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Tue-Thu. 2:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 2:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.
Sun. 2:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
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I guess since my review the name actually changed to include the word "museum" in there.
$15 entry to the museum, which includes Juju, but there's still all-you-can-play for $10 on weekend nights after 6 p.m.
Some of the machines, particularly in the rooms with newer ones, have huge followings, so you have to be patient if the one you want is in use. Each machine that they put in those rooms has something unique or an innovative aspect to it.
Some people get REALLY frustrated playing, and then there are those who aggressively pelvic thrust while using the flippers. It interesting observing other players from time to time.
This place is an absolute treasure, and my all-time favorite night-time hangout in the Bay Area.… Read more »
Really fun place to overdose on pinball. For $10 you can play unlimited pinball on old-school and new-school machines. I liked most of the older machines because they were a lot smoother and easier to play, some of them were a little janky but oh well. I really liked that they had jukeboxes you could play FOR FREE. Lots of oldies, but if you ever come here please don't pick the depressing songs, it really kills my buzz.
The people who own this place are extremely cool but that's to be expected. Come here on a rainy day, if you're bored, a first date, last date, no date, whatever. Pinball gives me a total wettie!
I'm a pinball fan. I'm one of those guys that judge an arcade (what's that?) by the quality/quantity of pinball machines served. When I found this place through Yelp, I knew I had to pay a visit here. It only makes sense, right?
I see that the name has changed to "Pacific Pinball Museum" which has a classier ring to it than "Lucky Ju Ju" which I prefer. If you haven't sussed it out by now, pinball is the name of the game and the game is aplenty. There are machines from decades past and I couldn't help but wonder what it must've felt like to play these games at the height of their times.
$10 will get you in the door and all the machines are set to free play so you can play to your heart's content. As mentioned previously by other pinball fans in their respective reviews, there are various shapes and sizes of machines ranging from the super technical to the very basic of designs. They're all fun to play in their own right and worth visiting at least once.
Overall, I expected the actual space to be a bit bigger and louder. One of the most interesting things you'll notice about the older machines is how un-loud and un-flashy they are.
See what MTV and rap music have done to our country?! We've become attention deficient, hard of hearing neanderthals! What did you say?! What was I talking about?!
The space is divided into three rooms and walking back and forth between them makes the experience a tad weird and the magic that is Pinball Mecca is unceremoniously peeled back each and every time you transition between the rooms via the hallway. I just wished it was a huge warehouse space filled w/ rows and rows of pinball machines. It's not. I'll live.
If you're a pinball fan, you really should make it a point to visit here to at least try out the old time machines. I'm not sure I got my money's worth in play but getting a chance to play on the older machines from decades past made me feel better about my entrance fee.
Does anyone actually know how to play Orbitor 1?
Do kids these days even like pinball? with lowered attention spans and consoles rivaling supercomputers a decade ago I would venture no. That's probably what led to the death of pinball machines beginning in 1992 - kids just started to prefer video games. I know I was definitely guilty of it.
It was such a nice surprise to find a place that still stocked pinballs. At 10 bucks for a pinball buffet, it's a fair deal for many people these days considering that most people won't have a chance to practice much these days.
The place is divided into 3 sections. There is a forth room that you have to pay an additional 5 bucks for but we decided to just checkout the regular machines. The place is charming and you can see a lot of old baby boomers smiling and reliving their childhood. The rooms seem to be divided by tech/time. To be honest, the machines from the 60s and 70s weren't that entertaining for me and I was actually starting to feel a little dissapointed since I was born in the 80s and couldn't attach the nostalgia to any of the machines from my childhood...but then I ntered the 3rd room.
First machine I see is Rudy's funhouse. A wave of anger and hatred flushed over me as I started rembering all the insults that damn puppet threw at me when I was a kid. I grabbed hold and started playing right away only to be met with the same demise that plagued me all those years ago. It got annoying and frustrating again...but then I started to smile and laugh again as I realized how amazing that a simple machine could make me feel like a kid again. This room also had the indiana jones pinball and several machines that were more familiar to me that I had played in the 80's and 90's. There was also a really nifty CSI machine that turned out to be the best pinball machine I ever played.
