If you’re in the Bay Area, you take part in the boom for a flat admission fee (all machines are free) at the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda. It started as a one-room collection and has since grown to have a big collection of really well maintained machines. They’re also affiliated with Free Gold Watch near Haight in SF, which has a good rotating collection of machines, both brand new movie tie-ins etc and a room of vintage electromechanical machines. It never gets old hearing the buzzing and bells from an old school machine…or putting a quarter into the Big Lebowski table and hearing “where’s the money, Lebowski!”
And, coming up in august, California Extreme will take over the Santa Clara convention center with a truly mind-bogglingly massive collection of hobbyist owned pinball machines, arcade machines, and vintage gaming electronics. It’s a blast and always one of my favorite days of the whole year.
Yes, I always love checking out a new one! I'll also recommend pinballmap.com as a good resource for finding pinball machine collections both large and small. I've used it traveling to find little arcades in old malls and great machines in laundromats.
And, coming up in august, California Extreme will take over the Santa Clara convention center with a truly mind-bogglingly massive collection of hobbyist owned pinball machines, arcade machines, and vintage gaming electronics. It’s a blast and always one of my favorite days of the whole year.