silverballmuseum

The Silver Ball Museum... over 200 antique gaming machines all restored and ready for you to play!! If you're into this sort of thing, it is AWESOME! I love the old mechanical machines, clanging bells, and such. So unlike the computerized games of today. If you're ever in Asbury Park, NJ, check it out! Or visit their website http://silverballmuseum.com/
Click on the little pictures to see the big pictures, click on the big pictures to see the NEXT pictures.
Got any feedback!? Want some hi-res pix? Write to me. jon - at - planetbanjo - dot - com.


Welcome to Asbury Park, NJ! A delightful beachside town with a lovely boardwalk, all next to a not too prosperous town. Totally Jersey Shore. No sign of Bruce Springsteen! The Stone Pony was closed up tight.
My big sister Maddy on the boardwalk.
Now, down to the reason for the visit! The
Yes, the monkey hits the bell! This is high tech in the 1960's!
Kathy plays
Looks better with no flash!
Three digit scores were common in the early games, there has been huge score inflation since then.
Love the Pleasure Isle! Note that it's a two player game, one of the early ones.
See the little string on the middle hula dancer? Guess what? She dances for you! Or more accurately, her hips are pulled back and forth when you hit certain targets in the game.
Maddy and Kathy playing the oldest working machines, the 1950's machines. You can see more 60's and 70's machines in the background.
Notice that the 50's vintage machines didn't have scores that rolled up. They were just lights that lit up... and for some reason, you would then multiply the number by
The lower plunger pushes the ball up so the upper plunger can shoot it onto the playing field. Some of the games had five silver balls, and you'd lift each one, and some had just one silver ball that you would raise five times per game. Since 1970 or so, all machines had automatic ball feed, so there was just one plunger.
Another 50's beauty. Notice the score inflation... Thousands and Millions... no ones and tens and hundreds. Why?
A very cool mechanical spinning target. Naturally you wanted to hit all the numbers.
Here you can see the five balls. This one was very hard to keep the ball in play, there were too many paths for it to go out on you. The exit ramps were in the hundreds of thousands, but the bumpers were only two points. Why?
Extremely cool! Little mechanical boxers would have a fight, based on which targets you'd hit on the playing field. This 50's vintage machine is truly an amazing example of pinball art.
The backglass of the fight game you just saw. 1950 was about the oldest working machine there, though they had older ones!
When you started the game, the horse would kick the poor cowboy and he'd do a couple of flips.
The artwork on this machine just kills me... keep clicking...
Which way did he go, Doc?
And politically incorrect to boot.
One of the really old (non-working) machines. Real pins around each target.
Gotta love these elephants!!
North Star... the singing sailor.... and get this....
Eskimos in mini-dresses! This one kills me.
And... blond eskimos!
There was more than just pinball! Too much to do! They had skee-ball, tons of stuff. This is a very cool antique bowling machine.