VanCity Pinball & Arcade will open its doors March 1 and feature machines as far back as the 1970s.
John Kurucz Feb 27, 2026 3:02 PM
VanCity Pinball & Arcade owner Angelo Muro surrounded by pinball machines. Brendan Kergin / V.I.A.
Angelo Muro is a little tired.
Working 80-hour weeks non-stop for more than a month and schlepping around dozens of 250-plus pound relics from yesteryear will do that to a person.
But that elbow grease will soon pay off, as Muro is poised to open VanCity Pinball & Arcade on March 1.
Located near the intersection of Venables Street and Commercial Drive, the 3,000-square-foot playhouse is a cornucopia of nostalgia and nerdom that’s unrivalled in scope across Vancouver.
More than 60 pinball machines ranging in date between 1975 and 2022 adorn the facility, along with a handful of classic arcade machines, a foosball table, four-person sit-down games or the hands-on, interactive games popularized in the late ’90s and early 2000s.
Ephemera in the way of classic posters and promotional bits and bobs are strewn about from wall to wall.
Think Adams Family, Medieval Madness, Attack from Mars, Twilight Zone, Monster Bash, Indiana Jones or Lord of the Rings.
“I kept this kind of hidden from the pinball community, but I had a couple close friends come in when [the building] was done last week and it was very emotional,” Muro says. “Every single one of them walked in and didn’t say anything for a couple seconds, their jaws just dropped. It was very touching.”
That touch, or the tactile experience of pinball, is what Muro is banking on for the venture to pop. He’s likely got the Gen Xers and elder millennials based on nostalgia alone, but he’s hoping the younger set embraces the idea of getting out of the house, putting the phone down and getting their flappers flapping.
Ironically enough, Muro wasn’t that guy when he was the same age as those he’s currently trying to rope in. Now 42, the video game craze never sank its hooks into him as it does with so many other youngsters.
He instead got his first taste of playing pinball at 20.
The gameplay, strategy, audio callouts, storylines and technical nuances found in the gameplay set Muro on the path he’s on today. The Burnaby resident began collecting and servicing machines, while also lending them to bars and other establishments across Metro Vancouver on a cost-sharing basis.
Though he boasts roughly 150 machines to his name, the best of the best of Muro’s collection is now housed at his newest venture near The Drive, where machines are curated based largely on title, gameplay and popularity.
Immediately upon walking through the entrance, gamers are met with a pair of all-time bangers: Street Fighter 2 and Pac-Man.
From there, the curation continues with pinball machines from the mid-’70s that are completely devoid of any digital doodads. Many of the titles are from the 1990s, which Muro considers the golden age of pinball.
While moving across the room, trends start to emerge.
There are machines based around bands: Rush, Kiss, Metallica and Guns N’ Roses.
Then there are machines that celebrate film and TV: The Walking Dead, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Game of Thrones.
And then there are games where sheer sentiment is likely the aim, to recall a time before the ubiquity of mobile phones when standalone arcades ruled the day: The Simpsons, Mario Kart or Star Trek.
“This has been a dream of mine for at least 10 years now,” Muro says.
The market Muro hopes to tap into is vast: corporate events, team-building exercises, birthday parties or even competitive tournaments. None of them will have to worry about bringing voluminous bags of quarters or loonies, as the gaming will work on a fee system instead: $15 for a half hour or $35 for the whole day.
Muro has a two-year lease on the space and is using the venture as a test case. If the business goes gangbusters, he may move to a larger locale.
“I want [gamers] to yearn for more because for me, I always want to see what else a machine can do, or if I can play a little better,” Muro says. “I want them to feel what I feel.”
VanCity Pinball & Arcade is located at 1739 Venables St.