I would have given this place a 5 if they had more machines from the late 80s and early 90s here. Additioanally the 80/90s room had THREE broken machines when we played there. If you miss pinball definitel give this place a try. I think anyone that never grew up palying pinball might only give this a place a 3 tho since it seems that a lot of the joy and pleasure here is derived from nostalgia.
$10 for all-you-can play pinball - on machines from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s? Seriously? Classic graphics alongside the lights and doors and flippers and LEDs of contemporary machines? Oh yes.
OK, so yeah, there are kids running around at this scruffy, all-ages non-profit venue (it's a museum, ostensibly) and you'll have to give way to them when they want to play your machine (usually one of the modern ones like CSI). Kids play for $5.
One of my wishes for Lucky Ju Ju is that they would start selling posters of the amazing graphics from the classic machines. They have a few large murals on the wall from some of these games that are a tremendous treat for the eyes. Space girls preparing for battle? Oh yes!
(sadly...at the time of my visit, they didn't have my two favorite mid-90s games, Terminator and Addams Family).
Love it! Another great little Alameda gem.
~*~*~*~HAPPY 100th YELP REVIEW!!!~*~*~*~~
So, for the celebration of Soft Serve's and my 100th YELP Review we decided to go some place EPIC. And so we decided to take a trip down memory lane to Lucky Ju Ju Pinball for some good ol' elementary/middle school day fun!
Indeed, $10 for all-you-can-play pinball extravaganza!
When you first step in you're greeted by a really chill dude sitting at the front. Pay your $10, get a stamp, then start flicking!
There are 3 rooms -- 2 rooms with more old-school vintage pinball machines (with like 1-4 dingers...those things that the pinball hits and rings) and then there's 1 room with the more modern pinball machines (ie: with all the fancy ramps, levels, flashy lights, and multiple dingers).
We spent most of our time in the modern-pinball room -- playing my favorites of the night:
- Indiana Jones
- Construction Workers*
- CSI*
*These games have the "multiple-ball" challenge!
It's funny..because when we started playing, I couldn't really see at first how we could be here for more than 30 minutes...a couple challenges later...about 2 hours easily flew by!
WOW.
Anyway, this place is pretty awesome for a good sober-free night and I'm really glad we were able to experience something so unique because you know what? These things just don't exist anymore!
Only negative thing about this place is that...some of the pinball machines kept breaking...probably from some hard-core players "tilting" the machines too much! Plus, although the vintage ones are really cool they're really slow and not as fun to play with; wish they had more modern one.
We went here to celebrate my husband's birthday and everyone was extremely nice and helpful. The pricing was a little confusing to me at first, but we paid $15 Saturday night for unlimited play in all of the rooms. They said we could pay only $10 if we only wanted to play in the back room, but we wanted to try everything. We'll definitely go again and it's close to a few of our favority restaurants. Also if you go they have a private parking lot in the back since street parking can be limited.
I never thought a place like this still exist. I am not a huge pinball fan per say but it's pretty darn cool to see a room full of classic pinball machines, listening to noises they make. All the machines are set on free play so all you have to pay is the admission.
YEAH FOR YELP!!!
I would have never found this place if it weren't for yelp. Over the summer I was looking for activities so my BF and I could do date night in the unchartered waters.....'ALAMEDA'....So it was definitely gonna be Sushi House for dinner....but needed a day time acitivity....hmm?
With such high yelp reviews, I decided on this place. It took awhille to find this place since the entrance is located in a parking lot and not along the face of the street....so future costumers BEWARE.
For only a $10 we got UNLIMITED PLAY on vintage pin ball machines for about 1.5 hour or so and it was definitely worth it. If we got there earlier we could have play longer at the 10 dollar holla price. There were a total of 4 rooms with pin ball machines from different eras. WOW I've never seen some many collectable pinball machines before. It was so cool. Still I honestly expected it to be a bigger venue. My favorite machines were the Adam Family and the Wrestling Machine.
