Pacific Pinball Museum
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The Majorettes pinball machine at the Pacific Pinball Museum
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 Location of Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda
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| Established | 2004 |
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| Location | Alameda, California, USA |
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Type | Pinball machines |
| Director | Michael Schiess |
| Website | pacificpinball |
The Pacific Pinball Museum is a museum that showcases the history of pinball machines since 1879. The museum is located in Alameda, California, in the United States.[1][2]
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.[3] 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.[4] The museum has a gift shop that sells pinball themed merchandise. It also has a museum board, and two additional staff members besides Schiess.[5]
Collection
The museum's exhibitions include approximately ninety pinball machines ranging from 1879 until today.[2] They are arranged in chronological order.[4] 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.[2][6] The oldest machine, from 1879, is a Montague Redgrave Parlor Bagatelle. Contemporary machines include the 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.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ SF Bay Area's Pacific Pinball Museum, 19 July 2011 by David Pescovitz, BoingBoing
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://pacificpinball.org/pinball-machines/surf-champ-visible-pin
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pacific Pinball Museum. |
- Pages with broken file links
- Pages using infobox museum with unsupported parameters
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- Amusement museums in the United States
- Museums in Alameda County, California
- Pinball museums
- History museums in California
- Buildings and structures in Alameda, California
- 2004 establishments in California
- Museums established in 2004
