(The oldest pinball machine on the floor at present: 1950’s Knockout.) Related Stories They will survive us if they’re well maintained.” It takes skill and constant attention to keep machines from different eras working all of the time, so general manager Dan Toskaner and his team are constantly working the floor, keeping the place from going tilt. “They could be classified as numbered artwork that you can interact with,” Ilvento said. Aptly for the Asbury Park boardwalk, assorted arcade offerings abound as well: skee ball from Coney Island’s Eldorado, gun games, shuffle bowling and air hockey.Īll these machines are visually gorgeous. I revisited the Dig Dug video game, which I had played many summer evenings in the early 1980s on the Seaside Heights boardwalk. Pac-Man and many other favourites, some in a 300-game Ultracade machine (which looks like an arcade video-game console but has software that allows players to choose from among hundreds of video games). I found myself racing around as if I were at some kind of reunion of old friends.įans of old-school video games can also get their fix at the Silverball: On the floor and playable are the original Pong game (released in 1972), along with Centipede, Pac-Man, Frogger, Asteroids, Galaga, Millipede, Ms. And farther down the way, the Williams Cyclone was a fixture of my time in the Rutgers Student Center basement. The Bally Pinball Wizard was another old pal. I saw Evel Knievel, grinning down at me just as he did when I was 12. For me, though, it was like seeing old touchstones from my life. Many of them are older than I am.įrom a purely technological standpoint, the museum is a fascinating walk through the evolution of the pinball machine - from very simple machines to complicated models. Here you pay one price - varying depending on how long you want to stay - and can take your pick from an overwhelming number of machines. Gone are the days when a quarter bought you a game. Visitors aren’t playing in some darkened mall game room or smoky dive bar: The Silverball is bright and filled with the sounds of dinging bells. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. But who can think about food when you’ve got literally hundreds of machines from so many eras and so many companies, all in fine condition, lining the walls? Just inside, the Silverball Cafe offers tomato pies, Nathan’s hot dogs, funnel cakes, soft pretzels, salt water taffy and other eats. Not long after opening, the pair moved the museum onto the boardwalk.įrom the outside, you might be forgiven if you mistake the joint for a seaside restaurant tables with red-and-white-striped umbrellas encircle the outside of the completely windowed building. ![]() Founders Robert Ilvento and Steve Zuckerman immediately understood that they needed bigger and better-located digs. Pinball enthusiasts quickly beat a path to the museum’s door. The timing could not have been better: Redevelopment and reinvigoration of the city and its attractions, including the legendary musical outpost the Stone Pony, were in full swing. ![]() The Silverball Museum - a pinball fanatic’s dream come true - opened in 2009 in a basement on Cookman Avenue, right off the boardwalk. Activate your Online Access Now Article content ![]() If you are a Home delivery print subscriber, unlimited online access is included in your subscription.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |