Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum

Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum is an arcade and museum previously located in Farmington Hills, Michigan. It features a large collection of vintage arcade games and other coin-operated entertainment machines, most of which are functional and can be operated by visitors. Exhibits include the gypsy Fortune teller machine that used to feature in many carnival sideshows.

As of January 2025, Marvin's is temporarily closed for relocation; it is expected to reopen in its new location in West Bloomfield, Michigan in the summer of 2025.

History

Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Emporium was founded by Marvin Yagoda, a pharmacist who collected, restored, and sold antique arcade machines. Yagoda initially housed his collections in his garage, but at the suggestion of his wife, he installed some of his machines in the food court of the Tally Hall shopping center in Farmington Hills, Michigan in the early 1980s. He later rented a space in the mall until it closed in 1988; and reopened after it was rebuilt as Orchard Lake Plaza (now known as Hunter's Square) in 1990.

Yagoda became a recognized expert in the field of mechanical and electrical game apparatus; he has been involved in appraisal of such items for the television series ''American Pickers''. He died on January 8, 2017, at the age of 78, after which his son, Jeremy, assumed control of the museum.

Relocation

In November 2023, RPT Realty, then-owner of Hunter's Square, proposed a major redevelopment of the center, which would involve demolishing its northern building, including Marvin's, to construct a Meijer Grocery store. Jeremy Yagoda vowed to fight "tooth and nail" against the proposal, and an online petition opposing the plan gathered more than 50,000 signatures on Change.org. The redevelopment plan was unanimously approved by the Farmington Hills Planning Commission during its November 16, 2023 meeting, at which dozens of supporters of the museum spoke in opposition to the plan.

Yagoda stated that he would continue discussions with RPT to remain at Hunter's Square as part of its redevelopment, or seek a new location for the museum. RPT sold the center to a local developer in April 2024.

Yagoda announced in December 2024 that the museum had secured a new location at the Orchard Mall, to the north in neighboring West Bloomfield. The new space has an area of , more than double the size of the museum's current space. The Hunter's Square location closed permanently on January 5, 2025, and Yagoda expects to reopen in the new location in the summer of 2025.

Collection

Among the collection is P. T. Barnum's replica of the Cardiff Giant, one of Sing Sing Prison's electric chairs in which 30 people died, and "Dr. Ralph Bingenpurge", an automaton "food inspector", set up to continuously vomit into a pile of wine bottles, as well as other automata and vintage arcade games of up to 100 years old. There are modern coin-op arcade games, and a prize counter to exchange tickets. The museum hosts a collection of Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre animatronics with a complete set of the Pizza Time Players (excluding Chuck E.) with guest stars Madame Oink and the clapper board.

In popular culture

In 2005, Tally Hall, a band from nearby Ann Arbor, titled an album after the museum.

See also

*List of magic museums

References

External links

Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum
– official site

Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum
June 30, 2009 at Wayback Machine

{{Farmington Hills, Michigan

Amusement museums in the United States
Animatronic attractions
Commercial machines
Farmington Hills, Michigan
Museums in Oakland County, Michigan