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The Biggest Pinball & Arcade Collection on the Planet!?

RetroRalph·video·12m 49s·analyzed·Jun 11, 2023
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.019

TL;DR

Pastimes Arcade grand opening in Girard, Ohio features 594+ machines from 50+ year collection.

Summary

RetroRalph visits Pastimes Arcade in Girard, Ohio for its grand opening, featuring Rob Burke's massive 594+ game collection spanning from the 1930s to present day. The video showcases both the public arcade floor and Burke's personal basement collection, highlighting unique machines like Varkon and rare Japanese imports, while documenting the venue's operational infrastructure including a QR code-based maintenance system.

Key Claims

  • Pastimes Arcade houses approximately 594 games with another similar number stored in back rooms

    high confidence · Mike states 'we had around, we had 594 games here the other day before we opened' and Ralph confirms 'there's almost as many games in the back room as there is on the main show floor'

  • Rob Burke's collection spans 50+ years, ranging from the 1930s to present day

    high confidence · Rob states 'we go from the 30s all the way up to the latest games' and Ralph notes 'a 50 plus year collection'

  • The QR code maintenance system resolved 35 issues from grand opening day in a single morning

    high confidence · Mike reports 'We had 35 issues come in' and 'we actually took care of all of them this morning'

  • Varkon pinball machine has only 90 units produced

    medium confidence · Rob states 'there's only 90 of them made, it's Varkon' when discussing unique machines

  • Pastimes Arcade grand opening was anticipated for two years

    high confidence · Ralph notes 'This historic moment has been eagerly anticipated for two long years now'

Notable Quotes

  • “There's stuff at every single corner... The sheer magnitude of this place is insane.”

    RetroRalph@ 1:54 — Captures the overwhelming scale of the collection

  • “All these years of collecting these games, I'm finally doing something with them.”

    Rob Burke@ 3:03 — Reflects Burke's motivation to make his collection accessible to the public

  • “We have around, we had 594 games here the other day before we opened.”

    Mike@ 6:43 — Quantifies the scale of the public collection

  • “If you're into pinball or into anything arcade, this is like a throwback in time. It really is.”

    RetroRalph@ 7:56 — Summarizes the historical significance of the venue

  • “This collection is legendary, and the way it's presented here is like taking a journey through the history of pinball and arcade gaming.”

    RetroRalph@ 11:41 — Final assessment of the collection's cultural importance

Entities

Pastimes ArcadecompanyRob BurkepersonRetroRalphpersonMikepersonWaynepersonVarkongameWilliams MillionairegameBarnyard SamgameKickmangame

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Large-scale arcade venue opening featuring 594+ games representing successful monetization of private collection

    high · Rob Burke converting 50+ year private collection into public venue with operational infrastructure

  • ?

    community_signal: QR code-based maintenance system enabling rapid issue reporting and resolution with 35 issues fixed same day

    high · Mike explains system resolved 35 reports overnight; all fixed before next day's operations

  • ?

    community_signal: Destination arcade venue concept attracting significant public interest and crowd engagement

    high · Crowd pouring in during opening, people waiting for passes, RetroRalph notes positioning as destination location

  • ?

    event_signal: Pastimes Arcade grand opening in Girard, Ohio with ribbon-cutting ceremony, media coverage, and local government participation

    high · Mayor present, local media coverage, food trucks, ribbon-cutting ceremony documented

