QuickTake:

Electric Hippo Arcade opens downtown Friday, Oct. 9, featuring a collection of pinball cabinets acquired over the years by a Eugene couple, as well as other old-school and newer arcade games.

When Shylee Buchanan was in high school, she played pinball arcade games at the pizza parlor in west Eugene where she worked. 

Now, the 52-year-old is the owner of a new arcade on Main Street in downtown Springfield that features rows of classic pinball machines. 

Buchanan said a lot of people have been excited about the type of arcade Electric Hippo Arcade is.

“We have some newer games here, but most of it is the old-school games,” she said during an early access event at the arcade Thursday, Oct. 8.

Shylee and Ty Buchanan are the married couple behind Electric Hippo Arcade. Shylee runs the business, while Ty tends to the machines. Credit: Annie Aguiar / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

Michaela Starr, who stood next to a bank of claw machines filled with stuffed animals, tubs of cotton candy and other prizes, echoed that sentiment.

“I was excited that they had such a good mix of old-school games and newer stuff,” said the 32-year-old Springfield resident. 

She and friend Taylor Rae, also 32, had played Skee-Ball, which they said was “nostalgic.” Starr also highlighted the enclosed dome-screened Star Wars Battle Pod, a machine that debuted in 2015, which she called “very immersive.” Rae was excited to see the “Addams Family” pinball machine.

“It’s great to have it on this side of town,” Starr said of the arcade. “I’ll be back many times.”

A row of pinball machines at Electric Hippo Arcade. Many of the machines were in a personal family collection for years. Credit: Annie Aguiar / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

Many of the pinball cabinets and other machines were part of a personal collection acquired by Buchanan and her husband, Ty Buchanan, and family members over the years.

“It just got to be too big, and we didn’t know what to do with it,” Ty Buchanan said. “And so we were either going to sell them all, or we were going to do this. This seemed like more fun.”

Thursday was the second of two early-access events for community members who have been following the business on social media. Anticipation had been building since March as Electric Hippo posted photos and videos of pinball cabinets while renovating 402 Main St., the former Pegasus Playhouse building.

“I was a child of the ’80s,” Ty Buchanan said. “Every kid wanted their own arcade, so these machines are what we grew up playing.”

Springfield resident Rob Crosby shows off his claw machine winnings. Credit: Annie Aguiar / Lookout Eugene-Springfield
Being in Springfield, there is, of course, a pinball machine themed on “The Simpsons.” Credit: Annie Aguiar / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

Electric Hippo Arcade opens to the public Friday, Oct. 9, with afternoon and evening hours Wednesday through Sunday. In addition to pinball, visitors will find other retro games like Mortal Kombat and Donkey Kong, as well as familiar favorites like Mario Kart and classics like air hockey. A few machines from independent game developers line one wall, including the beer-pouring cabinet-style game Perfect Pour.

In a world of cellphones and at-home video games, Ty Buchanan said he likes the social aspect of an arcade.

“And the fact that it’s a tactile experience,” he said. “You’re touching controls. You can hold the pinball machine.”

His personal favorite pinball game: the 1995 “Theater of Magic” cabinet, which he called “goofy and wonderful.” 

“We saw quite a few plays on Donkey Kong and whatnot last night,” Ty Buchanan said. “So people like the classic classics.”

Maxwell Thomas, 5, pays keen attention to an air hockey puck in a game against his mother, Brittany Thomas. Credit: Annie Aguiar / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

He has been fixing the machines himself, opening up the cabinets for restoration and repair. The business has a backroom with space to work on machines and a stockpile of parts. 

“This is nostalgia. This is part of our history,” Ty Buchanan said. 

He identified the Donkey Kong Pauline edition as the most unique game in the arcade, where the player is Pauline and saves Mario rather than the other way around. (NPR reports the game was created in 2013 by a game designer dad for his daughter). A friend of Ty Buchanan built a cabinet for the game and custom painted it. 

Unlike the arcades of the ’80s, players load money on tap cards rather than plugging  quarters into machines. That avoids problems like jammed quarters and will allow the business to do possible specials like half-price games during happy hour, Ty Buchanan said. 

A neon Electric Hippo Arcade sign inside the arcade, with the claw machine visible on the left. Credit: Annie Aguiar / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

The arcade has beer, cider and seltzer for sale (“There’s cup holders on all these pinball machines. Do not set them on the glass, please,” Ty Buchanan noted.) Rather than running its own restaurant, the business is encouraging players to visit nearby establishments like Planktown Brewing to buy food and bring it into the arcade, where tables and chairs are set up. 

A VIP room will be rentable for parties.

Ty Buchanan called the business “a family affair,” as he and his wife, who are Eugene residents, are the only staff members.

“There’s a place for the big chains. Round One, Dave and Buster’s. They’re amazing,” he said. “I don’t have the capital to do anything like that, but we wanted to do something that was more local. We found this perfect building in downtown Springfield, right where everything’s kind of coming back and reigniting. So we’re really happy to be down here.”

Ryan Murray, who attended the event with his 4-year-old son, Teddy, was excited to try “The Simpsons” pinball game. Murray grew up in Springfield and recalled Tilt arcade at Gateway Mall.

“We don’t have any of that anymore,” the 34-year-old said. “So I was like, ‘This is what we’ve been missing.’”