Arizona Pinball Wizard Keeps Vintage Games Racking Up High Scores

PHOENIX—Playing pinball was simpler and always fun when Dean Kenyon was growing up. Drop in a quarter, hit the start button, smash the plunger, and watch the steel pinball fly.

Kids back then dreamed of being a “pinball wizard,” like the character immortalized in The Who’s 1969 song—crazy flipper fingers working all the bumpers, always playing clean. Racking up high scores with laser focus.

If they were good enough, they could avoid the dreaded “gobble hole” and earn a replay.

“There’s a lot of skill to pinball, but you can also have fun just beating the ball around,” says Kenyon, 62, who keeps three vintage pinball machines in his dining room.

The former Intel employee now fixes and rebuilds pinball machines for businesses and private collectors.

Kenyon runs one of the few remaining repair operations in Arizona dedicated to keeping these iconic games in play.

“I’ve always worked with my hands,” Kenyon told The Epoch Times. “I worked at Intel as an equipment technician, and I have a degree in electronics.”

His previous career meant working a grueling schedule. It was like working as a firefighter, Kenyon said, recalling the rotating 12-hour shifts of three days on and three days off.

Looking for a better routine and a more enjoyable line of work, he sent his resume to a gaming machine company—the second largest in the state—and was hired as a technician.

He considers himself fortunate to have trained under one of the best pinball mechanics in the Phoenix area.

Just a few weeks before the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Kenyon launched Arizona Pinball Repair.

The business brought together his technical skills, lifelong passion for the game, and personal connection to its golden era, when machines could still be found everywhere “in the wild.”

Back in the Day

Whether a game was fun, good, or an absolute masterpiece, playing pinball was simply the thing to do back in the day, Kenyon said.

“They were huge back in the ’80s and ’90s,” he said.

Companies are no longer making them at that scale, as video and online gaming have largely replaced these mechanical and early electronic devices.

Fewer than a dozen specialized repair shops remain in Arizona, among them Firebird Pinball Repair, Phil’s Old Pinball Repair, and Curt Kniss Arcade and Pinball Repair.

Meanwhile, manufacturing has consolidated around a handful of major U.S. producers: Stern Pinball, Jersey Jack Pinball, and Chicago Gaming Company, to name a few.

In 2025, the global video game market reached an estimated $322.6 billion and was expected to grow to $351.6 billion in 2026, according to Grand View Research.

By contrast, the global pinball machine market was at about $90 million, with projections reaching $111 million by 2035.

The market is benefiting from renewed interest in retro gaming and location-based entertainment. More than 32,000 new machines are produced worldwide each year, the company notes.

There was a time when almost every pub and arcade had at least one pinball machine. Commercial venues such as arcades and bars now account for about 58 percent of installations, while private collectors own roughly 29 percent.

Modern machines are more intricate than their predecessors: They can contain more than 3,000 mechanical components and 120 sensors.

LCD back-glass displays appear in about 41 percent of new models, and licensed themes account for nearly half of new releases, the report says.

Leading manufacturers with production or assembly facilities in the United States total about 72 percent of the industry.

“When you get a vintage pinball machine in your home, it’s such a conversation piece,” Kenyon says.

“Once you learn the rules, it takes it to the next level.”

Distraction-Free Fun

Kenyon said that nothing quite compares to the adrenaline rush of playing a pinball machine from nearly half a century ago.

It’s all in the focus, wrist action, the tactile nature of pinball, and the desire to beat the machine at its own game.

The retro pop-art design of the games also keeps interest in vintage gaming alive and flipping, observes Evan Phillippe, executive director of the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda, California.

Although prices for older games have risen, they are still much cheaper than buying a brand-new pinball game, which can cost $10,000 or more, Phillippe said.

“Many of the older games are also a bit smaller than modern ones, and the parts market remains strong for older games, allowing folks to work on them at home. They are also super reliable once sorted,” Phillippe told The Epoch Times.

