Less than 150 of each were produced - a very small number, especially compared to the more than 20,000 machines produced of "The Addams Family" game, the most popular pinball machine of all time and a customer favorite at the museum, Alverson said. The latter is Alverson's favorite due to its complicated nature. They have several machines by the company Spooky Pinball, including a Domino's branded one and "America's Most Haunted," a spoof on the haunting shows shown on cable TV. The museum's is one of very few in existence that's in working condition, said Alverson. Their finds include "Hercules," which at 83-by-93 inches, with an 18-square-foot playfield, is the largest machine (other than just a prototype) ever made. There's a limited supply of these machines in good condition, he said, and they've snapped up several dozen. "This concept is popping up in a bunch of cities," Rowland said of pinball museums, naming Gatlinburg, Las Vegas, Seattle and Roanoke, Virginia, as a few examples. The two met at ChattLab, a makerspace in the Business Development Center.
Rowland, who also owns Escape Experience Chattanooga, agreed. He loved the concept and felt Chattanooga, which has a similar downtown vibe to Asheville, would be a good place to open something similar. That changed last year, when he took his 8-year-old son on a spring break trip to Asheville, North Carolina, and visited the Asheville Pinball Museum. "I had kind of forgotten about pinball over the years," Alverson said. He's been playing since he was a kid, and his first job was as a technician at the arcade at Eastgate Mall.
PINBALL ARCADE GATLINBURG FULL
Over the past year, co-owners Dave Alverson and Michael Rowland have traveled the country purchasing the machines from private collections, where most ended up when arcades started closing down.Īlverson, who also works full time as an engineer for TVA, said he has personally repaired each one. 8 on Broad Street, patrons can play just shy of 40 classic pinball machines produced between the 1930s and 2016. Pinball is resurging in popularity, and Chattanooga is on top of the trend.Īt the Classic Arcade Pinball Museum, which opened Feb. The Classic Arcade Pinball Museum has about 40 playable machines built between the 1930s and 2016.
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