Things to do: Pinball Garage

This month we visited the Pinball Garage in Hamilton, Ohio. Sitting on a corner, conveniently next to a parking garage, the location houses pinball machines, a bar, and prize games with a few arcade options. This site opened in 2020 but it isn’t owner Brad Baker’s first rodeo with pinball machines.

Baker is the founder of VPCabs, a company that uses old school pinball cabinets mixed with LED technology to make virtual pinball machines that mimic the experience of pinball with lower maintenance costs and less specialized parts that original machines require. Baker was able to successfully pitch his company on season 7 of Shark Tank in 2016, partnering with Daymond John and making the company listed as one of the most profitable from the show. They also were featured on Impractical Jokers who crushed one of the machines for an episode, gaining VPCabs more publicity.

Baker, is a Cincinnati native and opened a manufacturing facility in Fairfield. As the business grew he bought out an old auto service shop on Main in Hamilton as a warehouse, and after urging from friends and the City of Hamilton, the Pinball Garage was opened in 2020 in the store front. By 2022, they had expanded to a second room to allow a place for families to sit and eat while they play. The location operates similar to a sports bar and allows families a friendly place to spend a day.

You can find a mixture of old style pinball machines with simpler playing fields, but also some of the latest and greatest of the machines on the market, which is important to Baker. Phase two of the place, included updating all machines to a reloadable card system that is bought at self service kiosks around the shop instead of direct quarters or tokens to play. The cards can be saved for later visits, or recycled in the shop.

The backroom features a few more machines, but also a mix of older and newer arcade machines. There was a duo version of Jurassic Park and Mario Kart, Street Fighter II, Mario, Ms, Pac-man, and plenty of claw, and other prize based games. The options made our 3 hours there fly by pretty quickly after we got into the machines. I even managed to get the second highest score on the Avenger’s game!

I only loaded my card with about $25 worth of credits and as casual players and talkers, that lasted us more than enough, with us even running out the card on Jurassic Park which cost 6 credits over the 5 for pinball before our dinner reservations.

I can’t write about this place without giving a mention to another of Brad Baker’s ventures. The King’s Plate is a collection that visitors to the Pinball Garage can donate to, and it serves hot food to food insecure residents in Hamilton, especially after other pantries have had to close in the last few years. Baker is on a mission to better the lives of those he can reach and has set himself up with multiple businesses that are giving him the resources to do just that.

Pinball Garage is a great stop for families, couples, friends and more that love old school gaming and maybe just grabbing a beer and hanging out. A cheap way to pass a day or evening, and opportunities to give back to the community in a meaningful way.