SEATTLE — For $13, you can play pinball until your arms fall off in Seattle's working pinball museum.

The two-story storefront in Seattle's International District is filled with games from every era from the 1960s to today.

The museum, which houses about 50 machines, started in 2010 as one couple's obsession and grew to be something they wanted to share with others or, as Cindy Martin puts it, a good solution when they ran out of space in their garage.

“Any serious collector will tell you collecting these machines is an incurable disease,” said Charlie Martin, her husband and business partner.

They keep the equipment fixed up — with some help from other collectors — offer brief historical information and “fun” ratings on small cards above the games and sell snacks, beer and soda to visitors from around the world.

The museum is one of a handful across the country celebrating a pastime that seems to be in the midst of revival.

In addition to the look back at pinball through the ages, the 1,900-square-foot space features a glimpse of the future. In December, four one-of-a-kind artist-made machines were on display.

The Martins own dozens more pinball machines and constantly move machines in and out. The oldest machine in the building was made in 1963, but they have a few from the 1930s they keep at home.

The Martins continue to buy the newest pinball machines on the commercial market and just installed a state-of-the-art “Star Trek” game. Many of their machines are limited-edition models, but games enthusiasts are likely to find a favorite machine from their youth.

The museum, which is not a nonprofit, averages about 15,000 visitors a year. It isn't a profitable operation, although Charlie Martin said they're “holding steady.” Both Charlie and Cindy Martin also continue to work full-time jobs.

It's smaller and less well-known than the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas or the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda, Calif., but Charlie Martin said they're happy with staying small.

“We're very comfortable with where we're at right now,” he said. “We don't want a mob scene.”

Read more: http://triblive.com/usworld/nation/5350558-74/pinball-museum-machines#ixzz2pO33b7wu 
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The Verge has a beautiful Photo Essay about Modern Pinball in NYC and the resurgence of the game including interviews with Co-Owners Steve Epstein and  Steve Zahler.

Go check it out! http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/3/5171092/shoot-again-pinball-bounces-back-in-new-york-city

NEW YORK CITY -- If they can make it here, they can make it anywhere. Pinball guru Steve Epstein is bringing the classic coin-op game back to Manhattan, but not in an arcade. Modern Pinball NYC on 3rd Ave. between 26th and 27th Streets is an interactive showroom featuring brand-new pinballs and refurbished models, dating back to the early solid-state era (late 1980s). The retail showroom, where every game is for sale, is only 1,450 square feet, but it tidily packs up to 35 games. Small quarters in the back can be used for parties or as a staging area for events. Modern Pinball NYC is an official distributor for Jersey Jack Pinball, which began shipping its Wizard of Oz flipper game earlier this year. New games from Stern Pinball are also for sale, and are supplied and shipped by Modern Pinball's allied resellers, including Tilt Amusements (Ostrander, OH). 


The pinball venue is roughly the same size of Epstein's former Broadway Arcade, (the second one at 52nd St.), which closed in 1996. Its clientele comprised local coin-op fans, Broadway cast members and celebrities like Roberta Flack, Matthew Broderick and Paul Simon. Lou Reed held his wedding reception -- with 50 guests, cake and gifts -- at the Broadway Arcade. The musician and songwriter died on Oct. 27, the same day Modern Pinball NYC "unofficially" opened for a private party to celebrate the second birthday of Epstein's twin grandsons.

Nostalgia aside, Modern Pinball NYC is about a coin-op institution that has been struggling to find a place in a digital society. Since the Broadway Arcade shut down almost 20 years ago, Epstein has been a go-to guy for collectors, promoters, tournament organizers and manufacturers, and a spiritual figure to soul seekers searching for the meaning of pinball. At Modern Pinball NYC, Epstein's business partner is Steve Zahler, a 44-year-old Web developer from New Jersey, and a serious pinball collector and competitive player.

"We're going to offer white-glove service," Zahler reported. "Every machine must pass a thorough checklist. And taking care of customers is the top priority."

