Thanks for summary of your visit to PHOF. Someday I hope to make it there.
While talking to employees/volunteers were you able to get any other interesting info that you can share w/ us. Like: Are they totally under-staffed? Of the other 1000 machines, approx what % are clean and in good working order? Are the e-m's generally working pretty good? Anything else?

I guess that is what you get when everybody is working for FREE....(It's a non-profit, come on man...)

I know that just when I think I am going to have all my pins working, 5 of them will break in a couple days.

That Addams Family has been broken for more than 4 years. Well played Thing you're really on the ball. But most game are in pretty good shape, which is astounding considering how may pins are there and compared to other pin locations.

man, that's disappointing. Going for my first time in less than a month, half the reason I'm flying to vegas. Maybe they need to charge more, or figure out a way to make profit other ways. Gas stations can't make a profit JUST selling gas, they have to sell snacks and drinks.

So how does it work anyway, is there a general admission, and then you pay? I always thought it was a flat fee free play? Or is is just "donations are encouraged" kind of a thing? Lord knows they haven't updated their website in 3 years, I get more updates from youtube than the website. As a pinball fan, I sure wouldn't mind helping them out with that.

Anyone that goes there regularly, is there a better day of the week to go? I'm assuming weekends are more packed (and more machines down), and then during the week they have more time to work on machines and get them back up? So probably thursday would be ideal?

The place is a really just a big arcade,complete with change machines and crane games and all.If it was called"The Pinball Palace" or something besides "Hall of Fame" I think the reveiws would be more favorable.I too was disappointed because there is nothing HoF about it.Both The Silverball Museum and Pacific Pinball Museum do the Hall of Fame thing way better than the actual PHoF.
Biggest dissapointment of all:zero merchandise.No shirts or hats or stickers or keychains.....nothing.So if you travel from far away,NYC in my case,you can't bring anything home to commemorate your trip.Does it have about 100 games,hell yeah, and thats enough for most of us,including me to visit when I'm in Vegas.But special trip to see the supposed HoF of pinball....it falls way short of those expectations.Sorry,but thats my honest opinion.
I posted a similar opinion on RGP(Really Grumpy Pin-people) a while back and absorbed a tremendous beating.Regetfully,Scott

I was there about a month ago and half the games on your list were working at that time. Some, it seems, have deeper issues and don't appear to get fixed very quickly, if at all. But it seems they do constantly try to get them running.
I found the AFM I played there to be in really good shape, and there was no RFM just a month ago.
Still, I'd rather have the PHOF in that shape than not at all.

They do a pretty good job keeping the machines running, but with that many games it can be tough. Hopefully you passed on the info on the games that weren't working so they could get to them.

I'm surprised that the AFM was beat up, they had one last year that was a fully restored machine, but it was on loan. I'm guessing that that one is gone and they replaced it with the beat up one? That's too bad, one of the main reasons I bought an AFM was because of how much I enjoyed it at the PHOF.

AF was working fine when I was there a year ago, so it hasn't been broke for 4 years btw.

I'm going in July. Can't wait. Plan on dumping the wife at the Wynn pool for the afternoon and heading over solo. I cannot be distracted.

if you think the PHOF was disappointing due to the selection of old broken down beaters, you should really avoid the Chicken Ranch also.

I agree. They are missing a big opportunity here to raise some more money. People like buying souvenirs.

It is my understanding that the place has plenty of money to fix pins but, for better or worse, instead is more focused on donating its revenue to the Salvation Army. I am not sure why they can't run a better location and still donate a lot of money. They don't even sell t-shirts which could help the pin cause and the charity cause.

Ahhh, now you see what I'm always telling you guys:

When I had my route, games (especially Williams) were ALWAYS breaking down.

Once a week we went to the Williams distributor in town and picked up our shopping list of ramps, plastics, motors...

And that was when everything was brand new. Fast forward 20 years and think how brittle all of the plastic has become and how old all the caps are.

