Pacific Pinball Museum

What a gem!! The museum pinball machines were really cool to see. I also loved seeing all the history around the building. They have info placards at almost every machine. A brilliant spice of history. If you’re not into modern pinball, I still recommend you go. There are amazing vintages games that aren’t the pinball you’re thinking in your mind. My favorite was Spot-Lite. We had too much fun at Winner! It’s a pinball/horse racing game. They also have a see-through pinball machine in the back room! I geeked out for a minute on it. Hope you can break the vault! ;) Two adults were $22 (discounts for veterans, teachers, and first responders.) There are other prices for youngins and such. Admission is for the day and play is unlimited for all machines in all rooms. There are plenty of pinball machines from the 90’s and 2000’s so if you’re into the new pinball, they are there - without quarters! Have fun!!

Nice to visit a pinball arcade like the ones back in the days. They have a wide variety of over 100 classic, vintage and up to date pinball machines. The older pinball machines all kinda have the same playing feel but bring back childhood memories from the 60s-70s. Sure is a Great deal for $22 or less (2 for $22 Tuesdays) for unlimited daily PLAY!

Super fun and affordable, all day play! Some room need more air flow was getting a little hot/warm.

I stopped in on a Tuesday with my daughter to check out the Pinball museum. It was really fun. All the game noises and blinking lights are really stimulating. The best part is, they offer a flat fee for the day so you can come and go to break things up a bit. They have over 100 games to play on, in several different rooms including a couple jukeboxes. It's a real trip down memory lane for us older folks and something new and different for folks who grew up with laptops and cell phones. Tuesdays are 2 for 1 pricing .

This place is really great. You only need to pay a $15 entrance fee to play until closing time. Although it is not very big, usually spend about one to two hours!!!

The Pinball Museum in Alameda, California, is a nostalgic trip down memory lane, offering hours of fun for all ages. With a vast selection of pinball machines, from vintage classics to modern favorites, there's something for everyone. One of the best parts is the ability to play as long as you want—it's an experience where you can really get your money's worth. They also have great deals on certain days, and if you're lucky enough to snag a Groupon, the value gets even better. If you're just looking for some family-friendly entertainment, the Pinball Museum is definitely worth checking out. It's a perfect spot for an afternoon of fun and a great way to relive the excitement of old-school arcade gaming! Can't wait to go back

This is the coolest place on earth. For everyone of all ages. They have step stools for the kids who need a boost to see the games. Two bathrooms and a water dispenser with paper cups. You could spend all day there with in and out privileges. This makes it easy to have lunch nearby at many restaurants. Very friendly staff and it's a non profit. Touted as having nearly 100 games. Come and support this iconic museum. I've only been here twice so far, but plan to visit as much as possible.

Want to try playing pinball machines by generation? Yes you can, at the pinball museum. Very friendly staff and clientele. Had a great time.

The Pacific Pinball Museum is one of our family's favorite spots on the Alameda island. Be prepared to stay much longer than you expected! This place has so many pinball machines it's mesmerizing and playing with them is so addicting!

I could spend hours in here (and have). Price of admission is a little steep $20+ but it is for the full day so you could play, grab lunch or dinner, and then come back to place some more. The last time I was here was with my dad for his birthday before covid. Back then they just had the two rooms. Now they have a. additional whole 80s/90s room complete with a 90s jukebox filled with my complete high school soundtrack. The guy who ran the place that night was super helpful and explained some of the older pinball games that were more sort of gambling machines. I loved reading about the history of the machine before playing it. Great, unique place to take out of town guests and makes for a fun night on the town.

This was such a fun, interactive museum! They have multiple rooms with different pinball machines to try out!

They got Roller Games! 6 years later and they have expanded their collection with some amazing new additions including what I put in my last review - Roller Games! I also really enjoyed Hurricane, Metallica, and even a couple from the 2020s. Such an amazing place...saw old school parents with their young kids too. Go check it out!

