Best of Cleveland 2014: Pinball Parties

Pinball parties

Pop-up Pinball Parties will leave your ears ringing with pings and dings. The partnership between Cleveland Pinball, which operates machines found at Mahall's 20 Lanes and Happy Dog at Euclid Tavern, and Superelectric Pinball Parlor transports pinball games to weddings, get-togethers and public events such as the Cleveland Flea. To please nostalgia seekers and newly minted cabinet-nudgers alike, Cleveland Pinball founder Brian Hill draws from a collection of more than 40 machines between the two organizations, including the ever-popular Star Trek games and an old-school Blue Max machine. Built by Chicago Coin Machine Co. in 1975, the latter is a piece of pinball lore complete with a throwback coup de grace: real, analog ringing chimes. "If you grow up and hear that everywhere, then you don't hear it for 20 years, it's an amazing nostalgic feeling to be like, These still exist? I remember these from when I was a kid," says Hill. 216-258-5735, popuppinballparties@gmail.com