If only 5% of the games were down, I'd say they are doing pretty good!

I've only been to the old place, haven't been to Vegas for several years.

When I was there, for most of the time I was the only person in the place. And when there were others, it certainly wasn't crowded.

There were a few games that had problems, but not many. I can see how with more games and more people, that it would be overwhelming for Tim to try to keep up.

I share the thought that perhaps giving a little less to charity and using more $ to keep the place up, will in the long run generate more funds available. Sort of reminds me of an Op that lets his games go to crap to maximize his profit; soon no one comes and plays his games and the profits go to zero.

I'm not saying that PoHF is bad, it was a fun place to visit and I'd certainly go again.

Robert

Phof was just mentioned on "the morning stream 4.16.12" podcast, Scott Johnson just went last week and he loved it!
http://soundcloud.com/thesearemytracks/scott-johnson-goes-to-the

If I lived in the area I would be volunteering there as often as I possibly could. It's too sad to go in and see that many games with glaring playability issues or in disrepair.

Sounds like Pinballz in Austin is the best arcade in the country

If I lived in Vegas, I would volunteer at PHOF a lot!!! Can't wait til September!!

I was there twice this past week while in Vegas for business. It looked like I expected -- shabby but it's an arcade first and a museum second. I really enjoyed both visits. My only "complaints" were that it was dark (so hard to see the game playfields sometimes) and volume on games was set very low, so hard to hear.

But....I played Pinball Circus several times without waiting (most people walked past it), spent some time on Tron LE, had a blast on the Gottlieb Challenger 2 player 'versus' game (it has a tilting playfield ) and really got a kick out of playing Impacto (apparently only one in US). There are a host of newer Sterns there but I play most of those on test location. There was a Transormers LE.N RFM was there too.

It is a very worthwhile stop for a pinhead. Don't expect much in terms of "spit and polish." It's an EM lovers paradise. all 25 cents and most in really great condition. My fiancée really enjoyed seeing the history and development of the games as we strolled around.

Tim was out on the floor working diligently on a game, btw.

Definitely visit.

Some people like keeping it dark to keep down the glare, but sometimes it's nice to admire pins the way they were meant to be seen (like an arcade), maybe he's saving on electricity while adding a "museum darkness" mood to it. As for volume, most pin gatherings I've been to (especially with a lot of people), volume is usually turned way down. Too much ambient talking noise, plus pins, plus mechanical sounds, it becomes overbearing and you really don't enjoy the sound anyway. It's been said before, and I wish places like this would do it, add a $5 1/8" headphone jack in the front of every pin, let customers plug headphones in so they can experience it with full sound the way it was meant to be played.

Well, they should be able to have souvenirs like T-shirt, hats, stickers, or even keychains. Not just Pressed Pennies from a machine.

Too many machines are broken in this place. I go to New York, New York where the machines are mint. They have mostly Stern and JJ machines. Most of the machines have really cool mods. Check it out

20151023_211903_(resized).jpg

We put headphone jacks in many of our games at the Ann Arbor facility for our May pinball show. In the end, we have removed most of them. The problem is, most people don't use them. But worst, they get abused. People jam their iphone plug into the game, and eventually it breaks the jack. Then the speaker signal shorts to ground, and the TDA2030 amplifier shorts and blows up. Now no sound and we have to fix the sound board. It's just not worth it frankly.

It'll be nice for them to set all machines there to free play at least once in a while, like, per month or every third weekends of the month, 'cause I don't like wasting so many dang quarters on machines. Also they should do costume contests every Halloween. Would that be a good idea?

But to pay to get in for free play, you pay $15.00 for all day.

.

Too bad you have to pay for parking at NY NY casino. $7 for 4 hours. $10 for all day. The MGM casinos are gouging customers. I wanted to check out the games, but it wasn't worth the parking fee to me.

