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Paris Pinball Museum


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The Paris Pinball Museum is a private labour of love by one man, Raphael Lankar.

 

The retired 70 year old used to run pinballs and bingos all through Paris back in the 60's, and his museum is a collection of both machines he hung onto, and machines he imported from the States subsequently.

 

Each and every machine is in near perfect condition. Some look brand new, most play perfectly well, and the backglasses, where not in great condition, have been replaced with one-off repros, so everything looks absolutely shmick.

 

I can confidently say this is the finest, largest, most comprehensive collection of pre-80's pinballs (Gottlieb and others) I have ever seen and it was a pleasure to see and play all these fine old antiques, especially with each one being in such immaculate condition.

 

Raphael charges 20 euros entry, but as he noted to me, this is really only to scare off other Parisians!! He neither has the time nor inclination to open the museum up everyday (it is some distance from his residence in Paris, to Aubervilliers where the warehouse is located). He also told me the French visitors are always asking him for something, for free, and this grates. He was surprised and pleased to here there is such a large pinball collecting fraternity in Australia, a country he knows well as his latest wife (the 4th) is from our country. Suffice to say, we were not charged anything to visit!!

 

Rapahel maintains an engineer he has known for many many years, and each Monday, this technician arrives to fix any broken machines and perform routine maintenance on anything else. As a result, everything works like clockwork. If it doesn't, Raphael marks it with a bright pink Sticky Note, and the tech fixes it right up on Monday.

 

We also toured his 2nd warehouse in Aubervilliers, where he maintains all his parts (and there was a whole room full of them, including all the original documentation and schematics). So its a much easier matter for him to make *sure* that each and every machine is maintained as it should be.

 

I can't fault Raphael's setup, nor his maintenance schedule, and the philosophy behind his museum, which is to share with like-minded individuals a singular obsession for the round silver ball, for no profit and donating all his time and money to maintain it. Simply : this is the ultimate pinball museum - one where money is totally secondary to the pursuit of a dream to share his collection.

 

I hope you enjoy the following photos as much as I did obtaining them:

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6799.JPG

 

Gottlieb's Gypsy Queen (1955) and Mystic Marvel (1954)

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6810.JPG

 

Gottlieb's HUMPTY DUMPTY (1947)

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6811.JPG

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6812.JPG

 

Another Mystic Marvel angle.

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6813.JPG

 

ROYAL FLUSH by Gottlieb (1957)

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6814.JPG

 

SILVER by Gottlieb, (1957)

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6815.JPG

 

ROCKET SHIP by Gottlieb (1958)

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6816.JPG

 

MAJESTIC by Gottlieb (1957) 4 player game.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6819.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6820.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6821.JPG

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6824.JPG

 

ROTO POOL by Gottlieb (1958)

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6825.JPG

Edited by candyflip
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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6826.JPG

 

PARADISE by Gottlieb (1965), with the most amazing backglass. My photos don't do it justice, but this one is really superb. Looks much younger than it is. If you ever get a chance to see this one, do.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6827.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6828.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6829.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6830.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6833.JPG

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6835.JPG

 

A SEEBURG Quadrophonic in lovely condition... it plays and we enjoyed some Stones with our pinball. :cool:

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6836.JPG

 

SEA JOCKEYS by Williams (1951) has a great backglass animation, but average to play.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6837.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6838.JPG

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6839.JPG

 

SPARK PLUGS by Williams (1951) is another with a cool animated horse race backglass. But again, I don't really dig these very early machines to play, even though they look amazing.

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I'm not even close to finished yet - you can't believe the size & quality of this collection, and I only photographed the rarest and most interesting (IMO). :o

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6840.JPG

 

Chicago Coin's THING from 1951. The middle bar section you see there between the flippers pops down or up, depending on hitting a rollover button. Acts as a ball saver when activated. Tough to play though when its not up!

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6841.JPG

 

BOWLETTE by Gottlieb from 1950. Plays really nice and in immaculate condition for the time. Wish we'd had more time, and been more drunk. ;)

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6842.JPG

 

FOTO FINISH by Gottlieb from 1961. Not the woodrail (less than 50 made), but still very nice.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6843.JPG

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6844.JPG

 

Genco's SOUTH PACIFIC from 1950. My good mate Alan from England is shown playing it here.

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6845.JPG

 

TRIPLE ACTION from Genco produced in 1948. Fun backglass.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6846.JPG

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6847.JPG

 

PLAYTIME from Exhibit produced in 1949.

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6848.JPG

 

Chicago Coin's KILROY from 1947. A flipperless pin which isn't much fun to play, but important historically nonetheless.

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6849.JPG

 

VOLLEYBALL by EM Marchant of France from 1950. Very strange to play with its floating, opposed flippers!

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6850.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6851.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6852.JPG

 

See the pink slip - yep, we broke this one and the tech is gonna need to attend.

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6856.JPG

 

CONTACT from Exhibit produced in 1948. The war was over of course, but the themes reamined the same for many years after. Flipperless.

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6857.JPG

 

Chicago Coin's ROLL DOWN from 1947. This bowler is a nice idea, but its kinda hard to play in practice. More a pinball with giant bowling balls and no flippers (!!??). You roll the giant white bowling balls on the glass above the playfield, it drops down the back, and then comes back towards the player on the bottom playfield to fall in holes or hit numbered buttons. How this game survived on location in one piece (no broken top glasses??) I don't know.

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6859.JPG

 

THE KING from Alben produced in 1959. In Raphael's words, a "hopeless earner and bad to play". Looks good though! :laugh:

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6862.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6865.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6870.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6872.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6873.JPG

 

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2 more (better) shots of Mystic Marvel from Gottlieb produced in 1954. This little machine is worth a small fortune.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6875.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6876.JPG

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6878.JPG

 

AROUND THE WORLD by Gottlieb from 1959. Great looking machine.

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6882.JPG

 

SCORE-BOARD by Gottlieb from 1956. Alan playing it again.

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6866.JPG

 

SWEET SIOUX by Gottlieb from 1959.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6867.JPG

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6869.JPG

 

CONTEST by Gottlieb from 1958.

 

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Some more general photos of the interior.....

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6807.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6808.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6809.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6822.JPG

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/PARIS/6FAF6823.JPG

 

 

If you get a chance to go, and you love the history of the early machines that built the platform for everything afterwards, then look Raphael up. An incredible experience.

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