VT recently toured the facility and found every game in it to be in excellent working order and in pristine condition. The Addams Family (Bally/1992), Fun House (Williams/1990) and Flipper Football (Capcom/1996), along with Dr. Dude (Williams/1990), Bram Stoker's Dracula (Williams/1993) and Punchy the Clown (Alvin G. & Co./1993) are some of the solid-state games on display. Stern's Star Trek and Metallica pins, among other new titles, are also in the showroom.

Zahler grew up in New Rochelle, NY, where he spent his youth playing pinball at Nathan's. He hopes Modern Pinball NYC will introduce the classic game to kids and teens, and perhaps make it a family experience. Games on display, all set on free play, can also be played after paying a small admission fee.

With the devoted assistance of pinball enthusiasts Francesco LaRocca, Al Cihak and Eddie Cramer, among others, support for Modern Pinball NYC is growing. LaRocca is an experienced pinball tournament organizer; Cihak is a collector who has become one of the biggest pinball machine operators in the Big Apple; and Cramer is an expert at restoring games.

In addition to showcasing pinball machines and hosting special events, Epstein and Zahler are planning outreach programs to provide exposure to pinball to a much broader audience.

Epstein is a founder and co-chairman of the International Flipper Pinball Association, which is moving its official headquarters to the Modern Pinball site. The official opening of the venue will be celebrated this weekend, Nov.16 and 17, in conjunction with an IFPA tournament, the proceeds of benefiting the city's Food Bank.

Going forward, Epstein and Zahler, who is a top-ranking IFPA player in New Jersey, say tournaments will be a big part of their enterprise. Video footage of tournaments and player interviews will run on TV displays located throughout the store. TVs will also show high-score leaderboards.

The IFPA was created with the express purpose of encouraging, supporting and endorsing competitive pinball throughout the world. The organization provides oversight and assistance in establishing pinball leagues and organizing tournaments. At present, more than 450 IFPA events are staged annually.

The association endorses the World Pinball Tour events, which now boasts more than $500,000 in cash and prizes awarded each year. With 25 country directors around the world, the IFPA has created the first official player ranking system, which awards points based upon player performance. The World Pinball Player Rankings (WPPR) includes over 21,000 players from 40 different countries. And these numbers keep increasing, as people of all ages from all parts of the globe respond to the timeless appeal of the pinball machine's harnessing of Newtonian mechanics to human ingenuity to present an intriguing challenge to skill and quick reflexes.

"The staggering, explosive growth of the entire worldwide community of pinball players and enthusiasts has been nothing short of remarkable since we re-launched the IFPA just a few years ago," said association cofounder and co-chairman Roger Sharpe. "And the future has never looked brighter for pinball, with tournaments and leagues taking place around the world on an almost weekly basis. I know Modern Pinball NYC is going to become the must-visit place for everyone in the tri-state area."

For Epstein, creating a physical presence in New York City dedicated to pinball has been a long time coming. "Modern Pinball NYC will showcase the best that is pinball," the amusement industry veteran said. "And to have the IFPA headquarters based here is icing on the cake."

Modern Pinball NYC is located at 362 3rd Ave., New York, NY 10016. It's open seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Information can be had by calling (646) 415-8440; For parties and corporate events, call (908) 358-7773.

Click here for directions to Modern Pinball NYC.

- See more at: http://www.vendingtimes.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=EB79A487112B48A296B38C81345C8C7F&nm=Vending+Features&&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=738AB6924D434794930EBBAF8209912E#sthash.rNHuscIU.dpuf

There was a time in New York City when pinball was illegal, and NYC Police Commissioner William O'Brien went around smashing machines. This dark time lasted over three decades, but in the end the pinball machine won. Even if it didn't, we'd like to believe that the Sunshine Laundromat would still exist today as some sort of prohibition pinball speakeasy.

The Greenpoint laundromat—located at 860 Manhattan Avenue—has around ten machines right now, set up right in the same room where you are laundering your clothes, so bring lots of quarters.