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.038

0:00
Rob Burke, one of the biggest collectors of arcade games and pinball machines in the entire world. But why does he collect all these things? To relive old memories? To bring him back to a simpler time? Within these walls resides a collection that surpasses any I have ever seen, and he's sharing it with all of us. Welcome to Past Times Arcade.
0:30
Welcome to Past Times Arcade in Girard, Ohio. We're just a couple hours away from this place being flooded with people. What's so exciting is today is the grand opening. There's going to be a ribbon-cutting ceremony right outside. There's food trucks. It's going to be absolute madness, and I cannot wait. So what makes this place different than other arcades and arcade bars? I feel like this place is going to become a destination location. Row number one, arcade games. Row number two, more arcade games. Row number three, pinball. And more. Fact of the matter is, this place is insane. And if they let me, I'm going to move in. The ribbon-cutting ceremony is underway, and everyone is super excited. The local media is here, friends, family, the mayor, and everyone's favorite, Flippy. The crowd is pouring in, and the excitement level is off the charts. It's June 1st. We're like two hours away from opening, and everything is set and perfect. And I'm so excited. Everyone's so pumped up. So, yeah, it's been great. Busy. Lots of long nights, but great. This historic moment has been eagerly anticipated for two long years now, and this amazing collection of games simply begs to be experienced. So thank you all for being here, and I'm going to cut the ribbon so everybody can come in here and play pinball and enjoy themselves.
1:54
Look, if you haven't figured it out already, the sheer magnitude of this place is insane. There's stuff at every single corner. So I think instead of sitting here, let's go explore and check this place out.
Landing High Japan
game
Crater Raidergame
Space Encountersgame
Elvisgame
Galactic Tank Forcegame
Xenongame
Williams Space Shuttlegame
Bally Twingame
Moonmoorgame
Girard, Ohioorganization
2:17
It's very obvious that the staff takes great pride in the product that they're putting out on the floor. So it's pretty awesome. The line is growing as people wait to get their passes and enter the arcade. You can feel the excitement in the air, and I can see people looking over at the games as if they're trying to figure out what to play first. The thing is, with a lineup like this, there's no wrong choices.
2:42
What didn't we do? We thought about getting Rob's Games up and running all the time, thinking about preparing our kitchen that you see over here for the public when they're hungry or thirsty. We have a great team that's worked together. We kept everybody pumped up and motivated, and we're following Rob's dream of getting his games up on legs. Very, very excited. A dream became a reality. All these years of collecting these games, I finally doing something with them And clearly everyone enjoying themselves Rob The games are out ready to go and gamers are fully engaged and having a great time Jeff so we spent a lot of time here at Past Times experiencing all these awesome games from Rob collection What I thought would be fun, just because there are so many unique games too, is give me five of the ones that just you had such a fun time with and I'll give you my five. It can't be one that's in your collection. So I'm going to start out with William's Millionaire. It's a very simple machine, the artwork's beautiful, the game flow is addicting, the back glass is beautiful, and I just couldn't stop playing it. First one's a pinball, my next one's a pinball too, my first one. And this one's a unique pinball machine though, there's only 90 of them made, it's Varkon. Yes. Now Varkon, I think it's cool because it's like a pinball machine disguised as an arcade game. You're playing it off of a mirror, the playfields are actually pointed away from you but you'd never know it, and you don't have flipper buttons, you have joysticks. So to me it's unique, it's different, and you don't see them very often. I'm going to call out Moonmoor by Stern. It's got a really unique control panel and it's just fantastic. I played that one a lot this week. I don't know how I never played this game before. It's Kickman. It's simple, really fun. Valley Midway must have been like, hey, how can we make something that's really appealing to everybody? Let's put Pac-Man in it. You make sort of a cameo appearance. It's just fun, addicting gameplay and there's nothing better than that.
4:32
There's a ton of games here, with countless hours of gameplay to be had. But what if I told you that what you've seen so far is just a fraction of the entire collection housed within this building? Yeah, there's almost as many games in the back room as there is on the main show floor. There's pinball machines, arcade games, and as we dig deeper into the building, we start to really see how vast the collection really is. decades of collecting rare gems that will eventually make their way onto the arcade floor. With so many retro games in a single location, it's not going to be easy to keep them all up and running. But the crew at Pastimes thought a lot about this problem, and I think the solution they came up with is pretty cool. Mike is a project manager here. One of the cool things that he implemented was this QR system, and it's on all the games. Every game you see here has a QR code. The whole purpose of that QR code is for people to report issues if the game has a problem. And Mike, yesterday was a grand opening, so how did the system work? It was awesome. We had 35 issues come in, and what I was really proud of is a lot of those were really simple, easy issues. We actually took care of all of them this morning, so the people that are coming in today that may have actually put in one of the issues, it's going to be fixed. The game's fixed. It's done. That's cool. Yeah. So when I hit the QR code and I enter my information about that game, I say it's stuck ball or something like that. Exactly. Where does that go? It goes into a spreadsheet. So the QR code just links you to a form, and all it asks is two simple questions. We wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to report. What's the name of the game? What's the issue? That way, when we get to the game, we know exactly what it is. The