If you are hungry they even offer the old school pink square popcorn for only $1. haha
Much props to the man who keeps pinball alive. We spoke to him briefly and he's trying to open another place like it in the Bay Area. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS PLACE for a date or an evening with a friend.
I finally was able to have my Pinball Fix. After reading about this place on YELP I found Pinball Utopia. I only thought bowling alleys had the pinball machines.
Ju Ju Pinball is located behind the closed down Tillie's diner off of Webster Street. There are 2 main rooms and one small one with pinball machines wall to wall. Two rooms have the newer machines such as The Addams Family, Flash Gordon, Indiana Jones and Star Trek and these games have special lights, moving features and sound effects. One of the rooms has the older machines such as Royal Flush and the Joker which are more of the knock down the objects with bumpers for points. The older machines are the ones from the golden era of Neptune beach. These machines TILT very easy so you cannot get excited and throw body english into it. Watch those hips.
For music they have a jukebox with music from the 50's, 60's and 70's.
The coverage charge is $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for children. They are open until midnite on Fri and Sat nite with in and out privileges.
Lucky Ju Ju Pinball is GOOD CLEAN FUN!!!! My bestie took me there on a Friday night after we went out for dinner. Remember back in the day, when there were typewriters, telephones that you had to dial, Beaver was the name of a kid whose parents were Ward and June Cleaver? Do you remember how fun it was to play pinball machines at the bowling alley? .
Ju Ju Pinball has a collection of vintage pinball machines. You pay one price ($10 adults/$5 kids) and you can play as many games as you want and stay as long as you want. The machines are well maintained. If someone gets overly agressive and "tilts" the machine, they have staff available and they reset the machines quickly.
They are open Fri. and Sat.l nights 6pm to 12am, Sundays 4pm to 9pm and Tues. & Sat. 10am to 2pm. They are located behind Tillies Dinner on Santa Clara and Webster.
We stayed there for a couple of hours and had a blast. Our wrists were sore the next day from all of the playing. A small price to pay for good clean entertainment!
Sweet, rows upon rows of vintage pinball machines ALL FOR ONE LOW PRICE!!!
Oh yeah! I was so pleased with the experience I went back to work and asked if my staff would like to go for our annual get together. Alas, not many Filipino's are pinball fans :(
If you find yourself in Alameda on a dark Friday or Saturday night head over and give the doorman a ten spot and ENJOY. Just don't TILT.
So, I've lived in Alameda over 6 years, and this was my first trip to this place. I wish I had come here sooner when I had some friends and their kids around.
You definitely get your $10 worth of pinball. The previous reviews mentioning a fridge or byob might have been true at the time, but I didn't see a fridge and with all the kids, I kept the beer outside.
It is crazy, I mean *crazy* to see these fathers (younger than me... yoinks) telling their 8-12 year old kids about pinball. Talk about feeling old!
It is really a top-notch shrine to pinball. I'm uploading some photos, but it doesn't do it justice. I think there were about 30-40 machines from a span of 30-plus years.
All the machines are set to free-play, and they even have a juke box playing 50-80s style music. There is a fair amount of parking next to this place, and on a Saturday night it was surprisingly empty.
Lucky Ju Ju is a must do (said in rhyme). It's a great place to go on a date. Make sure that you map this place before you head out. It has a serious lack of signage.
Lucky Ju Ju Pinball is just amazing. Unless you've been to a pinball expo or such, you'll never have seen so many of these unique game machines in one place. Each room has machines from a series of years, and the machines are in excellent condition (considering how old some of them are!). They even had older machines like a Williams baseball game, and an air hockey/bowling game, and a see-thru pinball game.
Some of the machines have special history behind them as well. At the time of the visit, Orbiter 1 and Xenon were on display. They both have interesting stories behind their design, and there are small placards at the top of the machines to explain some of those fun facts.
If you're feeling run down after some intense gaming, there are self-serve refreshments from the vending machines in front (soda, candy) and there's also a popcorn machine. Restrooms are also available (and just like the rest of the place, the restroom walls are adorned with great artwork and photography!).
if you love pinball and arcade gaming, you need to visit!
Pinball heaven.
