Cody's Pinball Adventure

I was born in Mobile, AL (near the Gulf of Mexico) in 1966.  That put me in the age of comic books and pinball machines in the mid- to late-70s.  During that time 7-11s were still around in the deep south, pins were in mom-n-pop convenience stores, drug stores, even TG & Ys. But I played mostly at a convenience store up the state highway a mile or so from the house, a drug store next to where my mom bought groceries and twice a year at the skating rink where my church would have a "lock in".

So around the age of 10 or 11 I was discovering this interesting game that allowed you to WIN FREE GAMES? And free games just for numbers matching up with your score? That's a setup I could live with!

I remember playing some early Gottlieb Solid State games like Totem (weird flippers), Close Encounters and Card Whiz, but can't remember where.

The mom-n-pop convenience store near my house called Chatom's usually had two pins in a small area near the front of the store.  At this time in the 70s, drink bottles were made of glass and were returnable for change. So my best-friend neighbor Brian and I would walk the roads collecting bottles thrown from cars and taking them to the small grocery, Save More at Lott Road and McCrary Rd in Semmes, AL to exchange for a dollar or two. We'd then buy some gum and soda or comics, and walk the few remaining quarters up to Chatom's for some pinball.

I know they had many different machines there, but the two that were there at the same time for the most memorable time for me was Stern's Dracula and Bally's Playboy. We logged many hours and games on those two, and learned how to aim, shake, nudge, slap-save and win free games on points and specials.

Not long after that a Bally Space Invaders was installed in the drug store next to the grocery where my mom shopped. Sometimes she would give me a dollar to spend. Now, at the time, comics were a quarter too, so serious consideration went into how many comics I would buy vs how many games I would play. Also games had no tax but those blasted comics did! More often than not, I bought at least a copy of Avengers and played at least one game of pinball.

Space Invaders was the first game I ever rolled the score on (POP-POP-POP) and was out of my mind excited and sweaty from the effort. I breathlessly approached the druggist to ask for a pen and paper to write down my score to proudly post it. He said, "Yeah, a lot of people have done that." Huh. Deflated, I walked away.

Another friend from school lived across the road ("Bloody Hwy 98") from the same drug store and sometimes I would sleep over at his house and we would spend long hours shooting the horseshoe for specials and playing free games.

Then SI was replaced. With Firepower. Wow! Compared to SI this game was lightning fast and TOUGH. Free game? Forget it! Multiball? Extremely rarely. So many games ended with two balls kicking out to dead, game over flippers. I started buying more comics. :o)

I also played a Supersonic at a 7-11 and a Stern Dracula at a diner fairly regularly. But the mother lode for pinball for me was the skating rink, Skatehaven. They had a bank of 5 to 8 pins and when I went there with our church's youth group, I would lace up my skates and spend the time in front of the pins. Interestingly, the added height seemed to help my play. Eventually I was good enough to have a few bystanders watching me play. Funny thing is I remember only two of the games: Atarians and Roller Disco.

Fast forward to high school and interest in pins remained. Now my friend from across the street from the drug store was driving and we discovered Alladin's Castle in the Bel Air mall and theaters all had at least one pin. I remember specifically Gorgar and Lost World. Most all of the early 80s Ballys made the rounds. Captain Fantastic was the last EM standing in Alladin's Castle at this time.

After graduating in 1984, I had no clear idea of what I wanted to do for a living, so my dad put me in an Electronics Technology course in Southwest State Technical College. He was a WWII radio man. I passed, barely, but would have rather been playing pinball. In fact, after seeing a movie or two my friend and I would stop by a 24-hour convenience store that had a Space Invaders and play into the wee hours of the morning, racking up credits on the horseshoe then playing them out trying to roll the score again and again. Never get tired of POP-POP-POP!

 My first job out of school  ('86-'87) was Technician for the local Chuck E. Cheese. I helped the head tech maintain the stage robots, kiddie rides, redemption games, video games and even one pinball: Space Shuttle. Obviously I had to do a lot of play-testing on that game!

A couple of years later I graduated to a better paying job servicing copiers. By 1990 I was convinced I could buy a broken pin on the cheap and fix it up myself and finally have the dream of a pin in my home. I called a local route operator and they said yes, they had some "as-is" pins for sale for only a few hundred dollars. I immediately went to their location and checked out the games. I don't remember the other games, but there sat my beloved Space Invaders! And it powered up and played! They quoted me $250 and I leapt at the chance. Later they said since it was working it should have been at least double that, but they honored the quote. So I ended up with a pin in the house and went back for a broken Gottlieb Amazing Spider Man not long after.

Since then it's been ups (I won a game in a local tournament affiliated with The Who's Tommy stage production) and downs (had to sell off my prized home use games to pay off debt) but pinball remains!

I hope pinball is a prominent component in the rest of my life.

I also hope you enjoyed my pinball memoir.