Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum is an arcade and museum located in Farmington Hills, Michigan. It is devoted to a large collection of coin-operated animatronic dummies, mechanical games, and other curiosities. Exhibits include, for example, the gypsy Fortune teller machine that used to feature in many carnival sideshows. Most of the machines at the museum are still functional and visitors are encouraged to use them. It is currently located in a 5500 sqft space. In late 2023, a new development, including a Meijer store, was proposed which would involve tearing down the building occupied by Marvin's. The choice was approved by the Farmington Hills council on 14 February 2024, although the owner has stated that Marvin's will be relocating.

Founder

The museum's founder, Marvin Yagoda, was a collector for over 60 years. He graduated from the University of Michigan as a pharmacist and took over his father's store, Sam's Drugs in Detroit. 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. Yagoda died on January 8, 2017, at the age of 78. Marvin's son Jeremy grew up in the business and carries on his father's legacy.

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 an automaton "food inspector" set up to continuously vomit into a pile of milk bottles. There are also various modern coin-op arcade games, and a prize counter to exchange tickets. The museum also 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 one of the 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.