Asheville Pinball Museum moving, expanding

ASHEVILLE – Just call TC DiBella the pinball wizard.

In a world dominated by games where people are more likely to be tapping a screen than playing a coin-operated machine, the Asheville Pinball Museum will be expanding when it moves into the former site of the Havana Comida Latina Restaurant in April.

"Every weekend we have waiting lists for up to an hour and a half to two hours. We were even having those lines in January and February — the slow months," said TC DiBella, who owns Asheville Pinball Museum with his wife, Brandy DiBella, and their technician, John French.

"Pinball machines disappeared from the public, but you've got generations of people that used to play them. They don't realize it was taken away from them until they walk in and say 'I used to do this all the time!'"

TC DiBella said the museum's current operation at 1 Battle Square, Suite 1A, can accommodate about 45 people at a time. Its new location just down the road at 1 Battle Square has an occupancy of about 100 people.

With a space that can hold more people, it also will be able to hold more machines, he said. Currently, the museum features about 30 pinball machines for visitors to learn about and, of course, to play, in addition to six classic arcade games.

"We're going to have more to offer. We will also have an entire back room here that's going to have 15 classic video games," TC DiBella said as he stood in the new space. "We've been preparing for this for quite a while. We also sell pinball machines, but we always have backup machines just in case something happens. Once we got started with this move, though, we started collecting even more machines for the new location."

Admission, which is currently $10 for adults and $7 for children 12 and younger, could creep up a few dollars.

"We're thinking $12 for all-day access," he said, noting he doesn't want to make the pinball experience too pricey.

Though the move-in process has already begun, TC DiBella said the Asheville Pinball Museum will stay open until the very last minute.

"It just bothers me that I've actually had kids crying in here because their parents couldn't stick around for the two hour wait time," he said. "Hopefully in this new space, that won't be happening as much."

The Asheville Pinball Museum put up a handmade sign in the window sometime last week.

Since the neon posterboard sign went up, TC DiBella said he has been fielding phone calls left and right from people confused about whether the business was open, closed or had already moved into a new location.

Because the business isn't moving too far away from its original location, DiBella said he feels good about the change of address.

"I'm excited and terrified, but not nearly as scared as I was the first time. At that time, we didn't know if it was going to work," he said of the business. "Now, we know it does."

Still, TC Dibella said he isn't taking any chances.

"We can open on up on April 1, but I don't want to open up on April Fool's Day," he said. A tentative opening date is set for April 2.

"At the latest, we'll open that Saturday," he said.