The Who's ''Tommy Pinball Wizard" is at the Seattle Pinball Museum.

So are the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Metallica and Guns 'N Roses.

Sounds like a place to have a rockin' good time.

The rock back The Who wrote and performed "Pinball Wizard" in 1969, as part of the rock opera "Tommy" (the album sold 20 million copies). It was all about "that deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball.'' The Seattle Opera even staged a performance of "Tommy" in 1971, with Bette Midler performing as the "Acid Queen."

I don't know why the other rockers, the Stones among them, have their own pinball machines, though. But you can play them all if you want, for $13 for one visit or $25 for all day. No need to have a pocket of quarters handy.

The Pinball Museum is in Seattle's International District/Chinatown neighborhood, not far from the Amtrak and Bolt Bus stops that bring visitors back to Portland, should you have some time on your hands.

Or, just plan it into your itinerary, because Seattle's Chinatown is always worth spending some hours. The pinball "museum" set up shop there, at 508 Maynard Ave. South, thanks to a city program called Storefront Seattle that was designed to help new businesses open in vacant storefronts.

It is a museum in name only, because the machines aren't stuffed away behind a velvet rope. They are there to be played, 54 of them dating to 1963. Clerk Mike Martin, the owners' son, said it's an interactive museum, featuring machines from every decade up to the present, all kept in good playing shape.

The parlor sells amusement park-style snack, plus beer and soft drinks, while a TV over the counter shows movies that usually match one of the games (on the day I visited it was the "Creature From the Black Lagoon").

To learn more about pinball (around the country and in Seattle), look at the website pinballmap.com/seattle. You can search on the site for pinball parlors all around the metro area. The listing for Seattle Pinball Museum names the games and the year they were made. The machine ages range from 1963 to 2014.

The museum's King Tut pinball machine came out the same year (1969) that "Pinball Wizard'' was dominating the radio waves _ and when The Who played it live at Woodstock, chasing Abbie Hoffman of Chicago Eight fame off the stage in the process.

-- Terry Richard

trichard@oregonian.com

503-221-8222; @trichardpdx