We had the chance to try out new and old pinball tables in one of Michigan’s best arcades
Though I love video games and game controllers and new technology, there has always been something so magical about the classic physical games. Air hockey, punching machines, skeeball — they’re all fantastic fun. We can really rack up tickets and get some nice prizes (or a couple pieces of candy, more like it) if we just keep at it. And yet pinball was always the game that stopped me dead in my tracks. Whether it was a simple table or something complex, the sheer interaction was enough to envelope me with excitement.
Pinball is part chance, sure, but there’s way more strategy than I had ever imagined before. As a kid I would just smash the flippers on either side, but I’d watch my father hold the flippers in position, bounce the ball in specific ways and even get a few mysterious events to take place on the board. Before long, in my late teens, I learned to match my pops and his pinball skills, and I’ve ben enthralled ever since.
It’s almost performance art.
Anyways, I recently had the chance to try a local pinball emporium, Sparks Pinball Museum, and bash away at those flippers again. There are a bajillion tables readily available, some that seemed like the original pinball experience (like baseball!), some that were hot off of the manufacturing line (like Pokemon). Sparks offers a few ways to jump in, but I went with an all-you-can-play pass that let me try out every table, as well as a few of the retro arcade games too.
For the first Show and Tell I figured I’d drop a gallery of some of the cool pinball tables I saw and played. I’ll be going back, most definitely, because I have some scores to beat.
One of my favorite aspects of the place is the little Pee-Wee Herman museum cases up front. The museum treats Pee-Wee like the marketing machine that he was, with several neat toys, dolls, and items bearing his likeness that were popular and/or rare.
There are just tons of pinball tables and arcade cabinets to see. It’s quite overwhelming!
Sparks Pinball Museum is located in Troy, Michigan