During the NYC Marathon over the weekend, the joint even hosted a Pinball Marathon—check it out below, courtesy of Citizen Productions.

See the video via http://gothamist.com/2013/11/06/pinball.php

At Pinballz Arcade, people can hear the clanging of tokens in hands and the pinging of pinballs whizzing through machines — sounds of a seemingly bygone era that continues here
in Austin.

Darren Spohn and his wife Mikki opened Pinballz in 2010 and have provided Austin with its pinball fix ever since. Spohn has run tech and IT companies in town for 15 years, but his love for pinball machines began long before that. 

“I asked my wife ‘Do you mind if I get a pinball machine?’ and she said ‘Oh, that’s fine,’” Spohn said. “I bought it and I said ‘Well, I actually bought two,’ and then like a week later we’re out at lunch, and I said ‘Hey, I’ve got to tell you — I have seven of these now,’ and it just kind of blossomed from there.”

What began as a personal collection has now grown to more than 100 pinball machines and a cadre of old-school video and ticket-rewarding games. 

“We really felt that the town needed something different like that,” Spohn said. “It needed a kind of cool, ‘Cheers bar’ approach to running one of those. And we figured we’d give it a shot, and we opened it three years ago, and it’s been very successful.”

Pinballz is family-oriented during the day, but when the sun goes down, the atmosphere gets downright adult. Gamers stay late into the night on weekends, which may or may not be aided by the casual BYOB policy for those 21 and older.

A specialized arcade such as Pinballz did not exist in Austin outside of giant family entertainment centers. 

With more than 200 games, the biggest challenge facing the arcade is simply keeping everything running, from AC/DC pinball to Dance Dance Revolution and from the classic Skeeball to a custom-built big screen Street Fighter.
“We have over 100 games and things go constantly wrong on those,” Spohn said. “We don’t charge a lot of money for our games, so it’s a challenge with what we charge to keep everything running at 95 percent or higher.”

William “Billy” Renquen has worked on these games since the arcade opened. A certified master auto-mechanic by trade, Renquen keeps the flippers flipping at Pinballz in addition to running his own auto-shop.

“When we first opened three years ago, they were running maybe 60-70 percent, and I was fixing five to seven games a day,” Renquen said. “It took me about a year to catch up and have all of them running at once.”

Machines go down daily at Pinballz, and it’s up to Renquen and his team to get them back up.

“The machines are high maintenance,” Renquen said. “They vibrate a lot. There’s a lot of movement going on, so they fail pretty constantly — some more than others. You just work as fast as you can and as hard as you can … It’s a pride thing for me to keep them all running.”

Pinballz harkens to the early days of arcade gaming. It’s not merely the games that bring back nostalgia for an era the college generation missed.

“To us it’s rewarding that we brought in a place like that — that really ramps up Austin,” Spohn said. “It’s that really cool feeling that we brought something unique to Austin.” 

via www.dailytexanonline.com/2013/11/03/pinballz-arcade-provides-a-nostalgic-gaming-experience

For this California man, the beauty is in the classic game
By Greg Hardesty / The Orange County Register
Published: October 27. 2013 4:00AM PST

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Dave Miner used to spend a lot of time in bowling alleys.

It made sense. It was the 1980s; Southern California. He was a teenager.

Bottled water is served. No alcohol or food allowed.

But like a lot of teens who hung in bowling alleys but weren't really into bowling, Miner's alley time was spent playing pinball.

He fed a college tuition worth of quarters into the slot, trying to keep the steel balls in play long enough to earn a free game or two.

Ding-ding-ding!

Blip-blip-blip!

Tat-tat-tat!

Some might consider this a huge waste of time, and they'd have a point. But Miner found the game's simplicity appealing. And the gloriously cheesy pinball art — usually chronicling the pop culture vibe of the moment — was beautiful.

One day, when Miner saw a repairman reveal the mystery of the machine's guts, the kid from Arcadia, Calif., was transfixed.

