The Lucky Flipper pinball bar opening this winter in the EDGE District of downtown St. Pete
/A rendering of The Lucky Flipper, a pinball bar coming soon to the EDGE District | The Lucky Flipper
A new pinball bar will open in the EDGE District this winter with a lineup spanning superheroes, dinosaurs, horror movies, and a decades-old machine that helped inspire the business.
The Lucky Flipper is targeting an early December opening at 915 Central Avenue, the former home of Machine Shop Barber Company.
Owner Matthew Scott is building a 1,600-square-foot venue with 16 to 18 pinball machines, 3-6 classic arcade cabinets, and a bar focused on local and Florida-made beer.
Rather than a dark, neon-lit arcade, Scott wants the space to feel bright, approachable, and unmistakably St. Pete. The venue’s branding uses coral and teal colors and a roseate spoonbill, a bird Scott often sees near his Crescent Lake home.
Guests will pay daily admission, currently planned at $14, for unlimited play and the ability to come and go throughout the day.
Scott said he is considering discounted date nights, memberships, military discounts, and other special offers.
The Lucky Flipper will open at 915 Central Avenue, formerly home to the Machine Shop Barber Company | The Lucky Flipper
The Lucky Flipper will open with primarily modern pinball machines, including Jaws, Jurassic Park, Godzilla, Stranger Things, The Walking Dead, Dungeons & Dragons, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Venom, Avengers, King Kong, and several X-Men titles. A refurbished 1993 Judge Dredd machine will also be part of the collection.
Scott expects to rotate machines over time, adding newer releases while eventually bringing in older games as he and his son become more familiar with maintaining them.
For newcomers, he said the best machine is usually the one tied to a favorite movie, show, or character.
“If they like watching Stranger Things, they’re more likely to like banging around on that machine,” Scott said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising. “If you’re a Jurassic Park person, going to use a pinball to catch different dinosaurs and work your way through the paddocks to ultimately have to fight the T. rex is exciting.”
The bar will have six beers on draft, with one national domestic beer and the remainder likely devoted to local or Florida breweries. There will also be canned and bottled beer, wine, seltzers, nonalcoholic beer, soft drinks, and malt-based canned cocktails.
The Lucky Flipper will not serve food, instead encouraging visitors to bring in meals from nearby restaurants.
“The EDGE District has plenty of great food that customers can bring in and enjoy,” Scott said.
The Lucky Flipper owner Matthew Scott | St. Pete Rising
The pinball bar will also host learn-to-play nights, likely on Mondays or Tuesdays, when Scott plans to teach visitors about the parts of a machine and the strategy behind each game.
He hopes to eventually host tournaments, youth leagues, and events for experienced players and people who have never played before.
“There’s a tactile feeling to pinball that’s better than a video game or an iPad,” Scott said. “You’re physically hitting the button. It physically makes the flipper move. It launches a real ball up a real ramp. There’s geometry and physics involved.”
Scott, 44, came to the business after an 18-year Army career that took him to numerous states across the country.
He retired in 2023 after being stationed at MacDill Air Force Base and had trouble finding work that felt as fulfilling as his time in uniform and his years volunteering with Team Rubicon, a disaster-response nonprofit largely made up of veterans.
“I couldn’t find the right thing,” Scott said. “I was like, ‘Well, maybe I’ll just create the right thing.’”
The 1993 Judge Dredd pinball machine that inspired The Lucky Flipper | Pinball Alley
His interest in pinball began during the pandemic, when he and his wife, Jessica, began playing a Judge Dredd machine that belonged to her late father.
Scott started visiting Replay Amusement Museum in Tarpon Springs and Three Daughters Brewing in St. Pete, where he became increasingly interested in the game and its competitive community.
He began considering an arcade in 2021, but the idea did not come together at the time. After moving to Crescent Lake earlier this year, Scott said his wife encouraged him to revisit it. He began looking for a space almost immediately.
“I want to give back to the city that has given so much to me,” Scott said. “I want to put something into it by creating a place where adults, young adults, and families can come hang out, play pinball, and connect face to face.”
He hopes The Lucky Flipper becomes a place for someone stopping in before a Rays game, friends on a date, serious players practicing for tournaments, or families looking for an activity away from a phone or computer screen.
The Lucky Flipper is expected to open in early December. Be sure to follow them on Instagram and Facebook for updates.
