Mission Accomplished: Local Pinball Player Opens Interactive Museum

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Eight months ago, Saratoga TODAY chronicled the efforts of one local pinball enthusiast to open an interactive museum where guests could play the silver ball on dozens of collectible machines. On Friday, Lonnie Linen’s plans will come to fruition.

June 20 is the soft opening of Arcade Archaeology, an interactive pinball museum at the Aviation Mall in Queensbury. The opening coincides with Saratoga Silverball’s 5th annual pinball show.

Linen picked the location due to its proximity to both Saratoga Springs and Lake George, hoping to reel in the summer crowds. He was also impressed with the mall’s foot traffic; and a generous offer from the mall’s manager helped seal the deal.

Now, Linen is working tirelessly with a small band of collaborators to get the museum up and running. But it’s no easy feat. The 3,600-square-foot space is set to include around 50 different pinball games (with at least 40 of them being playable), including new additions to Linen’s collection: “Indiana Jones,” “Addams Family,” and “Space Jam” machines. Linen said the first two would become “crown jewel” centerpieces of the museum.

“Having an Indiana Jones and an Addams Family really takes us to the next level,” Linen said.

A pre-owned Indiana Jones machine costs somewhere in the range of $17,000. The game includes 12 different modes that are based on scenes from the original film trilogy. Parts of John Williams’ score accompany the action, as does original voicework performed by actor John Rhys-Davies, who played the character Sallah in the Steven Spielberg-directed movies.

The Addams Family is considered the most commercially successful pinball machine of all time, selling more than 20,000 units across the globe. The gameplay includes “exploring” the ghoulish family’s mansion while trying to open a bookcase that exposes a vault entrance.

Linen’s sizable collection also includes the 1980s medieval fantasy-themed “Sorcerer,” the rare “Deadly Weapon,” the classic “Fish Tales,” “Spectra IV” (a square-shaped cocktail game that spins around), “Caveman” (a pinball machine with a video game inside it), and the ultra-rare “Safety Zone.”

“We’ll feature stuff from basically the entire history of pinball,” Linen said. “All the way from 1934 to 2024. 90 years of pinball.”

When museum visitors arrive to play some of these games, Linen plans to offer them $5 worth of tokens included with their $10 admission fee. These tokens will allow guests to play games priced around .25¢ or .50¢ a pop.

“For the $5, you could probably spend about an hour or two there,” Linen said. “I think that would be the perfect balance.”

The aim of the new museum, beyond allowing visitors to admire and play pinball machines, is to capture the “joyful essence” and bring back the “retro nostalgia” that Linen said is lacking at many arcades and entertainment centers around the country.

“I just want people to be able to play classic games and enjoy them with their kids and their families,” he said.

Arcade Archaeology has its soft opening on Friday, June 20, with an official grand opening likely occurring sometime in July. For now, the museum will be open on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.