How Pinball Survived Video Games, the Mob and Politics | WIRED 

Pinball will never die. We have a pinball arcade in Tucson called D&D Pinball. They have around 35 tables and a few video games. The place is slammed on Saturday nights.

This is insane. I’m one of the locals that go here all the time and it’s not very well known so it’s amazing that there’s finally a video by WIRED about this place.

He needs to do a collaboration with @jablinskigames !!!

I love the Pacific Pinball Museum in my hometown of Alameda, Ca! Ironically we also got a retro arcade too called High Scores Arcade.

Who else remembers Space Cadet 3D Pinball

This looks like a kids childhood dream My jealousy is immeasurable

3:42 "He actually cleaned up New York City" as they are tossing slot machines into the river... smh

Amazing collection! It makes me think of the Haruki Murakami short story Pinball 1973. The warehouse filled with pinball machines just so happens to be a reality.

I could spend days if not weeks looking round that warehouse. Absolutely a pinaholics idea of heaven.

What a great story on Michael and his work with pinball! This guy is doing an amazing job of preserving and promoting a really cool entertaining mechanical form of art. Even if you just take it as pure entertainment, it's awesome! I'd love to tour his facility. I really dig the old electromechanical machines and haven't played one since the early 80s at a friend's house who had a Monte Carlo.

Massive collection. Lucky to have the space.

This was so cool! I loved all that awesome mid century art!

I found out about and visited the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas last trip there. It's a worthwhile stop. Like this place, they are dedicated to preserving classic pinball machines from way back when forward. Like this place, they not only have them here but they restore them and keep them running. Unlike this place, they have around 150 or so machines. Next trip to Cali...

I went to the pinball museum in Vegas and it has a wonderful atmosphere. I enjoy seeing people that have a passion for something, managing to incorporate it into their daily life.

I love the pacific pinball museum! A perfect day is driving up there, playing pinball and getting dim sum for lunch up the street.

Ah yes, the Williams® Gulf Stream. Remember that game quite well from the era when the amusement companies were transitioning from five to three balls per play. Funny thing about this machine is that the recommended score for first replay at three balls/play was set ridiculously low in my opinion (29,000 points IIRC). The old "quarter trick" still worked on Williams® machines then, too :)

I love his enthusiasm, self ironi and pleasant personality! He makes me want to go to arcades more often :D

It’s always cool when I go to a place and they have old pinball machines that you can play. I think I saw the one at 8:12 (Fireball) at a place in St. Louis

I do believe I could happily vacation in Alameda. Well played, Mr. Schiess. Well played indeed!

Thanks so much for all your time, passion and dedication to your pinball addiction. This video is sensational!

I like arcade games but I have always loved playing pinball, luckily my local gaming place Scene 75 has some vintage pinball machines to play, some of my favorites are the Terminator, Addams family, Sopranos and Jurassic Park pinball machines

2:01 Medieval Madness, the greatest pinball machine of all time and aa Amazing piece of Art

You are a legend mate. Pinball rocks!

I loved this place! Aka Lucky Juju. I’ve spent many an hour at the Pacific Pinball in Alameda.

Same reason boardgames have made a resurgence : tactility and socialising

I would love to start my own museum of pinball and mybe the old arcade machines

I love those old pinball machines too!

Pretty much all of my extended family lives in Utah, so my family goes to visit them on a semi-regular basis, and since I live in California, our route goes straight through Vegas. One time, we decided to stay the night there since it was getting late. The next day, we figured we'd go do something fun before we set off for Utah again, and we settled on the Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame, which is pretty much exactly like the place in this video. It was amazing. Before I went there, I had never truly played a pinball machine. The only pinball machines I had seen were at my neighbor's house, an Indiana Jones one at Disneyland, and a destroyed on in an abandoned house at a campsite. If I had the money, I'd absolutely have a pinball machine of my own.

I started to play pinball in about 1952, I remember all of the machines you showed. Once while traveling across country in 1960 I remember in Illinois a machine that you lined up numbers to win money. I did love a machine made by Gottlieb, it was called kewpie doll or just Kewpie not sure which. I would love to see that machine again. I have search but haven't found it. If anyone seeing this knows of that machine please reply. Thanks

Very good video. I went to his museum a few years ago.

1700 machines? This guy's museum belongs in Las Vegas. Light & Wonder (formerly WMS Industries or Williams and Ballys) needs to buy this guy's collection and start a museum. I reckon they would do well in Vegas with this collection.

