National Pinball Museum

Q: Who has two thumbs and is running behind?
A: That guy, officer! The one who... with the... I got nothing.

If you're in the Baltimore area you'll want to check out the National Pinball Museum. We did!

It's down near the touristy waterfront area. The first floor has the museum part where you'll read about the struggle of pinball machines in an era where people insisted comics books, pinball machines, and Frank Sinatra were leading to a decadent youth. They show pinball machines dating back to France 400+ years ago when they used a pool cue instead of a spring loaded stick.

The second and third floors are full of playable pinball machines. For your $18 entry fee you'll get a card that allows you to play all you want for hours on end. Some are the sort of systems I grew up with where there were light up displays, mini-games within the game, and a heck of a show. Some are older where you can actually follow the action intelligently.

You can see into the repair room where they have some systems on a rack and boxes of replacement bumpers and flashers. I'm told you can take classes in pinball repair, but I'm not sure how.

We spent about three and a half hours there and played most of the working systems several times. I can totally see having a birthday party there. We'll probably go again and make sure it's a stop for friends visiting the area.