$10 gets you in and lets you play until Midnight (when you get the signal to leave by the lights being turned off.) All the tables work perfectly. 3 rooms of tables- 1 big room of early "ding" games, and 2 smaller rooms of more modern games. Wish they did a "frequent player" card, but I'll be back anyway.
Bliss. Perfection. Pinball Heaven.
Went here for the first time last night. What can I say, it's the spot for all you Pinball wizards...nuff said.
Why did it take me so long to come here?
At least I did it up right, coming on my birthday at around ten before heading over to the Piedmont Theater to see a midnight showing of The Goonies. How cool is that? It was very very cool.
Anyway, you all know I'm into pinball, so I was super-excited to be able to play as much as I could for $10. The cheap cover is what this place is all about. Sure, you're not as focused on playing well since you're not paying for your individual games (many of the games don't even have high scores), but who cares? You're playing pinball basically for free.
It's also really cool because whereas normally you want everyone to go away because pinball machines at bars/arcades/miniature-golf centers are limited, at this place, you just want everyone to have a good time because you know they'll get bored of playing that Twilight Zone game eventually, and then you can jump right in.
I also dig the crowd here. At first I was kind of sad that they don't have a place like this in San Francisco, but I'm actually really glad they don't have a place like this in the city, because all the idiots who live here would ruin in. Honestly.
So come here to play pinball in a fun, relaxed atmosphere. Unless you're a San Francisco idiot. If you are, go get drunk in the Mission and end up at Sparky's.
Over the years, Lucky Juju has only gotten better. Beautiful electromechanicals have been joined by a few more modern pins, but still the bells, lights and flipping are magical. It's been the perfect last stop on a romantic date and the centerpiece of a family evening out.
The machines are in fantastic shape. Everyone is super friendly. You can move from machine to machine, lost in a blur of playfields. A great bay area find.
$10 make you wanna holla!
Seriously, you can't go wrong with this place. First and foremost its like pinball meets pinup heaven!
1. Tons of Classic pinball machines ranging from super old school to some newer favorites. Some you just have to try out:
Games like 'The Champion Pub' where you aim the pinball to knock out your opponent who stands in the middle of the table! "Hit him in the Jaw!!!" echos the score board as you slap your flipped and the ball hits the dude in the jaw "KNOCK OUT!!!!!!" Super Sick!
And how about being hung over and playing the infamous Orbitor 1? Hands down the most insane and odd pinball machine you'll ever encounter! For starters you pull back the plunger and the ball comes racing out doing all these insane gravity defying tricks. Magnetic force moves the ball in circles shooting it up and down the board coming back behind the flippers, yes you read that correct. 10 minutes of this game will have you tripped out and giggling.
2. Awesome pinup photography featuring pinup models sprawled over pinball machines. Yeah I'd say that is pretty good photography
3. It's all at your fingertips and only for $10!
This place is what joy is.
Room after room ringing with the sounds of bumpers bumping, loops looping, and flippers flipping.
Pinball machine after pinball machine, with all eras represented -- including a bellwether Addams Family game -- all set on Free Play. It's overwhelming. It's glorious. It is wonderful.
I just couldn't stop smiling the whole time I was there. I felt as happy as I once did in old video arcades. I could have played for hours more.
Extra bonus for fellow fans of Mr. Bungle: JuJu has a Cyclone pinball machine, which is where many of the odd samples from "Carnival" were recorded from.
Recommended? = Yes, yes, o yes.
Had fun but left wanting more. Perhaps I just don't have the appreciation for pinball that others do. I'm definitely a shoot em up kinda girl.
$10 to play till midnight? Heck yeah! It takes me back to my days growing up in New Mexico and Texas. It's great to have a place like this within walking distance from home.
The guy at the door seemed really nice. Apparently, its half off the entry price after 11.
Yeah.
Not really that worth it.
Methinks this place deserves another chance to do it up right.
We wished they had beer.
But the erm, ambiance at 11 on a Saturday night was just a teeeency bit too much pinball nerds/creepy old guy for us.
Like I said. Another chance should be given - hopefully minus the creepiness and a little earlier.
