Asheville Pinball Museum

Old pinball and arcade machines unlimited for $ 12 bucks and beer? Pure joy. Just go!

Amazing experience! We showed up to find out there was a 1.5 hour wait to get in. We left our cell number and then walked around downtown until the call came in.
Went inside and played the flat fee. All of the machines are set for free play so you just walk up and press start. Awesome!
After spending around 30 minutes playing a variety of pinballs from the 1970s to present I went to find the bathroom. On the way there I stumbled upon the best part of the place! A backroom with classic arcade games! Ms. Pacman, Donkey Kong, 1942 and many more all ready to play at the push of a button.
Great place to have fun for all ages. Highly recommended!

This is place is great if you want to throw it back to your childhood years. At $ 10 for unlimited pinball, arcade game play, and fun times it’s totally worth it. They have a ~30 pinball machine selection as well as ~20 arcade games that you pay that one price for and can stay as long as you like. Great place to go with friends and learn about the mechanics of pinball as well as play it!

I had no idea what to expect…
This is such a fun afternoon! They open at 2pm and close at 9pm. It’s $ 13 and you play unlimited pinball. They also feature old school arcade games, pacman, ms. pacman, centipede, asteroids, etc. How can this get any better you say? A bar? Yup! They have a bar. It’s like the clouds have parted and the angels are singing. The bar features soda, water, beer and hard cider. Knowing that this place exists makes me happy. I’ve been twice and have yet to be disappointed. I will return, many times.

What an awesome place! If you like pinball or arcades this is a no-​brainer. For 13 dollars you can play all day non-​stop. Come and enjoy yourself!

I came to Tennessee for camping and thought it would be fun to do a day trip to Asheville. One of the places I visited was this Pinball Museum. The place is small and can be a little cramped but that’s a testament to the cool nostalgia of the place. People want to experience the fun found here.
The staff was pretty kind and helpful. Someone had temporarily lost their purse and the staff was hard at work to locate it.
This place is split into two major areas. The front is where all the pinball machines are. They have a huge selection of retro and just plain ancient pinball machines. A few are newer. All are refurbished and have a good quality about them. Some are even for sale if you’re interested. It seems like they have a semi-​constant rotation because of this.
The back room is the other major area. It’s a much smaller room with arcade machines. There was a few cool ones but I had a less than ideal experience there because it gets even more cramped. Within a half hour of the place opening that room was packed where no machines were open. Plus, while this isn’t the establishment’s fault, someone had significant body odor which really hurt the experience. One game of Rampage and I was out of there.
I live very far from this place so who knows if or when I may return, but I would if I was in the area. It was a fun midday diversion. I bought a souvenir pinball ball and it stands as a token of a pretty cool day.

WOW!!! Me and bae rolled up on Saturday afternoon looking to get sorted out with some good pinball action and we knew we were going to get that but this time we also got hooked up with some arcade action too as well! NICE!!! We got us some turnt juice at the bar and then played some games for like 2 or 3 hours or something. This was our second time here and we will be back because this is a favorite destination for The Squad! YES baby! I like the Jurassic Park game ok

Talking about my trip to Asheville, I always include this little gem. We stumbled upon this on accident and we weren’t there for very long but what we did see was so neat. The place is small but it is packed wall to wall with pinball machines from every era. The oldest one we saw was back from the 1940s. To look around was free but we couldn’t play. But for only $ 12 you can play for as long as you want. While we were there there was a little boy’s birthday party and you could tell those kids (big and old) were having a blast.

A really cool place to spend some time, playing pinball and/​or seeing some super-​duper vintage and historic pin ball machines.
Nice staff. Informative.
Would be a great place to shoot a music video, or host a party, or for pinball wizards to fall in love.

Loved getting to visit the Pinball Museum! Not only was it unlimited play (WHHHAAAAA) but you can drink from their bar. OK, YOU HAD ME AT YOU CAN DRINK. Yes, this might be a slightly geared towards the littles, but there was a lot of adults as well. Me and my friends had a lot of fun, and enjoyed drinking and playing. My favorite was the Adams Family Pin Ball game.

Asheville Pinball Museum’s new space, just down the street from its original spot on Battle Square across from the Grove Arcade, gives it twice as much room.
You can visit for free, and I found the staff there friendly and willing to share lots of information. You can wander around and look at and read about the various machines from the 1930s on. There’s a lot of fascinating history here, especially about the «pinball bans» that were in effect in many cities not so long ago.
The main room of the Pinball Museum is devoted to vintage pinball machines, while the back rooms have video arcade machines and some «shooting» games from the 1940s and later. Note the restrooms — label Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man!
If you want to play the classic pinball and video machines, it’s $ 12 (adults) for unlimited play. Some machines are on display only.
While Asheville is not unique in having this kind of place — I understand Seattle, Las Vegas and a few other cities have similar kinds of pinball museums — but we are lucky to have this fascinating museum here. And if you enjoy playing authentic pinball machines and classic arcade games, you’ll love this place.

