Late to the Pinball Hobby....making up for lost time!

By Bedrock84

March 12, 2021

This story got frontpaged on March 23, 2021


3 years ago

My earliest pinball memory is playing my Uncle's 1970 Williams Jive Time at family events back in the mid-70's. I loved that game, but during my highschool years('80-'84) I was drawn to Asteroids, Galaga and the other arcade titles of the day. Fast forward to early 2018, our last child is about to get married and move out, so we decided the basement could be all MINE! I immediately started moving out all the "family" decor and replacing it with MY stuff. It wasn't a big full basement, but a pretty sweet space considering we live in Central California where any basement is rare. I was going to use every square inch of that 400 square foot basement to the fullest! In late March of that year ('18) I was on the phone with my younger brother, when he makes THIS comment, "you should get a pinball machine, it would "look" cool!". I agree with him and just a couple of days later he calls back and says, "Hey, I found a Ted Nugent (Nugent) pinball machine about 3 hours away, lets go check it out!". We grew up with a car collecting Dad, so distance was never an issue.....and we hit the road! Well, I made my first pinball purchase that day and later that year a Funhouse. I have since owned close to twenty and currently own 9 with a GnR LE on the way. I recently even had a friend drive me two hours to grab an IJ.....the day after total knee replacement surgery! The wife was NOT happy, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?!! Today, Nugent is long gone, but I did find a Jive Time a couple of months ago that my grandkids love the way I did over 40 years ago. Who knows, it may even be my Uncle's old pin, since I bought it from someone near where he had lived when he sold it! Anyway, the basement man cave is now a full blown arcade! If any of you pinheads are ever in Central California, you're invited......I'm always up for sharing the joy of PINBALL! The addiction is REAL!

Story photos

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Comments

2 years ago

Sweet

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