Entry No. 65 — the Portland file — filed under: pinball
Next Level Pinball Museum & Arcade
Jordan Carlson opened this in 2017 with about 140 machines in 8,000 square feet; five expansions later it is 27,000 square feet holding over 690 games, of which 640-plus are set to free play with no quarters and no cards. The split is roughly 300 pinball tables to 340 arcade cabinets, the video side about half 1980s uprights and half modern racing and light-gun co-op. Each machine carries an info card naming the designer, the release year, and who did the audio, which turns a room full of noise into something closer to a labeled collection. Above and around all of it hangs Fred Carlson's lunchbox hoard — over 3,500 of them, accumulated across forty-five years and awaiting a Guinness ruling — plus a memorabilia wall estimated at 25,000 pieces. Newsweek named it the best arcade in America in 2025, and it has taken World's Favorite Pinball Arcade three times.
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The story
Jordan Carlson opened Next Level in Hillsboro in 2017 with roughly 140 machines in 8,000 square feet, and runs it with his father Fred and his wife Whitney. Five expansions later — the most recent added 7,000 square feet and about 150 games in March 2024 — it fills 27,000 square feet and holds over 690 pinball and arcade machines, of which more than 640 are on free play. No quarters, no cards, no swipe. The split runs about 300 pinball tables to 340 video cabinets, the video side roughly half early-eighties uprights and half modern racing, light-gun and co-op games.
What separates it from a warehouse of machines is the labeling. Each game carries an info card naming the designer, the release year and who did the audio, which turns an undifferentiated wall of noise into a collection you can read — the rare Johnny Mnemonic table and the Primus one sit in the same grammar as an Addams Family. The rest of the building is Fred Carlson’s pop-culture hoard: an estimated 3,500 vintage lunchboxes stacked floor to ceiling and pending a Guinness ruling, plus signed movie paraphernalia, Happy Meal toys, Goosebumps paperbacks and action figures lining every wall. It has been voted World’s Favorite Pinball Arcade three times — 2021, 2022 and 2023 — and Newsweek called it the best arcade in America in 2025.
The economics are deliberately blunt: one flat wristband, all day, in and out, and no bar. Next Level isn’t licensed for alcohol, so food comes from trucks in the parking lot — Funday Pizza Thursday through Monday, Ka Prito Chicken & Fries Friday through Sunday — and you can carry in your own non-alcoholic supplies. Friday nights are IFPA-sanctioned tournaments at 7pm, formats rotating weekly through group matchplay, head-to-head, classics and pick-your-game.
What it's like
You pay once at the front desk, get a wristband, and then the building stops asking you for anything — walk up to any of 640-plus machines and press start. The noise is total and the light is arcade-dim under a ceiling of lunchboxes; the info cards are the thing that slows people down, because reading who designed a table changes how you play it. Roughly 40 machines — claw games, the photo booth, card dispensers — still take money. The wristband includes re-entry, so the standard rhythm is three hours, out to the pizza truck in the lot, back in for the tables nobody was on earlier. It is dry and family-legal by design, so expect kids; weekend afternoons stack several birthday parties at once.
The move: Come Friday evening, tell the front desk you're playing the tournament, and admission drops to $20 with a $5 buy-in for the IFPA-sanctioned event at 7pm — formats change weekly and are built so a first-timer can enter without embarrassment. Get there by 6 to warm up on whatever table you can find open, play the tournament as a pair, then use the in-and-out wristband to hit a food cart outside and come back for the machines nobody was on at 6.
📍 Before you go $23 per person for an all-day wristband, ages 3-5 $17, 2 and under free; the $20 Thursday rate requires prior enrollment in the free loyalty program at the front desk, so it never applies on a first visit. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Open Monday noon-9, Thursday and Friday noon-11, Saturday 10am-11pm, Sunday 10am-9pm. No alcohol served — this is a dry room — and food comes from carts parked outside. Wristbands include in-and-out. About 20 miles west of Portland near the Hillsboro airport, roughly 25-35 minutes on US-26 depending on traffic; MAX Blue Line gets close. Weekend afternoons run mobbed with simultaneous birthday parties; weeknights after 7 are the quiet version. About 40 machines (claw games, photo booth, card dispensers) are not on free play.
- 📍 Hillsboro
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Big night
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 1458 NE 25th Ave, Hillsboro, OR 97124
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals — Also in Hillsboro, six miles northwest — a crystal collection in a 1952 ranch house, which is the same collecting impulse as 3,500 lunchboxes with better lighting.
- Portland Troll Bridge (Ole Bolle Trestle) — Take the long way home through the hills to Hwy 30 and pay the troll toll under the McNamee trestle; bring a troll doll, because the tradition only works if you add to it.
- Freakybuttrue Peculiarium — Last stop coming back into town on NW Thurman, and the tonal opposite of a dry, well-lit, family-legal arcade.
More weird in Portland
Good to know
How do I get there without a car?
It’s at 1458 NE 25th Ave, Hillsboro, about 20 miles west of Portland — 25 to 35 minutes on US-26 depending on traffic. MAX Blue and Red both stop at Fair Complex/Hillsboro Airport station, 601 NE 34th Ave, roughly a mile’s walk east of the door.
What does admission cover?
$23 buys an all-day wristband with in-and-out privileges and free play on 640-plus games; ages 3–5 are $17 and under-2s are free with a paying adult. Everyone who comes through the door pays, including people who only intend to look at the memorabilia.
Can I just show up, or should I book?
General admission is walk-up. Book ahead only for the party room — $150 for two hours plus per-person admission, seating for about 25, with a fridge and microwave — or a full facility rental at $300/hour plus admission, available Tuesdays and Wednesdays when the room is otherwise closed.
How do the Friday tournaments work?
$20 admission for tournament players plus a $5 buy-in, IFPA-sanctioned for world ranking points, starting at 7pm with check-in by 6:50. Formats rotate week to week, and the events are explicitly open to all ages and skill levels — Oregon has some of the best players in the country and a steady supply of first-timers.
Is there a bar, and when is it quiet?
No bar — Next Level has no liquor license, and you can’t bring alcohol in either. It’s closed Tuesday and Wednesday; open Monday noon–9, Thursday and Friday noon–11, Saturday 10am–11pm, Sunday 10am–9pm. Weeknights after 7 are the calm version of the same building.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · pdxmonthly.com · replaymag.com · Wikipedia
last checked: 2026-08-26