Great place to spend a rainy afternoon in Asheville. Who doesn’t like playing unlimited pinball and video games while drinking a local NC brew? My kids loved it too. Will definitely be on the list of activities on our annual Asheville trip.

Good to spend an hour or so. Cool place. Very grungy. Dark. Luckily no smoke. But fun placing pinball… even the 4 and 5 year olds were pinball wizards. Also had some classic video games like Pac Man and Dig Dug in the back. Glad there is a place like this.

Walked in right as they opened and was greeted by one of the owners. Very cool place with tons of classic games and some I have never seen before. Interesting enough that pinball was considered gambling until they added flippers. Very very much worth the money to spend a few hours. Bring out the inner child and all of us, bring yours also and they will never forget the old games we used to play. Oh, and they have beer and soft drinks too!

Holy Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire Freakin’ Awesome Sauce!!!
Do you love pinball? Did you play pinball as a kid? Do you still play pinball? Whether your answer is «yes» or «no» to any of those questions, Asheville Pinball Museum will make you fall in love.
The location is perfect — right in the heart of downtown Asheville in a beautiful historic stone building. An attendant will greet you and tell you about the museum. Curious bystanders can check out the museum for free before they commit.
Now you’re asking, «Who wants to go to a museum and just look at old machines?» What if I told you that you can play the majority of the machines, all day long for $ 12? What if I told you the back room was filled with playable arcade games like Donkey Kong and Burger Time? What if I told you that you could buy an ice cold beer and drink it while you play? Hopefully it won’t take much more convincing than that!
Four long rows of functioning pinball machines! Haunted House, Star Trek, Captain Fantastic, Spiderman, Hurricane, Star Wars, and Addams Family, plus tons more: machines from all eras! Yes there is a museum like section with some historical non playable machines. There’s also a back room where you can view the ones that are currently being fixed for play. At the center is a lounge area and at the back, a long bar. If you need the bathroom, I hope you’re not shy, Optimus Prime and the Fantastic Four might just be watching you!
«Aw man, my ball is stuck!» — Just wave at the attendant with the cool bean mutton chops. Problem solved; he’s your man. The only rule they told me was: «If you start a game, please finish the game» — Dang! If the rest of life were only so simple! This place is simply awesome!

A collection of old old pinball games with signs attached to note history. But this is a museum that you can PLAY. For one price (about $ 7 children and ¹²⁄₁₃ adults) you can play fantastic vintage machines for hours. They also have a video game cave that you can play unlimited games like Galaga, space invaders, Dig Dug, Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man… defender! They are nice and they also serve local craft beers in cans and bottles.
My son had his Bday party here today. Rented the space for 2 hours prior to opening. Lets you bring in food or cake.
Find the Hercules machine. Billed as the worlds largest pinball machine. The «pinball» is an «eight ball» from a pool set. Huge flippers. Not much action but pretty cool to play. Find… Adams Family, Spider Man, Terminator 3, and so many more.
This place is a gem.

People often ask me where they can take their kids for a good time while visiting Asheville. I tell them to run to this spot.
A better name for this place should be the Asheville Pinball dreamland.
Yes, there’s a museum aspect in the fact that machines presented here span from the earliest bells and pins machines to the latest floating graphics digital sound spectacle. However, it’s a pinball free for all! All of the machines are open for play.
You can literally walk through here and play through the evolution of the game of pinball.
Even if you’re not enthralled with the idea of slapping a metal ball bering against various things that light up and make wonderful noises, you may become a convert. The Asheville Pinball Museum has an all you can play pricing structure allowing a casual interest or experiment with a game to became a full fledged addiction. You have all the time in the world to practice on a machine, or unlock the bonus you’ve always dreamed of.
There’s a limited selection of beer and sodas to keep you hydrated and happy while you’re here. But let’s be honest, if you’re here, you’re probably too giddy to feel thirsty.

7 character review: $ 10 AYCP (all-​you-​can-​pinball).
The above is pretty much all you need to know… but that would make for a boring review.
They keep the place under a certain number of people, presumably in observation of fire codes and I think to make sure everyone has a machine to play on. So there might be a bit of wait (it was 30 minutes for us on a Saturday afternoon) but completely worth it.
I was planning on spending only an hour there but we kind of sort of spent 3 hours there. For an afternoon of fun, $ 10 is a very small price to pay.
They also sell beverages, adult & caffeinated, along with Pinball Museum memorabilia like coasters, stickers, & magnets.
Definitely worth a stop if you’re ever in Asheville!

