Pacific Pinball Museum: Preserving The Past One Machine at a Time

Though most museums only allow you to admire pieces of art and history from the past, one local museum encourages guests to get hands on.

After celebrating its 10 year anniversary this past January, the Pacific Pinball Museum is still going strong, hoping to expand.

No definite answer as to where just yet, but according to employee Dan Fontes, they have been looking into expanding nearby its current location at 1510 Webster St.

Last September, Pinball Magazine reported that the Alameda treasury of all things pinball was hoping to raise $1.5 million and move to the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco after Exploratorium vacated the space.

Now, Fontes said the museum has its eye on the former Carnegie Library on Santa Clara Avenue. The museum is still fundraising but is hoping this will one day be its new home.

"We're trying to build an art, science and history museum," Fontes said.

What started off as a small section of the building housing 20 machines has grown to nearly 1,000 machines — most of which are housed in a local warehouse. Close to 100 are rotated into the ones being used in the museum.

The museum buys some of the machines but many have also been donated by folks who just want them to be taken care of, played and appreciated.

For $15, you can play pinball from various decades ranging from the 1940s to today. You can compare the ACDC pinball machine the museum got six months ago to an original machine dating back from the 1870s which they proudly display. This antique Parlor Bagatelle was one of the first pinball machines to make it to the U.S. from France.

According to Fonte, some of the best pinball players in the world have stepped foot in the museum to play on the machines.

Niel Shatz of El Cerrito is one of them. If you look at the machines' high scores, you will likely see his initials "NES" on most of them, Fonte said.

"Unlike most players who walk up to a machine and play for two minutes, he'll play for three to four hours."

or visit their website at www.pacificpinball.org.