Bally Twin Win, kind of a unique game because it actually has a center ball shooter and you need to use this button and it wasn't firing. We came in kind of troubleshoot a little bit. Actually, Wayne, our other tech was the one that resolved this one. There was a switch on the out hole relay It just wasn making good contact to shoot the solenoid So we were able to come in five minutes get this thing fixed and up and running That is the most important part of the experience So our techs are here seven to three bring our carts out on the floor, got to open games up a little bit. And then, you know, by three o'clock we're closing up. So when the public comes in, they don't even know we're out here. What differentiates Past Times Arcade from other arcades in the area? I think the massive amount of games that we have here is the big thing. We have around, we had 594 games here the other day before we opened. Give or take 10, and we actually just pulled three new games on the floor today. It's really cool to see this really being a community.
6:57
William Space Shuttle. It is absolutely a blast to play. It's a very simple play field, and it's got a space shuttle in the corner, and the sound effects are hypnotic, and it's one of my favorite pinball machines. Okay, I didn't actually play that one while I'm here, so I'm going to have to check that one out next. Going back to arcade games, this one's pretty interesting. It's called Landing High Japan. It's a Japanese imported game and it's basically an airplane flight simulator. And it's so realistic, Jeff. I mean, I've never flown a commercial airline, obviously, but you have thrusters. You have to actually call back to the attendant to say that you're ready for takeoff. It's really, really neat. Probably literally none of them in the United States because you would have had to import it from Japan. And only Rob Burke is doing that. I'm going to say my next pick is Crater Raider by Bally Midway. There's something about that game. I featured it on my channel a couple of times. It's a tank-type, robotron-type thing where you're using a dial and a flight stick. Yeah, that's cool. And you're trying to save humanoids, and it's just, it's real hypnotic, and I really like it. If you're into pinball or into anything corned up, this is like a throwback in time. It really is. You'll just walk through here and say, oh my gosh, I can't believe these guys got the game.
8:06
This is a big deal to me because I think you don't see locations opening up like this, where it's purely about the games. And a lot of these games are actually games you've collected over the years. Yeah, you're looking at a 50 plus year collection. You know, we go from the 30s all the way up to the latest games, so it's a pretty insane idea. Made it work, you know, with the team we got here. It was just crazy. Looking at the games and realizing that I'm not getting any younger. Done now and hopefully the public will enjoy it.
8:35
I'm arcade game heavy here, but the next one is Space Encounters. Oh yeah. I never played this before. The thing that's really neat about this is the screen is recessed, and as action is happening on the screen, you fly with this sort of, like, flight yoke that you can actually pull out to go up and then push in to go down. And the thing that's cool is as you're getting hit and things are happening, there's a strobe. Like, imagine, they put a strobe light in there. Yeah, I love it. A strobe light, and then there's another red light, so when you're getting hit and things are happening, and there's just something about it, it doesn't feel like an 80s game. It almost feels like you're playing some advanced technology or something. So anyways, that's my point. I like that because it has a Star Wars feel. It's like a trench and you've got a TIE fighter thing, so I like it. Just when I thought I had seen it all, Rob invited us to his personal collection in his basement. Are you sh**ing me? This is awesome.
9:25
I haven't ever seen anything like this. Sure I seen large arcade and pinball collections but this is like a time machine into the past There memories from multiple time periods all weaved and intertwined around the games Everywhere you look there something new and the game selection is like a curated masterpiece of some of the best titles you can find. When you see what he has in his collection, the things he has, it's all, talk about it's nostalgia overload. Overload. You would lose your mind if you saw this. I love you and I'll talk to you on my way to the airport.
10:01
Okay, bye. She's like, what does it look like? She wants me to take a picture. My next choice is going to be Elvis by Stern. It's an early 2000s pinball machine. I love it. The play field's got all kinds of stuff going on, and it's Elvis. Fantastic pin. It's very fun to play. All right, I'm going to have to check out Elvis later. My last one, there's a little controversy on this one. I didn't think I would enjoy it, and it's got quirks up the wazoo. Galactic Tank Force. Oh! I know. I spent some time with it, though. We decided to jump on it and play, and I was like, man, I'm really enjoying myself. Now, I don't know if it was the company and we were having a good conversation, but we were absolutely having fun with it despite all the quirks that it has. They added their own LED strips on the left and the right to light the playfield, and the artwork is really pretty on them. The very first pinball machine I was ever introduced to as a kid, in the height of all the video game era in the pinball world. It's Xenon by Belly. Oh, that's a good one. It's just one of my favorites. It's got a tube in it as one of the ramps. It's got the female voices when you hit the pop bumpers. It's got that mirrored back glass that's just beautiful, and it's just one of my favorites.
11:22
I wish I could put into words the feeling you'll get when you walk through the doors at Past Times Arcade. Rob's collection spans so many generations, that it hits you in a way you least expect it.
11:41
This collection is legendary, and the way it's presented here is like taking a journey through the history of pinball and arcade gaming. Games for the old generation to enjoy, and for a new generation to experience for the very first time.
12:00
What's up, Bums? This is the creative process that Ralph goes through filming. You don't see this that often.
12:36
Okay, I'm going to leave the creative process.