A new nonprofit pinball arcade has opened its doors near downtown Eugene.
Players battled with Godzilla, Muhammed Ali, multiballs and more Thursday night at the opening of the Cascade Underground Pinball Society.
Located inside the alleyway of Claim 52 Brewing at 232 Lincoln St., the new space houses 17 pinball machines sourced from local collectors.
Hayden Harker, the nonprofit’s board president, said he wants enthusiasts to come there to practice, take classes, watch national tournaments and potentially even livestream their own gameplay.
“I want a place where all the different facets of pinball can be in one space,” said Harker.
Harker said the Cascade Underground Pinball Society is committed to offering pinball machines for play that are difficult to find anywhere else.
Board Vice President Cory Anderson said this includes older machines from the 70s and 80s. He said since these models are harder to maintain, they’re rarer to find in the wild.
“They're a part of history,” said Anderson. “A lot of newer games have really deep, complex rule sets, which are great, but they don't make simple games anymore that have simple objectives, which are easy to learn but hard to master.”
Meanwhile, Anderson said the organization hopes to offer technical classes, to help people understand or repair the inner workings of a pinball machine.
“There's a lot of people in the community that would like to own a machine of their own one day,” said Anderson. “And we want them to be able to do so safely and with confidence.”
For Eugene’s competitive pinball players, the new space could also provide an advantage, according to the Society’s co-founder and local league organizer Matt Walton.
Walton said since the machines are on free-play, the nonprofit can make the machine steeper and remove some of the guardrails that a player might find at a bar, without being overly punishing.
“When you go to a high-level tournament anywhere in the US or in the world, you see two things: a variety of eras represented, and machines that are set up more difficult than average,” said Walton. “So, we want to emulate that experience of playing on machines at a high level tournament, which we're very excited for.”
The plan is to fund the space through entrance fees and monthly memberships. Walton said they may also seek donations in the future.
The space will be open from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursdays and noon to 10 p.m. Saturdays at first, with hopes of scaling up its hours sometime next year.
