No Longer a Relic of Sleazy Bars, Pinball Is Making a Big Comeback

Yahoo News! ^ | Sun, September 7, 2025

[nickcarraway]

Step into an unassuming industrial building in Teltow, just outside Berlin, and a bright, clacking universe unfolds: around 50 pinball machines line 200 square metres, from classics like Wizard and The Addams Family to modern hits such as Game of Thrones. Welcome to Flipperhalle Berlin - proof that pinball is back in vogue.

The United States, the world's largest pinball market, has seen a dramatic revival since the mid-2000s, fuelled by the rise of arcade bars, or "barcades," that pair vintage games with food and drink.

The trend has spread far beyond the US: pinball machines now pop up in breweries, restaurants and dedicated pinball bars from Chicago to Sydney. Chicago's Logan Arcade, for example, has become a mecca for enthusiasts, with themed machines and regular tournaments.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

That was the art, wasn’t it? Knowing exactly how far you could go coaxing the ball without TILT!

[Political Junkie Too]

There is a place near where I live that has about 35 classic pinball machines and 100 classic video games that are all on free play. You buy a "day pass" and get unlimited play of all the machines.

-PJ

[ratzoe]

... from classics like Wizard and The Addams Family

Laughed when I saw those mentioned as classics, but on 2nd thought, I guess they are. My pinball days were early 60s to around 1970. All 2 flipper games and slower than games in the 70s and onward.

Recently on a beach vacation, stopped in an arcade to kill time where pinwall machines lined every wall back in the day. Only found 2 pinball machines, was disappointing..:(

Had a "Quick Draw" machine(Gottlieb) in my basement for years that I sold for a thousand to a guy that drove 500 miles to pick it up, he refurbished it and sold it for $1500. Thing was, all the values I saw for it well under $1000, thinking the guy was hired by someone that wanted that machine badly enough to overpay for it.

[Larry Lucido]

Not the same without Moonie or Ox.

[GingisK]

It part of the return of all things analog

Pinball machines are actually digital, made with electro-mechanical switching devices. Those machines are the world's first electric finite state machines.

[nickcarraway]

What about the Lawrence Welk pinball machine?

[Menehune56]

Chuckee Cheese when the kids were little then an hour of pinball. Good times!

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Wow Holy cow, some of my best memories are playing pinball. 1973 crusing cross country from New York to Colorado and stopping at KOAs (Kampgrounds of America) and seeing the same women going to same way, OW! And playing pinball while Jim Croce was playing on the juke box, complete, utter bliss, like a dream. And oh, only 52 years ago, good God.

[bigbob]

I don’t know,,what makes him so good?

[ETCM]

I’m sure she hangs out in city bars where foo-foo flavored martinis are cool and the men are metrosexuals. Or just gay. The kind of place that would have a pinball machine, and people drinking whiskey and beer, are “sleezy” to her.

[ETCM]

Years ago, I visited the pinball museum in Vegas. I played a handful of machines I hadn’t seen in 35 or 40 years. Plenty of old video games too.

[cross_bearer_02]

Pinball has fascinated me ever since I was a kid. Being born in the mid-80s, I grew up in that arcade hey-day and pinball machines were still quite prevalent then. I remember nearly every Walmart you went to in the early 90s had at least one pinball machine in the lobby, and maybe two.

I’ve loved the game so much that now as an adult I bought my own machine for home. A 2014 Mustang LE from Stern Pinball.

Video game adaptations are also fine, though, and they have come quite a long way since the early days. Simulations like Pinball FX (for Williams tables) and The Pinball Arcade are reasonably good, if a bit pricey (you have to purchase tables in packs). Still far cheaper than buying the real thing.

[Dacula]

I lived to find quarters as a kid. Selling bottles and cans. I also worked as a bagboy and made quarters as tips.

I was in hog-heaven playing Magic Carpet.

[j.havenfarm]

Yeah the headline writer was more interested in a hook for the headline instead of accurate reporting. Natch

[Bonemaker]

I want Pac Man baxk!

[virgil]

The local skating rink had several machines. Always occupied.

[eastexsteve]

I’ve got a “Dirty Harry” pinball machine in my game room. It has a gun for a ball shooter instead of a plunger. Everytime you make a big score, it plays one of his famous movie lines. I’ve been offered a bundle for that machine. But, some things are priceless. Maybe after ol’ Clint dies, I’ll sell it and buy my own island LOL!

[capydick]

Sleazy? Where the heck do they get that from? Great memories of playing all day on the Captain Fantastic machine at Gee Gee's arcade on the beachfront in Manasquan NJ. Then a slice, then a dip in ocean, all the time checking out which girls were hanging around - what a time!

There is a pinball arcade / museum in Asbury Park that will take you back in time - play any machine for up to six hours for $20, you'd be surprised how fast that time goes by: Silverball Retro Arcade

[doorgunner69]

I was stunned to hear that live in a small Hooywood club called the Palladium. The energy of The Who was incredible.

Much of my present day deafness no doubt.

[Republican Wildcat]

Yeah, I turned a radio to an AM music station (there are still some of those) and a younger guy in his 20s heard it and thought it was great - he liked the way it sounded. It was a novel sound to him.