Pinball Artistry
This weekend and next, Butler pinball enthusiasts can flock to a downtown art gallery to play the silver ball.
A neighborly connection between the Butler Art Center's gallery manager and a local pinball machine aficionado is bringing several of the games to the gallery for a week-long, interactive display.
Besides the machines, vintage artwork advertising the games will decorate the gallery walls for the “Tilt” exhibit. The 1975 film “Tommy,” a rock-opera based around an album by the The Who that features the hit song “Pinball Wizard,” will be playing on loop.
The gallery manager, Stephen Haley, 32, of Butler said a pinball show was his first pitch to the art center's board when he took over the job around the start of 2019. Haley discovered his next-door-neighbor Pat Gallagher's household pinball collection last year, and inspiration struck.
“I did not know until last summer that this is what he did,” Haley said. “This is his passion.”
Gallagher said he saw the wheels start turning in Haley immediately.
“He saw the art on the games and just couldn't believe the styling,” Gallagher said. “He went crazy.”
Gallagher, 64, was born into loving pinball. His grandfather installed the machines at bars and gas stations as a job.
“When I was in diapers, he was dragging me around,” Gallagher said.
Most of the show's games are being supplied by Gallagher, along with at least one from Don Paul of Don Paul Jewelers. Their combined show will include games dating from the 1940s through the 1990s.
The show kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday for a night of play.The machines will remain on display next week for the center's normal hours, which are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday.Next Friday, April 5, they'll open again for an evening starting at 7 p.m. Then, finally, a cash-prize tournament begins at 11 a.m. April 6. The machines will be removed after that.The oldest game to be displayed dates back to 1948, called Paradise, a product of United Manufacturing Co.Another is Gallagher's favorite: He sought 1954's Dragonette for years because it was released on the same month and year as his birth. A few years ago, he said, he found the machine in a basement in Butler. It was in pieces, but he's rebuilt it and it's playable today.Sitting next to Dragonette in his home, Gallagher has a ripped-apart machine that he's reassembling with his daughter. He bought it at an estate sale in Butler, he said, and realized he had owned the same type years ago and had some paperwork lying around from it. “I checked the serial numbers, and they matched,” Gallagher said.Haley hopes the show will bring a new crowd into the art center. “With all the auditory and visual stimulation, it's going to be pretty intense,” Haley said.Those interested don't need to worry about collecting quarters. Children 12 and under get free-play bracelets for $1. People ages 13-to-65 pay $3 for the free-play bracelets.“Ages 65 and up can play for free, so long as they promise not to beat up on us,” Haley said. “The younger kids had better be aware; these older guys aren't playing around.”All the money raised from the bracelets will generate small cash prizes for winners of the final tournament, Haley said.
WHAT: “Tilt”WHERE: Butler Art Center, 344 S. Main St.WHEN: The show runs from 7 p.m. Friday through April 6.HOW MUCH: $1 for children 12 and younger, and $3 for 13-to-65-year-olds. Seniors play for free.