I was in the mood to completely unleash my geek. I had had him caged up for a while doing stuff that was much cooler than I normally do. This is a great place to take your inner geek out on the town. If you want quality this place has it. They have more games and the price is very sensual to my wallet. I think I stayed in this place for like two days. It was wed then it was fri. I'm not sure if it was electric fog or a worm hole but it was something.
This place is really neat and definately worth checking out. It was 10 dollars for all you can play.
My friends and I came here a month ago dropped our 10 buck in the tin and ran around this place trying to play every machine and beat each others high score.
On the older machines the bumpers are a lot smaller than on the younger machines and that made it a little frustrating to play the machines but then once you realize if you loose you can just play again it works out.
Our favorite game was actually not a pinball machine but a machine in the museum part of the whole place . The idea behind was to knock colored balls into specific spots on your side of the game and doing so would get you a certain number of points. At the end the person with the most points won.
This place was a lot of fun and I hope to go back again some day.
This place is really cool! Its gets very crowded but otherwise is great. Its good for kids, too (assuming they can stay up late).
FYI, there's no bar or food (just some sodas and popcorn) just pinball games of every vintage.
I was just recently informed that Lucky Ju Ju Pinball is Not donation any longer, it is Admission ($10 adults/ $5/ 12 and under).
They are a 501 c 3 non profit and from what I hear, they are all volunteer so nobody is getting rich off of this, they just love sharing their toys. They are so laid back they trust people to put the right amount in the jar so please tell your friends to support them, they are a good thing!
This place is perfect if you have a love for vintage pinball machines. This is not a perfect place… Read more »
When I first came here, I saw a bunch of vintage pinball machines and played them for an hour and a half. I initially played them by myself to see which ones I liked and then played competitively against my friend. It was fun playing pinball machines that were all mechanical.
Then, we got bored and started to leave. Turns out there were TWO other rooms that we missed. We stayed another hour playing those. They have several newer machines in one of the rooms and those were the ones I was more used to. It's great to see the evolution of pinball and to see that there are still people who enjoy a good game of pinball.
Lucky Ju Ju is the perfect place to relive your childhood, whether you're 8 or 80 years old. Such a great system - pay your $10 at the door and play pinball to your heart's content. Want a drink? Drop a buck in a jar and grab a coke or some water. Popcorn? Another buck for all you can eat.
Don't go here expecting to play Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero 73 or whatever hell else the kids are playing these days. Go for the love of pinball...who knows, you might find me firmly entrenched in a game of Cyclone. Ride the ferris wheel!
OK, I'm surely going to be lynched for my 3 star review, but honesty is worth something, right?
I fully acknowledge that my disappointment with Lucky Ju Ju may be due to my familiarity & proximity with the Pinball Hall of Fame. Tim @ PHoF had nothing but great things to say about Lucky Ju Ju, and I checked it out the next time I was in San Francisco, per his suggestion.
I know I'm spoiled by PHoF, but I found to the selection of games to be lackluster. The quantity wasn't bad, but many of them seemed like lackluster choices to me, especially considering the rather limited number of machines they can put in the space. At times I felt some machines were picked just because they look cool. Speaking of the space, it's really tight. The night I was there didn't even seem to be particularly busy, and a few times I found myself playing a different machine because I physically couldn't get to the one I wanted to play (I'm also a fat ass, so that could be it, but I doubt it).
Another thing that detracts from the place, for me, is that all the machines are set on free play. Again, this could just be me, but it seems to me that, for some reason, people treat a game of pinball different if they put a quarter in it or not. And its clearly not because the quarter matters. I can't exactly tell you why, but not paying for the games makes them less enticing to me. Combined with what I see as a questionable line-up of machines, I really didn't play too much pinball on my visit. My co-visitors, Alysha N. and Karen L., seemed much happier with the pins than I was, and I often found myself checking out stuff on the walls while they were playing. However, I will say that they have (had?) an awesome shuffleboard bowling game up front, and we played that for probably almost an hour.
