{"id":6769,"date":"2014-01-02T16:04:34","date_gmt":"2014-01-02T16:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2014\/01\/02\/pinball-revival\/"},"modified":"2014-01-02T16:04:34","modified_gmt":"2014-01-02T16:04:34","slug":"pinball-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2014\/01\/02\/pinball-revival\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinball revival"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tFor $13, you can play pinball until your arms fall off at Seattle’s working pinball museum.<\/span><\/p>\n

\tSEATTLE (AP) \u2014 Link to site with gallery of pictures. http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/photos\/pinball-revival-slideshow\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\tThe two-story storefront in Seattle’s International District is filled with games from every era from the 1960s to today.<\/p>\n

\tThe museum, which houses about 50 or so machines, started in 2010 as one couple’s obsession and grew to be something they wanted to share with others, or as Cindy Martin puts it: a good solution when they ran out of space in their garage.<\/p>\n

\t"Any serious collector will tell you collecting these machines is an incurable disease," said Charlie Martin, her husband and business partner.<\/p>\n

\tThey keep the equipment fixed up \u2014 with some help from other collectors \u2014 offer brief historical information and "fun" ratings on small cards above the games and sell snacks, beer and soda to visitors from around the world.<\/p>\n

\tThe Seattle museum is one of a handful around the country celebrating a pastime that seems to be in the midst of revival.<\/p>\n

\tIn addition to the look back at pinball through the ages, the 1,900-square-foot space also features a glimpse of the future. In December, four one-of-a-kind artist-made machines were on display and \u2014 of course \u2014 were playable.<\/p>\n

\tThe Martins own dozens more pinball machines and constantly move machines in and out. The oldest machine in the building was made in 1963, but they have a few from the 1930s they keep at home.<\/p>\n

\tCollector’s Pinball Passion Lights Up SeattlePlay videoCollector’s Pinball Passion Lights Up Seattle
\n\tThe Martins continue to buy the newest pinball machines on the commercial market and just installed a state-of-the-art Star Trek game. Many of their machines are limited edition models, but games enthusiasts are also likely to find a favorite machine from their youth.<\/p>\n

\tThe museum, which isn’t a nonprofit, averages about 15,000 visitors a year. It isn’t a profitable operation, although Charlie Martin said they’re "holding steady." Both Charlie and Cindy Martin also continue to work full-time jobs.<\/p>\n

\tIt’s smaller and less well known than the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas or the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda, Calif., but Charlie Martin said they’re happy staying small. "We’re very comfortable with where we’re at right now," he said. "We don’t want a mob scene."<\/p>\n

\tA couple from the Seattle area spending a day holiday shopping in Seattle and acting like tourists made a stop at the museum recently.<\/p>\n

\t"This was the No. 1 thing we wanted to do," said Lisa Nordeen, of Kirkland, Wash. She and her husband John spent two hours at the museum, as long as their parking meter allowed and until they started thinking about lunch.<\/p>\n

\tRichard Dyer, a University of Washington law student from Chicago, brought out-of-town visitors to the museum.<\/p>\n

\t"It’s very Seattle to me," Dyer said.<\/p>\n

\t____<\/p>\n

\tContact Donna Blankinship at https:\/\/twitter.com\/dgblankinship<\/a><\/p>\n

\t___<\/p>\n

\tIf you go:<\/p>\n

\tSEATTLE PINBALL MUSEUM: Seattle, https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Seattle- … 7786915560<\/a> . Adults, $13, discounts for children. Open Thursday through Monday, varying hours listed on website.<\/p>\n

\tPINBALL HALL OF FAME: Las Vegas, http:\/\/www.pinballhall.org\/<\/a> . No entrance fee, but pay to play the games. Open every day at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n

\tNATIONAL PINBALL MUSEUM: Baltimore, http:\/\/www.nationalpinballmuseum.org\/homepage.html<\/a> . Closed while museum looks for a new home.<\/p>\n

\tPACIFIC PINBALL MUSEUM: Alameda, Calif., http:\/\/pacificpinball.org<\/a> . Adults, $15, discounts for children. Open Tuesday through Sunday, varying hours listed on website.<\/p>\n

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Replies:<\/h3>\n
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Posted by:<\/strong> Scan on January 4, 2014, 2:09 am<\/p>\n

There is an amazing pinball museum in Asbury Park NJ<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For $13, you can play pinball until your arms fall off at Seattle’s working pinball museum. SEATTLE (AP) \u2014 Link to site with gallery of pictures. http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/photos\/pinball-revival-slideshow\/ The two-story storefront in Seattle’s International District is filled with games from every…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}