Ever since I was a young boy, I’ve played the silver ball.
My grandparents had several toy bagatelle games that kept me mesmerized for hours in my early days. These games were far older than I, by decades perhaps. I can’t recall my first proper pinball memories, but some highlights that have stuck with me were the family friends who had a table in their basement and, particularly, the Lethal Weapon 3 table we had in our bar while I was in high school.
Thank you, Asheville Pinball Museum, for letting me hear Joe Pesci as Leo Getz once again with a C+C Music Factory soundtrack. Is that dope enough? Indeed. OKOKOKOKOKOK
The museum has a wide assortment of games available. The earliest are well older than I and sport a more gradual slope and wide-​open playfield than those from the ‘80s through today, and the most recent are from an era during which I’ve not played as much, sporting more digital effects. And then there’s Hercules. Hercules is not especially fun, but is good for a try, at least, with its gigantic flippers and billiard ball. I also found myself distracted for at least ten minutes by the minimally electronic wooden baseball table game. It’s quite addictive. The simplest games often are. Heck, my time spent playing Galaga over the years might be measurable in months.
Some of the games here are not so fun. If you’ve donated your share of quarters over the years to various pinball machines, then you probably know the sort I mean. You pull the plunger back against the spring and the ball is launched into the rear bumpers, only to coast swiftly down the table, and straight into the drain with no chance of flippers reaching it, and without even a replay offered. Often the gameplay of such tables suffers from similarly poor design, leading your «Crap!» as you watch ball #1 slip into the drain to evolve into a «What the fucking fuck, you motherfucker!» by the time #3 casually chooses the unguarded right outlane and makes its unceremonious exit under your bewildered gaze. Big-​name licensed products often fall into this category, making them feel like pinball counterparts to E.T. on the Atari 2600.
There’s an amusing newer baseball game that’s quite fun, and the South Park table is good entertainment. Additionally, there are a couple of games that I played some as a kid, such as Cyclone (on which I somehow managed to place 4^th after a short game). But none got my nostalgia going quite like Lethal Weapon 3.
What’s my best Lethal Weapon 3 memory?
I’d say it was the time I was playing around age 13 and some blazingly effeminate 20-​something fellow in head-​to-​toe denim and a feather earring watched me for several minutes before offering in his voice reminiscent of Blaine Edwards from «Men on Books» to show me his tips for improving.
«Naw, ya see, what you gotta do’s play it like you is fuckin’ a bitch,» at which point he demonstrated by slamming his pelvis into the machine repeatedly, no doubt imagining it were Riggs… or Murtaugh… or Leo Getz… ignoring the tilt warnings and rather quickly allowing every ball to slip into the drain, which looking back I realize may have been his intent all along. I continued to play my own way, sans bitch-​fucking, and Blaine sauntered out of the bar and into the night, never to be heard from again.
I spent at least thirty minutes playing Lethal Weapon 3 at the Pinball Museum; not particularly well, but the pleasure was in getting to play at all, as was the case throughout most of the five hours that I enjoyed there. At $ 10 each for adult admission, one wishes there were options for hourly or other types of passes, but if you foresee yourself playing all day, then it’s well worth it. You may leave and return as much as you want during the day (just ask for a free day pass as you leave). Even a deaf, dumb and blind kid can see that’s a great way to spend the day.
I noticed staff working in the back on other games, getting them ready either to be put into service by the Museum, or to be sent on to their new owners. Yes, you may purchase game tables from the Museum. Most are kept in quite good working order. A couple had persistent hung ball problems, requiring the attention of staff, but with at least 20 games, it was easy enough to move on to another table.
I’m no pinball wizard, but I’ll be returning for more any time I’m back in Asheville, putting my supple wrists to the test, and once again requiring a day or three afterward for my forearms to recover from the workout.
Overall, ⁹⁄₁₀.

I never really play pinball, but this is pretty fun if you want to kick it for an hour or two in Asheville, this is a pretty unique spot.
For $ 10/​person, you can play unlimited pinball on a wide variety of machines. It is pretty cool, because each machine has a little bio on the top of it, letting you know the year and background for the machine. They range from 1930’s to early 2000’s. It is fun to start at the older machines and work your way up to the newer machines, because you slowly see the way they changed over the years.
Only downside are the people who hog machines… not cool…
Cool place to hangout, though. I would recommend it if you like playing games.