Disclaimer, The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
I like to write about my experiences at the PHoF in Las Vegas.
I'm new to the area and recently moved to Las Vegas and finally had some free time to head to a new place to play some pinball locally. I met up with a fellow pinsider I've become friends with and we headed down to play some this afternoon.
In past reviews from some patrons I was left with the impression the establishment wasn't overall that great and there are other local places to play some games that are better maintained. However, the PHoF is known to have a good selection and some rather unique (rare) pinballs. After taking a walk around, initially I was actually more impressed than expected until I met the "Librarian" (we'll get to that soon).
If I had to guess there were in the neighborhood of 70+ pinballs ranging from EM's, Early Solid State to Current DMD games, to include the BRAND NEW Stern Batman 66. As with typical location games, they aren't always the cleanest or 100% functioning. Some flipper bats misaligned greatly affecting your ability to make certain shots, rubbers that are not the best etc. Overall, honestly the pins that were working weren't the worst I've seen for sure. As with any large collection, multiple pins were down for one reason or another. For you arcade lovers, there was a decent selection of stand up arcade games available as well.
Things took an interesting turn though while playing "Line Drive". For the record, the fellow pinsider had one as a kid in his house and introduced me to it. I've never played it before but got the hang of it fairly quickly. For those of you familiar with this game, I hit a home run and was pretty excited like most of us get when we make great or tough shot. In my state of happiness I let out a "woo who"! Within about 10 seconds "The Librarian" came up to me and my buddy and stated we needed to calm down and be more quiet! 
At first, I thought she was actually yanking my chain a bit over my excitement when she stated this. I stood there quietly listening to her request with a puzzled face. I say puzzled because then I was told "Don't look at me in that tone of voice". Ya, no joke. I uttered that I was confused and trying to figure out if you are kidding with me or not here. The Librarian:"No, I'm not kidding, you need to think of this place like a Library or even a Museum and be quiet." Me:"Ahhhh Ok". The Librarian:"If you did that [Got excited] while I was working on a machine with hot soldering iron, I could easily burn myself if you startled me." Now, I'm just puzzled as sh*t as she was not working on a game and was wayyyyy at the end of the row 10+ games away from us when I seen here in my moment of being elated.
There was another patron playing a game behind my buddy and I and she stood there as perplexed as we were about the situation and didn't understand. Maybe 5 minutes goes by and I hear a couple people the next row over excited by something they did let out an outburst of happiness and fun. Not a few seconds go by and again who comes running up.....The damn Librarian who proceeded to admonish this group of a people too.
In closing, if you are looking to have fun and a good time......I might encourage you to go elsewhere. The Librarian (Female employee) isn't very reasonable and has the tact of a homeless bum. All in all though a good day, played some pins and was one stroke away from being asked to leave/kicked out of the PHOF.
Walnut Creek, CA
