How long does it take to save Paris from invading Martians? About five minutes, on Pacific Pinball Museum’s classic Revenge From Mars pinball game. With art, science, and innovation in mind, Chabot Space and Science Center’s pinball exhibit – which runs until September 24 – features Revenge along with 35 other fully functional pinball machines and interactive displays that illustrate the anatomy, evolution, and genius behind classic electro-mechanical arcade games.
Hands-on displays – manual score counters, chimes, and bumpers – breakdown pinball machines’ seemingly complex mechanisms into transparent, easily understandable exhibits. Two acrylic see-through games reveal their inner workings. Ranging from some of the earliest pinball games ever made to modern pinball machines, and everything in between, there’s something for everybody at this celebration of all things pinball.
Oliver Krause is a freshman at Lick-Wilmerding High School.
