Also, the arcade features a bar that serves local beers.Īlthough the machine is operational, for display only in the museum is the Humpty Dumpty, the first pinball machine to have flippers. In addition to the expansive pinball machine selection, patrons of the museum can tackle classic arcade video games. Another 50 machines are stored in reserve, with possible plans for expansion to another location. More than 40 pinball machines are housed in the 2,500 square foot space, which was occupied by a restaurant for the previous 80 years. 2013 and in its current expanded space since early 2012. The museum has been in operation since Aug. “They know they don’t have to worry about going to a seedy place to play pinball with kids.The Asheville Pinball Museum is an arcade and bar in Asheville's Battery Park district adjacent to downtown. Guests easily could spend an hour just looking at memorabilia hung on the walls and watching the inner workings of the electromagnetic pinball machines backed with clear Plexiglas.īut most people spend their time playing, Rathbone said, especially since they don’t have to keep dropping quarters in the slots. The museum, which is closed on Tuesdays for repairs, also features a bar with sodas, snacks and a small assortment of local beers, T-shirts and other items with the museum’s logo, as well as a lounge area where guests can create rubber band art. His personal favorite – RollerGames, a paean to the 1980s roller derby television show – isn’t currently in the museum, but his favorite on the floor a few weeks ago was Cyclone, a 1988 Coney Island-themed machine with a moving Ferris wheel and a ramp with several consecutive S-curves. Among the most popular machines when it’s out is Bally’s 1992 Addams Family, the best-selling pinball machine of all time, Rathbone said. Even when machines don’t sell, Rathbone said, the museum swaps one or two a week from more than a dozen kept in the back – sometimes to replace one that needs repair, other times just to change the mix. DiBella’s plan to keep the playing floor fresh. Most of the machines in the museum are for sale, part of founder and co-owner T.C. Rathbone said people often come in looking for a specific machine - and if they can’t find it, they should try again later. One corner features three generations of Star Trek machines: Bally’s 1978 original, Williams’ 1993 The Next Generation, and Stern’s 2013 Star Trek machine. The museum also features some of the newer Stern machines, including Metallica, Ghostbusters, X-Men (the Wolverine edition) and Game of Thrones, which intones “Winter is Coming” as the game begins. Though it wasn’t playable on a recent weekend, a sign noted the museum tries to keep it in working condition and will return it to play as parts came in. The museum has Gottlieb’s 1982 Haunted House game, which has three levels on which to play: the center table, an “upstairs” platform, and a cellar that’s viewed through a window in the table.Īmong the museum’s more unusual offerings is Atari’s 1979 oversize machine Hercules, billed as the world’s largest pinball machine and featuring a billiard-size pinball. Pinball tables from the 1980s include arcade classes Space Invaders and Mr. along with more complex machines from the early to mid-1990s: the bass-themed Fish Tales, with its “casting” plunger Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone comic-themed Judge Dredd Creature from the Black Lagoon and Funhouse, with the notoriously creepy talking “Rudy” head. Visitors can play vintage machines like Jungle Princess, Sky Kings and 4 Million B.C. (That honor went to Williams’ 1979 devil-themed machine Gorgar, which says seven fairly unclear phrases and also was on the floor for play.) Playable games on the floor on a recent weekend included such 1975 Bally classics as the “Tommy”-themed Wizard, “Captain Fantastic” featuring Elton John, and the 1979 KISS-centric machine that was supposed to be the first to feature voices but wasn’t because the technology was so expensive.
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