My buddy Harvey and I dedicated a Tuesday afternoon a took a trip to Alameda to the Pacific Pinball Museum. It's a Museum by name but actually a large pinball arcade. Yes, all of the machines are chronologically placed in 4 rooms with the oldest vintage in the front. I could not believe that I found a 1950's vintage bingo machine that was actually banned and outlawed in the USA because of its gambling use. $22 gives you access to all machines all day. Well both of us played for hours until our necked and back hurt the next day. Super fun. There is a city parking lot behind the museum but it's 2 hr meters so you need to keep feeding the meters.

This place is great. I had such a good time with my family here and brought back a lot of nostalgia I had as a child growing up in the 80s. I liked playing a machine and reading the little informational blurbs that was afixed to it. I just didn't have enough time to play everything. I enjoyed seeing the progression from analog scoring and wood internals of the early 70s and before and the progression to digital later on.

You get a wristband for the day and can come and go which we really appreciated. We came here on a date night and had a blast! The machines are organized by era and it was so interesting playing some of the early pinball machines and some of the super random ones over the years. Highly recommend. :)

Me and my family had soo much fun! My 12 y/o son played his first pinball machine and had a blast. So many to choose from which made it worth the price we paid for unlimited play. My faves were: Indiana Jones, Race Car and Godzilla. Spent over a hour and still didn't play them all. Definitely will go back.

A very unique and enjoyable entertainment idea. The collection of pinball machines ranges from the ancient to the modern and allows try your skills with wooden cabinet machines from the 1950s, which are very mechanical as well as modern digital devices from the present day . The everything is included admission price which is currently at $22 as of March 2024 is really an amazing bargain. You consider that you can play the entire day and evening and if you were to add up all those quarters you would probably exceed well over $50 in play.

I gotta first say I love pinball, and it is so expensive to play these days. This museum (arcade) was excellent! Great location, great selection, and the guys at the counter were cool. Well worth the money. I spent two hours there only because I had to leave for an appointment. It would be nice if they served beer there

$22 for unlimited play for the whole day along with leaving and coming back before the store closes. The staff were friendly and helpful for explaining the rules. The store has 5 rooms full of different types, genres and styles or machines each with a description card to learn more about the machine. They have machines ranging from wooden retro ones dating back the late 1800s to modern ones with a bunch of lights and sound. A great place to go to for pinball fanatics or simply a solid date night activity!

What a fun place to hang out. Hubby's idea to take our teenagers. I didn't think we would stay long but after 5 hours, I had to be dragged out by the kids. It's a museum, with lots of historical artifacts and funky art on the walls, but you also can basically play all different kinds of pinball machines all day for one price. Totally worth it. (With Yelp Check-In, it's 2 for $22 on Tuesdays). There are historical pinball machines on display -- the earliest from 1932. But you can play with super old ones all the way up to current ones. You can spend the whole day starting from the oldest one to the latest one. I love that you can play endlessly. My favorites were AC/DC, Seawitch, Star Wars, and Iron-Man. But there were tons to enjoy. I also love the jukeboxes. I think there were 3 -- and you can just select songs to play for free! The music varies from different eras: 50's country, classic rock n' roll, 70's ballads, 80's, and 90's. So fun! I was basically dancing while playing pinball. I love that they wipe down the buttons and flipper switches every hour. You can smell the germ-killing disinfectant! They also have hand sanitizer around the rooms. There are step stools for the littles so they can play too! Staff is friendly and professional. They're all-around cool people. Definitely an awesome place to come with friends or family and enjoy some time off from screens.

Myself and a new acquaintance decided to go here in lieu of other plans due to the weather conditions. Neither of us had been here in a good while. It was nice to go back down memory lane related some pinball machines from childhood. It was moderately packed. I'm sure many parents found this ideal for themselves and kids to get out the house and have a moment to themselves. I've brought my son here a few times when he was younger and he loved it. The price is affordable. The cool part is the allow in and out from open to close so you can take a break, grab a bite and/or peruse the many shops along the Blvd. Every room has designated decades of pinball machines abs music for that era. Tap into your inner child or take your child.

