On Location: Inside the Pinball Room at Toys From The Attic with Owner Don Berrios

You never know where you might find a collection of pinball machines. There are the usual suspects: bowling alleys, bars, breweries, restaurants. But every now and then you might stumble upon a hidden gem. Located in Somersworth, New Hampshire, Toys From The Attic has a gem mint collection of pinball machines that owner Don Berrios has been maintaining and growing over the past four years.

Tucked in the back behind a sea of records, cards, action figures, and other collectibles, you will find a collection of Stern Pinball games, mostly premium models, that fit the feel and vibe of Toys From The Attic. We had the chance to sit down with Don to talk about all things pinball, the work that goes on behind the scenes, and why he continues to grow and expand pinball at Toys From The Attic.

Arcade Hunters: First off, where did the idea for Toys From The Attic come from?

Don: It started back in 1998. I used to do flea markets and sports card shows and stuff like that. It was around a couple weeks before Christmas of '98 and I went and did this show in Rochester at the community center. Back then, I did like two hundred bucks which was pretty good money back then doing a show. I went back and told my brother, and he said "you oughta think about opening a store!" That's when the light went off. I kept doing more shows. I had a 1985 GMC Sierra that I loaded up all the time with Rubbermaid tubs and would go do flea markets. I registered the name in April of '99 and I opened by May of 2000. It was all because my brother said, "you oughta think about opening a store!" I originally opened a sports card store inside a toy store. And it's evolved into this.

AH: When did you first decide to add pinball to the store?

Don: However old my Godzilla [pinball machine] is. That would be maybe three years, I think, maybe four? I was just on Facebook and an ad popped up for the Godzilla Stern Pinball machine. So I started to look, and then I found a distributor up in Maine and so I reached out to them to order one. The distributor shared that they also had a Rush pinball machine. I said, "I like Rush, send it down." That was the beginning of it all. Started out with one pinball machine, which was Rush, but with the intention of only buying one, which was Godzilla.

AH: How did you originally get into pinball?

Don: I always liked it since I was a kid and when I saw that ad [Godzilla ad on Facebook], it just kind of brought it all back to me. I mean, I'll always go to Funspot or other places and play pinball or some other vintage video games like Galaga, Gyruss, and Robotron. Those are my three favorite old video games. So that's what I did. I just went to other places and if there was a cool looking pinball machine, I'd play it or just one of those video games I really liked.

AH: What's one pinball machine you remember playing as a kid that really stood out?

Don: I wish I knew the names, because I used to do Saturday morning bowling here in Somersworth at a place called Bowling Green which is no longer there. They had two or three pinball machines in there, and I can't remember what they were, but I mean, we're talking... probably like 1976 or so. I think it might have been something like Surf's Up or something like that. Then all of a sudden that whole thing came, that pinball's gambling, not a game of skill. So that whole thing happened to this town too. So as kids that were under eighteen, we couldn't play anymore for a while. We were kind of bummed, but it only lasted a short while. Maybe a year or two.

AH: For games, you have almost all Stern Pinball games. Is there a reason you stick with Sterns mainly for Toys From The Attic?

Don: Mostly their titles. I mean, the latest one right there, Pokémon, I bought the limited edition because it's probably going to be worth twenty five grand or something when I retire. You know that would be a good chunk of change when I retire and sell it. Or maybe I'll keep it? Who knows, but their themes are in a realm I like. I've looked into Beetlejuice, but they wanted like thirteen thousand and it seems to be like Stern does make the best stuff. You know, I've heard people complain about Jersey Jack, but I've only played one or two Jersey Jacks. Whoever made Guns N' Roses, I didn't care for it. [American Pinball's] Legends of Valhalla, didn't really care for it. Almost all their [Stern Pinball] games are pretty playable except [Teenage Mutant Ninja] Turtles. Everybody hates Turtles.

AH: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has a very steep learning curve which makes it not as accessible to kids.

Don: I tell everyone, if they just added [a] zero, I would be happy. You hate playing for five minutes and looking down, you didn't even get a million yet.

AH: With the Stern Pinball games, why do you stick with the premium models?

Don: I like the bells and whistles. You get the animatronics, or whatever you want to call it. It's kind of cool that King Kong (2025) shakes his arms and the T-Rex in Jurassic Park (2019) moves and picks up the ball where the other ones, they just... they're just there. I've been learning as I go. I knew absolutely nothing when I bought Rush. I didn't even know how to take the glass out. Now I tinker a little bit. I have a mechanical ability, nothing electronic.

AH: Who maintains the games?

Don: I do the basic stuff, but I get very busy here. So I have a friend [Rob] that used to come to my original store which was across the street twenty five years ago. He was a G.I. Joe collector and he ended up being a big pinball guy and he repairs games. We're pretty good friends and I hadn't seen him in years. Then, all of a sudden he walks into my store.

AH: When did you first become affiliated with the New England Pinball League as a location?

Don: I probably had three, maybe four at the time, and when you register, people can see you have them. It was either a regular or another person who was here to play pinball that told me about it. I contacted Chuck [Webster], who was running it at the time and he told me that you need five [pinball games] just in case one breaks down. You only really need four. So when I got my fifth one, I said let's do this.

AH: Does that help with business in general by bringing people in?

