The Pinball Hall Of Fame: Almost GAME OVER | Retail Archaeology
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- In this episode of Retail Archaeology we explore the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas. This place almost closed forever but thankfully has bee saved!
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Whoever that anonymous donor was that provided them with the remaining funds they needed, THANK YOU.
Amen
Yes Thanks 100
Agreed
I got to visit back in May right after they opened the new location. The lady working the front counter told me that one of the reasons they didn't almost make it was because LV city council wanted to tax the machines as if they were slot machines and that would have been the end for them. I think she told me they run as a non-profit not a regular business and the CC didn't like the fact they couldn't make more money off of them. Ridiculous. This place is an absolute treasure.
In what universe is it acceptable to ask a non-profit organization to pay the same tax as a big casino company making billions of dollars in profit?
@@jfwfreo ameeeerica ameeeeerica god sheeeed hiiiis graaaace on theeeeeeeee
Sounds like something the Democrats would do. They love taxes.
The casinos hate any operation that takes any business from them.
Haa haa the old there slot machines trick was getting applied 🤣..
Growing up in the 70’s I was addicted to pinball. Back then 1 play cost $.10. You got 3 plays for $.25. Great memories!!!
Those were the days, I remember 10 cnts.one play ,quarter 3 plays, yup bk then u could do a lot with simple change.70's we use to play all day till dark in the summer at 7 elevens & all night stores when we could get away with staying out till dark.
The worst part about stepping into a time portal is having to step back out. All the same, glad this one survived. Heck of an archive. Thanks for the tour.
It's like experiencing "true level."
I'm glad they managed to survive. I've still never been to Vegas, but this will be one of the first places I visit if I do.
By the way, there's a place in San Francisco on Fisherman's Wharf with tons of old electro-mechanical games. You would love it if you're into that kind of stuff.
I thiink all the machines used to be in the Cliff House that is now gone.
@@Idelia412 I think the Cliff House old arcade games moved to fisherman’s wharf.
The museum is called Musee Mechanique and its still in Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. When it was in its old location (Cliff House), some of its old arcade games were actually featured in the movie The Princess Diaries!
Close to the LV Sign so good to include the two in short day trip. there's also a Harley Davidson Store between with a snack bar. Gotta do vegas....
I've been to both places!! It's cool to see somebody mention the SF one. Awesome place. My dad loved the Pinball place in Vegas. His era of game, really cool place as shown in the video
Most amazing of all is that Tim knows how to fix all these machines!
That Disney injection mold machine was also refitted for Zoos. I remember getting a ton of them at a zoo in Tennessee. Nice catch.
I used to get them at the L. A. Zoo, but I could have sworn that they were made of wax.
They were (are) found at a lot of public "amusement" places. I got my stegosaurus at the Field Museum in 1963 and at least as of 2002 you could still get one there.
The Machines were made in Chicago and that's where the majority of the still operating ones are.
The San Antonio Zoo Too
And the Miami Zoo, at least in the late eighties. Those most likely were lost to a hurricane named Andrew...
The Milwaukee County Zoo has a bunch of them under the name Mold-O-Rama. I have a complete collection of small wax animals atop my bookcase that I'm looking at while I type this.
We literally make trips to LV just for this place. So much history and the cat is awesome.
They have 4 cats now
As a pinball fan for the last 40 years, I'm putting this on top of my bucket list. Great video.
the giggle after you said "i dont think you'll have any trouble finding this place because of the sign" was a top 10 gigg
I do come here everytime I visit Vegas!!
This place is a national treasure!!
Ahhh…Vac-U-Form!!! We used to have one at the Zayre’s store - sort of like a K-Mart style place from the ‘60’s - in a suburb south of Chicago called Chicago Heights. It was always a MUST DO event when we got there to shop!
Also…over the years and probably currently, too…there were several of these machines at the Museum of Science and Industry on Chicago’s lakefront. We still have a U-505 submarine and a brachiosaurus we got as kids when we went there on field trips. The company might have been in Chicago..I remember these poor machines were notorious for breaking down because of their fussy innards. But…oh, the sweet smell of melting plastic and the joyous expectation you felt as your souvenir was being molded…Priceless!!