I lived in Alameda for a short time over 5 years ago and had first learned about the museum then but never made it in until some months ago. They offer more than 100 pinball machines dating all the way from the 1940's to the present day. You'll definitely learn at least a little bit about the history and you'll see some historical and rare machines. There are several areas/rooms filled with machines and each has a card with information about the year, title, and some history/information about it. Throughout the various rooms and hallways are very cool hand painted murals, vintage jukeboxes and some exhibits. No quarters or other forms of payment for each machine is required as an admission rate includes an all day unlimited pay and depending on the age prices will vary. Besides any street parking around there's also a little parking lot around the corner on Santa Clara street.

Went with my friend for a couple of hours on a Thursday afternoon. So fun to have a chance to play any game we wanted and try and bunch of different ones from different eras. The place is neat and clean and all the machines were fun! Nice to not deal with tokens, you can just walk up and play once you pay the admission. Highly recommend!!

Amazing place! They were so nice and I love how you pay to get in and then don't have to worry about paying for each game. Lots of history displayed and explained which was very interesting.

Had so much fun! First time I had played pinball in years. Great place to spend the afternoon!

Alameda CA is far for me to get to. I was there in the afternoon around 3pm and got back by 9pm taking Uber Bart and Muni back to San Francisco. It was a trek. I heard about this museum in 2021 visiting Free Gold Watch again. I took a gap and went back and decided to trek out to Alameda and do a study of the Pacific Pinball Museum. The person who started it worked at Exploratorium and if that was 20 years ago, he is about 70 years old now. One person answered all my questions. It says "field trips" with school. It says STEM. It's a mix of physics, graphics, art history, kinetics, toys, and history. It packs a punch and it was "fantastic." I got some gifts from the gift shop--book , old pinball, and a sticker, etc. They have a league and there are lessons for children. I spent about 3-4 hours at this museum. I needed time to digest what it said. It was gambling, bingo, and bagatelle. The French aristocrats played this game. It was at the time of billiards, baseball, etc. The wood box had pin nails..it used marbles. Then they evolved the pinball machine arcade game. There was a flipper. It says slots. The ball bounces and loops and until it falls into a pit. It was a skills game for amusement and gambling. The arcade game was supposed to give you points, tickets, and a prize. This museum was started in 2002 like the end of high school. I paid $12 to get in and bought tickets. Now I am a writing an illegitimate report for a college study because I already finished school. This made me day better and people can visit with membership. Alameda is far. I don't really know who to meet in Alameda.

I can't wait to go play again. It's a wonder thing to enter this bright and wacky venue filled with pinball machines. Giant paintings grace the walls. There is so much to appreciate at the museum. Play to your hearts content. There are many machines.

This museum allows you to play nearly all of them for free. They're arranged in 4 rooms by date of release with interesting history for each one. You get an armband so you can come and go throughout the day, which makes it relaxing. They love questions and if you find an issue with a machine like I did with the Elton John machine, they will examine it and mark it for repair on Monday's when they are closed for maintenance. I got to see how easy it is to access the inside of the machines and the electrical components and learned so much. You learn that the King of France essentially invented pinball and it's fun to play the old wooden models which were much different. They have experimental prototypes and many things you would normally not see in a small private collection. There's a parking lot behind the building. They have many of the machines set to use 5 balls instead of 3 and just ask you play them though for the next person. Even on a weekend it wasn't so terribly busy to be unpleasant so I never waited to play anything. They have two clean bathrooms inside and there's a bus transit literally outside. There's lots of places to eat and have a beer in the area as well. In addition, they have three machines in the lobby which are $1 to play for people who don't want to do the museum.

This is one of my favorite places in the Bay! It's located near some good transit stops so it's very accessible without a car, though there is also ample parking if you arrive by car. You play a flat fee (no need for quarters unless you want to play one of the special machines) and get unlimited play with in-out privileges all day/until closing. Staff is warm and knowledgeable about the machines, and it really is a museum! Without paying, you can walk around and view some of the exhibits to learn about the history of pinball, different styles of machines, and more. I love the jukeboxes so you can play music (so retro!), the wide variety of machines (some are very old, some are newer, and there's something for everyone!) The bathrooms have cool pinball decor too. It's definitely a community hub, but it's also famous enough that tourists come and I've met people at pinball places in other states that ask me about the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda! They get new machines every now and then so there might be something new or different each time you go!

