For some perspective when it comes to this type of operation, I was chatting with a tech at the Museum of Pinball back when it was open and he told me they expect a 10% daily failure rate for the machines on the floor. So when you do the math and think of the time, manpower and ultimately cost to constantly shuffle machines that break off the floor then back on the floor, it just doesn't make sense when they break that much. It's likely easier and more cost effective to just leave them on the floor and fix them when you can. Plus it's still cool to see a machine even if it's not working, at least I thought as much the first time I saw the Defender pinball machine. It was off but it was still cool to see it in person.

IMHO these are all really great points. I believe the devil is in the details and I get the feeling that this is just a warehouse of machines and not a museum telling their history. I could be way wrong, but t seems that this place has a lot of untapped potential.

What’s the difference between great and amazing? The attention paid to details.

PHoF is, first and foremost, an old-school arcade - with everything that implies. For those of us who grew up on those arcades and miss them, it's a little slice of paradise. Well, big slice, with the new location.

And also the most successful arcade ever.

Thank you Tim !

LTG : )

It has been a while since my last visit but if I remember correctly there is a little hand written note on each machine telling you some of the history, features, etc. So there is your "museum" part of the equation (yes it could be done more "professionally" but at least it is on the machine).

As many people have already said - even if everything isn't working it is nice to see so many machines in person. Looking back at the "National Pinball Museum" in Washington DC (a failed venture from several years ago) they had dozens & dozens of machines on display with a very professionally done display but there was only a small "freeplay area" where you could actually play machines - the rest were just on display for people to see. Sadly David Silverman tried & failed several times to make this Museum work and in the end his collection was sold off.

PHoF is far from perfect but for an arcade open everyday I think Tim & his group of volunteers do one hell of a good job. Without a doubt there are improvements that could be made but I have yet to see anyone else accomplish anything close to what Tim has been able to do over the years. So instead of constant complaining I think a BIG THANK YOU FOR A JOB WELL DONE is what should be said.

Solution to the children/parent issue:
Get a Liquor license,
A few Brass stripper poles with dancers.
Sign "Must Be 21 to enter"

Some of the comments I find to be kind of funny. Saying its better to see the broken games rather than stored in a warehouse? This is suppose to be an attraction. I think some of you confuse yourself with the other 99% of people who might play a pinball. You diehard pinball guys are the extreme minority of people who will visit this place. If the Las Vegas Pinball Museum depended on people like you to pay its bills it would go out of business in 3 hours and 14 minutes because you don't visit but maybe once every few years right? They rely on the tourist market seeing that massive sign and pulling in. The place is like some sort of roadside attraction that peaks your interest when you see the amazing neon sign.

You go in expecting to experience pinball heaven instead you see 200 broken games, boxes cluttered everywhere, pinball machines left wide open with junk stored inside. Maybe its cool for some super minority EM pinball machine nut to walk around and look at broken games but that doesn't pay the bills.

You need regular normal people putting money into machines, last time i checked broken games collect no money.

Now on the other hand if they charged an admission then HELL YES, by all means have 200 broken down games to look at. Whatever.

Anyone who thinks having 200 broken games, cluttered boxes, trash and everything else all over the place is good business doesn't own a business.

End of the day I'd LOVE to see this place operated like an attraction, better theming, fewer games, working games, information about pinball, or even daily pinball tournaments like they do with poker. Whatever... forget all that just stop using pinball machines as storage shelves. If you can't do anything else at least try that!

Bottom line based on the building, neon sign, games, and location this should be the HEAVEN of PINBALL but its far from it. The potential is there for this place to be magical hope it one day gets there. I mean that sincerely. More than anything this place needs a GM who kicks some ass around there and gets stuff done.

First: It's "pique one's interest" - not peaks

If you don't understand this then I doubt you 'get' anything else about the place either!

"GM who kicks some ass around there and gets stuff done" - yeah, OK, and how many volunteer staff are left after your arse kicking? (yes, ARSE, ass is a donkey which you probably also don't 'get').

As many have attempted to enlighten you, the place is run by an eccentric old school operator who has been exceptionally successful in business as an amusement operator. Please tell us of your amusement run successes.

