Comedy Short about Early Pinball Competition: 1972's Pong (YouTube, 3 minutes)

[Todd Trumpet]

Hey:

Just wanted to give a quick heads-up to anyone interested in checking out a short (3 minute) comedy video about one of pinball's earliest competitors (at least in the Detroit neighborhood in which I grew up). I'm talking about "Pong", and the video is called:

"If The Internet Had Existed In 1972"

Here's the direct link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnuhbzJpy6g

The idea was to parody ubiquitous video game reviews on the internet, but done from the P.O.V. of a "Pinball Wizard" in 1972 who happens to be VERY SKEPTICAL of this new electronic arcade technology.

Anyway, if you're interested, feel free to give it a view and

Thanks,

Todd

P.S. As indicated in the thumbnail for the video, my favorite pinball game back then was "Fireball" - "What? TWO balls?? No way...!"

 

[Jeff Strong]

Nice! Great job on the art too, heh.

 

[Todd Trumpet]

Jeff Strong:

Yeah, I still draw exactly like I did in 1972.

Thanks for your comment,

Todd

 

[dagwood]

Haha that was spankin'

 

[Mark W**a]

That was funny. Well done.

 

[Todd Trumpet]

dagwood:

You may be the first person in Australia ever to see one of my short comedy videos, so...

...spread the word, Mate! [Pronounced "Mite", Down Undah, yeah?]

I mean, it's a small country, right?

Todd

P.S. Thanks for the "spankin'"!

 

[Todd Trumpet]

Mark Wyda said: "That was funny. Well done."

Thanks, Mark.

Now if I can get 999,999 more views...

...I think I get a $1 from YouTube!

Todd

 

[Todd Trumpet]

I did some additional research after making my original post here, a little "nostalgia search" for the Fireball pinball machine. I didn't realize it, but it debuted almost exactly at the same time that "Pong" did, around 1972.

Both games were only available in one place in the town I lived in back then (just outside of Detroit). It was a mom-and-pop pizza joint with just a handful of machines in the waiting area (it was primarily a pickup and delivery place). One was Fireball. And one was Pong. It was several blocks away from our house, but a friend and I used to make the bike trip whenever we had enough spare change. Fascinated as we were by Pong, it really did cost a quarter when Fireball could be had for a dime (or three 5-ball games for a quarter). An entire pizza was only about $5 back then, and it was the size of a trash can lid, so Pong seemed a bit extravagant.

Little did we know...

Todd

P.S. Speaking of Fireball, I got the total number of possible balls in play at one time wrong - it's not two but three. I remembered "Odin" but forgot about "Wotan"!