Decades later, he's still a complete pinhead. Miner was 15, he thinks, when he bought his first machine.

He was working part-time as a computer lab assistant — a.k.a. the Epicenter of Nerd-dom — and he shelled out $300 to a guy getting rid of some machines from an arcade in Buena Park, Calif. The one Miner bought was Gottlieb Circus, with art by Gordon Morison, who in those days was one of the bigger names in pinball art.

The purchase virtually certified Miner as a lifelong geek. (He's OK with that.) It also fed his soul.

“It was a beautiful game," he said.

Over the next few decades Miner kept feeding his passion. Today, Miner, 45, a computer executive, is a celebrity in the tiny but still vibrant world of pinball. He owns one of the world's most diverse private collections of pinball machines, with pieces representing each key innovation and era in the history of the game.

Miner recently opened his 80-machine collection to the public. Some date back to the dawn of the Great Depression, when the first coin-operated pinball games were manufactured in the U.S.

Pinball Forever, Miner calls his business. Rachel Miner, Dave's daughter knows pinball history. She's 12.

She can talk about the first machines, built in the 1930s. She can talk about the big years, the '50s through the early '80s, when everything from the games themselves to the rise of bar culture to random influences like the rock song “Pinball Wizard" and the movie “Tommy" helped boost the game. She can talk about the time pinball nearly croaked (again, in the '80s), because of the rise of video games.

She can even talk about the current resurrection of pinball, as the game today is a popular niche entertainment consumed by back-in-the-day pinhead types, like Dave, and youthful hipsters, like herself.

Before she talks about all this, Rachel tapes a homemade sign to the door of the office, located at the back of a light industrial complex in Santa Ana, near Grand and Edinger Avenues.

For $20 (cash preferred), visitors can play three hours' worth of games on more than 50 of Miner's machines, most of them from the 1950s through the 1980s. Some of the older machines are relics, meant to be admired but not touched.

Paul Anderson, 48, of Mission Viejo, Calif., who started playing when he was around 12 and, today, is one of about 70 or so who play in the Orange County Pinball League (yes, it exists). He is a Pinball Forever regular.

“Some old kid at the local 7-Eleven, which was at the end of my paper route, saw how I would use both flippers at the same time. (He) took pity on me and showed me a few tips, like playing one flipper at a time," Anderson says of his introduction to pinball.

Patience, eye-hand coordination, timing, familiarity with the game, and practice, practice, practice — pinball fanatics like Anderson say those are the key skills required for strong pinball.

Miner believes there's a little renaissance going on in pinball playing these days.

Heather, his wife, has a theory about why that's true.

“People come in here, and all of the stress of the day disappears," she said. “All that matters is the silver ball."

At 10:04 p.m. -- the same time that lighting struck the clock tower giving Marty McFly's DeLorean just enough juice to charge the flux capacitor and send him back to 1985 in "Back to The Future" -- the doors to Timeline Arcade swung open.

If that sounds like an introduction to some sort of nerdy Neverland, it is. Nearly 50 people made their way up to the second floor of the Carlisle Street Heritage and Convention Center Friday, and were greeted by the celebratory bells and whistles of more than 80 classic arcade cabinets, including 17 classic pinball machines.

The venue is a perfect congregation area for pixel-obsessed Baby Boomers, Generation X and the earliest Millennials to take a nostalgic vacation; a time-traveling voyage to the back end of the 20th century, before game-console domination put arcades on the endangered-business list.

Now at its new location on 22 Carlisle Street, the Timeline Arcade is free to keep its doors open as late as 2 a.m. - a huge improvement, gamers say, from its old venue at North Hanover Mall.

"This is great," Travis Goodale, 22, of Hanover, said. "You really don't see a lot of arcade culture anymore. I missed this atmosphere. You had the mall, but it didn't feel like an arcade. It was a good setup, but the hours just didn't work out. A lot of arcade stuff happens later in the night."