Pacific Pinball Expo 2026 — Alameda

Pay once at the door and every machine in the hall is yours for the weekend - hundreds of them, on free play, from the clacking electromechanicals your grandparents fed dimes into to the newest Sterns still smelling of factory. The Pacific Pinball Expo in Alameda is one of the largest pinball collector and player events in the Western United States, drawing machines and enthusiasts from throughout California and beyond for a full weekend of free-play games, collector seminars, restoration workshops, and the competitive play that has made it a pilgrimage for the serious pinball community. The Pacific Pinball Museum operates year-round in Alameda as the primary public pinball collection on the West Coast, and the Expo amplifies that with additional machines collectors bring specifically for the event. The machine selection emphasizes historical breadth: electromechanicals from the 1950s and 60s sit alongside solid-state classics from the late 1970s through the Williams and Bally golden era of the 1990s, on through modern machines from Stern and Spooky. Restoration seminars by experienced collectors cover electrical troubleshooting, playfield restoration, and parts sourcing - practical knowledge the machine-owning community struggles to find in any other format. The Expo is held at a venue in or near Alameda, roughly 45 minutes north of San Jose and 20 minutes from Oakland, with shuttle service from BART typically organized during the event. Full weekend passes and single-day admission available.