The huge pinball museum closes its doors for good

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  • At the Museum of Pinball in Southern California, you rarely had to wait long for a particular game, but attendance was solid. (They had 700 machines when we visited in 2015; they’ve added around 400 since.)

  • A panoramic taken before the arrival of the crowds. Many of these machines come with ColorDMD displays, which use LCD screens to display colorized versions of the original animations.

    Steve tsubota

  • Spy hunter is a personal favorite. You don’t see the full version in sitting mode too often.

    Aurich Lawson

  • Scorpio, a 1980 game by Williams, uses a very wide playing field layout. This is the machine I played on the Guinness Record Attempt. It remains to be verified but is expected to beat the old record of 272 hands down, with 331 people playing simultaneously. (Update: The file has since been verified.)

    Aurich Lawson

  • Some of the weekend tournament winners Matt Topper (L) and Ron Rezendes (R) pose with John Weeks, the facility owner.

    Steve tsubota

  • Voltan escapes cosmic death, a very rare Bally game from 1979. Less than 400 were made. It’s hard to say how many still survive to this day.

    Steve frisvold

  • Bill Ung, famous for his Mars attack a saucer mod that adds interactive tracking LEDs to the in-game flying saucers, teaches the next gen how to play pinball on a Data East Star Trek (1991).

  • Several vendors brought classic console systems to the show so that people could get their fix of nostalgia on home systems as well.

    Mark Fisher

  • Before the Master System, before the Genesis and the Sonic, Sega made electromechanical games. This one dates from 1970.

    Kyle takigawa

  • The tournament area. Each match was filmed from above by a video camera which broadcast the action of the playing field live to a television above the match so that spectators could see the action.

    Aurich Lawson

  • You can’t have an arcade show without Tron! Better yet, why not classic Tron and Tron disks together?

    Aurich Lawson

  • There have been many eras of arcade games, but the early 80s had the best representation.

    Aurich Lawson

  • Some of the many pinball technicians are trying to get a Police force restart.

  • by Bally Blackjack, from 1977. Although it looks like an electromechanical game, it actually uses solid-state circuits.

    Steve frisvold

  • A long room was dedicated to electromechanical shooters. They track the angle and position of the gun, using gears to determine whether your shot hit a target or not. Very intelligent pieces of machinery.

    Kyle takigawa

  • Gottlieb’s Mind, from 1982. A fairly rare and highly regarded broad-bodied title.

    Steve frisvold

  • by Bally Heavy metal smelting from 1987. Cheesy guitar riffs and a screaming voice HEAVY METAL MELTDOWN! What more could you ask for?

    Steve frisvold

  • Space ace and Super Don Quixote, two laserdisc games from 1984.

    Mark Fisher

  • Stunning full seated version of Sega Exceed.

    Mark Fisher

  • Stern is new Walking Dead game, shown on the original SAM platform (right) and the all new SPIKE platform (left) which uses modular boards to reduce the amount of wiring needed.

    Kyle takigawa

  • Some classic electromechanical games.

    Jim walser

  • Even though the crowd was there, it was possible to find quieter times when a row of games was not very busy.

  • Players on Stern’s Star Trek Limited Edition, possibly the brightest game of the entire show.

  • One of the organizers of the Pin-A-Go-Go show from Northern California comes to see his counterpart from Southern California. He plays an Italian pinball machine called Dakar, remarkable for the integration of a CRT monitor in the backbox.

  • The original plan for the space in which the Arcade Expo is located was to create a pinball museum.

  • Games appreciated.

  • Games sitting in silence waiting for the crowds.

  • Bally Wiggler, 1967. The old electromechanical art on these is a great reminder of a bygone era.

  • Another photo of the tournament matches with televisions.

  • Classic row of Gottlieb games from the beginning of the solid state era, widely regarded as the pinnacle of their success.

  • Tempest, probably the classic vector display game of all time.

    Aurich Lawson

  • These benches were custom made for the show, with pinball and arcade themed fabrics from Spoonflower.

    Aurich Lawson

In 2015, we took you on a photo tour of the Pinball Museum, which houses one of the world’s largest collections of pinball and arcade games under one roof. Since then, the number of games has increased by the hundreds; the last official count was “over 1,100”.

Unfortunately, the museum closes permanently (and is replaced by a cannabis cultivation operation). An attempt to move the museum to Palm Springs, California has failed and the entire game collection will soon be auctioned.

Museum Technical Manager Chuck Casey posted this update:

All deadlines have passed for moving, obtaining sponsorship, selling to a collector, etc.
Therefore, all games will be auctioned in the next few months.
The official announcement will be soon.
You can bid online and / or in person.
The main auction will take place in Banning at the Museum of Pinball.
Pins and videos are sold at auction only. The collection is “locked” for auction.

The museum and the incredible range of games will be missed. The auction will be one to watch.

Our original article on the museum’s opening event follows:

BANNING, CA — The weekend of January 16, 2015, hosted the first Southern California Arcade Expo. With over 750 pinball and arcade games, the show was the biggest in Southern California history. Unlike most arcades, where games are brought in by volunteers and enthusiasts to be shared with the general public, the collection is primarily owned by one man, John Weeks, who has spent the past 40 years amassing his horde of games. Weeks also owns the 40,000 square foot facility where the games are permanently hosted and hopes to host events there at least twice a year. The second is currently scheduled for October.

Despite a few minor glitches typical of a first-time show, it turned out spectacularly, with 3,300 people all enjoying the vast collection of games. There was live music, various tournament styles, several seminars and an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for “most pinball games played simultaneously”. But most people come just for the games, and we’ve tried to document them for you above.

Special thanks to the members of Pinside who donated their photos to help make this gallery possible.

List image by Steve Tsubota

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