You understand that Tim Arnold, who made post 898 in this thread, is the founder, owner, operator, general manager, and chief decision maker for the PHOF right?

Pinball is hard.

But the pinball hall of fame in Vegas has been doing it successfully for years.

The story of the hall of fame is still unfolding. We are probably in the middle of the story already, but the golden days are still to come. In my opinion.

What I mean is I look forward to seeing it every time I visit Vegas. I have not been to the new location yet, but I know I will.

When I drive from California I make my first stop the hall of fame.

Again, Southern California really needs one of these, but it has not been done yet.

A life goal for me and a testament to Vegas pinball hall of fame.

Pinball is hard.

Thanks for asking. I have built over 500 amusement attractions across the World. I have worked for Universal Studios, Sea World, Busch Gardens, nearly every single Six Flags, Madison Square Garden, Cedar Point, I could give you the total list but its so long. I have built attractions based on Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Spider-Man, Garfield, James Bond, and so many more.

Visit our YouTube page look up Blacklight Attractions. Furthermore I actually own 7 escape rooms, Retro Mini Golf, 3 massive haunted houses. Last year our busiest night we did about 12,000 paid guests. Try handling 12,000 people in one night isn’t easy.

So hopefully that answers your question.

Lastly, let me repeat something for you. My comments are constructive criticism because I actually do see a lot of potential here. I think I pointed out clearly the positives, but from someone who annually deals with hundreds of thousands of guests I’m offering my professional opinion.

I personally would LOVE to go into this place and do all the work myself. I would love to take on a project like that because I like you love pinball.

To argue that its acceptable to have pinballs used as storage for trash, or boxes piled upon pinball machines, or a couple hundred games broken is a good thing well it would be yourself who has no experience operating an amusement attraction.

What the owner has done is AMAZING building that incredible building, securing that amazing location, and the neon sign that is something to die for! Kudos.

The point is now its time to operate the inside the way the outside looks! My opinion.

Unfortunately you're taking to a brick wall here. Anything remotely resembling criticism or feedback of the PHoF is met with immediate dismissal and a "love it or leave it"! As someone who has made the mistake of sharing my experience in the past, you're wasting your time and energy. Nothing has changed and nothing will change, which is a shame, but it's less stressful the sooner you accept it .

Absolutely love your work! Total RESPECT!

It’s pretty much that way on pinside in general which is why I spend my time doing more productive things. I don’t really get on pinside for that very reason. You give people facts they don’t like it so they downvote you… like oh no I’ve been put into time out or something. But yeah I totally agree with you. I came onto this thread because we made that video and thought I’d share the video and some suggestions. I build and theme and operate amusement attractions and would love to take this place on as a client. It would be a lot of fun!

Thanks brother! BTW if you’re ever in St Louis stop by we’ll give you a tour of our facilities here in St Louis. We just made this video of the retro golf we just built plus clips of the Jurassic themed escape room. Anytime just reach out. We have about 15 pinballs available to play every machine is an LE including an Elvira SLE, MM Royal, and many more.

Can you please show me where the PHoF asked for it?

I get it, you think you are trying to help. You are no doubt successful at what you do because you are passionate about it. I respect that.

What you need to know is that not everyone has the same idea about what is successful as you do.

We are talking about the PHoF here, not a billion dollar corporate MONEY MAKING SCAM.

Success isn't always measured by profits.
Sometimes it's measured by saving a game from the trash heap and putting a billion hours and countless dollars of parts into it, so that others can enjoy it.

It's saving your money on decor and spending it on shit that matters, like MORE GAMES, or perhaps a charitable donation to a local non profit.

Some people measure it by coming up with a solution to a problem that is more practical than the accepted available option out there.

Do you have leds in your games?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Tim Arnold (and maybe a handful of others?) were the first to recognize and implement their benefits into the pinball realm.

Success to me is not what an arcade looks like at any of those corporate communist coward corporations that enslaved you.
Those are kiddy casinos built on high interest finance deals and ponzi scheme boardroom bullshit!

