OVIEDO, Fla. – When News 6 hits the road, we always like to look for hidden gems in the community, and that’s exactly what we found in Oviedo.
Tucked away off Broadway Street, inside the Oviedo Bowling Center, sits one of Central Florida’s largest collections of working pinball machines.
Ed Klamp and Kurt van Zyl opened The Pinball Lounge more than a decade ago. It features about 50 pinball machines spanning nearly 50 years.
“You’re looking at games that start from as early as 1976, all the way to games that came out literally just a few months ago,” van Zyl said.
The owners have another 200 machines in storage, which they rotate regularly to keep the experience fresh for returning visitors.
“We have big reveals! We bring machines in and people will be hugging the machines because they’re so ancient,” van Zyl said.
The Pinball Lounge draws in visitors from around the globe, with patrons coming from countries like Germany, Denmark, and Japan. Many of the guests are regulars who return to enjoy the nostalgic thrill of the games.
But where did the passion for pinball begin for the owners? Both men were introduced to pinball during their childhoods when they each received a machine as a Christmas gift. Despite growing up in different cities and eras, a fortuitous encounter in the 1990s brought them together.
“So I was looking in the classifieds in the newspaper, the Orlando Sentinel, for used pinball machines and an ad came up for back glasses. That’s the artwork on the back of the machine,” van Zyl said. “My mom took me to this lady’s flower shop in downtown Orlando and she handed me a phone number, and she said, ‘Hey, this guy Ed really likes pinball, too. You should give him a call,’ and here we are! That was 1997.”
The two became fast friends. Fast forward to 2015 when they decided to do something with all the machines they had collected over the years and open The Pinball Lounge in 2015.
Today, The Pinball Lounge hosts several league events and statewide pinball tournaments, providing a space for people of all ages and abilities to enjoy the thrill of pinball.
For more information on events and times, head to ThePinballLounge.com.
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