No longer a relic of sleazy bars, pinball is making a big comeback

Step into an unassuming industrial building in Teltow, just outside Berlin, and a bright, clacking universe unfolds: around 50 pinball machines line 200 square metres, from classics like Wizard and The Addams Family to modern hits such as Game of Thrones.

Welcome to Flipperhalle Berlin – proof that pinball is back in vogue.

The United States, the world’s largest pinball market, has seen a dramatic revival since the mid-2000s, fuelled by the rise of arcade bars, or “barcades,” that pair vintage games with food and drink.

The trend has spread far beyond the US: pinball machines now pop up in breweries, restaurants and dedicated pinball bars from Chicago to Sydney.

Chicago’s Logan Arcade, for example, has become a mecca for enthusiasts, with themed machines and regular tournaments.

A teenage fascination lives on

Germany has its own hotspots. In the south-western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, one museum houses 150 machines, most of which can be played, dating from 1930 to today.

And every weekend in Teltow, visitors can play their way through decades of pinball history at Flipperhalle Berlin, owned by Jörg Meissner.

“It’s an excessive indulgence of my hobby,” admits Meissner, a 59-year-old master electrician who began playing at 15 and never lost his fascination.

In 2005, he bought his first machine, then spent weekends criss-crossing Germany and the Netherlands to find more. Within a year, he had 100.

Meissner sorts his collection by sound. “The glockenspiel pinball machine from the 1970s – when you hit it, little bells ring,” says Meissner.

Others, like Harlem Globetrotters, boast elaborate sound systems. While he had the technical know-how to maintain them, he taught himself the intricacies of pinball repair.

But this is no smoky gambling den: “Families come to us, we celebrate children’s birthday parties. Our guests range from 2 to 90-year-olds – and plenty of them are women,” Meissner says.

Jörg Lathwesen, chairman of the German Pinball Association, praises Meissner’s dedication: “Without places like this, many machines would stay hidden in private collections.”

With machines costing thousands of euros and taking up considerable space, he says public halls are vital – especially for teenagers and young adults, as pinball builds reaction, patience, focus and social connection.

Even the Romans played with balls

“The first patent for a pinball machine was registered in the United States in 1871,” explains Arne Hennes, chairman of the Pinball Museum in Schwerin, northern Germany.

But games with balls go back much further – stone slabs used for marbles have been found in ancient Roman settlements.

A key ancestor of pinball is Bagatelle, in which players shoot a ball across an inclined board to score points – no electronics, just skill. The big leap came in 1947 with the invention of the familiar flippers.

“For the first time, players could actively control the game, transforming it from pure chance into a true test of skill,” says Hennes.

Pinball’s revival – a retro trend

In the early 1970s, pinball machines were part of the inventory of almost every pub in Germany.

“In the former East Germany, pinball machines were only allowed at funfairs,” says Hennes. By the turn of the millennium, pinball machines had almost died out.

“It was no longer financially viable to install them,” says Meissner. Video games and home consoles also pushed pinball machines into oblivion around 20 years ago. Many manufacturers disappeared from the market.

“In 2005, pinball was dead. There were only 10,000 people in the world rankings who played in tournaments. Now we’re at 90,000,” says Meissner. The revival, experts agree, is partly driven by a retro trend.

“Due to the small number of machines in operation, the ‘sleazy pub image’ has been shed for years,” says Lathwesen.

The German pinball association has around 700 members, aiming to promote pinball as a cultural asset, sports equipment and art object.

And there is a similar revival trend in Britain.

According to tourism and heritage researchers Anya Chapman and Duncan Light at Bournemouth University in England, for nearly a century, amusement arcades were a fixture of the British seaside holiday – noisy, bustling hubs of flashing lights and ringing coins.

But the arrival of home video games and tighter gambling laws dimmed their appeal, leaving many arcades to fade along with the resorts around them.

Now, across the coast, these amusement arcades are making a comeback too.

The “old penny arcades,” with coin-operated machines, have been reappearing, stocked with mechanical machines, according to their research.

“They offer an experience based on a nostalgic affection for the ‘traditional’ seaside holiday,” the researchers say. They argue that these arcades can play a key role in helping seaside resorts reinvent themselves to attract more visitors.

For Lathwesen, pinball’s future looks bright.

Digital innovations, he says, bring “new possibilities for making the machines more interesting,” from spectacular lighting effects to the ability to save high scores.