JoshiDx Profile

By joshidx

September 14, 2013

This story got featured on September 14, 2013


10 years ago

I'm old enough that I still remember the sight of pinball tables at arcades and game halls, although I'm young enough that those days passed by quickly. In the early 90s I found myself fascinated with pinball tables, but always without quarters to actually play the games. My parents would always say we didn't have the money, and truth told, we probably didn't.

Thus my first memories of playing pinball are of Space Cadet on our home PC. I would play that game for hours, trying to get better scores, and looking to discover what happened when I made good shots. I would play real tables when I had a chance, but usually all I could afford was the free pinball at home.

Once I got older and finally had money to play real pinball, most of the tables had disappeared. The ones that were left were in general disrepair, and I found it frustrating playing tables that were in poor condition. I stopped going to places that had pinball, and thought my playing days were over.

Then in 2010 my then girlfriend and I visited her family in New Jersey. She took me to the pier at Seaside Heights and introduced me to the Carousel Arcade where she had played pinball and other arcade games as a kid. We both spent a lot of time playing together, and it really reminded me how much I loved pinball. We both talked about how great it would be to own a pinball table, and how we wished there were more pinball tables back where we lived.

In 2012 I discovered that The Pinball Arcade video game had one of my then fiancé's favorite tables from her childhood: Theatre of Magic. I bought The Pinball Arcade, and together my fiancé and I started discovering and enjoying new tables we'd never heard of before. Our love of pinball was revived, and we began looking for tables wherever we went. After Hurricane Sandy ripped through New Jersey my fiancé was grateful to have a digital memory of her childhood with us.

In 2013 I traveled to the Outer Banks with my now wife for our honeymoon. Our first stop was at Flipper's Arcade to play their extensive collection of tables. We spent hours playing, and came back to Flipper's three times that week, even though it was an hour and a half out from where we were staying. We loved discovering new tables, and having the chance to play tables we'd only ever played before on a TV screen.

Both my wife and I wanted to continue playing pinball when we got back from our honeymoon, so we started looking online for websites that would help us find pinball near where we lived. I found Pinside, and loved the community I saw. As both of us want to continue playing, and hopefully our own tables some day, we thought it was a good idea to join! So here I am, hoping to learn more about playing, buying, and owning a pinball table.

Story photos

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Comments

10 years ago

Great story! The day you bring your first pinball machine home is going to be magical. Just the thought of owning one and playing it whenever you want to is a great felling but watch out, before you know it you'll have a whole room full of them. Thanks for posting! BTW, did your girlfriend turn into your fiancé and then to wife?

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