Plus…growing up living over my family’s bar and restaurant…I played many a game of bumper pool, skee-ball bowling and every pinball game the local mafi…um…”supplier” was pushing at the time….oh…plus slot machines! As a child! Lordy…….such good times!! Clearly skewed as a youth to ultimately fall in love with Las Vegas!!
I remember finding the original location completely by accident! the family was driving to LV to my aunt's house and just happened to pass it along the way, luckily I was staying for a while so I definitley made sure we could pay them a visit or two... man what a massive arcade! yeah IDK casinos never really did it for me I'd rather spend my quarters at a place like this! I do remember the story about how this place almost closed for good, eternally grateful to whoever the mysterious donor was!
The Pinball Hall of Fame is one of my favorite locations ever. I just recently came back to Southern Nevada and can't wait to get back and even start volunteering there to help Tim and the rest of the crew out!
Tim has warehouses full of machines - he probably just needs time to get them shopped out so they can move onto the floor - I wouldn't expect those gaps between machines to last too long.
my dad still works on pinball machines, i used to work with him when i was younger (12 to 14 years old) doing the PM work (cleaning play field, changing burned out bulbs, changing bumper rubbers). On the older machines especially the electro mechanical those top half glass pieces are stenciled and hand painted incredibly hard if not impossible to get replacements for. Always gave me a panic attack if i ever had to pull those glasses off. Thank you for the video!
I have an original ballys Star Trek and Williams Space Shuttle pinballs with the back glass in excellent condition. I can image how much those back glasses are worth.
There's videos here on YT of home arcades people post. Amazing stuff. I cannot even imagine how cool it would be to have a basement pinball arcade. WAY better than a theater in book.
@@johndough23 As collectors items go my pinball bank is worth way more than what I paid for it. But the machines do require maintenence so there is a cost.
The Disney machine is called a Mold a Rama and they are all over the US. Each machine is unique to its location, whether it's a museum or amusement park. Dolphins, to trains, to Wienermobiles. They are actually pretty cool to see all the different options. I usually group them with the smashed pennies, a cool souvenir machine.
I could easily spend all day in this place. It does bring back lots of great memories.
The Toy Factory machine is very cool -- Thank-you for profiling it. I first went to Disney World (Florida) in 1981, and I do not recall having seen anything like that during my visit.
I know the Milwaukee Zoo in WI and maybe some Kalahari resorts have those machines that make regular animal shapes
I know the museum of science and industry in Chicago has one too.
I remember getting toys from machines like this at old school rest stops on I-95 heading south in the early 70s.
I have visited this one, as well as the Seattle Pinball Museum and the Silverball Arcade in Ashbury Park New Jersey. All very good.
I was here in April. I didn't know that they were ever in trouble. Good to hear that they've been saved, but hopefully the city leaves them alone and they can work towards operating in the black, going forward. Thank you filming/showing this!
I was there last month and it is an incredible place. So many games I remember playing with my father when I was a child. I was in 20 different casinos on my trip but this was my favorite place.
My grandfather had a vending business in western Massachusetts. Pioneer vending was the name. He had pool tables, pinball machines, regular vending machines of the like. It was a phenomenal business! It was sold off in 1978. Wildly successful!
The only thing I'm going to miss about the old locations is that you used to be able to pop next door to the Crown & Anchor for a pint, then back in for more pinball. Will be headed to the new locations in a few weeks and I can't wait.
Fun fact, Shrek is a direct clone of the Family Guy pinball machine, right down to the mini pinball field up top.
Welcome back to my neck of the woods! This location is great. It looks a lot more like a museum now rather than a pinball centric arcade. And I'm sure that is at a great relief to the owner!
I've actually seen one of those toy injection machines before, multiple of them in fact, at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. I remember they had a fair number of them scattered around the building and each one would give you a figurine based off various Seattle landmarks. Not sure if they're still there but they were a lot of fun to try and find.
This will be my next stop when in Vegas dragging the family so dad can re-live his childhood. Great video again
I’ve seen several of the injection molded machines, Universal Studios Orlando has 3 that I know of and Third Man Records (owned by Jack White of the White Stripes) has one. Universal still produces new molds every often for their machines.