Don: I think so. What happens is there's been a few guys that [come to play pinball and] react like "oh my god, I play Magic [The Gathering]!" "Oh my god, I collect Legos!" "Oh my god, I'm into Star Wars!" They'll grab something and that's what offsets [the cost of the pinball machines] because it's a loss. You buy a game at fourteen thousand dollars and put it at two dollars [a play], you need seven thousand plays. They are very undervalued. They [pinball machines] should really be two dollars a game, but I don't because of all the competition in the area. On a Saturday, we do play from two to close for ten bucks. So that gets you a little jump there. Sometimes we don't get anybody that comes in, sometimes we'll get eight or ten people that come in.

AH: When searching the internet for Toys From The Attic, checking pinball related message boards, or even overhearing conversations at different locations, numerous people always praise the maintenance and condition of your games.

Don: Awesome, that's good to hear. Yeah, we try. Rob does a really good job. Sometimes he'll just stop down and we'll sit around here and talk for quite a long time. Also a lot of these guys, like Sean that comes in, he'll know when a target's not working right or he found out the other day that the ramp for Mandalorian's not coming down. You know we'll get that all figured out. I can't have Rob coming all the time to fix everything. So I try to clump it [small fixes] all together. "Hey, Rob, I have 4 things that need to be fixed." Unless it's a major fix. I try not to have any of these [pinball machines] shut down.

AH: Which games do you wish you had for Toys From The Attic?

Don: Hmm. I got the pinnacle that I really wanted, which is the original KISS. I bought that off of Funspot. It was actually the personal one of the owner of Funspot [Bob Lawton] that passed away. So I own his machine that was in his house. Maybe a good Addams Family, a good Monopoly. I really like Monopoly a lot. I play a lot of the vintage ones just to bring me back to when I was younger. There's a few up there [Funspot] that I like and others that weren't as fun as I remembered. You know, lose the ball quick.

AH: What keeps you motivated to keep going with the pinball at Toys From The Attic?

Don: It's just fun, and the people you meet. I think pretty much everybody I met that's come in here to play has been really cool. The good players are very helpful. Like I said, Sean points out things for me. We actually sat there and tried to figure out why that ramp [The Mandalorian] wasn't staying down. The game's totally functional except that one thing, it pops right back automatically. It's probably some little glitch that takes five minutes to fix if you can figure it out. Rob and I worked on [James Bond] 007 and we fixed it and we don't even know what we did. I think that we've done that twice on two different machines. Fixed it and like, what did we do? We don't care. It works.

AH: What sort of reactions do you get from customers when they first come in and see the pinball games in the back?

Don: Basically, it's almost the same words, "oh, you got pinball?" If customers don't come back here [where the pinball section is] they don't really see them. I'll have people up there [at the counter] say "you know, we have pinball." "Oh, you got…" that's basically what they say almost every time. And we get a fairly decent crowd. I'd like to get it to be more, but I know a lot of other places serve beer and stuff. I looked into that avenue, but I want to keep it family friendly. So that's the fine line. I don't want people here that are hammered. You know, drunk playing here and being obnoxious.

AH: What's your best earning pinball machine right now?

Don: It's probably… through time, Godzilla, but I bet you Jaws is right up there. Some of the other ones next door would probably generate more, but they're not accessible all the time. Pokémon has been pretty steady, but it costs twice as much, so I would have to divide by two. I'm gonna say Godzilla's probably been the most successful over time. I do track it, and if I look, Godzilla, all time will be number one.

AH: What lies ahead for Toys From The Attic?

Don: Just to keep growing and changing as things change. I tell people, owning a business like this is a never ending evolution. You have to change with the time to survive. If you came in here four or five years ago, this whole wall [pointing to the wall to the right] was covered with comic books. But I realized after trying for like eight or ten years that I wasted thousands of dollars in comic books. Bulked them out for nothing, really. That's when I decided pinball and Legos. I added those two and it's been totally up. I make more money [with Legos] than I did selling comic books.

AH: And what about the space next door?

Don: Hopefully one day we're going to finish it and that'll be where all the pinball machines are, except three. So this will kind of be the lead to get over there. So the space next door, when we get done, the back part will be my band practice room. We're waiting to get this garage door put in. I should be hearing from them any day on an installation date, and then I have to get an emergency door put in. This has probably already been five years that I've been working on this. But most of the work besides electricity and things I can't physically do has been done by me. I haven't figured out how I'm going to have the [front] door ran because I don't want to put a hole in the wall. So we're going to figure that out. I think it's going to be like a key card. You join, maybe five dollars a month or something and go in and play. Put in quarter dispensers whatever.

Editor's note: After the interview, Don showed us the space next door and shared the layout. The front area of the first room will have pinball machines while the back of the room will have a TV area for viewing parties and events. The back room will have a garage door that leads to the band practice space.

AH: Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Don: We have a wide selection of everything from sports cards, Magic The Gathering, Pokémon, WWE Action Figures, Star Wars action figures, Marvel, DC, Lego, vintage video games. We're just gonna keep growing. I mean, I should technically be looking at retirement in a few years, but I find this fun.

Thank you to Don for the interview. For more information about Toys From The Attic and updates on in-store events, you can check out their Facebook page.