by Alexia Vlachou
ATHENS, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Under the Acropolis hill in the center of Athens, Greece's first Pinball Museum opened its doors this fall to revive and preserve the culture of flipper machines.
Hidden in a basement near the pedestrian street of Dionysiou Areopagitou is an arcade underworld with more than 100 restored machines from 1950 until 2000 that one cannot only see, but play as well.
Panagiotis Pitarchas and his wife Chrysanthi make the interactive museum come true.
"We were lucky, and we worked hard. We finished everything; we gathered the flippers, the designs, all in ten months," Pitarchas said.
Pitarchas who worked abroad for years decided to take the risk to open his business in Athens amid the economic crisis.
In the open space of the museum, snazzy lights, sounds, and tricky mechanisms keep alive the cult of flippers which was in its height from the 60s and 70s up until the 90s in Greece.
In the old days, young and older adults used to gather in coffee houses to play with the coin-operated pinball machines for hours.
But, like in many other countries, pinball was banned in Greece twice as it was considered to be game of chance and not of skills.
For Pitarchas, the flipper is linked to amusement, fun, and technique. That's why he decided to make a place without coin-operated machines, just with a ticket entrance.
"So, everybody can enjoy for hours. They can play flipper in advanced level and see the real game," he said.
But, the most important reason was to keep alive the lost culture that has vanished due to the dominance of the video games.
"At the beginning of 2000, the culture of the flippers started to fade. The video games dominated the market. Flipper was very expensive. The new generation did not have so much contact with the flipper. Video games were far more interesting than flippers, so they stopped," Pitarchas explained.
The Pinball Museum is a meeting point not only for aficionados and collectors but to everyone. The older people feel nostalgic and recall their childhood memories, while the younger ones explore the magic of a physical game instead of a virtual one.
Among the most famous pinball machines of all time, the Addams Family Gold, estimated more than 17,000 euros, has a prominent place in the museum, while in the entrance is famous Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard. Its pinball table is inspired by the award-winning Broadway musical which chronicles the story of a child traumatized in his youth into being deaf, blind, and mute, who proved to be an extremely adept pinball player despite his disabilities.
"We have very collectible machines, like the Addams family, Doctor Who. We have pieces that are only four or five in the world. We have a golden Addams; we are very proud of that. It is one of the only 300 left in the world," Pitarchas said.
