Man, got to the PHoF twice over the weekend in Vegas and wow - what a freakin blast.

So grateful I got to go and experience so many games I've heard about and only wished I could find near me. Even if they all weren't pristine (Holy scoop holes, Batman!), they were all fun. I finally get why everyone longs for the golden era of Bally/Williams unlicensed pins - Fish Tales, Theatre of Magic, Cactus Canyon, and Cirqus Voltaire were all highlights. Replays were friendly to come by on Saturday night, and my only request would be a wider variety of merch to take home. Will definitely be back, thanks to all who help power this pinball paradise!

What am I supposed to do with all these body parts?

Yeah, I guess I should have specified.

Elvira HOH back up yet? Was down two weeks ago when I was there and I'll be back this weekend

Elvira was up and running when I was there thanks again. Yeah I was busy today the entire parking lot was full

All three kitties were lounging around tonight....

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I want to trade my excalibur for either his robo war or space station, how would I contact the owner?

But could i buy from him?

I have bought games off of Tim in the past. Chances are they will be one of his inventory of doubles or triples.
I think i got a GTB Black Hole plus a WMS Seven Up from him about 20 yrs ago.

Happy first year anniversary in New Building!!

To honor the occasion
Tim is letting everyone in for free!

Happy Birthday PHOF!

He even let Clay in yesterday!

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Is Clay on a pinball repair tour?

We're you at the VFW this past Friday evening?

Another great time at PHOF. Played Rush and Godzilla for the first time. Both were a blast.

EHOH was down as was the cold bottle water vending machine but those were the only disappointments. Every machine played great.

Been the the new and old a dozen or so times in the last 2 years Elvira has either been down or when I played it it didn’t make it for all 3 balls. Only machine I’ve ever had an issue with there. Staff is always awesome about putting credit on another machine when Elvira fails.

Pretty cool, I need to stop by. I have the Stormblasters mod on my Whirlwind, really updates the game.

Just made my first visit to the PHoF a few days ago. One of the highlights of my Vegas trip!
Parking lot was full and the place was hopping but there was always a fun machine available to play.
Saw several of my old favorites and played a bunch of EM I had never seen and eventually we found one that became my new favorite, one called "Bally Hoo".
Not all the machines on the floor were functioning but I never lacked for something to play and I found the stacks of machines near the back encouraging rather than discouraging. Just think of all the machines that we may eventually get to play!!
If you are looking for a "museum" full of exhibits behind glass windows that you have to pay to look at as you walk past... this may not be for you.
If you are looking for an enormous collection of pinball (and video game) machines that represent the bulk of the Pinball timeline, THAT YOU ACTUALLY GET TO PLAY, you may love this place as much as I did.
If I ever get back to Vegas I will spend time (and quarters) here again!

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I just uploaded a video with a full walking tour thru the Pinball Museum.

The highlights is the neon sign that is simple amazing. They have a lot of games but overall when you hear the words MUSEUM you think everything will be displayed and presented in the best possible way. You'd expect to walk thru something where you learn the history of pinball, you expect to see professional signs giving you information about pinball. They should consider building a repair shop to put all the non-working games off the floor and as you fix games put them back on the floor. I would say at least 40% of the games don't work. The place needs more theming and some experiences inside. I love the fact they have so many games all in one place! It's very cool to see games you never knew existed but would be even better inside some sort of interior museum walk thru experience inside the overall facility. Cool place to visit. My favorite game to see that I've never saw was the Flintstones. Amazing game to play!

Video link posted below.

Watched the video knowing the comments about Tim's operation. Glad to see the progress Tim has had with new building just getting games set up in rows was a task even with all the issue alone the way. Have watched each video from there its improvement maybe not as fast as many would like. There are many that do understand Tim's vision stated in past interviews and 25+ years later still on same goal.

