* * * * * * * * * **My Very Own Pinball Machine
* Ever since I started playing pinball, I've dreamed of owning my own table. I would play it every day! It would be in my bedroom so I could go right in there anytime I wanted, instead of being in my parents living room.
* One day, on the school bus, I sat next to The New Kid. When one of your parents is in the military, you move around a lot, and you're either The New Kid, or you're meeting him. Anyway, after the obligatory small talk (what base are you from, how old are you, whose class are you in, etc), he casually mentioned he had a pinball machine. Suddenly, I became his new best friend (I was nine, and shallow). So, on the way home, he asked me to come over to his house. I quickly finished my homework and bolted to his house.
* Making sure I had several quarters in my pocket, I knocked at the , then he opened the door to his bedroom. And there it was.
* A Pachinko machine.
* Oh, the humanity! I could almost feel the flipper buttons, see the flashing lights. Instead, here was a lever that you used to shoot small steel balls to the top of a playing field studded with nails and lights, *so you could win...more small steel balls. As it turned out, we became pretty good friends anyway. But I never let him forget about the Pachinko, oh, I'm sorry, Mark, "pinball machine"...
* I never lost my desire to have my own pinball machine. But, early in my marriage, The Wife "suggested" that other things "might" be more important, and that once we bought house of our own, there "might" be room for one. If it wasn't too "expensive". I later found out "expensive" was more than fifty dollars. Except for shoes. And purses.
* So, two children, two houses, two grandchildren, several car loans and a kidney transplant later, I am in the position to actually have my own pinball machine. And surprisingly, The Wife is supporting this move, maybe because I told her it would be "slightly" more than fifty dollars. When we head to the Southern-Fried Gameroom Expo next week, I hope to return with one. It has a place waiting in our gameroom. I've been watching Internet selling sites and researching prices & reliability. The tables like "The Wizard of Oz" or the special/deluxe/limited edition of "Star Trek". But a few of the tables simulated in TPA aren't out of reach. I'll keep you posted...
* * * * * * * * * * * *Updated High Score List
Cactus Canyon 83,085,290
Black Knight 2,605,290
Theatre of Magic 2,469,722,320
Terminator 2: Judgement Day *214,072,430
Big Shot 218,760
Lights, Camera, Action! 11,390,010
Junk Yard 92,684,410 (and I "Beat Bob" too!)
* * * * * * * >> } Hall of Fame points: 10407{<<*
* (Somehow, 640 points were taken away when I downloaded "Lights, Camera, Action o 6/6/2014. TPA now shows my total to be 9767. I don't know why. I'll be sending an email to them in the morning.)
* * * * * * * * * * HOF points earned after download-
22 (high score on Junk Yard-can this be right??)
* * * Total current HOF points-9789
* Ever since I started playing pinball, I've dreamed of owning my own table. I would play it every day! It would be in my bedroom so I could go right in there anytime I wanted, instead of being in my parents living room.
* One day, on the school bus, I sat next to The New Kid. When one of your parents is in the military, you move around a lot, and you're either The New Kid, or you're meeting him. Anyway, after the obligatory small talk (what base are you from, how old are you, whose class are you in, etc), he casually mentioned he had a pinball machine. Suddenly, I became his new best friend (I was nine, and shallow). So, on the way home, he asked me to come over to his house. I quickly finished my homework and bolted to his house.
* Making sure I had several quarters in my pocket, I knocked at the , then he opened the door to his bedroom. And there it was.
* A Pachinko machine.
* Oh, the humanity! I could almost feel the flipper buttons, see the flashing lights. Instead, here was a lever that you used to shoot small steel balls to the top of a playing field studded with nails and lights, *so you could win...more small steel balls. As it turned out, we became pretty good friends anyway. But I never let him forget about the Pachinko, oh, I'm sorry, Mark, "pinball machine"...
* I never lost my desire to have my own pinball machine. But, early in my marriage, The Wife "suggested" that other things "might" be more important, and that once we bought house of our own, there "might" be room for one. If it wasn't too "expensive". I later found out "expensive" was more than fifty dollars. Except for shoes. And purses.
* So, two children, two houses, two grandchildren, several car loans and a kidney transplant later, I am in the position to actually have my own pinball machine. And surprisingly, The Wife is supporting this move, maybe because I told her it would be "slightly" more than fifty dollars. When we head to the Southern-Fried Gameroom Expo next week, I hope to return with one. It has a place waiting in our gameroom. I've been watching Internet selling sites and researching prices & reliability. The tables like "The Wizard of Oz" or the special/deluxe/limited edition of "Star Trek". But a few of the tables simulated in TPA aren't out of reach. I'll keep you posted...
* * * * * * * * * * * *Updated High Score List
Cactus Canyon 83,085,290
Black Knight 2,605,290
Theatre of Magic 2,469,722,320
Terminator 2: Judgement Day *214,072,430
Big Shot 218,760
Lights, Camera, Action! 11,390,010
Junk Yard 92,684,410 (and I "Beat Bob" too!)
* * * * * * * >> } Hall of Fame points: 10407{<<*
* (Somehow, 640 points were taken away when I downloaded "Lights, Camera, Action o 6/6/2014. TPA now shows my total to be 9767. I don't know why. I'll be sending an email to them in the morning.)
* * * * * * * * * * HOF points earned after download-
22 (high score on Junk Yard-can this be right??)
* * * Total current HOF points-9789
