AIKEN, S.C. - One couple in Aiken has something new for you to do around town, and it's for every generation.

You can test your pinball skills at the brand new Radioactive Pinball Arcade on Laurens Street. It opened about a month ago.

Eric and Erin Edwards' oldest pinball machine was donated to the arcade by a local pastor. It's called the "Three Musketeers" and it was built in 1949.

"This was our home private collection. And it kind of outgrew our home, so the best thing for us to do was to share it with the community," Eric Edwards said.

The Edwards have 80 games inside the arcade. More than 40 of them are pinball machines. They have a leaderboard inside the arcade that you can try to get your name on. 

Edwards said they decided on the name "Radioactive Pinball Arcade" because it ties them to the community thanks to the Savannah River Site.

"[Because of] the vast history there," he explained. "But also, not something that confined us to any one place."

Eric Edwards admits, he's a big nerd like the rest of us. "Talk about nerding out. I just nerded out for a minute. Bear with me," he laughed.

He builds video arcade games himself. One of them sits in front of the arcade as soon as you walk in. He said it has 155,000 games on it from multiple different game consoles.

He said it even includes Mario Kart. "We have to have Mario Kart. I think I'd be run out of town on a rail if I didn't have Mario Kart," he laughed.

The arcade doesn't just have pinball machines. There are racing games, Pac Man, Galaga and so many others you can enjoy.

Everything's pay once, play all day -- so no more popping in a quarter to start. You can also save where you are in the game.

"With that feature, I will beat this game and if you played it enough, you would beat it. Or even if you weren't very good," Edwards said.

He said the arcade gets a lot of folks who were playing pinball in the 70s or 80s when they were teens, wanting the nostalgia.

"Those are the ones that stay back here the whole time. Here we have more of our classics. Up front, we kind of keep our newer machines and back here are the classics from 1949 up into the 90s or so," he said.

The Edwards say they're trying to add a new game to the arcade every week.

The admission fee for one hour of play is $15. For the whole day, it's $20.

Come back with us next week as we Eat. Play. Go. our way through the CSRA!

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