Downtime: Project Pinball

Lee Householder with his favorite machine at the Richmond Pinball Collective arcade: the 1970s-era ‘Wizard!’ (Jonathan Spiers photos)

When he isn’t advancing housing affordability as chief executive of Project:Homes, Lee Householder can be found pulling plungers and flipping flippers with a group of fellow pinball enthusiasts who recently found a new home of their own.

Householder, the aptly named CEO of the locally based housing nonprofit, is one of 130 “pinheads,” as they call themselves, who make up the Richmond Pinball Collective – a not-for-profit social club that maintains its own pinball arcade in the Midlothian Festival Shopping Center on Midlothian Turnpike.

After six years in a smaller space in the same shopping center, the group last year moved a few doors down into a larger space that doubled its square footage and made room for more machines, now totaling 43.

Members get unlimited play and help run the arcade, which features a mix of old and new machines.

The 2,500-square-foot space in the Pepe’s-anchored center also provided room for more members, which Householder said numbered 20 before the move. The group has also added a volunteer-run concessions stand and secured an ABC private club license to sell beer and wine, along with seltzers, sodas and popcorn by the bag.

Members pay $35 a month or $150 for six months for unlimited play at the arcade, which the group keeps open three or four hours on weekdays and six hours on Saturdays. Guest passes can be purchased for $15 but are limited to three visits per year, per the private club license.

An avid pinballer with three machines of his own, Householder said he checked out the group and quickly became a regular. He now serves on its board of directors and handles its communications, including a biweekly newsletter he writes to keep members up to date on events and new inventory.

Householder working the arcade’s concessions stand. (Photo courtesy Richmond Pinball Collective)

“I got involved and fell in love with this place,” Householder said during a recent league night. “We were doing some strategic planning work and I had some background in that, then I took over the volunteer coordination side. We’re all volunteer-run.

“I’m now on the board of directors; we meet quarterly to go over our financial projections. One of the most fun things we do is decide to buy machines with our revenue,” he said, pointing to their newest acquisition: Stern Pinball’s “Jaws” machine, released this year and based on the movie.

Householder said the group’s membership dues and expenses break even at about 100 members, allowing the club to put revenue above that toward room maintenance, machine repairs and the occasional new purchase. He said machines can go from $5,500 to $7,500, though he noted that much of the group’s inventory is supplied by members.

Pinheads at play. The ‘Jaws’ machine at right is the group’s newest acquisition.

“A lot of our members donate the rest of the machines. Most of us are collectors. I have three at home,” he said. “And if you get addicted to it, you end up not having enough room for them, so we become a nice space to put them.”

Householder’s favorite?

“I like ‘Wizard!’” he said, referring to the 1975 Bally’s machine that’s based on The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” – though not officially, he noted.

“It was pre-licensing. It was after the Pinball Wizard, Roger Daltry, but it’s really not a sanctioned licensure,” he said.

“My other favorite, Addams Family, is one of the most famous pinball machines, because it kind of brought pinball back and incorporated a bunch of new features, like a hand that picks up a ball, and it was branded with sounds and movie call-outs,” he said. “Now, that is pretty much how machines are. They all are movie machines. Like ‘Jaws’ – it says: ‘We need a bigger boat.’”

Members filled the room on a recent league night. The space can accommodate 75 people.

Householder’s love for pinball led to love in life: he met his wife, Kristen, playing pinball in college.

“We played at Mary Washington. In the student commons we used to play the ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon.’ That was how we first met,” he said.

“When I first moved to Richmond, pinball was hard to come by except, like, movie theaters, and I would go to truck stops. I’d go up to, like, Doswell. The truck stops had all the new machines.”

With the collective, which started with pop-up arcades before setting up in the shopping center after a Kickstarter campaign, Householder has found not only a place to play but also a community that he has had a hand in building along with his fellow board members, including president Laura Fraley and her husband, Clark Fraley. The Fraleys founded the group with Malik Berger and Scott Durfee.

The collective’s board members in front of the group’s storefront, from left: Scott Durfee, Chris Morgan, Katherine Dodge, Laura Fraley, Clark Fraley, Justin Consegera, Lee Householder and Chris Terrell. (Photo courtesy Lee Householder)

“I like being a convener of people,” Householder said. “I’m not the best pinball player. I like competing, but I’m not in the top 20 percent of this place, so I thought my efforts are best served in helping to create an environment that creates joy. And I like organizing, because I have a background in that.”

Used to working with volunteers with Project:Homes, Householder’s been able to apply those skills to the collective, which in turn has had effects on his day job, he said.

“Creating a positive culture, and understanding how important that is: the social aspect and having some downtime,” he said. “The satisfaction and reward of giving, and bringing back some of that volunteer appreciation, because now this is where I put some of my volunteer time.

“Human interaction, just really sharpening skills. And we want to make sure that we are a welcoming, inclusive environment, so that’s another takeaway: to practice those things,” he said.

The group’s storefront features a neon sign with its logo.

While they’re happy with their new and larger home, Householder said the initial move to establish a dedicated pinball arcade was a risk for the group that has paid off – another experience from it he relates to his work with Project:Homes.

“It applies to when we take risk at private companies: understanding that real estate involves risk. It’s just part of what we do,” he said. “Measured risk is always something to work on.”

Of the collective, Householder added: “We felt like we took an enormous risk, and we are so ecstatic that it has paid off.”

This is the latest entry in our Downtime series, which focuses on business people’s pursuits outside the office. If you, a coworker or someone you know around town has an exciting or unique way of passing time off the clock, drop us a line at [email protected]. For previous installments of Downtime, click here.