One of the coolest Vegas attractions that probably gets overlooked with everything else is vying for your attention in Sin City, is located just off the strip on East Tropicana...Tim Arnold's Pinball Hall of Fame!
Located in a dimly lit strip mall with an unassuming sign, it's easy to overlook. It's in a dodgy area across from the now defunct Liberace Museum, however, a mere five-minute drive from the strip, it is well worth the trip.
The name is a bit of a misnomer, as the Pinball Hall of Fame has not only Pinball machines, but a variety of classic arcade games and my favorite, an air hockey table. I rock at air hockey!
There are many things that make this place so awesome. It's interactive. It's not just a museum, you can touch and play all of the machines. They have some very old games here, even as far back as the 1930's. Some of the old machines are fairly tame and dull for modern sensibilities, but it's just cool to be able to play something from the past. Most of the machines have a card with historical information and dates on the game and specifically on the origins of the particular machine. The prices are mostly low, especially for the older games, so ten dollars worth of quarters will carry you quite far.
The hall of fame is a charitable organization. They donate the proceeds to various groups. Here is a picture of one of their donation checks. That's a lot of quarters!
A big brouhaha occurred when Elton John used the Pinball Hall of Fame for a video shoot. For his use of the space, he agreed to give them money to be donated to charity and free tickets to his Vegas show. He never made good on his promise and his reps didn't get back to the owners of the museum. It made it to the local papers.
Here is a picture of one row of Pinball machines. The space is quite large and they have about eighty more machines in storage that they use to rotate out. We were told that if you are looking for a specific machine to call a month ahead and if they have it in storage, they will make efforts to get it into the hall for your visit. Very cool!
I love gators...so one of my favorites is Wack-A-Gator!
One of the better Pinball Machines is the Ripley's Believe it or Not.
Here is an old basketball game.
Playing it for the first time, Dan managed to get the high score on Mad Planets! It looks like having a classic arcade machine in our living room has sharpened his overall gaming skills!
Lastly, leaving the Pinball Hall of Fame, we saw this great handicap parking space sign in the parking lot.