Amazing Pinball Place. I was a member for 2 years and was about to renew my membership but I saw no new incentives for members. 1 incentives should be new Pinball machines. That should be easy being they have a warehouse full of machines. One of the legendary machine is Attack From Mars. In two years I think I have noticed a couple of different machines, so I can't say no new machines added. Summer is on its way and you can't enjoy playing in a hot game room. Members/ customers should have A/C to enjoy the experience in a cool room. The museum does provide fans but in the summer it doesn't help. Don't get me wrong this place is amazing and fun. My membership the combo package cost $500 so i expect machines to be changed out and give something like free passes to members so they can bring guest with them. Possibly become a new member. 5 stars to the staff.

I took my gf here because she had never played pinball... and she loved it! We both already want to go back. It's fascinating to play on machines from different decades and to see all the differences. The jukeboxes are a nice touch too.

Vietnam veteran returns to Alameda 55 years after being inducted there... to play pinball. That is what he should have been doing 55 years ago...not going to war.

This place is a treasure, a huge selection of machines in several rooms. I loved the history write up above each of them. Great value as you can play as long as you want. Nice people running it. We will be returning. (Family of 5 - 3 kids aged 8-11).

If the fantastic German restaurant Speisekammer, the delicious ice cream parlor Tucker's, or the mind-blowing vodka distillery Hanger One aren't enough great reasons to visit the island of Alameda, the Pinball Museum should seal the deal. This establishment has more than 100 clean and well maintained pinball machines sorted by era. For a very reasonable admission price you can play unlimited games on all of the machines, save a few "relics" from the earliest days of the craft. The rooms are clean and patrons were very well behaved. The staff was very nice and restrooms were clean. There is a metered parking lot behind the museum as well as on-street. Seriously, folks. This is the best museum you'll ever visit!

The Pinball Museum is an absolute jewel!! My in-laws invited the wife and I to come check out the pinball museum on a Friday night. I wasn't sure what to expect maybe some sort of displays and read about pinball machines and their history or something. But honestly to my surprise and an amazement it's a really fun place, and a cool hangout spot. There's great art work everywhere, multiple rooms, pinball machines of all eras, with great info cards of each machine on them. AND they're all unlocked and unlimited play. There are even some jukeboxes there are unlocked and you can listen to some fun throwbacks. We probably spent 4 hours there just playing. I would love to come back again, but to just read and learn more about the pinball history. Highly recommend anyone to come check it out and have some fun!!

Great Beautiful Selection of pinball to choose from. Very Friendly Staff, Clean Bathrooms, Incredible Jukeboxes that blew my mind. I can tell they take great pride in their work here and the museum is immaculate. It's Impossible to play every single machine in one day. Some of my favorites are Champion Pub, SafeCracker, Terminator 2 Judgement day, Spooksville, Freedom, and Star Wars Ep1. I'm hoping to come as much as possible to support this place.

This place is a treasure. A lot of pinball machines you might not have a chance to play anywhere else. They have a good mix of old to new tables, which lets you see how things have changed over time, and each machine has an informative sign above it so you can learn more. The staff are all really friendly and knowledgeable. A must visit.

Mechanical-Gaming for the win. Always loved the tactility and all the sounds and lights of pinball machines and now you can do it all in one place for a flat fee. This is an amazing arcade/museum with the pinball museums arranged in chronological order, its history you can play on and each game has a little information placard that is informative but unobtrusive. It's $20 for adults and you get free-play as long as you want; hours easily burned. My favorite pinball machine is the clear housing one, you can see what it took to make all the dings, movements, flashing lights before silicon and motherboards. A crazy maze of wiring and mechanical switches and modules. When we visited the playable exhibits were all about "pointy people" a very interesting illustration style with people turned angular and planar on the back-glass. All of these machines were in a dedicated room and it was cool seeing the artwork blown up and also on the machines. They have stools for young children and you could tell the museum is maintained and cared for by passionate people. Really fun and unique experience, only bad thing about it is it is in downtown Alameda and parking can be a bit challenging. Best to come early for brunch when parking is easier and waiting for them to open.

