For the Love of the Game

Taking Classic Games to the Next Level in Oregon

By Matt Harding

About 20 miles west of Portland, there’s an arcade so impressive that “museum” is in the business name. It’s Next Level Pinball Museum in Hillsboro, Oregon, which boasts a collection of more than 650 pinballs and video games both old and new.

Earlier this year, the three-time recipient of “World’s Favorite Pinball Arcade” completed an expansion that it says makes it the largest arcade on the West Coast – and one of the largest in the world. They added 7,000-sq.-ft. of space, bringing the location to 27,000 sq. ft., and put in another 150 pinball machines and arcade games, which brought it up to that 650-ish total.

“We’re all hoarders around here,” said Jordan Carlson, who owns Next Level along with his father Fred and wife Whitney. “I’d just always grown up playing arcade and pinball machines. My dad had a few when I was growing up.”

That love turned into a growing collection over the years. He placed some on a route, but mostly just enjoyed playing. His passion for pinball especially led him to also sign on with Stern Pinball, Jersey Jack Pinball, Chicago Gaming Company and American Pinball to distribute their games.

“My collection became too big for the space I had,” Carlson explained, noting that his home arcade had long ago spilled into a big shop he had for another business. “We were mostly going to sell machines, but Next Level formed.”

That was in 2017, when the venue opened with about 140 pieces, about half pinballs and half classic video games, and used only about 8,000 sq. ft.

Since then, true to their name, they’ve leveled up with a total of five expansions in that space (they’re officially maxed out, having filled the building’s entire footprint).

In addition to the mass of pinballs and arcades, Next Level has an equally impressive toy and memorabilia collection on the walls. In fact, they’re trying to get the lunchbox collection, started by Fred some 45 years ago, certified with Guinness World Records; there’s a whopping 3,500 vintage lunchboxes in that collection.

“My guess is we have to be well north of 25,000 pieces on the wall,” said Connor Stowe, the arcade’s marketing director. “It’s every type of toy collectible that you can imagine. There’s so many pieces. Now that we have our own identity and we’re in our fifth expansion … we can look for particular stuff to add.”

As for the games, the sheer volume necessitates swapping machines in and out quite frequently.

Says the company website: “When a machine breaks, we have our techs work on the machine directly on the floor, and in the case of more extensive issues, it will be taken back into our tech work room where it may live for several weeks. Standardly speaking, when a machine breaks, we’ll replace it with another game from the back that’s ready to go, so there will always be hundreds of games to play!”

Currently, the arcade is set entirely to free play with a $22 per person admission fee that allows for in-and-out access all day long.

“What’s really cool about the size of our arcade with the free play model is that people will try games they might not normally try if they had to pay for it directly,” Stowe said. Plus, there’s something for everybody – racing games draw in the kids and old-school pinballs draw in the parents.

“I wasn’t here right when Next Level began, but we’ve added so much modern stuff since then,” he added. There’s Fast & Furious Arcade, Halo: Fireteam Raven, Slither.io, Rampage and many other newer games. “So, we appeal to not just vintage and nostalgia lovers but those interested in modern fare as well. It’s been really cool to watch it evolve. I think they’ve done such a good job of growing to meet the audience.”

The arcade is still about half and half pinballs and video games. There are a couple of rooms dedicated to pinballs, Carlson said, and they host pinball tournaments every Friday night, welcoming roughly 40-45 players. The machines themselves are interspersed – old games among brand-new ones. “That seems to have worked really well,” he noted.

From A-to-Z – or, more literally, numbers to X – there’s 24, Xenon and all sorts of other machines mixed in. They have the Emerald City Edition of Jersey Jack’s Wizard of Oz, a trio of Playboy games (Bally, Data East and Stern), Cue Ball Wizard (Gottlieb, 1992), Pin*Bot (Williams, 1986) and Space Invaders (Bally, 1980), among the hundreds of pins.

On the video side, it’s everything from 1943: The Battle of Midway to Zoofari. In the mix, they also have Wicked Tuna, Killer Queen, Joust, Q*Bert, Mr. Do! and Mr. Do’s Castle, Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, Mortal Kombat (plus a II, 3 and 4 machine), Bubble Bobble and Asteroids, also among a sea of other games.

They also have some machines not included in their free play, mainly redemption games or cranes like Cut 2 Win, Fun Zone, Minecraft Dungeons Arcade and Injustice Arcade. (You can see the full list of what’s available on their website.)

The crowds are as diverse as the machines themselves. With such a massive offering, they draw people from big companies with a local presence (like Intel and Nike) and also folks from around the globe.

“The pinball community knows us very well,” Stowe said. “A couple from Australia was recently here. Another from the U.K. last week.” He also noted they don’t serve alcohol and have a very family-friendly vibe. “We’ve worked really hard to make it a comfortable space for everyone.”

Of course, in the rainy Pacific Northwest, Carlson added: “People are always looking for things to do inside.”

Next Level Pinball Museum is open from Thursday to Sunday, which gives the truly ambitious arcade lover the challenge of playing each of the games at least once in that timeframe – a feat that more than a few tourists have attempted.

As the collection has grown and changed over time, one thing has remained constant – the love of the games.

“I think we’re the second largest arcade in the world now,” Stowe reported. “We want to be part of the movement for arcades. We really are in this for the long haul.”

He added that he and the Carlsons have found it really heartening how fellow arcade operators support one another and are thrilled at the notable uptick in the industry. “We want to be a leader in that and see more and more games being made and places opening up.”

To learn more, head over to www.nextlevelpinballmuseum.com.