Seeds of a pin forest

As far back as I can remember, which is the mid-70s on most good days, my parents used to drag me to bars and bowling alleys – I loved going, but not because I was a big time bowler or an early drinker -- this is where I would perform the beg-for-quarters-ritual-dance so that I could venture off to that local establishment’s electric dreamland – the arcade. As my parents would get more sedated, the quarters would begin to flow. I remember the shuffle alley bowlers and the early video games such as Outlaw- but it was really the pinball machines that just seemed like pure, unadulterated magic!

So fast forward to somewhere in the early 2000s, I was scanning craigslist for some birthday ideas for a friend and ran across an ad for Hard Drivin’ – a sitdown driving video game where we used to compete with our raging, newly learned driving skills. We used to play at the Game Room, a long time running (but now defunct) local arcade in the late 80s/early 90s. In this one blinding moment, I realized it had never occurred to me that I could actually BUY one of these machines – and this was the spark that brought the house down! Hmmm, my mind wondered if you could actually buy "pinball machines" too? :::insert light bulb slowly flickering::: … so I proceeded down the eBay route and found a machine I used to play as a kid. I loved all of the early 80s pins with the analog synth and space sounds. This one was located within driving distance so I won the auction and my pin collection began with a Williams BLACKOUT – probably not the most exciting pin by today’s standards, but a great starter and bang-for-your-buck pin - and mainly the buck part :). It was soon followed by a FIREPOWER, which was the ultimate space-themed pin for me back in the day - and this is what cascaded into the pin forest which quickly started to sprout soon after that, many of you with pin forests of your own know EXACTLY what I am talking about!

Looking for more, I later found out about some of the local shows which began to show up – California Extreme (CAX), Pacific Pinball Expo (PPE), and the Pin-A-Go-Go (PAGG). These shows unleashed an explosion of nostalgia which was difficult for me to fully fathom at the time since it had thrust me back in touch with so many of the great machines I remembered as a youth. But it had also unexpectedly exposed me to some really cool “new” ones that I hadn’t had a chance to previously experience. One that I became freshly attached to was WHITE WATER, which had the unfortunate label of “not for sale” posted prominently and mockingly upon it. After many lost auctions, $$$ saving, missed CL ad opportunites, more $$$ saving – I finally succeeded in claiming this grail - and one with a diamond-plate playfield to boot! It felt just like Christmas -- which of course has nothing to do with the fact that it actually *was* Christmas time, but you know what I mean! I am still in pursuit of my original favorite pin, one that I could survive alone on a deserted island with, granted that it was a deserted island with power: the incomparable and the somewhat-freakish-when-you-are-left-alone-in-the-house-with-it, FUNHOUSE! But this is still left open for a time when opportunity and ample funds cross paths.

Now I am looking for people who share these type of experiences of the silver ball and wish to establish some new memories and nostalgia for the years to come. My daughter already has been bitten by the pinball bug and I love that I can share this with her and re-experience the bliss I felt in my early years - back at all of those bowling alleys and pubs that had originally exposed me long ago to this wonderful hobby known as pinball.