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Pinball Perfection (Pittsburgh)

Florian Buechting Museums & Exhibitions No Comments

Pinball Perfection

12 / 15 USD per hour
Pinball Perfection
4.8

Rating

 4.8/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Amazing collection of pinball machine
  • Fair pricing
  • Amazing staff

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Remote location

I do have to admit that I typically travel to Pittsburgh to visit my beloved Pittsburgh Penguins. However, there are some other really interesting reasons to visit. For example the Andy Warhol Museum is an outstanding collection about the Pittsburgh-origin artist. Steel City also hosts some amazing, slightly bizarre places. One of them is Pinball Perfection, a huge collection of pinball machines and gaming arcades.

 

Pinball Perfection – Location & Admission

The pinball museum is located in the Northern suburbs of Pittsburgh, namely in the West View borough. The area is rather residential, the close proximity of the museum is a commercial area, though. The museum seems to be located in a previous engineering building. Bus #8 is stopping in the neighborhood (Perry Hwy #328). However, you will likely go by car or take an Uber. The (congestion-free) driving time from PPG Paints Arena is some ten minutes (7 miles)

The museum is operating from Tuesday to Saturday. The daily opening time is noon to 17:00. Friday opening is prolonged until 22:00. During the Tuesday to Friday “normal” opening time, you pay 12 USD per hour. On Friday sessions after 19:00 and Saturday, the hourly fee is 15 USD. For that, you can play all games for free. I stayed in the museum for two hours – and would have rather stayed even longer.

 

Pinball Perfection – The Visit

The museum is having over 300 pinball machines on display. They are arranged in rows, typically by a certain time or topic. For example, there is a whole block of Star Trek machines. You might wonder that the machines and not illuminated on some pictures. The rationale is that during my visit, the number of visitors was not too high, so that the lovely staff switched on sections on demand. The level of maintenance is amazing – there were just a very few number of games with technical issues. I also liked the hygenic conditions. Even outside a pandemic, having some hand sanitizer before kicking the metal balls feels to be very sensible.

I am not an expert in pinball machines and history. However, visiting Pinball Perfection was just an amazing experience. The collection is amazing and also features some very early machines. I personally loved machines which told a story while playing – which has nothing to do with the technical evolution. Some of the old games are lovely to play as well. I loved all the ideas behind the the machines. The staff is also very helpful in regards of recommending a machine or a section which is worth playing. Of course, there are also machines you just love to play as the branding is giving you some memories. You can easily spend a few hours strolling through the rolls and playing some balls here and there. Of course, you are requested to finish your games – which is not working out too well in other pinball locations.

 

More Than Pinball

In case you fancy other things than pinball, there are also some arcade games and other historic machines. One of them I really loved was their collection of bowling arcades. I level played similar historic machines before. Some were real bowling (with balls), others pinball-alike. However, the Pittsburgh museum is also offering arcade classics like air hockey.

 

Pinball Perfection – Services

Pinball Perfection offers a small cafe / refreshment area. The staff is amazing. There are volunteers and the the owner, who simply love what they are doing. You can also get a lot of information about the machines by simply chatting with them. The museum is also repairing and restoring pinball machine. During my visit, I had the absolute and rare pleasure to visit their archives as well, which also hosts some historic machines, which cannot be displayed (e.g. because they are too fragile) – a truly remarkable collection.

 

Pinball Perfection – My View

Pinball Perfection is one of the most hidden gems in Steel City. The collection is outstanding, the price is right and the staff is amazing. The museum is a shrine for the (likely) most traditional arcade game of all. it’s a lot of fun to hang out in Northern Pittsburgh. A definite Top Pick!

 

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