We visited Next Level Pinball Museum in Hillsboro, Oregon, on our recent trip to Portland. This place was incredible! We spent almost 5 hours there. The time went by so fast.
The place is filled with hundreds of arcade games and pop culture memorabilia. Upon entering, we were overwhelmed by how much there was to do and see there.
This is a description from the Next Level website.
"There are over 650 pinball machines and arcade games on the floor with over 615+ of those games on free play with no quarters or cards needed!
We are also a 27,000sq. foot pop culture museum with floor to ceiling lunch boxes, signed movie paraphernalia, and toys & collectibles. Even if you didn't play a single game on your visit, it takes several hours to walk through the Museum and look at all of the items on the walls."
The description is not an exaggeration by any means. As I said, we spent nearly five hours there playing games and looking at everything displayed on the walls, ceiling, and floors.
As we parked and walked inside, we were immediately impressed by how immaculate the facility was. All the curbs were freshly painted. The buildings were clean. It looked like every wall was decorated with artwork on the outside and inside.
Star Wars
There were plenty of Star Wars props, toys, artwork, and memorabilia throughout the facility. It's worth visiting just to look at the Star Wars displays, even if you don't intend to play any games.
Pop Culture
Even the restrooms were covered wall-to-wall in pop culture artwork. Everything from music album covers, VHS movie boxes, signed photographs of celebrities, movie posters, sports figures, magazine covers, video game cartridges, and more. I couldn't help but think that @blewitt would love this place.
This is a random picture of one wall to give an example of other types of items on display.
G.I. Joe
This wall outside the men's restroom was full of G.I. Joe figures. I remember playing with many of these as a kid. We'd find them at garage sales in the neighborhood.
I like how they display them by gluing the feet down. They have clear material (plexi-glass probably) screwed over the shelves to protect them.
Nintendo
This wall was stocked with Nintendo game cartridges from several different generations of consoles. I didn't recognize all of them, but the ones on the bottom are SNES and the middle are Nintendo 64. The ones on top must be for various Game Boy systems.
Pinball and Other Games
There were pinball machines everywhere. Even though we visited on a Sunday and the parking lot was full, it never felt overly crowded inside. There were plenty of machines open to play.
If you are anywhere near the Portland, Oregon area, I highly recommend going to visit this place. The entry fee is reasonable and there is something for everyone to see and do.
All these photos were taken by me. If you want to see more, they have many more on the website, Instagram, and Google Maps.