How did your love for pinball begin?

[Jay]

Unfortunately, the machines at the Canobie arcade are now in a terrible state of disrepair.

That's sad to hear. A guy named Dave Cook used to maintain the arcades there, along with the classic nickelodeons that dot the midway. I think he retired. I had hoped someone would carry on his work. But I guess no one has.

 

[Matt McIrvin]

One of the toy pinballs I had in my childhood was actually an unpowered flipper machine! It was basically a big plastic tabletop bagatelle that had a stand to tilt it at an angle, but it had two big manually-operated flippers at the bottom. I forget exactly how one operated them. Of course, they weren't very effective (though I think the ball was pretty light), but the design gets points for audacity.

 

[Sean]

I can remember seeing machines like Black Knight in arcades and Firepower II and 8 Ball Deluxe in a tavern in rural Illinois where I used to spend my summers, but it wasn't until I was older and could properly play pinball (in my late teens onward) that I really developed an appreciation for the skill involved.

To this day I cannot get the same thrill from a video game that I do from playing pinball, even in simulation so Pinball Arcade gets more of my game time than anything else these days. I think it's the fact that unlike a video game I cannot casually pick up a rom and an emulator to play these old machines, so I'm thankful that the kind folks at Farsight share this passion and are trying to preserve these old machines.

 

[Judi Chop]

Don't have any arcades that close to where I live now (western MA) although I've checked out Funspot arcade in NH and would love to find the time to get to Pinball Wizard.

Pinball Wizard in Pelham is an amazing place. I used to live up in Mass but now live in Florida, but just took a trip back up home and stumbled across this place. They have about 40+ tables I'd say in really great condition. Spent a lot of money and time here during my trip home. Well worth it. Funspot is nice but the tables are getting into rough shape there.

 

[Ark Malmeida]

Thanks for the heads up Judi Chop! I'm definitely shooting to get up to Pinball Wizard this summer and knowing that it will be worth the trip is good news indeed!

 

[Jay]

I've been to Pinball Wizard with a friend who's been there a few other times. $20 will get you a boatload of tokens that should last you a while. They also have raffles; I won some free plays. There's a decent little pizza shop next door so you can re-energize yourself after a hard day of pinball.

 

[Captain Rumwood]

How did my love for pinball begin? Wow. That brings back memories when I was a kid. I used to go to an arcade room while my parents bought the groceries or when my aunt went shopping. I remember taking a $5 bill and change it all into quarters. I would spend most of it on both videogames and pinball machines. Those were such cool times.

I also remember going to the country side to a small store one of my uncles had and I remember the machine worked with 10 cents. Believe it or not, that machine was Centaur. I spent hours playing it while my cousins shot some pool and my grandpa had a couple of drinks while playing domino.

The first pinball tables I remember playing were Haunted House, Centaur (1981), Orbitor 1 and Hercules (1979). Shortly after that the "Golden Age of Pinball" hit. . . . High Speed, Funhouse, Black Knight, Taxi, Gorgar, Jungle Lord, Guns N Roses, Space Shuttle, WWF Royal Rumble, Hook, Indiana Jones The Pinball Adventure, Twilight Zone, Addams Family and many others afterwards. It's too bad that there are no more arcade rooms and no more pinball machines to play around here. This is why I'm really into FarSight's TPA. They can bring back some of my favorites and give me the opportunity to play other tables I never had the chance to play live.

 

[Meto]

My family and I spent a lot of time at the Lake of the Ozarks when I was younger and the arcade had "Groovy" and "JiveTime"... Played the crap out of those machines and it got me hooked! When Space Invaders came out, I went to the arcade everyday in my hometown and played it until I dominated that game. Good Times

 

[Birdorf]

The first table I played on a regular basis was Pacman (not entirely sure of the name), it was in a local pub, early 80's, beer was 50p a pint, sometimes I had to be dragged away from it. I should YouTube it, as I'm sure it'll evoke some amazing memories.

First digital experience was Pinball Dreams on the Amiga.

 

[Matt McIrvin]

My family and I spent a lot of time at the Lake of the Ozarks when I was younger and the arcade had "Groovy" and "JiveTime"... Played the crap out of those machines and it got me hooked!

Wow! Jive Time is notorious around these parts, because it was in Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection and it is vicious. But I can understand the appeal of just one more game every time it eats your ball...

 

[DH_Kevin77]

I was born in '95, so I didn't really get to experience much pinball until about 2005. By then, all of the dedicated arcades in my area had been closed down for a while. I occasionally played here and there at places like Scandia, but this whole golden age of pinball was a myth to me. Fast forward to a few years ago and I'm cleaning out my storage unit in preparation for a move when I uncover it. It was a 1975 Gottlieb Spin Out! I was so excited that I didn't bother to wonder how it got there (it was a gift from my dad long ago). The machine is still with me, and it occupies a special place in my heart as the beginning of my passion for pinball.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

I guess I have always been into pinball, since I was a young boy, enjoying the crap out of Full Tilt!, Microsoft's Pinball Arcade, and Fantastic Journey. My love for pinball (as more of a fan) really began when I found out about the Williams Collection a few years ago. I was like, "Real Pinball? For home consoles? I'm definitely getting this!", and then got it on my 12th birthday for the Wii. Later on, I got the Gottlieb Collection for the Wii, and now I currently hold 32 real pinball tables. Earlier on, I downloaded Williams Pinball Classics just to enjoy it; can't wait to buy all of the Pinball Arcade tables in the coming years. By the way, kinda new to the forums; have been following since day 1 of release

 

[Kolchak357]

32 real tables! Wow! Do you own an arcade or something? I don't think I could get 32 tables in my house even if I moved out all of the furniture. Wish I had a neighbor like that (I'll bring the beer).

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

Nope; remember, they're all in video game form. Owning these games made me think I'm actually owning real games.

 

[Kolchak357]

That makes more sense. I should read more carefully.

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

Strangely, my obsession started with another video game, Bill Budge's Pinball Construction Set on Commodore64 around 1984.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yygfPWkiR18

Playing around with that program, I wanted to try out the real thing, which led me to Xenon and Haunted House in my local arcade. I was so young back then that I needed a step stool just to see over the glass properly. Later favorites rotated through the same arcade included Swords of Fury, Elvira and the Party Monsters, and Bride of Pin*Bot. I actually stopped playing for a while because I got so hooked on PC and console gaming to give pinball much attention, but Pinball Hall of Fame: Williams Collection (and subsequently Gottlieb Coll. and TPA) was largely responsible for showing me the error of my ways. Now I'm back to stay. Thanks for that, FarSight.

 

[gooche77]

The 1st pin I ever played was Atari's Superman. I've been hooked on the silver ball ever since.

 

[Tripredacus]

I never was really interested in pinball until I got the Williams HOF on PS2. Then after that, I found out a co-worker is a collector and got to play his games. Well after that I was hooked!

 

[Tuomas Hämäläinen]

I think it was in 1998 (I was 6 years old) when I first played 3D Pinball Space Cadet on Windows. That's when I became hooked and I started to dream about a pinball machine of my own. Because I couldn't get one back then, I built several miniature models during the years out of wood, metal, cardboard, Lego, whatever you could find around the house. Fast-forward to 2012. After more than a decade of dreaming, I was able to make my dream come true - I acquired a Red & Ted's Road Show this summer. It's already clear to me that I need to get more of these things, though I first need to figure out where to put them

 

[Zeether]

Full Tilt! Pinball (which Space Cadet is from!) and its sequel. I used to just flip around a lot and I wasn't good at it at all. Then I played a few real tables and watched Special When Lit on Hulu...instantly got hooked.