This place came up on my FB feed a week ago and I'm so glad that it did because I LOVE pinball machines! I definitely recommend coming on a Tuesday because it's Buy 1, Get 1 free OR 1/2 off admission! It's also Farmer's Market around the corner from here! Park about 1 block away for free residential parking and no hourly limits or meters! Great, friendly service! Clean throughout the many pinball rooms and the restroom too! They really take care of their museum! Additionally, I only had a couple issues and talked to the workers who helped me with machines immediately. They walk around to make sure things are safe and orderly as well. LOVE it! They also have at least 3 jukeboxes that I saw and lined up songs on! The pinball machines and jukeboxes are free, what more could you want! You play the games you want to the music you want!!! LOVE it! I was really impressed with the diversity of pinball machines spanning decades! Not only that, 95% or more of the machines were in excellent shape re: flippers, bumpers, spinners, etc. I played for almost 8hrs! You get in and out privileges with the wristband entrance fee. Eat NextDoor at the Cambodian food restaurant! Very tasty food, friendly service, huge portions too! Returned to the museum to play another hour or so after dinner! I really enjoyed this great experience and can't wait to return on a Tuesday again! :) I still need to sort thru my photos! I will add to this post once I do! I spent a couple hours playing the Safe Cracker pinball machine! That is the BEST game ever! I won 6 tokens! The token actually rolls out of the bottom edge of the top display panel, soooo COOL! I've never seen or played a game like this! I wish I could buy it and take it home!!! :)

Very fun date night, so many machines! Flat fee, so worth spending a bit of time there

I'll start by saying that I'm a pinball noob, but I went with a pinball superfan. Even if I'd gone alone, I think the emphasis on education would have been enough to give me a real appreciation for the history of these machines. Every machine has an informational sign above it that provides context and what makes each one notable. The museum is set up like a big horseshoe-shaped timeline that goes from the earliest and simplest machines to the complicated modern ones. It ended up being perfect for a novice like me because I could learn the mechanics on the early machines and then appreciate the gameplay more as the tables got more digital and complex. This place is the perfect place to while away a few hours, especially for families. Another tip is to check local online coupon sites for slightly cheaper deals.

This is a Bay Area gem! Our first time here yesterday and we had a blast! Very friendly, welcoming staff. Clean and well maintained. Plenty of incredible pinball machines spread out over several rooms for a busy, Saturday crowd of visitors. Can't wait to return!

This place is a hidden gem in Alameda! You get to play the pinball machines that may not be playable anywhere. Once you pay, you get to play all day.

Found parking after 5 pm on the street. Went for free with the library pass. It was fun and all games are free once you pay. There's a restroom and it's nostalgic as this was the arcades past. They had so many machines and it wasn't super packed on a Friday night where you were waiting your turn. My bf went who likes these games and had tons of fun

Easily one of the most fun things I've done in awhile! Went to visit my father in the Bay Area and he suggested we go here for the day. Wasn't sure what to expect because it's a museum but it was so much more interactive than I expected! The person working at the front was kind in explaining how all the machines were free play and gave us some info about the history of pinball (which my father loved and I found quite interesting as well). My boyfriend joined us and the three of us had a blast playing pinball on the machines and barely got to play even 25% because of how many machines they have! We were having such a fun time that we didn't notice how we easily stayed there for a few hours. Highly recommend and can't wait to go back!

Great place. Friendly and helpful staff. They even have high-end machines. Will return -- and with my kids.

This place rocks! They have historical machines back to WW II and almost any machine you remember from your past. The curator is great and showed us through the many rooms. If you are a pinball aficionado, or not since my kids learned about the game the day we went, this place is a must visit. Also they have kids classes on Sat if you are local.

