I’ve just found out that the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas needs your financial help. I featured this wonderful pinball parlour on my blog a few years back after I’d visited it on holiday to Las Vegas. The location was off strip in an older style warehouse, and it was pretty retro and cool. It had hundreds of pinball machines lovingly restored and available to play for quarters, and back then a lot of the money raised was being gifted to the Salvation Army to help others. I thought that was REALLY awesome!

Apparently the Pinball Hall of Fame has now sold the old building and have plans to move into a new building on the Las Vegas Strip, down from the Tropicana Hotel and Casino, and the Mandalay Bay. That seems like a good long term move and a great way to attract visitors – when they’re going back to Las Vegas in droves like pre-Covid times. But there’s a snag: it’s going to cost many thousands of dollars for the move to the new location (and any storage of pinball machines if required in the interim), and due to the downturn caused by Covid, there’s not enough money in the bank to achieve that. And so the Pinball Hall of Fame needs help. I believe they’ve put out a Go Fund Me page or similar to accept donations.

When you walk into the current Pinball Hall of Fame (also known as the Las Vegas Pinball Museum), you’re surrounded by the sights and sounds of a bygone error. Think 1960’s through to the current 2020’s, and you’ll be about right. There are around 250 pinball machines on display, all working, all available for play for quarters (some one quarter, some need multiples per game), and all (from my own experience) amazing fun! When I visited I spent maybe $10, but I was there for about 3 hours. $10 on a slot machine in Las Vegas can last minutes – so the pinball museum provided great value for money. The new location planned for the Las Vegas Strip will hold 700 pinball machines – almost a three-fold increase in what’s currently available.

It would be a real shame if the new location / move didn’t go ahead. Las Vegas, and I believe the world, would be missing out on the experience of being able to play all of these nostalgic pinball machines in one location. It would be like a bit of entertainment history being lost. Seeing a pinball machine you used to play as a child some 30 years later is magical, and for me it evoked the recall of positive memories of my childhood. Don’t let the Las Vegas Pinball Museum become another victim of Covid. If you’ve got a few spare dollars in your pocket, consider making a donation to help them to survive and move to the new location. For many years this great establishment helped others with donations and fundraising. Now it’s our time to give back and help them. Never been? Then pay it forward.