How did your love for pinball begin?

[Slam23]

I just posted my introduction at the top of these threads. I was probably around 6 or 7 when I picked up my pinball virus, standing behind a table in the late '70s in a shopping cart to reach the buttons. According to my dad, I was completely entranced by the sounds and lights. Then I forgot about pinball only to rediscover them in their golden age (offcourse I didn't know that at that moment) while being in college in the early '90s. I remember playing Indy '93, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, TZ, Terminator 2 and TAF. They rotated those tables between some bars and local cafés and I would follow them around. Spend way too much quarters.....Then I forgot about pinball again while they disappeared from the local scene, only to discover Timeshock and VP on the PC around 2006. I instantly remembered how much fun pinball had been some 10 years earlier. I played VP tables exclusively up until TPA got made. At first I was more into Zen pinball because those physics resembled VP more. After a while I tried some of the newer TPA tables and never looked back. Last year I found out that we have a Dutch Pinball Association, and they have some 90 tables of which 60 are set up to play every last friday. 45 min drive and presto, I'm again behind my beloved Indy '93....immediately getting my butt kicked That made me feel right at home! There is a considerable overlap between the Association Tables and TPA, so I get to enjoy both the digital and real life versions. Let me tell you right there that in my opinion the real ones are definitely harder, especially being more random and unpredictable. Anyways, looking back it was probably always inevitable that I would pick up pinball again, I just didn't know it would be that good again!

 

[Jeff Strong]

Bumping this up for Zach in chat.

 

[shoelacious]

This is my 2nd post in the forums (the 1st was a bug notice---hah!)

Not sure if this thread holds any interest these days, but FWIW...

I grew up playing videogames (Atari, C64 at a friend's, arcades, NES) and the other arcade stuff was a natural side dish. I'm not a huge gamer nowadays (or an obsessive pinhead), but pinball has been involved in each of my returns to gaming. And there's something in my soul that keeps getting braided to barely popular art forms.

Somewhere around 1990, I played the first table I was any good at, in a bowling alley. I think it was a Bugs Bunny theme. For a brief spell, that table was more compelling than bowling; and then it wasn't, because we all got huge amounts of illegal firecrackers.

I started playing Go around 1993, and arcade games were suddenly brainless. (Chess was always a dull game for me.) But there's little physical action in Go. Pinball is pure contraption (to paraphrase Auden), and its appeal to me is perennial.

In 2000, after college, I tried to get into videogames again with a GameBoy Color. The only game I played to any extent was Pokemon Pinball---a deviously addicting game. (Anyone remember it?) I sometimes went for 3 hours on the first ball. Stupid fun.

Around 2002, my friend's bar (in Brooklyn) got a TOM machine, at which I absolutely sucked. But I learned the table well enough. It was grimy looking, and when I first played the TPA version I realized, by the audio, that I knew the table from real life. I realized, from the lamp, that I've played TOTAN a bit too (and don't remember sucking at it quite as much).

Spring of 2013, my GF got me a PS Vita. Nifty gadget. First demo I downloaded was Zen 2, which was decent enough pinball for 1-2 minutes, but it annoys me to see how Marvel has gotten THAT obnoxious. Eventually I got TPA to work on the Vita (took a few months), and after a bit of BH I was impressed. Impressed enough to buy Season 1, anyway. Lovin' that BS table, which I might have played (once? twice?) IRL.

The PSV is great for the buttons & stick nudge, but the resolution & views (widescreen landscape) are garbage. I'm considering a tablet if I can line up controller support, just for a better pinball experience... but we'll see if the charm of the game (of gaming) endures. The quantity of bugs in TPA makes it crapware by any standard. But pinball does keep bringing me back. I mean, is there anything in gaming quite as exhilarating as... Multiball?

 

[brakel]

For a brief spell, that table was more compelling than bowling; and then it wasn't, because we all got huge amounts of illegal firecrackers.

This was the funniest thing I read today! Thank you for that. I'm not really sure what it means but I'm picturing really big bottle rockets duct taped to bowling balls!

 

[Deltaechoe]

Buttons, flashing lights, using a steel ball to smash things, how could I NOT love pinball?

 

[TMOverbeck]

I just remember how cool it was to hit a ball around and make the bells and other noises go off. (This would be late-70s.)

 

[Buzz1126]

First, let me say that Jeff is The Man! I'm glad you're able to play in this sport/hobby that I've been playing now for close to fifty years. My father served in the Air Force, so we traveled the US for 26 years. After scoping out the neighborhood, the next stop is always the bowling alley. I went in, passed the snackbar, took a right at the pool tables and there they were: Drop-A-Card and Lawman. I remember DAC had these tiny little flippers and a big expanse in the middle of the table. Lawman had a bank of drop targets on the left and on the right had a pachinko-style alley that, when lit, added to your bonus total. This is where my meager allowance of a dollar a week ended up. And truthfully, this is where I learned that if you could pick up DAC and hold in the cn return, you could get two, maybe three games. That is if you didn't tilt.

