District 82 Pinball Arcade — Attraction in De Pere

District 82 Pinball is a hidden treasure in the Green Bay area. When I first walked into the facility I could not believe the selection and number of games available to play. All the pinball machines were in perfect condition. District 82 has a huge variety of games from electro-mechanical games all the way to modern Sterns with LCD displays.

I had the opportunity to play in one of the tournaments when I visited the venue while on vacation in Milwaukee. The place is screaming pinball with the beautiful artistic display of playfields and back boxes mounted on the walls along with huge banners adorning the ceiling. This place is huge with pinball in every direction. Over 100 pinball machines!

Not only are the games awesome, but the people who work there are fantastic. I visited one time as an outsider from Reno and I felt like I was part of the pinball family/community. Erik was very accommodating even though I was late on my arrival for the tournament. The tournament was extremely organized and they had an intercom system to let players know when the next round began. On top of that they had free water and soda available as if you were going into your best friend's fridge. The bathroom was kept clean and easily accessible. Most of all, I met awesome people and wish I could go back. Even being an outsider I was welcomed with open arms and felt very comfortable in a new environment of good players.

During the COVID-19 pandemic I felt very safe to play on the machines. They took my temperature when I walked in. All people were wearing masks and sanitizer stations were available throughout the facility. They take the pandemic seriously and make sure everyone is safe as well as enjoying themselves.

Only suggestion I have is it would be nice to have some Jersey Jack and American Pinball machines available to play as part of the collection.

If you ever get a chance to go to the Green Bay area in De Pere, Wisconsin you do not want to miss out on visiting this amazing place. When I travel out to Milwaukee again I will definitely go to District 82 as my go-to destination to play in another tournament and meet more awesome people. You won't find a bigger collection in Wisconsin! District 82...

District 82 is awesome! In the 2000s it was PAPA in Pittsburgh that served as the holy place all pinheads had to make the journey to in order to complete their initiation into the cult of the silver ball. In the 2010s it was Pinburgh. In the 2020s it will be District 82 in Wisconsin. Powered by passion for all things pinball, this high ceiling warehouse space is packed with machines from all eras in tip top collector-level maintained condition. Adorning the walls are framed and lighted back glasses from various games as well as wooden playfields and occasional supersized snapshot images from pinball history. Like Galloping Ghost Pinball in Illinois, there is a flat fee to enter (here it’s $25) and it’s all you can play, a pinball buffet, as the machines are set to freeplay. I visited during the Pinball Super Series - 6 tournaments in 4 days with 100 players - and it was…amazing. The flow, the schedule, the design, the variation of structure, the cost, the staff, the prizes, the players, the friendliness - all of it was top notch. I have a feeling that District’s reputation will only grow from here and this Super Series weekend has a real chance to be the new Pinburgh going forward. The location in Wisconsin is near Green Bay, in De Pere, near the expressway with plenty of restaurants, hotels, and gas stations just minutes away. I’m from Chicago, so my heart will always belong to my first pinball love, Logan Arcade. But, District 82 just proposed…and I think I just said yes. Yes to the celebration. Yes to the reverence. Yes to the community. Yes to the IFPA tournament WPPR points (there are A LOT of them!). Yes to supporting a Field of Dreams leap of faith vision that proves, “If you build it, they will come.” As the poet Rumi wrote, “What you seek is seeking you.” District 82 is here because you’ve been looking for it while it’s been...

Simply put, District 82 is Mecca for pinball nerds. If you're a serious competitive player you've surely heard of it, and it deserves every bit of the acclaim it has received.

Running 150-player tournament weekends on over 100 games, there's a lot of room for things to go wrong, but I was shocked at how smoothly everything was run. Erik, the owner, is an incredible host, tech, and tournament director and deserves a ton of credit for making D82 the place to be, alongside all the other folks keeping things going in there.

The collection is a joy to play on, spanning a wide range of eras and levels of obscurity, every game playing phenomenally (but tough). The locals and regulars are so outgoing and pleasant to talk to.

The weekend tournament series are absolutely cant-miss experiences for tournament players and I can't recommend them highly enough. If you're in the area and you're more of a casual player, or just interested in pinball, definitely go and check D82 out on one of their public nights Friday or Saturday (check the website...