“For Gen-Xers and some millennials, and older generations, the nostalgia is huge from when they played the pins as kids in arcades, bowling alleys and movie theaters,” he said.

“We have many Gen-Xers come into our museum to introduce their kids and families to the pinball arcade experience.”

Phillippe said pinball occupies a specific niche—somewhere between a video game and a sport—with a physical ball moving in real space while players compete to keep it going and set a high score.

“I think that the focus needed to play well means you can’t be distracted by smart devices,” Phillippe said. “So it’s a moment of reprieve from our usual data overload from all of the screens in our lives.”

Most owners prefer visual themes in games, but there are dedicated camps of enthusiasts who enjoy a certain make for reliability, artwork, or complexity.

As Gen X has gained more buying power in recent years, prices for 1980s and ’90s games have exploded, Phillippe said.

That demand has also influenced the themes of modern pinball games released over the past decade.

“There is definitely a huge interest in the social aspect of pinball. Our weekly pinball league is four times larger post-COVID, as folks looked for fun and safe social gathering spaces,” Phillippe said.

At the Game Room Shop in Bel Air, Maryland, which sells new machines from Stern and American Pinball, inquiries about pinball machines grew from 15 in 2021 to 199 in 2024.

The company’s numbers were split between real machines and virtual cabinets—screens running hundreds of simulated tables.

In 2024 and 2025, virtual machines were outpacing real machines, a company spokesman told The Epoch Times.

Physical machines have taken the lead this year, drawing 68 inquiries compared with 27 for virtual versions.

The reversal suggests that some customers are returning to the tactile experience of real pinball, the spokesman said.

“I’d call it an appetite for something physical rather than a rejection of digital,” he said.

Bumper to Bumper

Pinball has been part of American popular culture for generations, evolving from a tabletop game in the 1700s into the machines familiar today, the UK-based Gamesroom Company said.

By the 1930s, pinball had evolved into a coin-operated game with mechanical and electrical components. From the 1940s through the mid-1970s, many U.S. cities banned it as a form of illegal gambling.

The restrictions only reinforced its outlaw image among American youth. The 1975 film “Tommy,” featuring The Who, further cemented pinball’s association with youthful rebellion.

Pinball experienced a resurgence during the 1990s after bans were lifted in many cities.

“In fact, the best-selling pinball machine of all time is the Addams Family special, which was released in 1991. It’s become a classic,” the Gamesroom Company said.

“Nowadays, pinball machines still attract crowds in arcades and pubs, and rare vintage models have become incredibly sought after.”

Vintage Dolly

For $1,000 or less, pinball machine repairs and tune-ups can cost far less than buying new, Kenyon noted.

He services both classic and contemporary machines. Their themes range from 1990s favorites like Creature From the Black Lagoon to vintage gems such as a 1979 cabinet featuring country music star Dolly Parton.

Kenyon received the machine for service just before Parton died on Aug. 25 at age 80.

In the family dining room, Kenyon hit a button and fired up The Addams Family machine manufactured by Bally.

Beside it stood another classic, Guns ’N’ Roses. “Amazing light shows. It’ll go into a jukebox mode, and it’ll start playing music,” Kenyon said.

“I have another one of mine out in the shop—a baseball game in the garage. I still have room.”

Kenyon is busy with multiple repair projects, troubleshooting electromagnetic coils, circuit boards and replacing rubber bumper bands.

He uses photographs on his cellphone and old service manuals to guide the work. Every bulb, switch, and wire has to go back in its proper place, or “it won’t work right,” he said.

Kenyon said no man cave would be complete without a pinball machine from yesteryear. Many of his customers grew up playing the machines he now fixes for a living.

“I have one customer that has almost 100 pinball machines. He just collects them. He’s collected them for years,” Kenyon said.

“I’ve had many customers who said this is the game they played while dating in college. So they had to have the game.”

For all the machines’ age, and wear and tear, he said, the thrill of chasing a high score never gets old.