Over the years, I've poured enough quarters into enough pinball machines to have bought the machines listed below. Wherever I saw a pinball machine, I carried a couple of quarters with me, just in case. Like the song says, I've played 'em from Soho down down to Brighton, literally. I've played in the casinos in Las Vegas. In the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. In the cafeteria of the hospital my daughter was born (I waited until after delivery...). In a convinience store located at the intersection of two dirt roads in Louisiana so far back in the swamp, I swear I played against Robert Johnson. I learned to use my drivers license to slide forgotten quarters out from underneath the chrome piece at the top of the coin door. I've heard that game-won knock once a million times, a double and triple-knock from matching many times, and that elusive, glorious knock-knock-knock-knock quadruple match several times. I've set my son and daughter in a chair so they watch and play, and know I'm sittin' THEIR children up there.

Pinball isn't my life. But it just might be in my soul. There's a gentle tug when I pass the blinking lights or the notes ( later on, the voices) of that "c'mon man, come show me watcha got!" I still carry a couple of quarters.

You never know...

 

[chadderack]

As a child of the late 70's/early 80's, this was really more the golden age of the Arcade machines (video) and not so much the pinball machines.

Most arcades in the 80s were at the mall (Alladin's Castle)... and you'd see an occasional pin at a convenience store or bowling alley. I do remember seeing Gorgar, Space Invaders (pin), and Pin*Bot on occasion... and was reminded of the dudes playing them... with their Camaros, bell bottom pants, and porn moustaches... along with that shaggy 70's David Cassidy hair.

Was always fascinated by the pins, but would only play them occasionally... preferring to sink quarters into the Tempest/Gorf/Elevator Action/Galaxian/Gyruss machines of the world.

Flash forward to college years. The student union building single handedly made me fail my first quarter of college in '87. I can't remember the exact machines that were there, only that I played the hell out of 'em. A few years later, after quitting college and going back, I'd go up to the student building and see Funhouse, Addams Family, and many others.

Being an avid league bowler through this time, I would see Addams Family in most bowling alleys throughout the early '90s. Got majorly hooked. All it takes is getting that first "50 MILLION!!!" from Gomez. I got hooked so much that I vowed that one day, I'd own an Addams.

Several years later, I do:

I sleep next to this thing!

So now that I've been so jacked up by my Addams machine lately, I realize that getting it is not the end... the obsession is just beginning! What the hell am I going to do? I don't have room for more machines!

Solution? TPA!

Oh dear. Now I'm going to have to start going to conventions and get togethers.

As The Bride says in "Monster Bash"... somebody stop me!




Chad.

 

[Jeff Strong]

First, let me say that Jeff is The Man! I'm glad you're able to play in this sport/hobby that I've been playing now for close to fifty years.

In a convinience store located at the intersection of two dirt roads in Louisiana so far back in the swamp, I swear I played against Robert Johnson.

Pinball isn't my life. But it just might be in my soul. There's a gentle tug when I pass the blinking lights or the notes ( later on, the voices) of that "c'mon man, come show me watcha got!" I still carry a couple of quarters.

You never know...

Thanks man! That Robert Johnson bit made me smile... . Great to have you aboard. We need more soulful players like you.

A warm welcome to TMOverbeck and chadderack as well. Lovely looking TAF, man!

 

[chadderack]

Thanks man! That Robert Johnson bit made me smile... . Great to have you aboard. We need more soulful players like you.

A warm welcome to TMOverbeck and chadderack as well. Lovely looking TAF, man!

Thanks dude! Jimi would be a helluva pinball player.

 

[wolfson]

for me it started in 1968. it really got started in full swing from 1972 - 1974 my high school years. our school was 200 metres from our home.1 kilometre away was the PINK BALL a proper snooker palor,with about 27 fullsize tables.they always had about 10 pinnies all the time.you can guess which destination had the more appeal,so I wagged school left right and centre. unfortunately the PINK BALL is no longer around.that`s why I love all the tables TPA has brought out.i don`t worry about bugs or graphics I just love playing pinball !!! may I say on PS4it`s the ants pants bloody fantastic !!! JEFF I`m so glad you can play TPA !!!

 

[Jeff Strong]

Thanks dude! Jimi would be a helluva pinball player.

for me it started in 1968. it really got started in full swing from 1972 - 1974 my high school years. our school was 200 metres from our home.1 kilometre away was the PINK BALL a proper snooker palor,with about 27 fullsize tables.they always had about 10 pinnies all the time.you can guess which destination had the more appeal,so I wagged school left right and centre. unfortunately the PINK BALL is no longer around.that`s why I love all the tables TPA has brought out.i don`t worry about bugs or graphics I just love playing pinball !!! may I say on PS4it`s the ants pants bloody fantastic !!! JEFF I`m so glad you can play TPA !!!

Wolfson, I always enjoy your posts, mate

 

[wolfson]

thanks JEFF likewise !!!