This review may seem overly negative, but at the end of the night, I had a good time, and didn't feel like I wasted by $10. Sure, even being stuck in an elevator for 2 hours with Alysha & Karen would probably be a good time, but I think LJJ helped too. The bowling machine surely did. Also, the games I played seemed to be working well, so I have no bitch there. I guess, my final verdict would be that you should definitely check out Lucky Ju Ju, but if you're a connoisseur, don't be surprised if you're a little disappointed.
PRO-TIP: http://www.yelp.com/bi... Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe is 5.2mi away and surely worth checking out after a night of pinball.
This place is rad! The price is a little steep ($10), but on a boring Sunday night, it really did the trick. A group of us drove over to Alameda (who knew there was a cute little town just across the way). It's actually a little difficult to find Lucky Ju Ju-- it's basically in a parking lot. But once we did, we really had a great time. I would say we spent about two hours eating popcorn and taking turns on the machines. As 80s kids, we all ended up hanging around the Adams Family machine.
This place is just really great fun and makes me love the bay area even more. Try it out!
This place rocks my freakin socks off!!! I've never been particularly good at pinball, but here that doesn't matter. When all five balls drop into the gutter without being touched by my bumpers it's okay, since I can just start right on over again. w00t for free play!
There are 4 rooms of machines, two with older mechanical machines and newer machines with electronic mechanisms. I liked a lot of the older machines with the simpler designs and gameplay. It's pretty amazing that we've gone from this to all of the super high tech games that we have now. I love the laid back vibe here and the honor code style of the place. Just drop in a buck in the tin can for a bag of popcorn or a soda. This is a great place and for $10, you can be entertained for a good 2-3 hours. That's hard to do today. The only thing that would make this place even sweeter was if they had a bar, but I guess you can't have everything.
I don't know any other place like it. Stunning pinball machines from the 60's and 70's and later. One price, all the replays you want. If you love pinball, this is the place!
If you're coming from Oakland through the Webster St. Tube, make a left on Santa Clara and another quick left into the city metered lot behind what used to be Tillie's. Lucky Ju Ju is on the left side of the parking lot behind Tillie's diner.
Free juke box for additional ambiance too.
I am so glad we have a place like this in the bay area. All those old pinball machines bring back a lot of memories. I still love to play pinball, especially on those machines with caricatures of big-tittied women on the backglass.
Its a great place to bring kids, too.
Very Fun and a wonderful blast form the past. Where else can you enjy a friendly atmosphere & play a pinball machine older than you are?!
Love the freeplay for one price arrangement since I am NO pinball wizard. Very cool machines here like I have seen nowhere else ever.
A friend rented this place for a few hours for a private birthday party, they let us bring in pizza and food and play to our hearts content- little kids and grown ups all had a lovely time.
Apparently you are not allowed to fart in this establishment per the sign on the wall.
Ten bucks get you all you can play pinball action. Jill K and I must have looked way out of place as the guy questioned us if it was our first time there.
I had a ball (get it, pinball, ball) playing all the various machines. There were a good amount of people there, but I never had to wait. But yes, the Spinner machine in the back was the most entertaining by far. You need at least two people to make that fun.
Sodas, popcorn $1.
Lucky Ju Ju Pinball is something everyone should check out!
Is it at all possible not to give a place this *cool* five stars? Look, I love this place. I just had my birthday there. The people are great. My adopted cat used to live there (which, by the way, makes for the coolest cat personality in the world). The pinball museum is about as cool as it gets: the first pinball machine with bumpers, the first pinball machine that keeps score automatically, the first pinball with multiball, etc.
Do I think I get $10 worth every time I go? Probably not. Does it suck that they don't let you BYOB anymore. Of course. But more fun cannot be had for $10, especially any rainy weekend day.
Bing! Bing! Bing! Bing!
Bing! Bing! Bing! Bing!
Rats!!
And so it is to stand near me while I'm playing pinball. I'm not especially good, but after a few hours of free play, I got a lot better. I also may have gotten a repetitive stress injury, but it was well worth it to rack up the points on EMBRYON (scary alien womb o' the future) or SUPER STRAIGHT. Hell, yeah.
The only thing that would make this place better is a full bar, but it was cool seeing some shorties learning about old school pinball.
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