I can't believe they have the "Bow and Arrow" pinball machine. I spent so many quarters on that machine in the late 70's at the local Time Zone arcade. Anyone else remember Time Zone? Those were good times. Man, I'm old....
Thanks for the tour! I was at the old place years ago and loved it. My friends have to drag me outta there, I never wanted to leave.
I use to repair pinball games many years ago.They can be very challenging to repair sometimes. Thanks for sharing.
Oh My God, that bowling PIN so brings back memories. I remember going to the boardwalk arcade in the 80's and they had one of those. Think a local arcade had a mechanical baseball themed machine which was fun. Great video, love watching these (especially while locked down :( )
The Disneyland machine is made by Mold-a-Rama. They are a Chicago local company that still exists and maintains these old machines in the Chicagoland area! They are in Many museums around the area and Brookfield Zoo! My wife and I still buy these everytime we visit.
I used to love the ones at Brookfield zoo! My grandpa lived in walking distance from the zoo
I remember when every amusement park in Southern California had its own Mold-a-Rama’s they were very popular back in the day
A Mold-a-rama machine, wow! There are still a number scattered around the country. Probably a couple dozen at museums and other public attractions, and some in private collections. Uncommon, but amazing. There are restorationists keeping them alive, and sharing the toys and keeping old molds in circulation.
We went there after seeing your first video on the place, when it was still at the old location. All the way from the Netherlands. And this was by far the best place we went to in Vegas!
I must go there next time I am in Vegas. Being born in the late 60's I have not been in a proper arcade in several decades. Thank you for posting the video. One word = Awesome.
I visited the old location
can't wait to see the new one
I cannot wait to explore this place. I remember some of those pinball machines and video games from the 1980's.
Travel Town, Griffith Park in Los Angeles had one of the those injection mold machines that spit out little train locomotives in the 1980's and I think that Knott's Berry Farm had them during that time too.
Travel Town, Griffith Park totally remember that place. There's even a Columbo episode filmed at TT. Do you remember "Zups By The Zoo" John?
@@johndough23 I'm afraid I never made it there and only heard about it after it was gone.
@@johndornoff They had burgers there which had like a 1/2 of pure beef with all the fixins for like 99 cents We used to hit it every lunch hour when I was in HS there. The building was like an old Auto Garage. Barely turned into a burger place. The floors were still like a garage.
Glad its been saved, i visited the old place on Tropicana ave in 2016. Choc full of pinball goodness may never get there again but i have all the pictures i took on my PC so there always a great reminder...thanks for posting and thank you everyone for saving this great place. All the best from UK.
Crazy! I just visited here today, and popped on youtube when I got home and there your video was. This place was amazing, truly love the EM and williams system 9 machines, so much fun. Can't wait to go back with more change. I love how all proceeds got charity, and the story behind the founder. Pretty amazing this place exists. Would like to meet Arnie someday
Wow this is a trifecta. Not only do I like this channel, but then you do a video about the Pinball Hall of Fame, AND to top it all off you do a special mention of the Shrek pinball machine, which I was the lead programmer on!! The game was a re-art of a Family Guy pinball made the year before, but I came up with the mode ideas, and a lot of the speech, and put all those ideas into the game!! I'm glad you like it!!
The Molding machines were at the Worlds Fair and is now in the museum at the foot of the Space Needle. It molds a gold color small Space Needle. When I went to the Worlds Fair in Seattle as a kid I used one of the machines to get a molded Space Needle. We lived at the time outside of Seattle during the fair.
Thanks for giving these guys another look. They are the best thing on the strip. I have lived here 30 years and watched it evolve. It is one of the best places to visit here. It isn't well known but the Pinball Museum also contributes a lot of funds to charities in our city. I'm glad our community could give a little back to them.
The old location was mind blowing when I went There in 2013 ! New place looks amazing as well .
Very good and informative video! We went to the "old" PHOF in 2005 with my 6 year old.
He loved it and we will return this one soon (He's now 22).
