[NonValueAdded]

Ever since I was a young boy
I’ve played the silver ball
From Soho down to Brighton
I must’ve played ‘em all
But I ain’t seen nothing like him
In any amusement hall

That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball!

[DallasBiff]

But how many “tilt” the pinball machine?

[TheThirdRuffian]

It part of the return of all things analog.

Kid engineer who works for me just showed me his dual tube monoblocks he built to go with his new turntable. Nice. All point to point bare silver rod wiring.

Sounds fantastic.

[hinckley buzzard]

I’m used to love plying pinball machines. I would still if I could find one nearby.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“Sleazy bars”? I never played ball in such places! I remember a couple of good games at the Dyn-o-Mite burned joint in Columbia, MO in 1969.

[Dr. Sivana]

Pinball Machines were never just in bars. They were in fancy amusement parks, bowling alleys, and shared space with the video arcade game craze of the ‘80s. Heck, a high school pal had a $65 Pinball Champ machine. I was pretty good on “Harlem Globetrotters” and “Disco Fever”.

[Pocketdoor]

My favorite pinball machine was Earth Shaker.

[bigdaddy45]

I’d love to have an accounting of the number of quarters I shoved into pinball machines between about 1974 and 1985. Would be a nice stack.

[Allegra]

Sleazy bars? My brother and sister and I used to play the pinball machines at the Allied Cafeteria on the NATO base in Naples, Italy whenever we went there to eat. We spent lots of quarters doing that. Racked up a lot of free games, too.

Fond memories.

[FirstFlaBn]

I only see one electro-mechanical machine in the pic. Too labor intensive to manufacture now; prob difficult to find parts for restoration. Electronic machines are just not as much fun.

[Political Junkie Too]

There is a place near where I live that has about 35 classic pinball machines and 100 classic video games that are all on free play. You buy a "day pass" and get unlimited play of all the machines.

-PJ

[ratzoe]

... from classics like Wizard and The Addams Family

Laughed when I saw those mentioned as classics, but on 2nd thought, I guess they are. My pinball days were early 60s to around 1970. All 2 flipper games and slower than games in the 70s and onward.

Recently on a beach vacation, stopped in an arcade to kill time where pinwall machines lined every wall back in the day. Only found 2 pinball machines, was disappointing..:(

Had a "Quick Draw" machine(Gottlieb) in my basement for years that I sold for a thousand to a guy that drove 500 miles to pick it up, he refurbished it and sold it for $1500. Thing was, all the values I saw for it well under $1000, thinking the guy was hired by someone that wanted that machine badly enough to overpay for it.

[Larry Lucido]

Not the same without Moonie or Ox.

[Menehune56]

Chuckee Cheese when the kids were little then an hour of pinball. Good times!

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Wow Holy cow, some of my best memories are playing pinball. 1973 crusing cross country from New York to Colorado and stopping at KOAs (Kampgrounds of America) and seeing the same women going to same way, OW! And playing pinball while Jim Croce was playing on the juke box, complete, utter bliss, like a dream. And oh, only 52 years ago, good God.

[cross_bearer_02]

Pinball has fascinated me ever since I was a kid. Being born in the mid-80s, I grew up in that arcade hey-day and pinball machines were still quite prevalent then. I remember nearly every Walmart you went to in the early 90s had at least one pinball machine in the lobby, and maybe two.

I’ve loved the game so much that now as an adult I bought my own machine for home. A 2014 Mustang LE from Stern Pinball.

Video game adaptations are also fine, though, and they have come quite a long way since the early days. Simulations like Pinball FX (for Williams tables) and The Pinball Arcade are reasonably good, if a bit pricey (you have to purchase tables in packs). Still far cheaper than buying the real thing.

[Dacula]

I lived to find quarters as a kid. Selling bottles and cans. I also worked as a bagboy and made quarters as tips.

I was in hog-heaven playing Magic Carpet.

[Bonemaker]

I want Pac Man baxk!

[eastexsteve]

I’ve got a “Dirty Harry” pinball machine in my game room. It has a gun for a ball shooter instead of a plunger. Everytime you make a big score, it plays one of his famous movie lines. I’ve been offered a bundle for that machine. But, some things are priceless. Maybe after ol’ Clint dies, I’ll sell it and buy my own island LOL!

[capydick]

Sleazy? Where the heck do they get that from? Great memories of playing all day on the Captain Fantastic machine at Gee Gee's arcade on the beachfront in Manasquan NJ. Then a slice, then a dip in ocean, all the time checking out which girls were hanging around - what a time!

There is a pinball arcade / museum in Asbury Park that will take you back in time - play any machine for up to six hours for $20, you'd be surprised how fast that time goes by: Silverball Retro Arcade