horrible man.

If you are really into records, and I am unsure what genre you listen to, there are some great shops in the mission, but they may be more niche. 1-2-3-4 GO records is great for rock n roll and punk, Aquarius is good for harder to find independent stuff, Thrillhouse is really great for smaller hard to find punk stuff.

Def worth it! I stop by everytime I'm in SF...

I was there just last week and spent about 4 hours on just $20. Plenty of replays to be had, and I even scored 5 replays during a single game on their Gottlieb wedgehead in the corner (name escapes me at the moment). For all that's up front, there's just as much stuff being worked on in the back. Talk him up and he might show you the others, plus the vintage Macintosh computer collection.

FGW Rulez! It is a must visit for any pinhead who visits the city.

Just reread your post, I would say FGW should be a priority over the musee mechanique unless you are really into the old mechanical display games, not for pinball.

Here's a pic they posted to Instagram yesterday

image_(resized).png

Absolutely a great place and great people. Highly recommended!

+1
I love this place. Best selection of pins in the Bay Area.

Went there last month, FGW is awesome!

Yes but MM has a Hyperball and I can't find that anywhere else on the west coast. Even the one that used to be at PHoF is out of commission!

What's the story behind the name? How many hobo's walk in off the street looking for a Free Gold Watch?

FGW is a must if you're in the area!

Was wondering the same...hobo's wandering in ...hahaha

The t-shirts have tags that are shaped/colored like a gold watch.

Yep- guess the story is the company is actually a screen printing business, and the owner started putting in a couple of pinball machines. This drew people into the store. So he just kept adding more and now it's more of a pinball arcade then anything.

The shirts are still pretty dope though

Didn't realize they had all the new pins there...now I'm going!

That's a great plan. I was just at FGW 2 days ago and they currently have the best lineup I've ever seen--hands down. Here is the current list according to Pinball map.

AC/DC (Premium) (Stern, 2012)
The Addams Family (Bally, 1992)
Attack from Mars (Bally, 1995)
Bad Cats (Williams, 1989)
Baywatch (Sega, 1995)
Black Knight 2000 (Williams, 1989)
Black Pyramid (Bally, 1984)
Cactus Canyon (Bally, 1998)
Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy (Bally, 1975)
Centaur II (Bally, 1983)
Demolition Man (Williams, 1994)
Eight Ball Deluxe (Bally, 1980)
Embryon (Bally, 1980)
Firepower (Williams, 1980)
Fun Land (Gottlieb, 1968)
Game of Thrones (LE) (Stern, 2015)
The Getaway: High Speed II (Williams, 1992)
Ghostbusters (Pro) (Stern, 2016)
Harlem Globetrotters On Tour (Bally, 1978)
The Hobbit (Smaug Edition) (Jersey Jack, 2016)
Honey (Williams, 1972)
Iron Man (Vault Edition) (Stern, 2014)
Jokerz (Williams, 1988)
Kiss (Premium) (Stern, 2015)
Lord of the Rings (Stern, 2003)
The Machine: Bride of Pin-bot (Williams, 1991)
Medieval Madness (Williams, 1997)
Metallica (Pro) (Stern, 2013)
Meteor (Stern, 1979)
Monster Bash (Williams, 1998)
NBA Fastbreak (Bally, 1997)
No Good Gofers (Williams, 1997)
Paragon (Bally, 1978)
Playboy (Bally) (1978)
Radical! (Bally, 1990)
Raven (Gottlieb, 1986)
Star Trek (Pro) (Stern, 2013)
Star Trek: The Next Generation (Williams, 1993)
Star Wars (Data East, 1992)
Super Mario Bros. Mushroom World (Gottlieb, 1992)
TRON: Legacy (Stern, 2011)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Williams, 1991)
Theatre of Magic (Bally, 1995)
Twilight Zone (Bally, 1993)
WHO Dunnit (Bally, 1995)
The Walking Dead (Pro) (Stern, 2014)
White Water (Williams, 1993)
The Wizard of Oz (Emerald City LE) (Jersey Jack, 2013)
World Cup Soccer (Bally, 1994)
X-Men (Pro) (Stern, 2012)

High scores is great, but if you are going to California Extreme I cant imagine there not being every single game you would find at High Scores at the show.

Its not like youre not going to have fun anyway! I have heard High Scores keeps their machines in really clean shape.

Free gold watch is awesome! I also take all the free cruises those telemarketers offer me.

Wait... you leave the neighborhood?

YES!
I was there a couple of weeks ago and was truly impressed at the variety as well as the condition of the games there.