Amazing collection.

LOVE this! 💓 More than 100 years later, pinball has evolved without dying (just like 🎭, 📖, and 📻).

this dudes killin it

I've been to a place that looks just like this in Vegas!

I didn't expect something from my hometown to be on wired. PPM is pretty dope, only been two or three times but it was fun.

The way I see it Pinball is surviving very well in it's original format cause not many people have worked on that many good pinball video games for home computers and home video consoles. Although there have been some noticeably popular ones from the past 20 years like the Sierra online's 3d ultra pinball games and Microsoft Xp's Space cadet along with a few others. But really going out and playing pinball on a real Pinball Machine is more of something you really have to experience in person. At the same when playing these "virtual" pinball video games you don't get the full experience when actually playing on a real machine like this: You want to play pinball but you have no quarters or just want to keep spending those quarters until you reach a new high score or something like that.

I haven't been there but when I show up people can take pictures of me with the pinball machines in the background. The is Tommy Tutalidge (Tommy Tutalidge on facebook and usenet the man that ruled rec.games.pinball) the man that rules the world of pinball. The fine line between mortality and immortality a the real Tommy a the world champion. Still at age 60 the fastest player alive.

i would love to work at this place. breaking and fixing electronics is my hobby XD

0:44 shots fired!

Some of the Williams tables have magnetic ball saves and some have kickback lanes.

100% on that Original Art and themes or something that can be Timeless like my 79' Hulk and Sinbad. both listened but a timeless theme. A lot of the new movie theme games are just that advertisements on 4 legs and in 20 years... part of a forgotten time

Holy crap, the Annex is straight out of the end of _Raiders!_ Jeez, and I thought the Pinball Hall of Fame museum in Vegas was impressive. Kind of weird that (unless I missed it), they never mentioned the _location_ of the Pacific Pinball Museum (Alameda, San Francisco Bay area).

Great exposé. America needs more buildings across it that look like this.

Does anyone know how this museum compares to the one in Las Vegas? I've been to that one, it was decent. But I don't think it had a lot of the really old stuff.

I love this guy.

I finally met Michael in person at the PPM Annex in 2017 during my 30,000 mile pinball tour across America and Canada. It is quite an adventure to maintain and play these machines, and they represent a critical part of American cultural history. Pinball is also a wonderful learning platform for electrical circuitry and reclaiming the "touch knowledge" to work on mechanical parts we've lost over the years and outsourced to China. If you'd like to join us and play in some local tournaments or even own your own machine... be sure to join the Pinball Enthusiasts group and EM Pinball group on Facebook as well as Pinside.com - the largest pinball forum on the internet. I now run the Roanoke Pinball Museum in downtown Roanoke, Virginia and spend my days teaching pinball school and maintaining these wonderful machines. C'mon by and say hello if you are in the area!

Right on Mike! Great video guys;)

I hope to visit the Pinball museums someday 🎰😀❤️

I want to go here so bad I've been a pinball head since I was 10 now I'm 38 bout to turn 39 this Sunday I love pinball still

I liked pinball when I was younger and recently got back into it, thanks to The Pinball Arcade, though they have been really lacking lately with releases. I played a few pinball games at my local Round 1, but they don't seem to be well taken care of, especially since the ball occasionally gets stuck around the jet bumpers for some reason. There's a place called Museum of Pinball not too far away from me, which has a very impressive collection of pinball games, but for some reason, is only open a few times a year for special events. But I would like to go when it's convenient. One thing I don't get about pinball history is, how did EM tables remain so popular for decades? They have very simple layouts, every game sounded just about the same, the theme of the table usually had nothing to do with how you played the game, and it looked like playing these tables got old fast, compared to the tables starting in the mid 80s through today where the layout and rules got a lot more complex and it seemed like there were endless ways to score and get bonuses.

Very Incredible ! Those machines are stuffed with electro-mechanics !

Agreed! I’m sick of all the licensed themes. I wish people would come up with their own themes and original artwork now days. That’s part of what made Pinball what it is but now unfortunately it’s what people steer clear of. It’s just like Hollywood over saturating the market with stupid superhero movies.

I hope competitive pinball grows too!

Because it's real! It's artwork and lights. My daughter loves world cup 94. It's something everyone can enjoy.

Very cool! Thanks for sharing this. :)

I've been here, its where I learned that there actually IS such a thing as too much pinball. I'd never before had enough quarters to reach that point.