I brought my elderly parents here to help celebrate Father's Day. We had a BLAST! There are machines from every era AND jukeboxes in each from from that specific era! DAMON was amazing! He gave us a brief rundown, we paid and played any game we wanted. The music on the jukeboxes is also included. We only stayed an hour, but my parents really liked it and I will be back.

This place brought nostalgic once I walked inside. Pinball machines from the 1900's to the early 2000's lined up the wall in each room. The owner of this museum was very friendly and gave us a background history of the place and encouraged us to look around. Our group spread out and played various pinball machines and were instantly hooked! We ended up being here for almost 2 hours but it felt like time flew by so fast. I will definitely be coming back here and recommend to give this place a visit

Super fun look at the history of pinball machines! Did you know pinball machines were illegal in New York City from 1946 to 1974? The lawmakers and police thought they were gambling devices. All working machines set to free play! Also, the probably less-mentioned feature is the 3 free jukeboxes in the place, loaded with music around the era of the pins in the room. No coins! If I lived closer to Alameda, I'd be there at least twice a month!

A little expensive, but fun! Classic to modern machines, and lots of them! Clean, well ventilated space and well maintained machines. A gem!

The history mixed with being able to play was very enjoyable. I liked playing the early machines first and then moving to the more modern ones. They have a wide variety of games. I liked the movie and band themed machines best. I can't wait to return so we can use the score card. We had so much fun our first visit, we did not have the patience to note scores.

Wow! I remember when I was in high school, some of my friends, peers and I, and two of our teachers, came here for a day of fun on a Thursday in February of 2014. We learned about the history of pinball and the pinball machines and I was amazed. I actually happen to love pinball. Playing an actual pinball machine is nothing compared to my childhood days of playing an computer pinball game. In fact, the first time I played a pinball machine was at a little arcade at a restaurant. Other than seeing pinball machines from the 1940's to the present day, I also saw murals, jukeboxes and special exhibits that rotate. I really enjoyed playing a lot of the pinball machines from the past and present. I happen to be an average pinball player. Want to have a day of fun? This interactive museum is for you! :) Hopefully, I could come back here one day. (Fingers crossed)

Boy oh boy, this was surprisingly a great place to spend a couple of hours with the boys. Price-wise, it's $22 per adult for all-you-can-play fun. They have pinball machines going all the way back to the 40s... that you can play! There are about 4 rooms, and the 2 you see up front and 2 in the back with the one in the furthest back having a sick hand-drawn mural that's 10x10 in size. The owner is so into pinballs that you could converse with him for hours.

This place was lots of fun! We went there on a double date. You paid a flat fee to get in the door all day. It was fun getting to play through the "evolution" of pinball through the years and see all of the technological advancements get incorporated. The newer stuff was definitely more fun, but there was definitely novelty to playing the old games as well.

my favor place to be alone and enjoy the classic games. Put down phone, other responsibility and have fun.

I've visited the Pacific Pinball Museum this past weekend with my wife and daughter and we all had a great time! The collection of the museum ranges from machines made in the 30's all the way to modern pinball machines. The absolute majority of them are all available for free play, all in perfect order (strong flippers, clean playfield and no burnt bulbs) with historic information notes about each game (i.e. year of manufacturing, maker and relative importance to the field). I grew up in the 90's and witnessed the decline of pinballs and personally was much more into video games. That being said, I consider a true privilege to be able to visit a single place with some of the *very best* pinballs ever made. Keep in mind some of these machines are rare (e.g. Safecraker) and quite pricey (Family Addams goes for near $14,000 in this days!). Others are simply irreplaceable (e.g. machines from the 30's to early 60's) and are true piece of history. There is a public parking just behind the building that makes it much more convenient to visit. On top of that, there are restaurants and coffee shops nearby, it is an excellent location to visit with family and friends. The museum crew is helpful and will help you find any specific pinball machine that you may be interested. The museum allows you to visit, play for say 1 or 2 hours, go out for a quick snack or lunch and them return without having to pay for a second ticket. Truly amazing! Even if you are not into pinball playing, do yourself a favor and visit this very special place. You will get a better appreciation for pinballs (history, art, technical innovation) while getting your money worth back by playing as much as you can!