Rob Berk’s record-breaking pinball collection becomes an arcade and annual expo

A pinball superfan collected so many machines he ended up opening his very own arcade.

Robert “Rob” Berk (USA) has 1,041 of them, earning him the record for largest collection of pinball machines. And you can bet he’s played them all!

Rob, 70, of Girard, Ohio, started collecting pinball machines back in 1971, purely because he loved them so much.

He started with a machine called Baby Face, and before he knew it, the dad of five had way more than anyone could keep at home.

Rob turned his passion into a business, setting up his own company and opening his very own arcade, Past Times Arcade.

But even the arcade isn’t big enough to house his entire collection, with some of them being kept in storage.

Rob says he loves pinball machines so much because they “bring back memories of the good old days.”

His favourite in the collection is Texan, and the most expensive is a limited edition Tron, which set him back a whopping $18,000.

Some of Rob’s machines have been very hard to find.

He searches on sites like eBay and Craigslist, and talks to his fellow collectors whenever he’s in the market for a new machine.

His love of pinball even saw him start his very own convention, Pinball Expo, which will be held this year in Schaumburg, Illinois, in October.

The event is soon to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

Rob told us:

“I started Pinball Expo in 1985 in Chicago. I started it to recognize my industry heroes who designed the play fields.

They were the unsung heroes that never got the recognition that I felt they deserved.

We have dozens of vendors that exhibit, hundreds of games on free play, and offer tours of some of the pinball manufacturing companies in Chicago.”

Rob laughed:
“This was a hobby that got out of control and has turned into an obsession.”