See the World’s Largest Pinball Collection
This might be one of the most unique arcades in Las Vegas for it features over 200 different pinball games. It interestingly has some of the classic video arcade games and other past and present souvenir machines. We all know that pinball is an arcade game where a player controls one or more steel balls inside a pinball table. So imagine seeing more than a hundred of those glass-covered cabinets at the Pinball Hall of Fame!
But how did it start? It was Tim Arnold of Michigan who dreamt of it back in 1972, when he was just 16 years old. He was an avid pinball player and knew all the strategies of the game when he bought his first pinball. The kids in the neighborhood wanted to play it and being the “investor” that he was, he charged 10 cents per game in his garage. He eventually made it fancier and put his machine out in public for coin play.
He bought more used games and learned to renovate and put them out in grocery stores and laundry mats for coin play. After four years, he opened Pinball Pete’s in Lansing as a large pinball arcade which grew in popularity. By 1982, Tim and his brother a.k.a his partner were scooping up quarters into five gallon pails and taking them to the bank.
Collection of Nearly a Thousand Pinball Machines
His collection of nearly a thousand pinball machines made him move to Vegas and decided to help the less fortunate in his community. But he wouldn’t trade his collection because the distributor would only give them $50 credit in exchange for an old game. So he made a choice of just keeping all the machines, which is one of the largest collections in the world.
The Shed and Fun Night
He made use of his house, garage and tennis court for him to store and restore the games. After almost a decade, all the games were moved into a 10,000 square foot building that he built next to the tennis court which he called “The Shed” and where “Fun Night” started where he had pinball parties which grew bigger and bigger that they can no longer handle the number of people coming.
Passion to Help Charities
Tim also did other things to help local charities. He would travel around the country to conduct raffles and sell pinball-related items to raise money. He would buy, restore and operate his own games, where all proceeds went into a fund. Now he’s using his pinball machines in making money for charity for which his dream became a reality. Then came the idea of opening the Pinball Hall of Fame.
Las Vegas is known for the bizarre, the eccentric – which is why Pinball Hall of Fame is a perfect fit! It is a non-profit corporation, open to the public which is all pure pinball. Not only that the entire family can see them but can enjoy non-violent arcade games, machines that deliver fun!
So if you’re looking for a tourist spot in Las Vegas, consider this as one! Just don’t forget to bring a bunch of pennies for young ones and kids-at-heart will surely enjoy this one-of-a-kind attraction!