Success to me is measured differently, its skipping school and sneaking a pint into your local shit-cade that smells funny and has no AC because the owner has spent every last dollar on that new game you drove 35 minutes and double parked (DEFINETLY got a $35 parking ticket) to play.

It's trapping up and having a friend hold the buttons while you have a sip and a smoke.

It's walking in two weeks later to see your GC is still standing.

It's not about the crap on the walls

It's about hanging out with friends and having FUN.
There I said it.
The F-word...

In the end it all goes back to one basic thing with PHoF. All along Tim's mission has always been to raise money for charity and at the same time share his amazing collection for others to enjoy. If you look back at the history of PHoF it all started in Tim's backyard years ago when a very successful arcade operator retired at a very young age and started hosting parties in his out building in the back yard of his house and asking people to donate to charity that attended.

He kept expanding & growing that operation into what is now the New PHoF.

In the end Tim is doing what Tim set out to do and doing it his way. I agree "his way" is far from perfect and he will agree to that also. But he is doing the best he can and I am happy for what he is doing and has done over the years.

I know there will be people who don't understand this or don't agree with how he is doing things but in the end EVERYONE needs to realize it isn't going to change things. As long as Tim is running the show things will keep getting done Tim's way and in the end it really just goes back to "if you don't like it" just don't go to PHoF.

I might be alone and in the wrong on this thinking, but a business that is 100% dependant on volunteers to run the place isn’t a success in my mind.

I understand that the whole point of the place is to raise money for charity, but if the volunteers left one day, would the place still be able to run? IMHO a successful business isn’t measured by how well the leader holds it all together, but how well things run when the leader is not there. To me it seems like Tim is the glue holding it together and from an outside perspective it’s only successful because of the unique way the place has been organized.

I have no constructive criticism to offer, and I know it would be ignored anyway. But I agree with blacklightprod in that this place has so much potential to be a museum and not just a warehouse.

To clarify. (Again I could be wrong) I thought that the PHOF was a non-profit organization. Would that exempt them from expenses that a normal business would have to deal with? For example do they pay tax on all of the coin drops they earn? Is the property tax the same rate as the neighborhood, what are the employment expenses. Etc.

You should add a pinball arcade.

I second this recommendation.

The funny thing about the recent discussions is that all of this has already been discussed and beaten to death multiple times in this thread and some other threads here about the PHOF. Many have posted their ideas about how to make it better. Adding food, adding alcohol, a gift shop, tee shirts, fixing more machines, and so on. Maybe all good ideas, but in the end Tim is gonna do what he wants to do. I mean heck, he comes in these threads once in a while and tells exactly what he is thinking, it’s not like it’s a secret.

I say, kick back and enjoy it if you can. We are lucky to have such a nice place to go to. There were always similar complaints about the MOP in Banning, too many machines are down, etc. now it’s gone forever. I had an absolute blast every time I went there. Sure, there were machines down every time, but somehow I found something to do with the hundreds that were working. I really miss piling in the car and heading over for an event and just playing pinball (and video games) for hours on end. I have to haul over to LV now to get a similar fix.

Going to LV is always OK, but it’s not as fun as it used to be. There’s a thread about that too.

Tim here again.

In the last year we have started a gift shop, going from nothing when we opened to almost 10 percent of our income. Right now we are selling just shirts and hats along with a few low cost item like used pinballs.

Ramping up to get to this point took a LOT of time and effort. We are 2/3rds of the way thru a 16,000 piece order of tie dye shirts. They arrive from the dyer in Montana on pallets, which must then be transported to the printer. They have to be hauled back to the PHOF, checked, sorted and stored. Then they have to be replenished in the showcases. This has taken away time from repairs. The hope is that once the last third arrives and moves thru, we will not have to spend any effort on this for a long time.

Same with the toys we need for the crane and keychain machines. Just got a 440 case order in from China. Each box must be counted, opened, mixed together with others of the same size, reboxed and stored. Keep in mind that during Covid, we bought NOTHING, not even knowing if or what we would be in the future.

