Pacific Pinball Museum
 The Majorettes pinball machine at the Pacific Pinball Museum | |
  Location of Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda | |
| Established | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Location | Alameda, California, USA |
| Coordinates | 37°46′25″N 122°16′36″W / 37.773738°N 122.276583°W |
| Type | Pinball machines |
| Director | Michael Schiess |
| Website | pacificpinball |
The Pacific Pinball Museum is an interactive museum/arcade offering a chronological and historical selection of rare bagatelles and early games, to over 90 playable pinball machines from the 1940s to present day.
Throughout the museum are hand-painted murals, Jukeboxes and rotating exhibits. There are rooms for parties, events, field-trips and STEAM educational programs as well.
History
The museum was founded in 2004 by Michael Schiess, a former museum exhibition designer. Schiess started collecting pinball machines in 2001.[1] He decided to open his own museum after being unimpressed with the coverage of pinball history at other museums.[2] One of his first major acquisitions was thirty-six machines in one purchase. Fourteen of them were installed in a rented room, which Schiess called Lucky Ju Ju, in Alameda and a jar was placed out for donations. In 2004 the facility expanded and became a nonprofit, renaming itself the Pacific Pinball Museum. The museum expanded in 2009 displaying forty woodrail and wedge head machines from the collection of Larry Zartarian.[3] The museum has a gift shop that sells pinball themed merchandise. It also has a museum board, and two additional staff members besides Schiess.[4]
Collection
The museum's exhibitions include approximately ninety pinball machines ranging from 1879 until today.[5] They are arranged in chronological order.[3] In total, Schiess' collection comprises 800 machines. Those not on display are maintained at an 8,000-square-foot secret location.[1] Upon paying the admission fee, visitors can play any of the machines on display.[5][6] The oldest machine, from 1879, is a Montague Redgrave Parlor Bagatelle. Contemporary machines include The Addams Family and the Twilight Zone. The museum also has a transparent pinball machine from 1976 that was built by Schiess and Wade Krause. It is based on the Gottlieb "Surf Champ" game.[7] One of the most valued pieces in the collection is a 1930s-era Art Deco machine called the Bally Bumper. The machine was seized by police in Oakland during Prohibition.[1] The museum's collection has also been displayed at San Francisco International Airport.[3]
References
- ^ a b c Wright, Andy (16 July 2011). "Pacific Pinball Museum". New York Times. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
- ^ SF Bay Area's Pacific Pinball Museum, 19 July 2011 by David Pescovitz, BoingBoing
- ^ a b c Kos, Eric J. (19 November 2009). "Pacific Pinball Museum Opens". Alameda Sun. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
- ^ Santi, Dave. "PACIFIC PINBALL MUSEUM". Pinball News. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
- ^ a b Khalil, Laura. "Pacific Pinball Museum Scores High Marks". Quest. KQED. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
- ^ Northern California. Heathrow, Florida: AAA Publishing. 2012. p. 43.
- ^ http://pacificpinball.org/pinball-machines/surf-champ-visible-pin
External links