I only rented a car once when in vegas, and it seemed pointless between traffic and parking. You can ride a bus pretty cheap so long as you don't mind the crowds, otherwise a cab isn't a bad option either.

Well, my question is: When is Pinball Hall Of Fame gonna sell T-Shirts and other merchandise like that? 'Cause I know they should and I looking to get one!

I'm surprised he hasn't, they would sell easily as many tourists that come through there (heck, dive restaurants nobody has ever heard of often sell tshirts). Maybe he just doesn't want to deal with stocking a bunch of sizes.

he doesn't sell tshirts and such because those items would have to be taxed. since tim doesn't have anything else on premises that is taxable, selling tshirts and dvds (whatever) would require him to do a whole slew of additional paperwork. Also tim is very paranoid about who handles money. right now he's the only one that touches money. if he's selling anything that can't be dispensed from a vending machine, it would require a register with change in it. and people to touch said things. he just doesn't want to deal with it.

how if you could come up with a vending machine that would dispense tshirts, i'm sure he would consider that...

I don't think the owner is has much business training and little natural ability. That place could be a gold mine if managed better. Especially in Vegas. Doing everything on the cheap means the customer gets a cheap experience. The place needs a serious cash injection and a forward thinking manager. Otherwise I think this place will sink very slowly lower and lower year after year.

There are certainly some things you could say Tim isn't good at, but I wouldn't put the business of operating pinball and arcades on the list... Is there anyone here that has had more experience or success in their lifetime than he has?

I think Tim's biggest issue right now is getting help to fix all the stuff that is constantly breaking without blowing through his budget. Every operator I know in the country with 10+ pins has the same problem. Maintaining pins on location is hard work and is really expensive when you consider labor.

-Jay

This is a great idea....they do make the machines.
images (10) (resized).jpg

PHOF is cool and I have had a good time there. Yeah, games are broken but still plenty that are not. It seems kind of dirty, if they had any concessions I honestly would probabyavoid it but certainly would buy a TShirt.

Nice to see NYNY get a good set of pins, I hope they keep them around a while. Last time I was there all they had was an Iron Man... I now know where I'm going next visit. Not sure why they charge for parking but if they want to be that way just park at a neigboring casino for free and walk over the pedistrian bridge... typically though we just go by bus and foot in vegas.

It's free to park at the Excalibur across the street.

Does Pinball Hall Of Fame host any upcoming special events (officially hosted by Pinball Hall Of Fame) this November? 'Cause I'm looking forward to visit there again

None around that time that I have heard....they did have nationals and a few other tourneys in April of this year.

I'm looking forward to visiting it in a few weeks. i'll be in Vegas on vacation..

But when? 'Cause I'll be there in about 2 months.

I'm talking about when is Pinball Hall Of Fame itself gonna have live DJ outside in front of PHoF, costume contests, ('cause I wanna see pinball players in costumes at Pinball Hall of Fame) and even pinball trivia to give out prizes for correct answers.

If anyone had the ability TO do it, they WOULD do it.

No one else can do it.

In the current situation I agree with you, no one could afford to buy it and make money. The machines would just cost too much and you would never get your money back. It's his place and he wants to run it old school. That being said it could be run way better. The place feels like a dive. Many machines are in rough shape. The place needs food and a license, to get it out of the 1970s.

I'll be there from October 12th to the 16th, going to see the Red Bull Air race..

Tim said no food because then he has to install larger bathrooms (to code) and fire suppression (to code).

He says no amount of food sales can overcome those costs.

People should keep an eye on the big picture. Tim has a huge amount of machines set up for anyone to come in and play. He donates all the proceeds to charity. So a few machines might need a little love? Move on to the next machine and just feel the magic of that wonderful place.

I had to work in Vegas for a month or so a few years ago. Finding the Pinball Hall of Fame was amazing and got me into this awesome hobby of ours. I have to admit I would totally buy a T-Shirt.