Pinball Hall of Fame

The cultural news here in Las Vegas this week was that the Pinball Hall of Fame, once located a few miles from the Strip in the suburbs, is relocating to a new location in a bigger building in a prime spot right down the street from the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. That's wonderful news.

In a city that has so many things to do, the Pinball Hall of Fame is one of the homiest. It is not a hall of fame in the traditional sense, like the one for baseball or rock and roll. There are no plaques, and no voting. It's more of an interactive museum, with dozens of pinball machines, most of them vintage, still in working order and ready for your quarters. There is also a row of old video arcade games, like Pac-Man and Asteroids, certain to press the Baby Boomer's nostalgic button.

Pinball goes back to the 18th century, when the spring launcher was invented. It wasn't until 1931 that coin operated machines were invented, and a few years later they were electrified. The Pinball Hall of Fame doesn't have any that old, but they do have some from the 1950s, along with some arcade baseball games and duck bowling machines. They also keep up with the times, with air hockey and pinball machines that are so elaborate they look like something from NASA. Adorned with celebrities and characters like Kiss and Batman, they have multiple levels and more flippers and bumpers that I can count.

I've been a few times, and it's a great place to kill an hour or two. Unfortunately, I suck at pinball--no wizard I, and therefore go through my quarters faster than someone skilled. If only they had an old Mousetrap game--that was what I played in college, heading to the student union with a fistful of quarters. Pinball was really the game of my father's generation.

Nevertheless, one can stroll through the rows of machines and find those that grab him and play to one's heart's content. For refreshment the Hall has a machine that sells ice cream novelties and even has a microwave for heating up Hot Pockets. It's a great place to take kids who may know only Call of Duty--my friend and I took her two teenagers and they seemed to greatly enjoy themselves, ending up playing a lot of air hockey, a timeless game, I think.

I'm eager to see their new digs, but I will miss the quiet, unobtrusive location on Tropicana. The new place was bought for over four million dollars, which is a lot quarters (16 million, I guess).