Rats. No bueno when a wife who plays pinball is objectively down on the place.

She was super excited about the new location last year.

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This year, not so much. Would rather go swimming

C'mon, if you're both that cool I really can't believe you guys didn't stop by.

And anyone that's been in the hobby for at least 5 years KNOWS Tim and the PHOF's rep, good and bumpy. I've only been out there once about 8 or 10 years ago at the Trop location to help Project Pinball setup during Nationals, and didn't expect nor GET a hug from Tim. And yeah, some of the games were down. He did see me working alone at the info table for a while and brought me a drink and chips from the snack machines, so your 'Grinch' has a heart after all. Love it or hate it, no one else here has done what he has done over his lifetime, 85-95% of it by himself, and now bought and built a lplace that he admits will long outlive him.

All Clay/Shaggy's 2007-2008 podcasts are great, and the first one he had with Tim is full of great stories and history.

http://www.pinrepair.com/topcast/topcast_04.mp3

Next Level is fantastic. Just a great facility and crew. I love the carpet, lighting and decor, and the collection of machines was quite good. I hear they are getting ready to expand. In talking with the owner, he said the EMs just weren’t getting enough play to justify the cost of repairs.

It’s otherwise a really nice collection and I hope they keep it maintained at that level.

Pacific Pinball does a nice job as well. I like the rather detailed histories posted with the early machines. Just a really clean building and setup.
Supposedly, have an annex where they let volunteers fix things on scheduled work days. So, I’m guessing there’s a lot more in storage?

My next trip will likely be Pinball Perfection in PA. It sounds like they have a mix of games similar to PHoF, and I’d like to see how they are doing it. (Also, they have around 90 machines I haven’t played)

I just learned about this place that’s only a couple hours drive from me

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/past-times-arcade#post-7608190

you're next trip, if you enjoy EMs, really should be the VFW ann arbor pinball show. 500+ working/restored game, almost half are EMs.
http://vfwpinball.com/games.php

Yep skipped it. Been there 9 times. Only thing I’m missing this year is the new “stern experience” which doesn’t interest me. I can go to any other arcade in the world for a Stern experience.
Went to the new Brewdog roof top restaurant for lunch after hanging out at the pool.

We’re pumped about this! 45 minutes from us.

Fitting for a thread complaining about working games… considering that is rob berk’s collection

The VFW pin collection is one of the finest in the USA, if not the world.
Not only are the games in very good to excellent cosmetic condition,
but more importantly in good working condition and playable.
The only drawback is that the collection is only open to the general public
for a couple of weekends a year (due to local ordinance and zoning).
For diversity of eras, this collection has it all, prewar, woodrail, 60s, 70s EMs
on thru the early solid state eras, alpha numeric, DMD on thru the latest modern games.
Very few weak spots in the collection; they maybe could use a few more games from the 60s Williams era,
particularly reverse wedgeheads and the "modern look with tube legs" games that WMS put out back then.
But I doubt you will see another collection with as many games of Bally Zipper Flippers EMs, or the Classic Stern S/S games
or Zaccaria pins all in one place; including many rare low production games.
If I lived in Michigan, I would be begging Clay to join the VFW club,
where I presume members for a nominal dues fee and some sweat equity, one can gain more (private) access
to the collection on a more frequent basis.

I was there, it was a great time!

I recognize the name... was he the one who had a bunch of machines at Expo 2022?

Please do your research. Rob Berk run Expo

This is probably one reason why a disproportionate number of the phofs older/less popular games remain in disrepair. How can tim justify, not only the cost of parts, but also allocating the phofs limited qualified tech man-hours to games that take in a pittance each day? He has admitted, understandably, that those resources are being spent on more popular games which generate a larger coin drop.

I go there almost all the time. It’s the best arcade ever. There’s no other comparison.

New game in town. Past Times arcade

i spend a fair amount of time in vegas. and often help tim fix games. tim always has me work on EMs. i asked why, as i thought it was strange, given i can fix new games as well as EMs. Tim responded, "it's you and me bud, i have no one else that repairs EMs. training people to fix EMs is near impossible, and when i finally get someone trained, they leave. it's a lost art fixing EMs. People that fix EMs are either dead, dying, or just won't do it anymore."

Someone is mad

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And that someone doesn't know the difference between "there" and "their". What a looser.

