Museums are places where it tends to be quiet and there are whole rooms of things that you can only look at. However at the Asheville Pinball Museum, you can not only look, but you can also touch, play, eat and drink!
At the Asheville Pinball Museum, you’ll find more than 75 vintage pinball machines as well as video games along with a variety of pinball memorabilia for visitors to try out for themselves. Visitors can purchase an unlimited session of pinball with over 30 machines to choose from.
Just like the days of pinball and video game arcades, the museum offers up snacks, soda and beer, just to make the experience all the more fun and keep you fueled for all that game play!
A back-room arcade has a several video game consoles, most with multiple classic games in each console, but the front is devoted to pinball. In the center aisle, several vintage machines from the 1930s on are “display only,” including Gottlieb’s Humpty Dumpty, the first pinball machine to feature flippers. On the walls, and even in the bathrooms, you can see origins of the modern day pinball machines, such as the 1933 Steeplechase game, a horse race-themed board with pins nailed into it through which players sent different colored marbles.
Some of the other fun classic games you’ll find in the museum are:
- Donkey Kong
- PacMan
- Ice Fever
- Adams Family
- Star Wars
- Galaga
- X Files
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Roller Coaster Tycoon
- Star Trek
- Terminator
- Area 51
- Earthshaker
- 1942
- Judge Dredd
- Beat Time
- Hitter’s Rally
- Hercules
- Pinball Wizard
- Twilight Zone
- The Flintstones
- and more!
It costs nothing to walk in and look around, however, if you’d like to play the games, adults get in for $15, kids 10 and under get in for $12. The admission package gets you in, plus, it also gives you unlimited, all day game play, token free!
Closed on Tuesdays to spruce up the games, be sure you plan your visit Wednesday through Monday. For more information about visiting, parties and purchasing machines, visit their website, or “like” them on Facebook.
Where else can you enter a museum and be able to play with what’s inside? Be sure to add the Asheville Pinball Museum to your “must visit” list!
Insider Tip:
- The museum limits the amount of players on the floor so as to not overcrowd. Try to avoid holidays and/or weekends as otherwise you will have to put your name on a wait list for entry. They will call when your name comes up so be sure to stick around so you don’t miss your turn.