Great video! I was just at the Pinball Hall of Fame in September. Cool to see it on video! Also, the Milwaukee County Zoo has the exact same toy mold machines as the Disneyland one, and they are still in use all around the zoo today! Of course, the toys are just molds of animals, not Disney. Keep up the great work!
OMG TOP SKATER, I'd make the 3,000 mile trip just for that. I miss that game. I used to get S rating every time as people would look on in astonishment, played it for years, was actually literally just looking to see if any were for sale like a week ago randomly, I bet I suck ass at it now, but damn I'd love to play again. It sucks having certain games basically disapear / become unavailable to you forever. My childhood arcade is long gone. This place looks legendary.
I live in Las Vegas and I've driven by the old location many times but never went in. I think I'll visit. This was a great video!
Just as a side note, Universal Orlando has some updated versions of the Injection Mold figure creator that they have used during the holidays recently. Been at their tribute stores.
I visited there for the first time a few weeks ago.
It's really something how they keep those old machines in working order.
We still have these wax figure machines at Zoo Miami here in Miami.
We've owned pinball machines dating back to my early childhood in the late 60s. In the early 80s we opened an arcade when the Pac Man craze started and kept it operating for about 5 years. We had a nice mix of old and new pinball machines. Next trip to Vegas means a stop at this new location. I wasn't aware they were relocating, so good for them. BTW, we had a bowling machine when I was little, but it had a puck instead of ball, and you had a powder to keep the lane slick. It finally met it's end and no one was able to bring her back. Great video and walk down memory lane.
PHOF has a baseball that works like that
As much as I don't like Vegas, I'll go just to hit this place. I love and miss old arcade games so much. Between the ages of 7-13, I lived in arcades.
Vegas has much more to do than gamble. I stayed in a casino hotel and did very little gambling.
@@karenelizabeth1590 Oh, I know that... I just really dislike Vegas. lol
I've been waiting for another Pinball video, this is perfect, 100% amazing, love the Pluto maker!!
Pinballz in Austin, TX has a hefty collection and several locations.
Is it a not for profit and money goes to charity? Not if they have more than one location
I also visit the pinball museum when I visit Las Vegas. I have a Williams No Fear in my pinball bank that was originally located at Disneyland's Space Arcade. It still has the license sticker required by the city of Anaheim and the Disneyland maintenance log.
I think this video fits in with all the others. These machines would have been found in Malls and Grocery Stores across America.
I played a ton of these last week at the pinball museum in ashevill NC. So awesome
I loved playing pinball and spent many hours and quarters learning different machines. My favorite was Bally’s Happy Days 8 Ball. If I ever get back to LV I will have to visit.
If you're in Chicago, the museums there have mold-a-ramas and Ive always enjoyed them since I was a kid.
Universal Studios Florida has 2 of the Mold-o-Rama (or Mold-o-Matic) machines that they use in their tribute store. They change out the molds by season. I love the Pinball Hall of Fame, been there 3 or 4 times and recommend it to everyone who goes to Las Vegas.
Apperantly the old zoo use to have a thing like that Pluto toy maker but I haven’t been in a while
Looking forward to going to Vegas to see this new location! Thanks!
Omg 😍😍😍 I know where I'm stopping next time I'm in Vegas! Thank you 😊
Nice vid. Great to see the new space, can’t wait to go back and check it out. I was surprised you didn’t mention the Pinball Circus though as that’s the only one available to the public in the world, one of two cabinets made.
I remember going to the old pinball location on a school field trip. The owner was there talking to us and he seemed pretty cool. Definitely going to check this out!
Three Mold-a-Matics were at Free Play Orlando this weekend. You can see them on many of the 2021 videos people are posting on RUclips.
Every time I go to Vegas, PHOF is a must visit. This is actually the 3rd location of it, before they went to the strip, it was locatated on Tropicana for quite a while. Before that, I was also in the same area, but I don't remember where exactly. I love their collection and also the non-pinball stuff. The crane machines from the 30's in your video are awesome! I remember we've got all the rubber ducks out of one of it, great day, big fun!! There also some of these injection molding machines at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI.
Didn't know that they moved. Good update video. The old location did have a great Retro video game store next to it.
