Free Gold Watch — Attraction in San Francisco

PRINT SHOP ARCADE? In the legendary Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco is what may be one of the nations most unique arcade venues. A spot called “Free Gold Watch” that is not only the city’s largest pinball destination, but it’s also a fully functional commercial print shop. They were literally screen printing t-shirts in the middle of the arcade during my visit and that’s something I’ve never come across in my travels.

Free Gold Watch has at least 50 well maintained pinball machines spanning the last 60 years. Players will appreciate the title diversity from the golden era to the modern day, and even some rare and obscure titles like Hoops, Rack Em’ Up and Diamond Lady. I was also impressed to see competition quality restorations of Paragon, Harlem Globetrotters, Nine Ball and Play Boy among others.

A unique thing I saw here was the inclusion of “Small Change Arcade” cabinets. An artist named Matt Sengbusch takes original game boards and small CRT televisions and makes 40% scale size replicas of classic arcade games, that have 100% authentic game play and display, yet are 60% smaller than the original. This is not some mass produced gimmick, these things were all hand made and incredibly accurate mini replicas that had functional coin doors and took quarters. I’ve never seen anything like those.

The California pinball scene is well known to be alive and well, but it would be hard to argue that anyone in the Bay Area is carrying quite as much love for the silver ball as the people operating Free Gold Watch. Absolutely a must visit for any pinball or...

I was visiting from NYC. I compete in pinball regularly there and am on a city team. Thought I’d check out the place bc it has 60 machines. A few tables I’d never played. There is a quarter machine and atm, classics, modern stern, 90’s Williams, and plenty of Indy tables. Was on 4% and needed to Lyft home. Figured I’d charge my phone while playing safe cracker (RNG is very favorable. Got a magic token out of it.) Dude preferred idve asked which is fine. At 756 I go to ask if there’s time for ball 3 and he starts clapping his hands at me, saying it’s time to leave. When he realizes I play, he said okay.

But bro, you clap at all your customers, or just me? Racist much? You got a lot of premium versions of tables alongside a solid spectrum of classics to moderns. Amazing collection. Low replay scores means you get more games too. But bro, don’t clap at your customers like they’re dogs.

2/19/25 Edit Hi Matt, Appreciate it. You good. Also I forgot to mention but big props for having mini arcade cabinets and Mario kart and star wars. Pinball isn’t always the easiest entry point and you having those other games helps improve entry points for more people. Appreciate the follow up. Glad the venue exists where it does too bc Alameda is a bit farther from...

Free Gold Watch is a mecca for pinball (and a few vintage video games as well, but mostly pinball). I still longingly reminisce about FGW back in Brisbane as I distainfully walk past CBD arcades with as few as three machines, generally in poor maintained condition.

You see, the dudes at FGW are passionate about pinball. Not only do they print some pretty cool merch, but they also have a passion for the silver ball. You see this in the quality of the pinball presented at FGW. I had an absolute blast playing some tables I've never played before, some I used to play heaps, and some I've only played digitally on The Pinball Arcade by FarSight Studios.

By far, the highlight of the trip for me was the beautiful Limited Edition Wizard of Oz. It is rare to see LE games on "location play" because they are upwards of $8000, but FGW understands that pinball should be shared. I managed a respectable 230,000 ish on this game, which for such a low-scorer is a pretty sweet score. Games range from 50c to $1 (for WoZ), which compared to Aussie prices of $1.50 to $2 is an absolute steal.

If you like pinball, and you are in San Fran, you really have no excuse not to visit FGW. It is an easy BART ride away from...