 

[Jeff Strong]

thanks JEFF likewise !!!

Swing by the chat room sometime, man!

 

[switch3flip]

My parents used to own a restaurant/diner when I was young (80's) and they always had a pinball machine there which would be changed to a different one every couple of months. I used to go there after school and play.

I remember one time I was playing and this man walks up to me and asks me if I'm 18. I'm like in the middle of my game so I get irritated and I'm like, why do you care! He says, because you have to be 18 to play and it clearly says so on this sticker on the table, and because I'm a police officer and I don't think youre 18, then he shows his badge and ID. I'm like paralyzed and all I can say is but...but...and my eyes search for my parents, and then I see them standing behind the counter laughing like crazy and pointing their finger at me. They were like, ha, ha, you should have seen the look on your face, ha, ha, first you went all pale, then red, ha, ha, ha. Turns out the cop was a regular guest they just had him scare me as a joke, cause they were always saying, you know you have to be 18, what if a cop comes in. Well it didn't stop me from playing or loving pinball.

 

[jbejarano]

For me, it started when our family would go up from the Bay Area to Lake Tahoe to visit my grandma. Usually, on the way, we would stop for lunch and amusement at Sam's Town in Cameron Park in the foothills of the Sierra. It doesn't exist any more, but back in the 1970's and early 1980's, they had a huge collection of old EM and very early SS pinball machines. As the 1980's progressed, I got into video games, but for a couple of years in there, my parents put a video game restriction on me to get me to work harder in school. The restriction didn't apply to pinball, though. That's when I discovered High Speed by Williams, and my love of pinball really took off. It sort of waned again as the industry waned, but The Pinball Arcade has helped me pick up that love of pinball right where it left off.

 

[danivempire]

When I was a kid there was not a lot of arcade place. There was in Brussels (yep, live in Belgium) but I did not live there. I was in a small Village.
When there was a travelling fair coming (once a year), there was an arcade but there was no pinball. I remember putting coins to play a game like outrun but my feets didn't even reach the pedals ^^

Later, when I was like 15, I discovered those big arcade place. But I played mostly videogames. But I remember playing the addams family, a star wars table, and a few others...
The funny thing, when psycho pinball came on pc, I was hooked to this game. Same for pro pinball! Loved it.
About that, every time I came across a pinball, I played it but I didn't really aim or try to score. I was just throwing the ball all around the place ^^
At this period, my brother bought a "Flash Gordon" table, I played it a lot, and loved it!

By the way if you read this Farsight, bring me "Flash Gordon" on TPA please ^^

In my mid 20's I discovered Visual pinball and later Future pinball, I played them a lot but in the end I lost interrest, their physics makes the tables unplayable if you want to score...

In Belgium, it's really, really, really REALLY hard to stumble across a pinball game... Even harder to find one in a good condition.

Where I went in vacation the last few years, there's 4 tables.
Addams family, but turned off all the time, the table is dead...
Lord of the rings, some mechanics are dead, makes it not fun to play...
Attack from mars, in ok shape but playable...
Ripley, excellent condition, but tilted in a way that the ball goes straight to the drain!!!

It's crazy, when I was a kid I didn't really care for pinball yet they were available! Now that I love pinball, they're gone

And a few months ago, I bought my first android tablet. And I thought, are there some ok pinball games on android? I thought the portrait mode would fit a table.
And I stumbled upon TPA, tried TOTAN as free table, less than 30 minutes later, I had bought season 1 and 2!

Come on farsight, give us more pinball, MORE PINBALL!!!! ^^

 

[dwarvenpanzer9]

First for me was in an arcade here in south jersey called Space Port in the early 90s (I'm 33)... Lined up next to each other were T2 and BoP. As much as I loved the T2 game, The Bride is a seductive mistress and has been my favorite table to this day. Playing it back at Space Port was always cool, because the arcade itself was styled to feel like what it was named: a cold sterile space station; so playing a table like the Bride in a place like that just added to the mix. The funniest parts, though were when I was playing it, and (even though I was young) I was getting all the ramp shots I wanted to keep her transformations going, and the game would always be pumping out her voice in that sexy machine-like purr...people would hear it going off, and want to see what was going on...and then they saw 12-13 y/o me getting this machine to do this... There were people wondering whether to get me off of there or just let me keep going to see what I could do on the machine (pun intended)

Ever since then, I've been hooked. Didn't have much of an outlet for a while, due to a lot of arcades getting shut down and stuff, but the itch never left (I should have seen a doctor )... I found TPA while looking up stuff after I randomly picked up the Williams HoF disc for the PS2...at first I was gonna get a PS3 just to get TPA, but then I saw it was on Steam and I could just get the game...the rest is history.

I'm more into the newer tables than the older ones; I have all of the standard goals done on Big Shot and CP, and a couple of the Wizard ones on each, but I have way more fun with the newer ones: AFM, the aforementioned T2 and BoP, ToM is one I have a lot of fun with...I like Victory as well, but I'm also a huge racing fan...