RICHMOND, Va. -- At the Richmond Pinball Collective on Midlothian Turnpike, the sounds and sights are unmistakable.
Stepping inside this spot your senses flip out.
“Most people don’t realize what we have here. We’re here for the love of pinball only,” member Katherine Dodge said.
Board member Lee Householder said one type of entertainment rules at the seven-year-old private club.
“There’s so much energy that comes from a pinball machine. When you get it going. We call it blowing up,” Householder said.
From cutting-edge to vintage, some machines here date to the 1960s.
But co-founder Clark Fraley said while the technology has changed, the approach has not.
“Pinball is very tactile. It has the same set of rules. It’s a different game every time,” Fraley said. “That’s always something kind of magical to see you know when something happens and there’s certain mechanism in the game.”
What you can’t play here are arcade games like Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Donkey Kong.
That is just the way Katherine Dodge likes it.
At heart, the Chesterfield native is a pinball fanatic
“No, not at all. We don’t have any video games in here at all,” Dodge said. “But we cater to the people who want to play specifically pinball. It’s chaotic it’s challenging. It is just really fun.”
Dodge started playing before she could even reach the buttons.
“Going back a little further, I found a photo from when I was five years old and we had a pinball machine in my garage," Dodge said. "Later down the road that same machine came in here so, of course, everybody insisted I get a picture with it.”
The 48-year-old also serves on the collective’s board.
“I’ve been coming I guess for seven years now,” Dodge said. “It has been wonderful seeing the expansion of women in pinball.”
Membership is growing at the nonprofit, especially among women.
"Yes, you will see that it has been male-dominated in the past, but the women are coming back!" she said.
At the collective, Dodge helps organize the all-female competitions called the Bells and Chimes.
“We are doing really good, we’re winning tournaments. We’re kicking some of these guys butts,” Dodge said.
The pinball wiz encourages women and men to join their 130-member co-ed collective no matter their talent level.
“We are completely run by volunteers people who just love pinball for pinball. Here we are,” Dodge said.
Pinball buff Lee Householder said no quarters are necessary And most games come with a nod to nostalgia.
“It’s powerfully strong and I’ve seen itself with people come in and go, ‘Oh my God! I know that machine,'" Householder said.
In here membership has its privileges.
“When I found the club everybody was just so wonderful and I was like this is something I want to do,” says Ms. Dodge.
Katherine Dodge said at the Richmond Pinball Collective time can slip away.
“Oh. It can fly by,” Dodge said.
Where you find yourself replaying days gone by one game at a time.
“We have a lot of fun. It’s very enjoyable and we’re welcoming to everybody here,” Dodge said. “There is something for everybody. So it’s alive and well, and everybody needs to just come check it out.
Click here to learn more about joining the Richmond Pinball Collective.
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