MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Pinball Wizard Arcade in Pelham, NH

I stumbled across this place while looking at a list of locations that have Pacman Battle Royale. I spoke to the woman at the counter (one of the owners, I believe) and she said they opened in January, 2010. They have more than 300 machines on the floor, mostly pinball and classic arcade machines, some redemption machines, and a handful of the newer, larger, DDR/driving/shooting games that every Dave and Buster's has.

The place itself is very no-nonsense. No memorabilia on the wall like Funspot has, no kiddie rides, no period music in the background. Just a huge, very dark room loaded with games and a small prize counter for the redemption games. The soundtrack is pure arcade ambiance. Very cool if you're a hardcore gamer, less so if there is someone with you who would appreciate a place to sit or a distraction other than the games.

The selection of classic games is very good, with most of the real classics represented, and quite a few of the less well known games as well. Donkey Kong was conspicuously absent, however. The only Nintendo cabs were Donkey Kong Junior and Popeye. Games seem to be grouped loosely by manufacturer and type, so for example there was a row of fighting games, and all of the Taito games like Jungle Hunt and Elevator Action were together.

They have a good selection of pins as well, mostly from the late-'70s through the 90s, along with a couple of brand new machines and a few electromechanical games from the late-60s/early-70s.

The condition of the machines is remarkable, more like a private collection than a public arcade. There were a few fuzzy or burned-in monitors, but that was about it. Except for two games that were shut off and out-of-service, I didn't encounter a single game that was unplayable due to technical issues.

On the down side, it's a bit more expensive than Funspot. Most of the pins and a few random games were 50 cents to play. Some of the newer, large games were more, and Pacman Battle Royale is 75 cents per player (although it's a blast, even with just two players). It's still not a terrible deal, though. My wife and I had fun for an afternoon for little more than $20.

The location is also maybe less than ideal. Pelham, NH is nice enough, but it's not a destination like Weirs Beach/Laconia is. There is a cinema pub and a pizza joint on either side of the arcade, and a few restaurants in neighboring strip malls, but that's about it. The good news is that it's about 50 minutes from Boston, so it's easily doable as a side trip if you're visiting the city.

Overall, it's not quite Funspot, but it's pretty close to classic gaming nirvana, definitely worth checking out if you're ever in the area.

Some really bad cell phone pics:

Pacman cabaret with geek for scale: