A new arcade-meets-museum has quietly opened inside Block 37, and it’s giving Chicagoans permission to do the one thing most museums forbid: touch everything.
Called The Flip, the new attraction at 108 N. State St. is billed as Chicago’s only playable pinball museum. Instead of staring at rare machines behind glass and reading about their place in coin-op history, visitors can actually put their hands on the flippers, pull the plungers, and play their way through nearly a century of pinball evolution.
The collection moves from early 1930s-era machines to today’s screen-filled, franchise-heavy cabinets.
At the old-school end is Derby Day, a wood-paneled machine that looks more like a piece of antique furniture than an arcade game. It relies on gravity, metal pins, and straightforward mechanical design—no flashing LEDs, elaborate sound effects, or animated cutscenes required. Other vintage tables bring out the good stuff: analog score reels, mechanical plungers, hand-painted playfields, and that satisfying clatter modern games can’t quite replicate.
Then come the newer machines, packed with digital displays, light shows, sound effects, and themes pulled from pop culture’s greatest hits. Expect tables inspired by Godzilla, Pokémon, Jurassic Park, and The Addams Family, among others.
There’s also a very specific bit of millennial computer-lab nostalgia tucked into the space: a period-accurate desktop setup where guests can play 3D Pinball for Windows — Space Cadet on a beige keyboard-and-CRT-monitor combo. If you ever spent a suspicious amount of time pretending to do homework while trying to beat your high score, this one’s for you.
Chicago’s new pinball time machine
Admission is $20 for adults and $10 for kids.
Once you’re inside, nearly every machine is on free play, so there’s no quarter hoarding, token math, or having your game cut short because you ran out of change.
That makes The Flip an easy pick for a low-stakes date night, a downtown detour, a group outing, or anyone who wants to disappear into blinking lights and mechanical chaos for a couple of hours. It’s a little bit museum, a little bit arcade, and a very Chicago way to spend an afternoon indoors.