Give this man a 1hr documentary about pinball. 9 minutes is WAAAY to short for him to leave a historical mark of what he has and the history, knowledge and story's he has to share.

I remember liking Sonic Spinball. I feel like it really evolved what pinball could be.

If I had the means I would try to collect, but the means and the money makes me enjoy others who can. I am curious what he would think of the digital pinball machines that you can pretty much play with a couple tv's and a few contacts. It would be intresting what kinda machine he would design with all of the knowledge he has obtained.

Hit the billion in indiana jones flipper is the best thing!

Baby Pacman combined a video game with pinball.

"And here is footage of gaming and engineering history being casually discarded into a river."

where did you get those large pinball pictures or posters.

Too bad 1982 Gottlieb Haunted House Pinball Machine wasn't featured in this video, 3 triple deck, great backglass artwork, and best music (bass) ever.

love classic Pins

Awesome collection but didn't see the need for him to crap on arcade games, I collect both

About one year ago I went to my granddaughters roller skating birthday party and they had a pinball machine it cost $0.50 for three balls put in 50 cents played for 4 hours the regulars to the skating rink started coming in and complaining I was hogging the machine the owner of the skating rink came over and offered me $10 to stop playing I took it I played for 4 hours and made $9.50 I'm 53 years old and I didn't know I still had it pinball wizard

Slugging Champ is seen from 2:11 to 2:16.I wish that there were one of them here in the East.

That's been a nice short video!

very nice good sir !

Awesome video

2:50 Gotta' worth in that display man!

This fella is the luckiest fella in the universe.

I miss pin ball

Captain fantastic wasn't just a milestone with the start of licensing it was a really good machine to play really a lot of fun

Las Vegas we got a Pinball Museum. No entry fee and 25 cent games

1,700 pinball machines < 1 Polybius Machine

Pinball are forever, you can't get the same feelings with virtual.

Those that are "in the know" have been collecting for decades just like Michael Schiess. They can remain a cost effective form of personal entertainment (even for your home), if you know what you are doing. You do not have to spend $$$ for games which is a misconception. This only applies for that want brand new games, or unwilling to restore games yourself.

No better machine than Evil Knievel!! Super pop pop!!

I would have thought someone with 1700+ pins to be the grumpiest old man in the world. My mind was changed.

Buckaroo is a great game.

Where is this located??? i now have 9 machines in my house, and the wife is ready to move out!! Pinball will always beat video games, because there is no pattern. every game is different. never gets boring.

Cool. Mechanical games are still the best, maybe on par with VR.

Yes!

Does anyone remember the name of the pinball machine that was HUGE and had two playfields. One was flat the other was upright. I think it was late 70's or early 80's.

Just downloaded a pinball app on my phone

3am at night and I'm watching a video about how a guy owns a *pinball museum*

Would remind me of the good old days where when I walked into any pinball arcade on Earth every jaw would drop and many would run out the door. That was my life and every pinball arcade was the same a the real Tommy a the world champion. The fine line between mortality and immortality a the real Tommy a the world champion. I ruled the world of pinball since the days of the Tommy movie and also ruled rec.games.pinball on usenet. Still the fastest player alive at age 60. Here's how I played pinball I'd play 1 ball against 5 or 1 ball against 3 then if they survived I'd keep on raising the angle of the pinball machine/machines until they drop. I use to only play pinball machines at a 10 degree arc angle.

I wonder if he has the one that had three levels I think it was called black hole. I also looked the Starwars one where r2d2 popped up and took your ball

I spent alot of time on pinball FX (video game)-and the physics seems spot on. Plus the actual animations and all the visuals that would be impossible in real life, and the mini games etc-i prefer the video game tbh. Never tried the VR, but the footage looks sick.

2:01 I thought that said "Don't wash balls" Until I rewound. Which you can use the J K L keys for*

In the old days a coin on a string was almost mandatory, now days I can play without cheating very well !!, not to mention you can't cheat them anymore, but I have a lot of pinmame games I can play, try to find a lot of these machines out in the field now days without going to a pinball museum! !!

P I N B A L L Everybody's favorite arcade game of all time even though there are a lot of video games, online games, or any games trending nowadays.

a gravity game, mainly.

Bride of Pin-bot anyone?

Now for the big question: what happens to that huge collection when he goes? Is someone going to inherit all of that??

The machine is cool, sure, but I dig that retro art.

Um... ya I’ll just take all of these plus the building thank you very much.