Playing a game of pinball is the most fun a person can have with a quarter, aside from attempting to rip it in two to impress job interviewers. Save your strength with today's Groupon: for $7, you get one adult admission to the Pacific Pinball Museum (a $15 value) in Alameda.

Row upon row of glowing inclined tables line the lively Pacific Pinball Museum, a non-profit repository dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the art, history, and science behind pinball. The museum's 90 operational pinball machines can all be played without having to cough up a single quarter, so you'll be free to unleash your silver ball into its wild habitat of boinging bumpers, curving ramps, and themed adventures. New machines hint at the future of the pastime, while a passel of 1950's playfields takes paddle-pumpers back to the innocence of pinball's Golden Age as their twitchy thumbs take a trek across the surface of Mars, play the tables at Monte Carlo, destroy Dracula, and get bills passed in the Senate—which, as in the real Senate, unlocks multi-ball. After visitors have fully sublimated their flipping, bumping, and tilting desires, they can examine early artifacts like a Parlor Bagatelle from 1879 or take a tour with one of the museum's knowledgeable and eager guides.

Reviews

The Pacific Pinball Museum was featured on Retro Thing. More than 170 Yelpers give the museum a 4.5-star average.

• Those early memories make Pacific Pinball the ideal place for me to while away an evening…It's an all-you-can-eat buffet of flashing lights and sparkling metal balls. – James Grahame, Retro Thing
• Museums aren't supposed to be this fun! There are tons of restored and fully operational pinball machines ready for you to play. Organized by vintage, you get to try machines from the late 30's through the 90's. – Matt T., Yelp