Walk into Wizard’s World in Fort Wayne and let all the lights and sounds wash over you.
If you’re a first-timer, it can be overwhelming. But if you walk around long enough, you’ll find a pinball machine that has an actor, musician, or cartoon on it that you recognize.
National Pinball Day is Saturday, August 1, and Fort Wayne is home to one of the largest pinball-only arcades in the country.
Owner Mike Burgess grew up in North Manchester in the 1970s and was first introduced to pinball at a local laundromat that had a machine in the back. He swiped a quarter from his mother and found a hobby that would last a lifetime.
Shortly after that, the original Wizard’s World was opened by the Schneider family in North Manchester, and he was offered a job.
“They approached me out of all the kids and said, ‘Hey, we want you. Now, we could have anybody we want, but we want you to work for us.’ Something in the back of my mind was, OK, this is interesting. Why do they want me?” Burgess said.
Burgess worked there from the day the place opened until it closed.
In 1986, he bought his first pinball machine, and the collection grew rapidly. Fast forward to 2017, Burgess was looking for a place to play pinball competitively.
He had the machines, then he found a 2,000 square foot facility on the north side of Fort Wayne, and established one of the largest pinball-only arcades in the country. And he named it after the place where his hobby turned into a job. Wizard’s World is now a 5,000 square foot facility with a 2,000 square foot workshop in the back.
Burgess has over 200 machines, with 180 out on the floor, with an average of over 500 customers a week. His oldest machine was made in 1931, which is a smaller table-top machine that he’ll set on the front counter for people to play. The most popular machines in the arcade were made in the 1970s or 1980s.
There are weekly tournaments hosted at Wizard’s World, and it’s created a subculture here in Fort Wayne.
“If you’re in pinball, then you know all the pinball websites and everybody involved in pinball,” Burgess said. “Pinball is like a small town. Everybody knows everything.”
Burgess gives back to the pinball community as well, including donations to the International Flipper Pinball Association and Huntertown Heritage Days.
“We give back to the IFPA every year with 4000 quarters because we make our money one quarter at a time,” Burgess said.
Wizard’s World has a very diverse customer base. One day you could be playing next to a 10-year-old kid, and on the other side, a lawyer or a doctor.
“We all get along. We’re all on the same level when it comes to pinball,” Burgess said.
People have also come from around the world to play at Wizard’s World. Burgess has a map in the arcade that shows people from all around the globe who have stopped by and flipped the ball around a little bit.
If you’re looking to pick up a new hobby that’s at a reasonable price, head out to Wizard’s World, find a machine, and get lost for a while.
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