The Disney injection mold machine:
They had those in the plazas on the turn pike in Florida. The were kind of like cookies out of an oven. Warm and smelled good. Only you couldn’t eat them. LoL
I rennet oranges and dinosaur options. That was in the early 70’s.
Brings back memories.
Thanks!
This place has been on my bucket list... hoping to get there next time i'm in Vegas
Looks like an amazing place. I got nostalgic for my childhood just watching this video. Awesome.
Sinbad was my first pinball machine I ever played. about 1979.
this place is amazing. can’t wait to go back one of these days
Wow! Didn't know they moved. I went to the old location back in the day. I will have to go back to Vegas soon to see it!
I love this place! GREAT place to spend an afternoon with your family for much less money then you would spend on the strip or seeing a show. One of the best parts of visiting this place is that they have some machines occasionally that never made it into production; one of a kind, or near one of a kind. I played a vertical pinball called "The pinball circus." Great fun, and a once in a lifetime opportunity to actually play a vintage, never produced machine.
In Western NY, we have a billiards place by me that has over 70 pinball machines, but most of them are fairly modern (1980's and newer).
Nice editing and camera work , great narration, enjoyed this.
So glad I got to go this past year. My only problem was I did not have enought time to play everything I wanted. Thanks for sharing
yoo that disney mold machine was interesting, never saw any of those before
Looks a lot better than when I visited back in the early 2000's.
Glad you talked about Hollywood Heat I love that machine! Also, the Shrek machine is a reskin of the Family Guy machine
I was there a few days back. Great place and the new sign looks great!
Up till a few years ago, the LA Zoo had some of those working plastic injection machines
@2:18 is generations of kids favorite machine in and around Chicago. Every museum and zoo had them, I still have a couple left. Not sure how many are still used, but there was a mini news segment about them on tv, probably WTTW or WGN a few years ago.
When I was a kid in Chicago, pinball machines were illegal, even though they were made in Chicago. (Sorta like how Jack Daniels is distilled in a dry county, lol.) I don't think I played a pinball game until I was 18 or older...
Those plastic injection molding machines were all over when I was a kid. Brookfield Zoo had them, so did the Museum of Science and Industry. I remember a lot of them, used to have a few, and no, I don't have any of them anymore.
Oh my gosh, the toy machine is really cool. I like that style of Pluto. 5:50 I wonder what was in that huge gumball machine.
Funny thing is you mentioned how some older pins had basically the exact same layout but different names. Shrek pinball by Stern is identical to Family Guy pinball (which was right next to Shrek at the PHoF). The only difference between the two games is the paint/theme. The layout, rules, and over game are exactly the same.
During the summer my gf & I left tonopah to go to Vegas for a day and made it a must to check out the new location. She never been to the old one or this new one. We were blown away by how big it was! I told her the old location wasn't as huge.
thankfully a place like this can still go on
One of the last times we were there at the old location, the Disneyland machine worked.
Great look at their new digs I love to visit them one day
Mold-o-rama machines are more common than your research indicated. I came back from a trip to Chicago with half a dozen models from two museums. I also have models from machines in Gatorland in Florida.
I was there a few months ago, found a couple machines i had been missing from my youth.
I liked the old location better. Like you said many people didn’t know it was there but that made it better. Additionally they clearly have issues with young kids doing things in there, like climbing on games, just look at all the signage they have about it. Wasn’t a problem at the old place.
Friend of mine has both the Q-Bert Pinball and the Baseball game in his collection.
Thank you for showing this place. On my bucket list. Museum of science and industry had those mold makers in it. Oh the memories of all the pinball . 💗💗💗💗
Cheers for the video mate. As an aussie kid growing up in the 1970s I fell in love with pinball machines or pinnies as we call them in Oz. When we visited Vegas in 2010, I went to the old Arcade and loved it. Great to also see the pinnie machine where I got the first of many free games-Central Park. Give me a pinnie machine over a poker (slot) machine any day of the week!
Thanks for posting this. Very interesting.
I remember buying a plastic dinosaur using the injection moulding machine in Disneyland Florida in the late 70's.
The zoo close to my house in Illinois (Brookfield Zoo) has those molding machines! They make statues of animals which are pretty neat!