An auto battery supplier in San Jose has 12 tables on premises, which are kindly shared on Thursday nights for customers and other invitees. Both museums charge a flat rate for entry and set machines on free play.) Pizza Depot in Sunnyvale and Phoenix Games in Concord both have eight tables.įrom there, finding pinball becomes an adventure. The Pacific Pinball Museum and Playland-Not-at-the-Beach in El Cerrito have the largest collections. Part of the fun is finding the machines, which are scattered throughout the Bay Area - and not always where a player would expect. But after losing so many over the years, we're seeing them come back." "I don't see them at every 7-Eleven, like the 1990s. They actually have a sign in their window that says 'We Have Pinball,' " says Shatz, who plays up to 10 hours per week on tables throughout the Bay Area. "There's a new bar in the Mission District. And pinball has been showing up in unexpected places, including hipster bars in Oakland and San Francisco. Tournament play across the world is more popular than ever. Bay Area Pinball Association President Eugene Gershtein reports that 2010 was the busiest year for the club since he became president a few years ago. But the activity is primed for a resurgence. Only one company, Stern Pinball, is currently mass-producing tables. Worldwide pinball manufacturing is tepid at best. 6-ranked pinball players in the world, Andrei Massenkoff and Neil Shatz, both live in San Francisco. There are thriving pinball leagues in the East Bay and South Bay. A second pinball-heavy show, the Santa Clara-based California Extreme arcade celebration, returns in July. The strength of the museum both reflects and fuels the rise of pinball in the Bay Area. Schiess and the museum board will host their fifth Pacific Pinball Exposition in San Rafael this September, and that has grown as well - now the largest pinball event of its kind in the world, spread over three days with tournaments, seminars and movie screenings. There are 100 tables in four rooms, separated by era, with three jukeboxes filled with music to match the mood. The beverages are less exciting now, but everything else about the place is tilting in a bigger, brighter, louder and more artistic direction.
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