I am sure there are a lot of pinheads that would say "You should be a pure pinball operation, NO TOYS OR GIFT SHOP!". I would like to remind everyone that the ONLY reason we can devote a large amount of our expensive floor space to QUARTER EM GAMES is because the merch and toys pull the weight of the money losing EM's. A compromise, sure! But one that taxes the STUPID (crane players) and rewards the SMART. (value menu EM players)

We are being tested on a daily basis, but one thing that has NEVER wavered. Our staff's comittment to showing up EVERY day, 98 hours a week, and working our asses off. By continuing to take a long term view and slowly and methodically making tiny improvements, we will make our museum better.

Without losing money.

Tim, Don't let the negative comments & HATERS get you down. No need to defend your actions - keep doing it your way. Some people will "never get it" but when you own a business of any type there are always things that could be done better. You have spent your entire life doing it your way I in my opinion what you have accomplished is nothing short of amazing. Keep up the great work and thanks again for all you have done for charity & the hobby over the years.

One thing I neglected to mention on my last post was how impressed I was with the addition of merch. In the past I've had issues finding the right size or color of a shirt I wanted and I was pleasantly surprised with the selection you now offer.

I now own a black, grey and blue version of your shirts and the quality is top notch.

Can you post a photo of you sporting one of the T-shirts?

Can we buy shirts online now?

Your takeaway from Tim's post is that he wants to get into e-commerce?

Just hoping to get a t-shirt since I don't know when I'll get to Vegas.

I thought they were tie dye shirts??

They have tie dye along with many other colors.

Yes, we have a broken record, but HATERS? I guess we are reading a totally different thread. Nobody is hating, sheesh.

It’s great to know that a long term plan is in the works, and I greatly respect all that has been accomplished, and also for the pride you take in your work. Well done, keep it up!

I think that everyone has a lot of love for their idea of the best pinball museum in the world, and we all hope that Tim’s vision will be completed as soon as possible. Hopefully Tim’s long term plan will become everything to everyone; it certainly has progressed very well in the last couple years, and headed in the right direction.

Just wanted to say it's an LED sign that looks like Neon.
While beautiful, it will be partially blocked when viewed from Northbound Las Vegas Boulevard by the Dream Hotel-Casino now under construction.

Not sure it's to die for, but High Impact Signs designed, built and installed it for aboot $530,000.00

Tim paid cash for it, so he's gotta be doing something right.

Having had my hands in a few of the solid state games at TPHOF, I don’t think having a few more techs on hand will help much. A lot of those games are just plain worn out, and really need to be sold off or restored.

You need to remember the TPHOF has been in operation for a long time, and a lot of the games have been operating a lot longer than anyone every expected. Trying to fix then ends up becoming an endless game of whack-a-mole of problem, and I think that’s the state of a lot of those games.

The single greatest comment in the history of Pinside!!!

Did I read that right 5XL? Holy toledo...and selling T shirts is a no brainer

Despite what we've read here on pinside, Not all pinball players are Professional athletes.....

Kind of my point. The location has changed, sure. The spirit and philosophy of how it's run hasn't. Who cares about the location when the experience inside isn't great? You don't play the cabinet as they say

I gotta say, I’m with you on that one. I totally cracked up when I read that.

If those sell, it's time to increase food sales at tphf.

If ya'll add another design to the roster down the road, I'd love a shirt with just a large front print and nothing on the back. Cheaper to print, too!

Nothing on the back?!?

It's pinball bro!

Just got back once again and I'm happy to report that many more games are turned back on. Had a nice chat with one of the volunteers and things are going great there.

Trust me I know, all one needs to do is visit one pinball show to know most are not athletes; however they are very talented at crop dusting and not wearing deodarant ..... but 5XL? I couldn't imagine that size T

Vegas Loop "PHoF" station is in the works. Ride a superior Tesla to play pinball!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.reviewjournal.com/business/vegas-loop-station-planned-for-south-strip-2620068/amp/

Went to the PHOF today for the first time ever and it was great! Played a bunch of games I've never played before including Funhouse 2.0 and Tim even hollered at my kids to not run He was right and they only needed to be told once. Almost felt like a right of passage. Picked up a couple shirts on my way out. There are a TON of shirt designs to choose from whether you like tie-dye or solid colors, tees, tanks, etc. I'll definitely be back next time I'm visiting Vegas.