If I'm being honest there is no vision its just a ton of pinball games lined up where about 40% don't work. He needs REDUCE the amount of games, create a workshop. Remove broken games to the workshop and put games repaired from the workshop to the floor. Having 40% of your games just sit there broken is not a good look. Why not create a massive workshop where broken games can go? There is no need for this many games on the floor with hundreds of games not working. Furthermore, I think they should create a themed room where the rarest games go, and you read about the history of Pinball. It's called the Pinball Museum yet there is no Museum. They have games worthy to tell the tale of pinball but no one knows their story. They should also hire someone like Dirty Donnie or Franchi to create custom pinball vegas themed artwork for retail. I also think they have enough room to create a balcony, which could house a bar, and private room for parties. The more money they make the more awesome stuff they can do. I just don't think a visit to this place is an EXPEREIENCE the way visiting other Vegas Museums or shows offers.

There is a lot of potential here they just need to go to the last mile. Having boxes stacked onto of games, trash everywhere, pinball games erected with stuff dumped into the cabinets is not something a 'Museum' would do.

This place needs to tell the story of pinball, the past, present and future while promoting pinball to new generations. As operated currently it doesn't do this.

Again I give credit because that building is nice, the neon sign is one of the best I've ever seen... but the interior experience is lacking big league. Everything inside is WHITE... should be themed in neon or blacklight like the sign outside.

There should be banners everywhere. Think of World Series of Pinball... could be hosted here if only they had a ROOM for it? They should group games together by decade or type. Just like at a convention they could hang banners in the different sections from the roof... 1950's - 1960' - 1970's etc. I just know if I was doing it I would do a lot more to make this a MUST SEE VEGAS EXPERIENCE!

Lots of potential. The good news is the HARD part is DONE! Building that amazing building, gathering up all those games, neon exterior sign all amazing. Now its time to bring in an attraction designer and finish it off to be breathtaking.

I'd love to do a before and after for a reality tv show. Give me 7 days you wouldn't recognize the place. LOL

One last thing I think they should create a PINBALL STORE for their retail, and add other forms of related 1980's retail. They should also make a deal with a pinball dealer there in Vegas and SELL NIB pinballs. They have storage for such things with racks in the NEW retail store. They should SELL pinballs. Again lots of potential to really raise the revenue they just need someone to help them bring it all together.

Here we go again. too-many-pins to the rescue. (ironic username by the way)

Many of your criticisms are valid, but the PHOF isn't going to substantively change as long as Tim is alive, and places like this rarely improve in the absence of their driving force. Enjoy it for what it is.

I absolutely love the idea that Tim/PBHOF is going to do retail sales and installations on pinball machines.

Genius! These people are absolutely made for white glove service for the general public.

well I'm heading to Vegas in a few weeks, willing to help to get the PHOF crew some funds to fix some games. I don't know how much ill raise but everything is better than zero.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/i-m-heading-to-vegas-sale-up-to-50-goes-to-the-phof

There are some great elements in place such as the LOCATION - NEON EXTERIOR SIGN - BUILDING - and the fact they own a lot of games.

Now you have to put it all together. This should be the best overall location the country, but when you look around at people who've opened these types of places its far from the best. But all the elements are there to make an EXPERIENCE of a lifetime. Even if you wipe out every single suggestion I have you can't have playfields pointed in the air with boxes stuff inside, or junk scattered everywhere, or pinball machines serving as storage shelves.

Not to mention at least 40% of every game inside NOT WORKING! Why have so many games on the floor if they don't work? Why is it such a bad idea to take about 1/6 of the space there and create a workshop, fix the games inside the workshop, then put back on the floor? How is that a bad suggestion. Why is it a bad thing to have fewer games on the floor, and have non-working games in a shop?

I know pinballs break but why have I dunno 150 plus sitting around not working? Oh and since they don't work use them as storage? C'mon now! LOL

This place has the best location of any pinball facility in the country with the best building and the best sign. LIVE UP TO THAT take pride in the experience.

The obsession with showing people how many games you have at the expense of leaving 150 plus games broken with junk scattered everywhere is not serving the place to its potential. No one could debate that. If you make NO ZERO changes at least build a workshop remove broken games, and get rid of the cluttered junk scattered everywhere. Just my opinion. I'm not sure how anyone could disagree.

