National Pinball Museum Closing

Baltimore's year-old National Pinball Museum, a pinging, clanging, tilting tribute to the flipper machines that have been mainstays of American popular culture for decades, will be shutting its doors March 3.

The museum, which re-located to Baltimore from Georgetown in January of last year, has once again fallen victim to the terms of its lease agreement, owner David Silverman wrote in an email Tuesday evening to supporters. Silverman, whose 600-plus machines formed the core of the museum's collection, said he could not afford to keep it open.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/national-pinball-museum-closing_n_2722679.html

Sounds like he needs to do a kickstarter.

Tabe

600+ tables..

Damn, I only went one time and really enjoyed myself. What's he gonna do with all those machines?

Corporate sponsor Farsight?

600+ machines....holy smokes.

Keep an eye on eBay...

I was there last month and was able to play eight different machines (as many times as I liked) featured in The Pinball Arcade. I had an absolute blast playing Gorgar, Black Knight, and Black Hole (a game that was even fun to lose, because when the last ball drains the machine emits an echoing effect that sounds like you've just inhaled nitrous oxide! I had forgotten just how awesome that machine sounded! Why is that sound not in TPA?)

Then I wrang out Funhouse and Twilight Zone (along with Whirlwind, Earthshaker, The Addam's Family, Road Show, and Safecracker) and I even managed to get the powerball up onto the Fight the Power playfield.

Creature from the Black Lagoon gave me several great games, Star Trek: TNG was fun but tough, and I even enjoyed playing Theatre of Magic despite the machine looking pretty ragged and missing sound entirely.

I also got to play great examples of Fireball and White Water there, two more titles we should be seeing in the TPA this year.

There were dozens of other fantastic tables there, most of which were in excellent playing condition, but two that stood out were Revenge From Mars, and Big Bang Bar. TPA should do whatever it takes to get those two tables into our game.

CRAP! I was planning a trip there to balance out a not-as-fun trip to the National Aquarium. The good news is it sounds like they're looking to relocate. Hopefully somewhere a bit easier for me to get to.

Holy crap, March 3? Crap. Wondering if I can get down there from Jersey sometime soon to play some tables.

I was there 2 months ago and I had a great time. I'm really saddened to see it go, but maybe they will move somewhere closer to where I live (just west of DC). I'm not sure where the 600 number came from, but I'd say that they had closer to 200 machines available for play. I played the tables that were recreated in TPA to see how close they are in comparison and I was pretty impressed. I learned a lot about the history of pinball and saw how the games evolved over time and it was very interesting. I really hope that they reopen soon, It'll probably be another year and I was hoping to visit them again over my spring break the week of March 25. I guess I'll need to find another place to play pinball. Or I could buy my own machine.

According to their website there are 70 playable tables. I think my buddy and I are going to go Saturday, and I will probably be hogging Gorgar and Black Hole.

McGuirk, have you been to the Silverball Pinball Museum at Asbury Park? Saw a video on Youtube and it looks special.

ravager said:

McGuirk, have you been to the Silverball Pinball Museum at Asbury Park? Saw a video on Youtube and it looks special.

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Yeah, I love that place. Wish they had a few more tables, like CV and CFTBL3D, but it's amazing. So easy to lose time there. Glad they reopened after Hurricane Sandy. If I go to Baltimore this weekend, I might as well stop at Silverball on the way back home. Though right now, the trip isn't looking likely.

ravager said:

McGuirk, have you been to the Silverball Pinball Museum at Asbury Park? Saw a video on Youtube and it looks special.

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Huh, that's about an hour drive from me. I should check that place out.

McGuirk said:

Yeah, I love that place. Wish they had a few more tables, like CV and CFTBL3D, but it's amazing. So easy to lose time there. Glad they reopened after Hurricane Sandy. If I go to Baltimore this weekend, I might as well stop at Silverball on the way back home. Though right now, the trip isn't looking likely.

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What? No CV? Sheesh. I've been jonesing for that table. What do they got, there?

Silverball has something like 200 tables, so this list should mostly be up-to-date. By the time I return I hope the GnR flippers are fixed.
http://www.pinballrebel.com/locator...NJ&state=NJ&country=United+States&showmap=yes

McGuirk said:

Silverball has something like 200 tables, so this list should mostly be up-to-date. By the time I return I hope the GnR flippers are fixed.
http://www.pinballrebel.com/locator...NJ&state=NJ&country=United+States&showmap=yes

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Huh, interesting. That list is incomplete. There's way more arcades with pins in my area. And it shocked the living daylights out of me that there's no Cirqus Voltaire at all in New Jersey! What on earth!?

Punisher said:

Huh, interesting. That list is incomplete. There's way more arcades with pins in my area. And it shocked the living daylights out of me that there's no Cirqus Voltaire at all in New Jersey! What on earth!?

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The site depends on user submission and feedback, so I'm sure there are people not aware of it, or forget to update it. It's helped me track down a few places to go to; I'm probably going to hit NYC just to play Creature from the Black Lagoon.

If you are in Southern NJ you might want to check out the Pinball Parlour in Earlington PA. They have Creature and CV. If you are in norhthern NJ then it would be a pretty far road trip.
http://pinball-parlour.com/gamelist/index.php

Ah, yeah, I heard of that place. Seems a bit out of the way, compared to the one in Asbury, lol. For me, that place is about halfway up the road from the Poconos, from where I live.