Old Time Fun - Fernandina Beach Pinball Museum

While having a couple hours to burn while the wife was shopping on Amelia Island, I stumbled upon probably the most affordable attraction in Florida.

It’s hidden behind a Krystal, that restaurant chain with the little square hamburgers that’s been peppered throughout the South for almost hundred years.  Elvis would order fifty at a time and I remember when they were only 15 cents.

That’s another story but I inhaled six of them before opening their door.

I remember the flashing lights and sounds the machines make and motion of the steel balls bouncing around under the glass.  A good player needs focus, quick reactions and be very observant.

This nostalgic, family-friendly, off the radar oddball museum is a private collection of authentic pinball machines from over the last hundred years.

You can actually play them, testing siblings and parents in some rambunctious and competitive games.

Better yet the cost is $14 per adult and $12 for children under 12 for all day.

Pinball is a culmination of the creative art fields as the museum displays that cultural arts progressiveness in a weird and funny way.

The highlight for enthusiasts is the 1932 Ballyhoo pinball machine that started the Bally Corporation of hotels casinos and slot machines.

This place is helping preserve a largely American industry, to this day most pinball machines are made in the Chicago area.

It’s heyday lasted from the 1950s to the end of the 1970s.   Video games were responsible for the decline in the 1980s though pinball made a comeback for a period in the 1990s and new machines are still being manufactured.

It’s hard to believe all this began with a round metal ball.

I’m not listing all the games here except to tell you that you can’t play them all in one day, so I’ll be back.