The Pinball Hall of Fame is a nonprofit that exists because one man, Tim Arnold, kept buying pinball machines and would not stop. It holds what is generally reckoned to be the largest collection open to the public: hundreds of machines from the 1950s through the 1990s, all of them playable, all of them restored and maintained on site.
There is no admission charge. You walk in, put quarters into whatever catches your eye, and the money, after costs, goes to charity. The older electromechanical games are the reason to come — a 1960s machine with real chimes and score reels plays nothing like a modern one.
The building is a purpose-built hall on Las Vegas Boulevard across from the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, a short way south of Mandalay Bay. It is bright, loud, unglamorous and one of the best-value hours in the city.