Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum, located in Farmington Hills, Michigan, is devoted to a huge collection of coin-operated animatronic dummies, mechanical games and other oddities. Exhibits include, for example, the classic gypsy Fortune teller machine that used to grace many a carnival sideshow. Most of the machines still function, so visitors are encouraged to bring change. The museum's founder, Marvin Yagoda, had been collecting the items that populate the 5,500-square-foot (510Â m2) museum for 50 years. Yagoda was 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. Marvin Yagoda died on January 8, 2017 at the age of 78.
Amongst the collection is P.T. Barnum's version of the Cardiff Giant.
Another oddity is one of Sing Sing Prison's Electric Chairs in which 30 people died.
An automaton "food inspector" is set up to continuously vomit into a pile of milk bottles.
Tally Hall, a rock band from nearby Ann Arbor, has titled an album after the museum.
Notes
A Century of Arcade: Inside Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum - Farmington Hills, MI - Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum is home to an extensive collection of arcade games, coin-operated machines, magic posters, and a never-ending list of oddities. Marvin...
See also
- List of magic museums
External links
- Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum - official site
- Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum June 30, 2009 at Wayback Machine
- Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum spot on American Pickers television show
- Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum on YouTube
