3 categories of pinheads

[norbert26]

This thought dawned on me. In this day and age you will find 3 types of pinheads note that you may fall into more then one or all of these categories.

1) the virtual world pinhead. you play virtual pinball on your tablet, phone, computer and console.

2) the hunter / seeker. You hunt down bars , airports , arcades and any business that may host a coin operated pin . (included are freeplay events)

3) The collector / hobbyist. You collect old pins and repair them and collect them in your home / private place. from time to time you may actually play them.

What category do you fall under? (you may choose more then one or all).
For myself category 1 definite and somewhat two however i have not been actively scouting the area for working pins. I lack space for category three.

 

[Carl Spiby]

Number 2.

 

[PiN WiZ]

I fall under categories 1 and 2 at the moment and am looking to enter category 3 sometime in the near future.

 

[Andassaran]

1 and 2. No room for 3

 

[SilverBallAddict]

Cat. 1 - Unfortunately not many pins near me. It was TPA that introduced me to the wonderful & addictive world of pinball. I hope I'll eventually enter cat. 3. Already scouring a certain bid site for suitable pins.

 

[canuck]

Is it wrong I use my iPad 90% to play TPA now?

 

[Mayuh]

1 and 3... Except that I play both virtual and real ones quite often now that the USB DMD 2 has been shipped, I also have no excuse to not finish my vpin. I just found a billiard hall with an avatar and a spidey - inserted my first coins for 20 years... Getting a replay for a game you've paid for was awesome

 

[gooche77]

Is it wrong I use my iPad 90% to play TPA now?

TPA and the internet. That's all it's for!

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Category 1 and to a limited extent (limited by space) Category 3. And also a fourth category not listed: that of the player who regularly plays real pinball as part of a league.

 

[Kolchak357]

Cat 1 & 2 for me. The fear of maintenance and repair keeps me out of Cat 3.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

1-3 and I'll add a fourth I dream about pinball

 

[shutyertrap]

I am mainly category 1.

I don't 'hunt' for tables, but I have been known to drive out to Vegas to scratch the pinball itch. So I'm barely a cat 2.

I'm also gonna say I'm barely cat 3 as I've only just gotten my first pin. I wouldn't truly consider myself in this category until I've gone through multiple machines.

 

[Jeff Strong]

My life is one giant game of pinball, bouncing here and there and everywhere....and now I have the Gummi Bears theme song stuck in my head.

 

[Day]

1-3 and I'll add a fourth I dream about pinball

kind of similarly, but then kind of differently, i begin to start visualising pinball in real live objects, events, activities etc.

as a fairly obvious connection, some of my userbase have 28" screens that they rotate and use in portrait mode (something to do with spreadsheet modelling); sure it's a nasty and counter intuitive way of using a screen for productivity, however work was the last thing I was thinking when I saw these strange inverted beasts.

another example, I see ramps/slides in the park and imagine myself as the silver ball rolling down them, wondering where i'd career off.

and see my miserable avatar, that ain't no badly rendered silverball. no siree, it's a photo of a giant revolving glitterball on blackpool UK promenade (boardwalk). I was imagining what damage I could do with a wrecking ball that size. champion pub..... bring it on. I've had plenty ,more such daydreams.... even drifting into TPA dreamland when looking at shiny chrome auto-bumpers.

oh jeez, I'm becoming a lost cause. I did own a pin once years ago. a segassa baby doll. it was too much work to maintain and ultimately the sea air did for all those brass steppers/contacts

 

[JefferyD]

I am a humble and fairly freshly-minted #1.

I confess I haven't dropped a coin in a real pinball machine since the late 80s. I played Gorgar a lot at the local 7-11 back in the day and loved it, but I rarely see pinball machines in my routine travels anymore.

I'd been playing Pinball HD on the iPad -- still love that Wild West table! -- and, while looking for tips on the internet, I saw someone comment that Gorgar was available on the iPad; it took me 10 seconds to track it down and start playing. Almost exactly as I remember it. I've been growing my TPA collection ever since.

I wanted to be a #3 for a couple of days, and even considered checking out a Big Shot machine being sold locally, but who am I kidding? I can't even change the batteries in a flashlight on the first try; how am I going to take care of an antique pinball machine?

 

[Slam23]

For me it's mostly 1 (before TPA strictly VP on the PC, now 90% TPA on iOS and little bit of Zen/VP on the side). I "did" 2 a lot in my college days way back in the 90's, in hindsight I was probably fortunate to discover pins at the peak of the early-middle DMD area. Nowadays there's not a lot of open hunting ground anymore for pins in the Netherlands, although a slight revival seems to be happening. I'm lucky to have the clubhouse of the DPA (Dutch Pinball Association) at a 45 min drive. There they have about 90 pins in good working order, of which about 60 are set up to play at any time. I consider myself an OK virtual player, held some VP records (still do I believe) and I'm currently around position 20 on the iOS/gamecenter HOF leaderboards, but real pins continue to kick my behind on a regular basis As far as 3 goes: sadly no room and no electromechanic repair skills whatsoever. I also would be curious if having one pin would hold my attention for a worthwhile time, I guess it would have to be a LOTR to accomplish that. I would not rest until I would reach Valinor multiball! Then I would die a happy man....

@ JefferyD: I would love to play Big Shot for real one day! I imagine myself taking out all my TPA frustration at that poor pin

 

[Mk pinball fan]

1 and 2 for me. If I had the room and money, I think I would be a 3 as well! Gotta love pinball!

 

[bavelb]

....and now I have the Gummi Bears theme song stuck in my head.

I hate you

 

[dtown8532]

All three. I like playing virtually, I have gone on pin hunts in the past and I've owned some tables. And yes, once I shop them, all I can think is "every time I play this it's getting a little dirtier."

 

[Tor_Hershman]

#1 for moi, nowadays,
though I do enjoy discovering a coin pinball.