It's All About Community for "Rock 'n' Roll Pinball" Owner Ernie Rains
It’s quarter ‘til one on Easter Sunday, 2018. Outside the Asheville Pinball Museum, Ernie Rains waits in line with his fiancée and friends from home. 40 vintage and modern machines stand dormant behind closed doors, eager to greet pinball enthusiasts with bursts of colors and dancing lights. A woman hollers outside: “Nothing says Jesus like pinball!”
Upon entering, a crowd of 50 hustles to find a free machine. But the video games in the back room remain untouched.
“So, I knew that what I felt was true,” Rains said. “Pinball was back, and it far exceeds the draw of video arcades.”
Born in Sasebo, Japan, to a U.S .Navy couple, Rains spent his early years near the water. With a will to serve, he joined the Air Force in 1986, which brought him to Montgomery, Alabama. After serving for 20 years, Rains settled into a state job and became heavily involved with the U.S. Tennis Association League.
“The only bad thing about tennis is that you kind of have to be athletic to play,” Rains said. “You have to have some level of coordination to hit a tennis ball back over the net without hittin’ the fence. So, I just felt like pinball offered a platform that reached out to many more people, and, in fact, even those in wheelchairs.”
Today, Rains stands behind the counter of Rock ‘n’ Roll Pinball on South Railroad Avenue in Opelika, Alabama. His salt-and-pepper hair is pulled loosely into a ponytail. A robot vacuum named Grogu hums a steady tune as it maneuvers its way around the metal legs of the machines. Snare drums suspended from the ceiling cast purple light onto the weathered oak floors.
The arcade features 28 pinball machines set to “free play” mode. Over on the right wall, the Aerosmith machine sits six away from AC/DC and two away from Kiss. If rock isn’t your cup of tea, you can test your luck on the Wheel of Fortune machine, or venture into the land of dinosaurs on Jurassic Park.
But the machine that started it all takes its place closest to the register. Two years and four months ago, Rains purchased an $8,000 Beatles-themed pinball machine. The year before that, he owned a 1987 Corvette convertible of equal value. But the joy rating for the car wasn’t as great as he thought it’d be. The pinball machine was going to be even better. “I could play it all the time,” Rains said. “And it’s brand new. I wouldn’t have to worry about somebody damaging it.”
He realized that your average Joe couldn’t spend $8,000 on a piece of entertainment for his game room, however. So, he started exploring the possibility for a community-supported arcade. One Saturday afternoon, Rains drove up to Auburn from his Montgomery home, where he met two of his current team members, Stephen Gentry and Scott Mount. The two had been hosting pinball tournaments out of Gentry’s home.
“I felt like, between the two of them, I had the essence of a team of people that would be needed to run an arcade,” Rains said.
Not long after they started accumulating machines, Mount and Gentry introduced Rains to a fellow “pinhead” by the name of Brian Briggs. His daughter, Amy, became the fifth and final member of the team. Before they landed a location, Amy helped Rains with pop-up events at local breweries to attract a wider audience.
“Having never been involved with this business before, she brings a lot of insights to it,” Rains said.
After scoping out some potential spots around town, a property opened up down by the railroad tracks, featuring a storage unit out back that was once used as the overflow for the Opelika jail.
“I was the one sticking Ernie in the ribs saying, ‘This is it. This is your moneymaker,” Brian said. “It was our ‘golden goose’ that was waiting for us just to snag it. And we did.”
After several months of construction delays and a pandemic muddling the plans, Rock ‘n’ Roll Pinball opened its doors on October 31, 2020. Today, the former leaky storage unit behind the property functions as a concert and event space for the arcade. In light of its history, folks call it the Jailhouse. Every Saturday, guests can purchase a $15 wristband for access to unlimited pinball and music all night long.
Indie-folk duo Marie Robertson and Daniel Lee Webster have performed twice at the venue.
“We’ve seen a lot of independent music venues come and go. There’s been a lull in the scene the past few years, but Rock ‘n’ Roll Pinball has swooped in to save the day,” they said. “Ernie has been at both of our shows. He’s a big supporter of live music and has become a good friend of ours through the venue.”
After a couple of slow months at the arcade, Rains said it’s looking like the upward climb is over. “I think March is gonna be our best month. We’ve gone over the hump. We’re coasting from this point on.”
For Rains, being in the pinball business isn’t about making the most money, or scoring the max points. He said he isn’t even a good pinball player. But the intent for him is to have fun while being supportive to his community in the process.
“I tell my team I’m the luckiest guy around. I think they’re beginning to believe it now,” Rains said. “A lot of times, your luck depends on the decisions you make. Had I not decided to buy the Beatles, had I not decided to explore getting into an arcade, I wouldn’t be so lucky. I’d be going on trips around the United States in an RV, or going on cruises- just spending retirement doing it the easy way.”
