New adventures in pinball

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

My interest in pinball machines started when I was in my early teens. In those days pinball machines were to be found in cafes and amusement arcades in my home town of Liverpool. If I remember rightly games cost sixpence or three for a shilling (two-and-a-half pence and five pence). I spent many hours and many pounds playing pinball on my own and with mates. I dreamt that one-day I would have enough money to buy my own retired pinball machine for home amusement. (In fact my friend’s dad did just that. As a senior civil servant, I think he kept it quiet from his colleagues.)

I regularly scoured the pages of Exchange and Mart in the way that many people now browse eBay looking for an affordable pinball machine in good condition. They would cost about £250 which was always more than I could afford.

At university there was always a pinball machine in the Junior Common Room and whilst others became expert at bar football for me the pinball machine held an enduring fascination.

As the years went by my interest waned partly because pinball machines were less and less available and partly because they metamorphosed with the advent of electronics into what were for me rather soulless hybrids. They were still basically pinball machines but with the addition of monochrome dot-matrix displays, speakers and, on the playfield, ramps trap doors and other assorted “toys”. At the same time, video-games were appearing in pubs and amusement arcades. Space invaders, Galaxians and other more exciting innovations drew my attention away from pinball.

Next time I’ll continue this story by telling you about the revival of my interest and last year’s acquisition of not one but two pinball machines!