After The Golden Age And Into The Next

As a young man in his early 20's, many people have commented on my fascination with Pinball as a hobby. "Why?" seems to be the question that pops up the most, and it is probably the most difficult to answer as well. Most people of my generation and all my friends are more into video games, we were the generation that grew up with the very first playstation and the N64. Home gaming has always been the hobby of choice, oddly it is what lead me to Pinball in the first place.

It was late 2011, my father, a man of many professions had just retired. His previous job required that he move out of his house so he settled on the coast with his partner. A typical retirement town, 'White sticks and wheelchairs' is a favorite phrase my nan often uses to mock towns where people decide to retire to. I was just entering my 20's at the time, I had started my second job and finally had a bit of disposable income. I went down to visit him and decided to have a look around the town not knowing what was there. I found a comic shop which was great, a load of chippies (typical for a seaside town) and a few other places, not much of interest so I decided to walk down to the seafront. Recently I had started playing the old Space Cadet pinball game that came packaged with every Windows XP computer and wanted to find out if there was any real Pinballs to try, according to a website that archives Pinball locations, there was. 2 at the seafront where he lives, so I went looking for the arcade.

The seafront is pretty dilapidated, but there was 1 building open in a small block which had the word "AMUSEMENTS" glowing in neon in the window. I nearly walked right by, it looked pretty depressing, a boring white building with not much to entice anyone in. But then I remembered this was about the right spot for the arcade that the website had said I would find some real Pinballs in, so I went in.

In I walked, there was maybe 5 or 6 other patrons inside to the right, mostly playing the coin-pushers and one armed bandits. Boring. I went to look over the arcade games to the left of the entrance. There was a big Daytona USA cabinet, I remembered that game fondly from playing it years ago but had a look what else there was. A few more cabs with fighting games, the odd light gun games, pretty standard really. The UK doesn't have a huge amount of arcades anymore, let alone decent arcade games to play. And then I saw them, sitting in the corner. Turns out the location website was right, in front of me was a Terminator 2 and Theatre of Magic.

It was hard to decide which one to play first and what to do. I decided to opt for Terminator 2, I loved the film and this game seemed in pretty good shape. I remember putting that coin in and hitting the start button. That was it, this was going to be my hobby. I played both games until I had no more coins and I ran out of cash, I never even hit a highscore but I didn't care. I had played real Pinball and it was glorious. Sadly a few months later the machines were switched off, they still sit there to this day but they are now walled in behind a huge number of other dead arcade games. The operator won't let go, "We never sell anything here" were his words when I asked if he would be interested in selling me the two games. No idea why, but rumors talk of the arcade being a money laundering scheme which is why such a desolate arcade is always open, but for who? Nobody seemed to know.

And so it began, an hobby which has slowly turned almost into an obsession. I am still relatively new to this hobby but I am trying to learn all I can and am now 8 machines in and likely this will continue. I still love it. When I am asked "Why?" I try to explain it like this. "Video games are programmed, for the majority of them you might try to do something different but generally the outcome is the same, levels and games end in a set way. Pinball is always different, no 2 games are the same, sure the playfield never changes and neither do the rules but you could have 100 million games on a pinball machine and no 2 games will ever be alike. It's a total thrill and I love it."

Sometimes I wish I had seen the golden age(s) of Pinball, granted it isn't as big here in the UK as in the US but it still has a large following of avid fans and supporters. But things are looking up for the hobby, I am in it right at a point where new games seem to be being made and a huge explosion of interest has taken place, both from younger people like myself and older people who fondly remember the games they used to play in cafes and arcades many years ago. Perhaps we are looking at a new golden age of the hobby where it is making a comeback, and I'm so glad I'm here for it. Hopefully into the next golden age of pinball.