Pinball, Purpose & Joy as Resistance with Brianna

Pinball isn’t just flashing lights and silver balls, it’s rebellion, history, joy, and community wrapped in a glass case. Brianna Devlin takes us inside the Pacific Pinball Museum, her journey through museum studies, and why play might be one of the most radical things we can do right now.

Summary

In episode of Ducking Realitea, Siobhan sits down with Brianna Devlin, a self-described museum nerd and history lover who somehow turned a childhood fascination with Alameda’s Pinball Museum into a full-blown career, and a path to grad school.

Brianna shares how growing up on the “storybook” island of Alameda shaped her sense of place, curiosity, and community, and how repeated brushes with the Pinball Museum, from jealous school auction moments to chauffeuring her mom’s friends to a pinball-themed “prom night”, quietly planted the seeds for her future. When a job at the Oakland Museum fell through, a late-night search for “museums near me” rerouted her life: front desk staffer turned manager, exhibit curator, and now a Museum Studies master’s student at San Francisco State.

Together, Brianna and Siobhan dig into the surprisingly rebellious history of pinball, from 19th-century lawn games and moral panics to bans, mob ties, and its eventual courtroom redemption as a skill-based game. They also explore how the Pacific Pinball Museum has become a post-COVID community hub, hosting women and non-binary tournaments, league nights, multigenerational family outings, and dates that don’t revolve around booze or screens.

Along the way, the conversation weaves through museum ethics, accessibility, chosen family, auntie culture, and the quiet power of interactive spaces. At its heart, this episode is about joy as resistance, community as care, and how niche passions, like pinball, can open doors to bigger conversations about culture, history, and belonging.

Brianna Devlin

Brianna Devlin is a longtime staff member and manager at the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda, California, where she helps curate exhibits, design self-guided tours, and build community around the history and play of pinball. She is currently pursuing her Master’s in Museum Studies at San Francisco State University, focusing on how museums can be sites of joy, learning, and connection. Brianna recently curated the exhibit “Beyond the Backglass: Women Who Shaped Pinball,” highlighting the often-overlooked women artists, engineers, and pop culture icons behind the games.

💡 Key Takeaways

• Pinball as public history, not just a game

• Museums as spaces for joy, connection, and learning

• Why interactive, community-driven spaces matter post-COVID

• Women’s hidden contributions to cultural history

• Joy and play as acts of resistance

“No matter where I end up, I want to be at institutions that preserve history but also help people bring in joy and connection.”

~ Brianna

• Pacific Pinball Museum (Alameda, CA)

• “Beyond the Backglass: Women Who Shaped Pinball” – Exhibit curated by Brianna at the museum.

• Autry Museum of the West (Los Angeles, CA) –

• Locations & scenes referenced:

  • The Fireside Lounge

  • Free Gold Watch (San Francisco) – pinball-heavy print shop arcade.

  • The Flipper Room (Concord) – pinball space with roots in another business.

  • Pinball‑dense spots in Portland/Oregon and Japan’s pachinko halls.

• Historical figures in pinball:

  • Montague Redgrave – 19th‑century inventor of the modern plunger.

  • Fiorello LaGuardia – New York mayor who led pinball bans.

  • Roger Sharpe – Player who famously proved pinball’s skill element in 1976.

  • Suzanne Ciani – Sound designer behind the iconic Xenon pinball game.

Resources and Mentions