The reason to have games on the floor even when they don't work is A) you still get to see the thing in person, as in a museum, it just so happens you can't play that one - but it's still better than it hidden away somewhere. And B) keeping those machines out on the floor creates a nice bit of padding between occupied machines when it gets busy.

I suggest you PRESENT these suggestions to PBHOF MANAGEMENT and see how they GO OVER. Tim is always looking for HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS on how he can change the same business model he's been using for ABOUT THIRTY YEARS and he will be very eager to talk to you.

And when you finish talking to Tim, set up a meeting with Steve Young and straighten him out on running his business as well....

Again, your criticisms are valid (and common), but you're shouting down a well.

At least they share an AFFINITY for the SHIFT key.

Maybe it's Tim trolling us with all the same complaints he's heard for years?

Great ideas!
You can run YOUR pinball venue exactly that way!

Just got back from my twice a month visit to PHOF.

As always, I had a blast playing new and older games. First time playing Funhouse with the Rudy's Nightmare conversion kit. The more I play Godzilla and Rush, the more fun they are. (even though the trough in Rush still rejects balls)

Have to admit though that it seemed that there were many more games turned off that I can ever recall in the past. EHOH has been out of order my last few visits. I'm sure Tim will get caught up though, it must be a daunting task keeping all of the pins working.

I have not been around much since I retired. (Or not on Pinside as much anyway).

I'll never understand WHY people have a hard time realizing telling the most successful long term arcade operator on the planet he is doing it wrong falls on deaf ears. Tim started in the arcade business over 50 years ago - has made millions of dollars in the arcade business - retired very young - has given tens of thousands of profit to charity and yet every time I turn around I am reading a post about what he should be doing differently.

How about we just accept it for what it is: "Tim's House" and if you don't like going to "Tim's House" you just don't go back. Just don't let the door hit you in the ass going out!

Tim here at the PHOF
We have been working 7 days a week since we opened tyring to make our attraction better, but have been running into many setbacks along the way.

First and foremost is COVID. Closed us for 12 weeks, and when we opened, it was at reduced hours with very little traffic. Pandemic related shortages are still hitting us hard. It takes more time and effort to get the things we used to just take for granted would be there when we needed them.

Several legal problem with the construction of the building have sucked up HUGE amounts of time and money. Last week, I spent 3 whole days in court for a trial, after the other party backed out of a mediated settlement.

We prioritise the repair of broken machines with the most popular being fixed first. That leaves more than we would like of the older games sitting awaiting repair. Keep in mind that there is NO talent with the skills required that I can pick up a phone and order in. We are for now KEEPING UP with breakdowns, and hope that in the coming weeks we will start to pull machines out of the dead game list and back to operation. The busy summer season will start to taper off Aug. 9th and be back to off-season by early Sept.

The public has become VERY combative and difficult. People are angry, disruptive, and rude. Children are out of control on a routine basis. Parents no longer disiplin and the incredible amounts of sugar and caffine I see youngsters with makes calm behavior impossible. Twice yesterday I had to tell parents not to put their infants on the playfield glass, and both times, they insisted there was no problem with this behavior.

A lot of these problems could be solved by throwing money at them. Hiring a lot of expensive staff, security guards,and middle management. But this would be passed on to our customers in the form of HIGHER PRICES. Paid parking. A 10 to 20 dollar admission charge, doubling the numbers of coins to play are all on the table. We are one of the few things you can do on the Strip that does not charge for parking or admission. People are always complaining the fees and cuts the casinos have instituted in recent years.

I would like to ask everyone to appreciate the AMATURE nature of what we are and what we do. No professional business would have ever attempted opening a room full of obsolete, cranky, worn out machines. They would have opened your standard Chuck E.- Gameworks- Dave and Buster joint full of kiddie casino stuff. Sure, we are fucked up most of the time. What yall need to do is EMBRACE the funk and realise what makes it fun it that it NOT new and nice.

Time to get back out on the floor and work!

Man, the worst of it all is how so many people can be such complete inconsiderate assholes.

Good luck with your ongoing efforts. I can't wait to get to LV to see the new place.

Thank you. I wish we had an arcade like this in oc ca. it’s a dream of mine.

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