While Weeks says he would love to open his doors to the public more often, he doesn’t have enough manpower to share his games more than a few times a year, Giamo writes. “People call me insane, because I could rent this building out for a year instead of having it open for two or three days.”īecause many of the pinball machines are old and there are few people left who still build them anymore, they require a lot of upkeep – work that’s hard to do if you’re one person managing a collection as big as Weeks’.
“A lot of people go ‘I don’t want you to touch my machine,’ but I want to share,” Weeks tells Yarbrough. But it’s not because Weeks is trying to keep your grubby mitts from smudging the glass on his precious machines – in fact, it’s the opposite. Unfortunately, for fans of classic games, the Museum of Pinball is only open a couple of times a year for special occasions. Some of the oldest machines date back to 1855, before the iconic spring launcher mechanism was patented, Cara Giaimo reports for Atlas Obscura. There’s Joust, a two-player pinball version of the classic arcade game, as well as the hybrid arcade game and pinball machine, Baby Pac Man. Weeks’ collection includes pinball games like Big Bang Bar (there were less than 200 ever built) and Hercules, a novelty that features cue balls instead of the usual metal pinballs. Museum visitors not only get a chance to test their skill at classic pinball games, but can try their luck at some rare oddities, as well. The museum was founded by collector and former arcade owner John Weeks, who spent decades amassing his collection, Beau Yarbrough writes for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. The Museum of Pinball in Banning, California, just about a 20-mile drive from Palm Springs, holds one of the largest collections of quarter-sucking games, housing about 800 vintage and modern pinball machines and arcade games in a massive warehouse that once housed aircraft parts. The world’s largest pinball museum is opening its doors – and flippers – to the public for a limited time. (Tony Soprano) swears.If you’ve been secretly ( or not so secretly) pining for another shot at that pinball machine that drained all the quarters from your pocket as a kid, this might be your lucky weekend. Sexy Girl pinball game: “This game, when you play it, she undresses.”.Satan’s Hollow arcade game, the most overtly diabolical of the games at the museum.Medusa pinball game: “There’s only 10 of these with the nipple showing” in the backboard illustration.THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL MACHINES AT THE MUSEUM OF PINBALL Torpedo Alley pinball game: “This was made in the late ‘80s.Star Gazer pinball game: “It’s got a lot of spinners it’s very cool.… It travels across the field and you have to hit it with the ball. Dracula: “It’s got magnets under here and will slow the ball.Blue Note pinball game: “People wouldn’t think the old ones have any tricks to them.”.MUSEUM OF PINBALL OWNER JOHN WEEKS’ FAVORITE MACHINES Mata Hari pinball game, one with a playfield made with plastic, one with a playfield made of wood: “It’s rare to see a plastic playfield.”.Jousthead-to-head pinball game: “Only 402 were made,” Weeks said.Hercules, an oversized pinball game that uses cue balls instead of pinballs.Big Bang Bar pinball game, only 200 of which were ever made.Information: THE RAREST MACHINES AT THE MUSEUM OF PINBALL.Ticket:: 3-day pass: $110 for adults, $55 for kids 3-12 one-day prices vary by day.Where: Museum of Pinball, 700 South Hathaway, Banning, CA 92220.That first year, the Arcade Expo attracted 3,500 gaming fans and hundreds more attended last year. His collection, housed in a warehouse across from the Banning Municipal Airport, was a private affair before he threw open the doors to the public, one weekend a year, in 2015. He sold all the games he originally owned but started buying them again in the 1990s.
Weeks owned arcades in the 1980s before switching over to the mail-order business.
His collection of more than 600 pinball and 300 arcade machines includes games dating back to 1855 (a game where a ball drops down a board with pins hammered into it, similar to Japanese pachinko), but most of the games were built between 19. “If there’s a duplicate, it’s because something is different, like a plastic playfield instead of wood,” said John Weeks, the owner of the museum. The third annual Arcade Expo, featuring more than 1,000 classic pinball and arcade games, returns to the Museum of Pinball March 17-19. If, ever since you were a young boy (or girl), you’ve played the silver ball, you’ll want to go to Banning, and get to play them all.
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