Highlights From The Pinball Hall Of Fame

While I was in Las Vegas for the Classic Gaming Expo, I stopped by the Pinball Hall of Fame. The property is home to more than 100 playable tables, from the early days of pinball through the most recent releases. I snapped a ton of photos during the nearly three hours I spent there, like I did with the Videogame History Museum exhibit at CGE. Take a look at some of the weirdest, coolest, and most interesting things I spotted.

You'll immediately notice that I'm a shutterbug at the top of his game. I toted around a professional-grade setup, bringing you some of the most incredibly sharp, vivid, and in-focus images you may ever see in your lifetime. If something looks a little blurry, poorly lit, or badly framed, I must have done that on purpose. Or something like that.

This GoldenEye table is one of the first games that I played during my visit. The skillshot at the beginning gives you a chance to fire a bullet at Bond in his familiar opening sequence. I missed.

Speaking of pinball adaptations of '90s movies, here's Starship Troopers. It was a fun table, with a pretty interesting gimmick.

If you look at the right set of flippers, you'll notice a weird little vestigial flipper above the expected one. There are two sets of buttons on the right side of the cabinet, which operate each one independently. 

That mini flipper is unusual, but not unprecedented. Pinball manufacturers have been experimenting with flipper placement since flippers were introduced. This Show Boat table, for example, has four of 'em.

Here's a Canada Dry-themed table. That whole "advergaming" thing isn't a new phenomenon, either.

You won't believe what this WWF Royal Rumble table does. It rumbles. The cabinet rumbles a lot, in fact. I ended up playing several games of this one, because the theme and gameplay synced up in a really fun way. I'm a sucker for Doink-era wrestling, I guess.

Alas, the Waterworld table wasn't operational. Insert timely Waterworld joke here: _____________.

I've probably spent more time playing versions Elvira and the Party Monsters than any other pinball table out there, thanks to the Atari Lynx game Pinball Jam and the Pinball Arcade adaptation. As it turns out, all my practice with the electronic versions of the table didn't totally transfer over to the real world. My first game ended in no time flat. Maybe the table understood that we had a history; it awarded me with a free game when it was over. Thanks, Elvira!

I could have sworn that I heard Ben Hanson squeal with delight as I pressed the start button on this machine. Then again, that could have just been a velociraptor sound sample from the movie.

Get a load of this goofy guy. He has a magnet in his mouth that allows him to "eat" the ball – complete with chewing motions and sound effects.

This Batman game marks a big moment in my own personal history. It's the first time I've ever spent more than $.50 on a pinball game. You get five balls for your $.75, but my time with it was pretty much a disaster.

I fared a lot better on the Transformers game. It was loud and I couldn't always tell what was going on (sound familiar?), but it's a lot of fun. Also, there's a ramp shot that makes it look like you're hitting that one bad robot in the lugnuts.

I was super excited to see this one when I rounded a corner. I read about the Super Mario Bros. table in EGM when it came out, but I didn't exactly live in a thriving pinball market. Aside from the theme (which was great), it wasn't anything special. The coolest bit is that you can get an invincibility star, and a bumper pops up between the flippers and if you manage to drain the ball while the familiar theme plays, you don't lose it. Neat!

Here's the second Super Mario Bros.-themed table. This one's designed for kids, and it originally dispensed tickets that you could redeem for prizes. I had to hunch over to play it, since it was significantly smaller than the tables around it. I managed to get the ball stuck, cutting my session short. Fortunately, there were plenty of other machines to play.

Here's the table from another angle. (This was taken before the ball got stuck and I left in a huff.)

A table for nerds.

Gottlieb really dug this space guy...

...Since he's featured in two tables.

This was a super fun one. Never mind the fact that, in spite of its "rock music" trappings, it sounded like a chorus of doorbells. 

I mean, really, look at this guy!

Current scandals aside, football's always been a popular theme. Notice the extra flippers. Eat your heart out, Starship Troopers!

In this artfully shot photo, I capture the essence of football soccer kicker.

Remember that time I griped about paying $.75 for a game of pinball?

Ouch! The Hall of Fame donates proceeds to charity, so I didn't feel completely bad about paying a buck. I was helping people out while rapidly draining three balls, one immediately after the other. Note: I am not great at the Metallica table.

I'm a fan of anything that name-drops St. Paul, so this Crossroads table was right in my wheelhouse.

This warning label only made me like it more.

This Wizard of Oz table is amazing. It's from Jersey Jack Pinball, and it's obviously created with a lot of love. There's a monitor that shows fully animated scenes from the film, and there's a constant stream of appropriate dialogue. 

So much detail! 

I'm not even a big Wizard of Oz fan, and I loved it.

It really is an amazing machine, even if it's a buck a play. Yes, I am a remorseless cheapskate.

This RollerCoaster Tycoon game was the last one I played. There's a little troll in a dunk tank, and you "expand" your park by hitting marked targets. I don't know why Stern thought this PC sim would make for a good pinball table, but it works really well.

Even if you only have a passing interest in pinball, I can't recommend visiting the Hall of Fame enough. There are a stunning amount of tables to choose from, and you can easily spend an afternoon (and a few rolls of quarters) there.