Well, this is a sad, sad day for pinball enthusiasts. And don’t laugh, we exist. Plus, you whippersnappers owe some of your favourite SEGA franchises to it.
I still remember when I was knee-high to a drunkard, being shown around a retro penny arcade near my childhood home by my dear old dad, including its prized possession: an aging Addams Family-themed pinball machine. It barely worked, the muffled spooky audio effects terrified me, and it swallowed up my dad’s 50 pence coins that otherwise would have been destined for my Freddo fund, but I still loved it.
I would demand to be taken there on a weekend, using the little train/tram thing that trundled up the nearby hill to get there, and I whiled away many a happy hour pinging those little silver ball bearings into Uncle Fester’s gob. Sorry, mate. You’re basically dead already.
Point is, pinball is a hobby near and dear to me, and so it pains me to have to report, via ArcadeHeroes, that America’s own Museum of Pinball is shutting up shop. Based in Banning, California, this is one bucket list location I’ll have to scribble off forever. The clue’s in the name: the Museum is a wonderland for fans of all things flippers and bumpers, with a cavalcade of classic games available to play from across the ages.
Cataloguing machines of every shape and size in its halls, one need only have a look at a photo of the place to get an idea of how special it is (was?), especially given that it claims to have ‘the largest collection of pinball machines in the world’. That’s, uh, quite the accolade.
Sadly, as with so many businesses in recent months, Covid-19 and its associated lockdowns proved to be the TILT in the ointment for the museum; the financial losses proved too much for them to continue operations, and so “instead of sitting on the $8 million collection, or attempting to sell it off on their own, they have gone to the popular Captain’s Auctions Warehouse in Anaheim, Calif., to auction off the equipment for them.”
Hey, right next to Disneyland. Those poor folks on Splash Mountain will drop to their watery graves, totally unaware of the tragedy unfolding mere blocks away from them.
In July, the nonprofit museum announced it was closing its doors after enduring “extensive economic challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic” and “attempts to relocate the Museum to elsewhere in Southern California” were unsuccessful. Well, I imagine moving a whole museum would be tough. Maybe I’m just weak.
“While it’s disappointing to see the Museum of Pinball close its doors, I am confident that Captain’s Auction Warehouse will steer the games in the right direction as we’ve worked together for many years,” Museum owner John Weeks said. How ironic. It took Weeks to get the place up and running, and now mere days for it all to be sold off.
As someone who feels a kinship with the pinball world, then, I share in the upset many are no doubt feeling at this sad news, and hope all the machines end up in good homes rather than the scrap pile. What? I’m not crying, don’t be absurd. It’s just dusty in here.
Hey, guys: got an Addams Family machine going cheap? And, second question: do you ship to the UK?
Are you a pinball fan? Are you upset by this news? Did you ever get to go to the Museum? Let us know below!
Via, ArcadeHeroes.