I skip it too. Way too much of a disappointment every single time. Having that coin drop rip-off experience over and over gets old fast. I'd rather have fun doing something else and support operators that are local to me. They keep their machines in good running condition.

I played it at GSPF, I wasn't that impressed by it. Honestly, I'd rather have that Wacko in the back there.

Tim has a deal with Stern, he gets new games from Stern below dealers cost.

Yep, $1 saved me from a $15k mistake.

Tim on the news!

https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/the-pinball-hall-of-fame-guides-visitors-through-arcade-history/amp/

The one playing Donkey Kong?

“Largest operational pinball collection in the world that’s open to the public”. Is that true? Like largest open to the public might be true, but operational?

PHoF is the largest operational pin collection that is open daily. But it's not the largest operational pin collection (the VFW in michigan has that title.)

How about this place? https://www.pasttimesarcade.com/

Past Times Arcade: 579 total games, 351 pinball games, 228 arcades & videos

VFW: 511 total games, 487 pinball games, 24 arcades, zero videos. Operational games percentage on any give day is over 99%

So for the “Largest operational pinball collection in the world that’s open to the public”, VFW holds the title.

Little from column "A",
little from column "B"...

I'd say "open to the public" would mean having regular operating hours and not requiring pre-purchased tickets for the one weekend a year it's open.

If VFW were open the same amount of hours as PHOF, it would become quite challenging to maintain that 99% uptime.

Both institutions serve pinball enthusiasts well and should be applauded.

I'm curious the difference between "arcades" and "videos".

Anything pre video 1979 or so ? Games like Chexx, Skee Ball, Bowlers, novelty games or anything electro mechanical like rifle games.

I was as impressed by the bees hard at it in their central workshop as the games themselves. Put a stuck ball ticket in on one game, moved to the one next to it and damned if the glass wasn't off before I finished my first ball. Mad props to everyone involved there. Even many of the games I *had* played before left me walking away saying "oh, that's what that's supposed to play like."

NSDUPRR called the VFW "arcades", but he really should have said "EM arcade" machines. All EM games, like Em gun games, Em bowling games (there's a 1963 Chicago Coin 20 foot ball bowler and a 1967 Chicago Coin Skee ball bowler), Bally Skill Rolls (the complete collection of them), Genco Lucky7, Ice Cold Beer, Williams Ringer and Penny Pitch, United 1955 Derby Roll, several pitch and bat baseballs, EM helicopter game, etc etc. All derivatives of EM pinball. No video games, like zero. The VFW does not do video games. Video games were the key killer of pinball in the 1980s, so yeah, i want NO PART of video games. Go somewhere else if you want to play that.

How about the hybrids? Baby Packman, Grannies and Gators
Still pinball yet part video Those are from the Dark Side.

VFW has both

Well that’s a good positive attitude! Way to be understanding instead of a grumpy old jerk. No one around here is calling any EM rifle games junk on a site centered around those that love pinball.

We don't call cfh "Mr. Happy" for nothing....

Yes they pay us $20.00 each time.

i hear there's a site called www.vidside.com perhaps that's the site for video game people. or maybe go to the video game forum on this site... (oh wait, there isn't one...) but i'm sticking with pinball and its derivatives that use the same technology. video games nearly killed pinball. i'm not going there, they are evil...

I am going to tell you where to go to have fun because I know things. An object can’t kill another object. An object does not poses or exude moral characteristics.

Do you like hot dogs? Well fuck those things because they almost killed the hamburger industry. They are evil. Besides, I’m vegan.

There is a site where grumpy old people go to complain about things. I think it’s called Facebook. Or, maybe go to the food forum on this site (there isn’t one)?

Hey, there is no www.vidside.com!

You lied to me!

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Ironically, the video game forum (KLOV) has a sub forum for EM arcades. It could benefit from more EM folks participating over there.
https://forums.arcade-museum.com/forums/mechanical-electro-mechanical-oddities.23/

Yes, it is called Ohio

Video games helped pinball, by forcing it to evolve and become better and more interesting to play. I think pinball improved much more between '84 and '90 than it did between '78 and '84. Video games put an end to low-effort pins like Starlight and The Games. Feel free to embrace your hate, but I'll always enjoy both pins and vids

During the video game fad about 1979 to 1982 50,000 new arcades opened up in the USA. And they all couldn't get the latest and greatest video games. So often filled the spots with pinball machines.

Which really boosted pinball sales.

LTG : )