Ever since I was a young boy, I played the silver ball

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

And if you know those lyrics, you know I’m talking about pinball. Perhaps I should have called this, “The Pinball Appreciation Thread.”

Anybody else here like pinball? I’ve played for years–I can still recall my first game, over thirty years ago, on a Gottlieb’s “Mibs” machine. No, I didn’t get a free game, but I did get hooked on pinball.

I’ve played for years since. I’ve played pretty much everywhere I’ve been in the world–Canada, the USA, the UK, Europe, Australia–anywhere I’ve got time to kill and there’s a machine in an airport, train station, bus depot, arcade, store, pub, or whatever. I see a machine, I play.

Sometimes, I win a free game; sometimes, I don’t. It depends. How is the machine? Is there a lean or a slope? How has the machine been maintained? Is it one I’ve played before or is it new to me?

I own a machine–a Gottlieb “Out of Sight” from the mid-1970s, and it’s in perfect working order. It’s not a video game, nor even a later solid-state pinball, but it’s mine; I’ve fixed it up, and I love to play it. I wish I had a perfect working model of a Gottlieb “Royal Flush” or a Bally “Trail Drive,” those being my two favourite pinball games of all time, but one does what one can, and I’m happy with my game.

Anybody else like pinball?

2

One of my favorites was Williams’ World Cup. It had some of the best sound effects especially when you got the multiple bonus awards. Loved the way the ball smacked the glass coming out of the kickers.

3

I love pinball. My favorite game was Buckaroo. Back in the day before digital readouts, it had actual rolling wheels for numbers. (One game for ten cents, 3 game for a quarter.)

I still play, and I ain’t too shabby.

4

I love pinball too, it just seems more real than any arcade games. There was a TT-Racing pinball game in the Student Union that I would play to get buzzing before boring lecture.
Cheers, Keith

5
  • Damn I accidentally gave away my secret identity.

The Who song is a pain, coz whenever I play pinball it’s running through my head, and sometimes I even have to hum it. That wouldn’t be so bad except I’m kinda laim at pinball.

Cheers Bippy

6

My favorite is Pinbot. I actually have a real Pinbot arcade machine that I picked up a couple of years ago.

Unfortunately one of the LED displays burned out (the one that tells the number of credits) and I have no idea where to get another.

I love multiball games. If I get another I want “Big Guns” which is my second favorite.

7

Scylla, check the Yellow Pages under “Amusements.” That should list the operators in your area.

The operators should be able to “pirate” parts from older machines, and pass them on to you. That was how I got some parts for my machine.

8

Gahh! I had “Pinball Wizard” stuck in my head during exams today, and so of course I couldn’t sing it out loud. Thanks for reminding me…

9

Pinball, has, does, will and always shall rock out completely.

Video games barely hold a candle to the whirring-bouncing-ricocheting and flipper-humping thrills of a good pinball table. The gravitic-kinetic flight characteristics of the ball in motion are superb training for catching, intercepting and launching other mechanical objects in real life. There shall be a table in my basement at some point in the future, that’s a gimme.

10

I play pinball every now and then and I have always been drawn to the flashnig lights and sounds as well as the physics involved in how the ball bounces around. What I would like to know is, what are the techniques you guys use to keep the ball in play longer? Obviously this will vary by machine. I know the basic object is to keep hitting the ball with the flippers and aim it towards the high-scoring targets. Every machine is different and many have special flippers located elsewhere on the table in addition to the two at the bottom. Most of my games are cut short because the ball will come rolling back down the table dead center and no amount of spastic flipper-button pressing will touch the ball and it will pass right between the flippers.

11

Depending upon how sensitive the tilt-mechanism is, you can slap the machine when you press the flipper which will (if you do it right) cause the machine to shift slightly enough so that the flipper can reach the ball.

Takes practice to do this right, though.

12

I love the silver ball too. I remember playing when I was barely old enough to see over the coin slots. My mom was in a bowling league and I would have run of the place while she bowled. Those were the days when you’d find about 20+ machines lined up in a row.

Later, when I was about 10, my neighbors got a 1975/76 Bally Knockout that they kept in their garage. I used to make a pest out of myself to play that machine.

Today, I play whenever I see one, but mostly it’s the Visual Pinball simulator on my PC though I’d love to get my hands on a real Knockout and an Elvira Scared Stiff and several other machines.

13

I’ve heard it said that Townsend wrote the song only to impress a critic who was actually a pinball fanatic and get a good review.

14

I never played pinball until I went away to college. There were three pinballs games on the dorm’s main floor, and the floor I lived on actually owned three old pinball machines and kept them in good repair (until one guy got drunk and angry at the machine, andput his fist through the backglass). It was cheap, too, ten cents a game, or three for a quarter! I got addicted. It really got bad when I got good enough to win replays.

I’ve played ever since, when I could find games. Sadly, they don’t seem to be putting games places in the new malls, and are taking existing ones out as they refurbish.

15

Another pinball fanatic here. Wish I could find another “Joust” pinball machine.

Yup, the one with the flying ostriches and the pteradactyls.

It was a flat, two person tabletop machine (players stood opposite each other). The point was to keep the ball on your own side of the machine to score points (the interor part of the table was slightly peaked in the middle, so each side had a slant to the table. Cool sound effects on it.

Only ever found this once, at a traveling arcade at the New York State Fair, yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaars ago. My sister and I played the heck outta that machine. Forget the rides, this was much more fun!

Anyone evey see this also? Anyone have an extra one to sell me?

16

I have only ever played microsoft pinball that came with windows :frowning:

17

I love pinball. born in '61. Used to take a quarter in high school, play for an hour or two and then sell off the games. I think it was Bally that had Captain Fantastic, a Tommy inspired game that was simply freaking awesome.

Much prefer the pre electronic pinball machines. Just had a better feel, although I have to admit that the multiball games are pretty fun. I liked T2 and played that a lot back when I lived in Japan. Alas, that was pretty much the end of my pinball days was when I moved away from Tokyo in 1994. :frowning:

This is a godless heathen country where the few electronic pinball machines are poorly maintained and more frustrating than fun to play if you know what I mean, and I know you do. The flipper doesn’t work well, or a bumper doesn’t bump, etc.

There’s also a Japanese novel called Pinball 1973 by Murakami that’s kinda interesting. IIRC a guy tries to find his favorite machine by tracking down a legendary pinball machine collector that has a warehouse full of machines. You can download it here: http://basic1.easily.co.uk/03E054/05F01F/pinball.htm

18

My faves were 8 Ball and Power Play (yes, I’m that old!)
Three ball games.

Last fall I found there was a pinball/videogame/neon sign shop next door to my daughter’s dance school. Put the hard sell on our getting a Top Gun for our basement for X-mas, but Ms. D put up one hell of a defense. Maybe this X-mas.

19

Nobody’s mentioned the machine that’s surely in the Top 10 All Time Pinball Machines…The Addams Family! Invasion (Invaders?) from Mars is also a favorite of mine.

20

Ahh, pinball! My dad was a pinball fanatic back in the 70’s, and passed the love of the game on to me, along with comic-book fandom and a receeding hairline. Thanks, Dad!

My favorite? Fish Tales, which kept me entertained on the cheap at a deabte camp in Lubbock many moons ago…