Hobby gone wild: Main Street pinball offers up gaming thick with nostalgia
Published 8:00 am Saturday, January 18, 2025
Brian Heil, from left, Duane Felt and Nick Gerhart, along with Kody McEdward (not pictured) have brought Main Street Pinball to downtown Austin. Photos by Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Co-owner of Main Street Pinball Brian Heil plays one of several pinball machines available to play at Main Street Pinball. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Main Street Pinball is a haven for gamers, built on nostolgia. Eric Johnson@austindailyherald.com
A variety of pinball machines await players to Main Street Pinball in downtown Austin. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Machines like Godzilla at Main Street Pinball, are guaranteed to create nostalgia as well as excite imaginations. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Bonanza is one of the older machines availble to play at Main Street Pinhall, but is representative of the broad example of games in house. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Main Street Pinball is new to downtown Austin and creates an atmosphere that can fit into Friday and Saturday night of fun. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
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A walk into Main Street Pinball is a step back in time once you are met with the sites and sounds of these machines from gaming’s early days.
Over 20 machines are available to be played in Main Street’s newest addition to Friday and Saturday nights in downtown Austin.
“A few of us have been kicking around for a while,” said Duane Felt, who along with Nick Gerhart, Brian Heil and Kody McEdward, opened up Main Street Pinball earlier this month. “We would be having parties and said it would be more fun if we had a place where people could play. We kind of looked at the economy. How would we pull this off?”
The idea of a destination dedicated to pinball started late last summer and uses machines owned by Main Street’s owners.
With so many machines at their disposal and the demand for playing pinball starting to climb, the four felt good about sharing their love of the games with others.
“We’ve even said we have all of this, why shouldn’t we do this?” Heil said. “I think we just wanted to share it. We wanted to make new friends and meet new people.”
And meet people they did.
Jan. 3 was their first time opening to the public and expectations going into the first weekend were fairly even. Up until that point the only real notice people had was a post on Eat. Drink. Shop. Austin.
What was expected to be a soft opening, however, turned into something more akin to a grand opening.
They estimated that around 220 people showed up over the course of Jan. 3-4 and those were the ones that paid the $10 for the band to play unlimited games throughout the day. More had come just to check the place out.
“It was packed here Saturday night,” Gerhart said. “It got to the point where I was kind of wondering if we should tell people it was a little packed, but people kept coming in and out. It was one of those things.”
The machines available to be played range from old classics guaranteed to strike a nostalgic chord to new machines that come with LED displays and plenty of new bells and whistles.
Along with the pinball machines, used console video games are available for purchase as well as a few arcade games to offer a slightly different change of pace to a night out.
The wristband allows for people to play through a single day, so people can come and go as they want, making it a perfect setting for a weekend night of food and fun on the town.
“I feel like the come and go kind of removes the pressure,” Gerhart said. “It’s something you just paid to do today. You’re going to get $10 worth out of it in an hour.”
“It’s a cheap date night, which is what we kind of figured,” Heil added.
The four owners of Main Street Pinball also see the opportunity for broad appeal. Certainly, it’s going to bring back those memories from the earliest days when pinball was at its height.
Yet, at the same time it’s reaching new and younger audiences, which only increases the popularity of the games themselves.
“We have a lot of parents bringing their kids in,” Felt said. “It was kind of fun introducing kids to pinball because how many times do you see these in the wild anymore?”
And the feedback has been well worth it.
“It was really fun to hear. A lot of people are really excited,” Gerhart said. “People who are getting into their golden years, they used to play these games out in the wild. The newer people coming, they thought pinball was old.”
Through that refamiliarization with the games, people are not only playing the machines they remember from their youth, but finding more to entertain themselves with.
“It was always mixed,” Heil said. “We’re hoping people will find some new favorites.”
It’s still early in the business’s lifespan, but those behind Main Street Pinball already have ideas of where they want to go, including the possibility of renting out the space for private parties and celebrations.
And of course, they want to make sure the gaming experience is fresh, with hopes of switching out games as they go along, though they caution change could come slowly because they are purchasing the machines.
Even that kind of goes along with the general laid back vibe.
“If this place breaks even, that’s kind of our goal,” Felt said. “We’re not looking to make money on this. Can we make this work? Can we drive enough demand to drive people in at $10 a head to feed that. We’ve seen a lot of buzz and a lot of people are happy to see something like this in Austin.”
And they certainly aren’t looking to monopolize people’s time. They envision that Main Street Pinball will augment what’s already in downtown Austin.
“We want to encourage collaboration downtown,” Gerhart said. “People coming and going. If people are coming downtown why don’t you do something.”
“If you come down for dinner, you come over here for entertainment,” Felt added. “If you come here for entertainment, maybe you stay around for dinner.”
Main Street Pinball is open 4-10 p.m. on Fridays and noon to 10 p.m. on Saturdays and located at 221 main Street North.
