Berq
New member
- Mar 15, 2013
- 24
- 0
I posted the following in another thread a few days ago, but I guess it properly belongs here. So with a Ctrl+C, a Ctrl+V, and some editing, here it is:
I got just 2 quarters a day for games (maybe 4 if my grandma was working the register), and my priority as a natural tight-wad was quantity over quality: what could I play longest? Though I'd occasionally indulge in a 45 second game of pinball, the default was video games, a few of which I could beat on a single credit. So I didn't actually play a lot of pinball back in the '80s & '90s. But I always loved it. After my daily allowance was gone, I'd spend HOURS gazing at playfield and translite artwork, the dances of the lights, soaking in the unique aura of each machine. They were alive and richly nuanced in a mysterious way that video games never would be. They spoke in the clicks and cracks of solenoids, and murmured as steel rolled across wood. Also, they had lots of well-drawn breasts.
Back around '94 we shut down the arcade. Two(ish) years later we built a separate family entertainment center with a much larger arcade. In the transition, I came out ahead to the tune of a free, albeit neglected TMNT pinball with a broken display and worn playfield, which I've been VERY slowly restoring* over the last several years. Initially a mere "Cool! Free game!" moment, the process that's followed has revived and fueled my passion for a long dormant love I forgot I had.
Sadly, we haven't had a pinball table in our new arcade for the last 10 years (it ain't my call!). I believe that some day we will realize that interacting with taps on fancy glass screens is a soulless process; and just as there's now a trend in indie gaming for "retro" chip tunes a la NES & Atari 2600 music, on that day of realization I pray we see the return of the sensuality that is pinball.
(hang in there, Stern...)
Top 5 Most Personally Memorable Tables:
(not necessarily a favorites list)
*TMNT, like a lot of tables, is turning out to be darn hard to find table-specific parts for. Any "I know a guy..." type leads would be much appreciated. : )
Thanks! I feel welcome!
Yeah, my dad opened a golf practice range back in '77, but put ~10 arcade games, 5 pinball machines, and 8 pool tables in the pro shop. I was born a year later. Many a classic pin passed through our little shop over the next 15 years.
I got just 2 quarters a day for games (maybe 4 if my grandma was working the register), and my priority as a natural tight-wad was quantity over quality: what could I play longest? Though I'd occasionally indulge in a 45 second game of pinball, the default was video games, a few of which I could beat on a single credit. So I didn't actually play a lot of pinball back in the '80s & '90s. But I always loved it. After my daily allowance was gone, I'd spend HOURS gazing at playfield and translite artwork, the dances of the lights, soaking in the unique aura of each machine. They were alive and richly nuanced in a mysterious way that video games never would be. They spoke in the clicks and cracks of solenoids, and murmured as steel rolled across wood. Also, they had lots of well-drawn breasts.
Back around '94 we shut down the arcade. Two(ish) years later we built a separate family entertainment center with a much larger arcade. In the transition, I came out ahead to the tune of a free, albeit neglected TMNT pinball with a broken display and worn playfield, which I've been VERY slowly restoring* over the last several years. Initially a mere "Cool! Free game!" moment, the process that's followed has revived and fueled my passion for a long dormant love I forgot I had.
Sadly, we haven't had a pinball table in our new arcade for the last 10 years (it ain't my call!). I believe that some day we will realize that interacting with taps on fancy glass screens is a soulless process; and just as there's now a trend in indie gaming for "retro" chip tunes a la NES & Atari 2600 music, on that day of realization I pray we see the return of the sensuality that is pinball.
(hang in there, Stern...)
Top 5 Most Personally Memorable Tables:
(not necessarily a favorites list)
- Xenon
- Haunted House
- Dr. Dude
- Taxi
- Addams Family
*TMNT, like a lot of tables, is turning out to be darn hard to find table-specific parts for. Any "I know a guy..." type leads would be much appreciated. : )
