Pinball Hall of Fame Museum

The NEW Pinball Hall of Fame (PHoF) opened November 3, 2009 at it’s new dedicated location at 1610 E. Tropicana, Las Vegas NV. Twice the size of the original PHoF, the new locale is much closer to ‘the Strip’. Also it’s a standalone and dedicated museum, with pinball and nothing but pinball for 10,000 square feet. The new address is 1610 E. Tropicana, Las Vegas NV 89119 (right across the street from the now closed Liberace Museum.)

Las Vegas is known for the unusual and offbeat. Places like the Neon Museum, the Clown Factory, The Elvis Museum, the Barry Manilow Store, the Pinball Hall of Fame… Wait a second. The Pinball Hall of Fame? What exactly is that? Or more importantly, why is there a Pinball Hall of Fame?

The Pinball Hall of Fame is an attempt by the members of the Las Vegas Pinball Collectors Club to house and display the world’s largest pinball collection, open to the public. A not-for-profit corporation was established to further this cause. The games belong to one club member (Tim Arnold), and range from 1950s up to 1990s pinball machines. Since it is a non-profit museum, older games from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s are the prevelant, as this was the ‘heyday’ of pinball. There are no ‘ticket spitters’ here (aka kiddie casinos or redemption). It’s all pure pinball (and a few arcade novelty games) from the past. And since it’s a non-profit, excess revenues go to non-denominational charities.

10,000 square feet is dedicated in the new facility to the Pinball Hall of Fame, where the entire family can enjoy non-violent pinball arcade games for small dinero. All machines are available for play, so not only can you see them, you can actually play your old favorites. The pinball machines are all restored to like-new playing condition by people that love pinball and understand how a machine should work. All older pinballs are set to 25 cents per play, and newer 1990s models are set to 50 cents per play. A far better return on fun than any Las Vegas casino environment, and the PHoF actually has windows and a clock in the room! It takes more than slot machines to keep tourists happy, and the Pinball Hall of Fame is trying its best to do just that.