I once had wealth, power, and the love of a beautiful woman.

By Mutilatedlips

March 29, 2021

This story got featured & frontpaged on April 08, 2021

I once had wealth, power, and the love of a beautiful woman. Now I only have two things: my friends, and... uh... my pinball machine. Huh? My story? Okay.

My first memory of pinball was visiting a tourist attraction in Orlando, Florida called The Mystery Fun House. I truly miss the place, which closed in 2001 and still have many fond memories. The bottom level was a video game arcade and the upper level was loaded with pinball (and a shooting gallery.) At the time, games like Tron and Dragon's Lair blew me away and I found out very quickly that I could get more out of a quarter playing an video game than pinball (except maybe Dragons Lair.) I still liked watching the older kids play pinball though, the more interesting ones being the kids with a lit cigarette hanging out of their mouths and a look on their face that said beat it kid, your cramping my style.

The artwork of the playfields, backglass and sound effects were all fascinating to me (especially that one pinball that made sexy girl sounds each time the ball hit a bumper.) In the end though, I was young and bad at it. Fast foward a bunch of years, I'm the teenager now, driving with friends to different locations in order to play Mortal Kombat II and III. Two of my favorite locations, a bowling alley because it had a 1993 Indiana Jones pinball adventure and a local pool joint that had a Terminator 2 pin. Both were amazing to play when taking a break from Mortal Kombat.

Fast Foward a bit more and there I am in the Knights Lounge of UCF, playing Medieval Madness. This is the game that broke me. It was the most incredible pinball I had ever played to that date. Girls and grades did not exist while I was seeing multiball madness! I spent so much time and money playing that game that I was consumed. My girlfriend broke up with me, my grades suffered and I found myself living on the street begging for quarters just to play another game.

...Ok, maybe not that last bit...but it could have happened. Geez, I don't think I have played a pinball game for almost 20 years since.

My family/kids always comes first with me, but I made a little extra money during covid, having more time to paint and sell my side art, along with selling some of my old comics and toys. My goal was to buy a Multicade, Tron or Wizard of Wor. During my search I realized I could possibly afford a pinball game which felt much more exciting and Silver Spoons-ish.

I watched about a million youtube videos, playtested some pins and slowly started to learn what I liked and did not like in regards to pinball. I even enjoyed listening to the advise of some locals who where extremely happy to talk pinball to somebody just getting into the game.

Eventually I found a game that checked all the boxes for me and my purchase has just been overwhelming happiness.

I do have worrying thoughts of what am I going to do if the game stops turning on, a bulb goes out or the playfield splits open and explodes. Just figuring out what to use and not use to clean and protect the playfield was a harrowing task, but not so much as to deter me from searching for my next pin. ;)

No photos are attached to this story.

Congrats and welcome aboard! I have fond memories of playing Video games at Mystery Funhouse as well as The Exchange at Church Street Station. I remember playing TAF for the first time at the arcade on the 2nd floor of The Exchange and it was an awesome experience. I still live here in Orlando and have been collecting the last 12 years. Maybe one day we can meet up and play some pins. Take care and keep
Flippin!

Great story, though it sounds like you still have your wealth, power and the love of a beautiful woman...and you have a great pin to add to it. Don't worry about the game exploding or dying on you. I'm also in Florida (St. Pete) and there are plenty of techs around to help you fix whatever ails your baby. Welcome to the hobby. And, I'm sure you've heard this already, but be forewarned. Pins tend to reproduce, at times as prolifically as rabbits. BTW what did you select to be your first pin? You didn't say in the story.

He picked BKSOR per his collection page ;)

Congrats to Multilatedlips for his grand entry into the worlds of pinball playing and ownership. I returned to the hobby 20 years ago and was pulled back in due to TAF, so naturally that was the first pin I bought. It is nice having one pin to keep you anchored as you explore different aspects of the hobby. That TAF and 3 others have passed through my hands since and all are gone, I’ve had my fill. Content to play on location, TAF holds that special spot in my memories. I expect BKSoR will do that for Mutilated.

@PinBiz - Yes! how could I forget the Church Street Exchange?!? I don't remember seeing much pinball there, probably because I was a fighting game junkie. That place was a lot of fun just to walk around when you ran out of quarters and it felt cool to be "Downtown."
Rocky's Replay in Casselberry was a great place for pinball too and was one of my fun date spots in college.
I'm over by Sea World now, getting together in the future sounds like fun. We are adding on a Florida room, BKSOR will soon be out of the living room and have a home of its own (future mancave.)

@Charlemagne & Jeffspinballpalace - Yes, I bought a Black Knight Sword of Rage. I played about 30 different games at the Pinball Lounge in Oviedo and checked out tons of videos. If you are interested, some of the stand out reasons are below. You are right, I feel like I need at least one more pinball machine. My wife and I really enjoyed Willy Wonka and Elvira, but at the moment I am keeping my eyes open for a pin in a lighter, used, price range. That is reassuring that there are people around who can fix the machine if needed. I may be able to do some of the stuff myself, but likely not everything.

Adams Family is a very cool pin, that I played recently again at the Lounge. It was one of those stand out titles that I remember playing years ago. Hopefully I will hold on to BKSOR for a long time. My grandfather had an electric pinball game that my cousins and I remember fondly playing as kids. Part of me hopes to create the same kind memories for my guests.

BKSOR
I liked that it is fast paced and not a "floaty" pinball
I was originally looking for pinball from the early to mid 80's and this was shiny new with that retro feel I wanted.
I liked that I could tell what was going on and had time to view the video screen at the start of the creature battles. Some other games I liked (Elvira, Infinity Quest, Iron Maiden), I felt like I could never look up.
I liked seeing the whole playfield (unlike Stranger Things of which I could not see anything in the back.) Luckily I felt the 2nd tier wasn't much fun and blocked the top playfield, saving me a lot of money buying the Pro model.
The music doesn't seem to get old. I love Guns n Roses, but to hear the same songs over and over...I wasn't sure of how that was going to make me feel.
It is a challenge and the call outs make it feel like I have a brutal opponent. One of the call outs is from Mortal Kombat, whoohoo! lol

If you just glue a handle on your glasses, they won't fall off while you're playing pinball.

Just like the tie rods on a '72 Buick

Welcome to the pinball owners club! Beware, they become like potato chips! You just can't stop! I find myself always dreaming about my next pin. (I probably drive my husband crazy.) Our first pin was a Last Action Hero and our latest addition to the family is a Baby Pac-man.

BKSOR is fun and fast. It is one of the few games where I prefer the pro version because I like to be able to see the full ball play. Nice choice!

Welcome to the hobby. Save your money. You will need it for more machines.

Thanks, lol. Yeah I already have a new-ish pin on the way. Picked up a 90s x-files pin and hopefully will round out the collection with an 80s machine in the future. Lol

Welcome. Village BBS website is your friend.

http://villagebbs.com/forum/index.php?board=5.0

Love The Mystery Funhouse when I lived in the Orlando area. That and The Fun Machine in Altamonte Springs!

I grew up in Orlando and had probably 7 of my birthday’s at mystery fun house though my addiction to pinball came from a local joint called Rockys Replay. They had some awesome pinballs lined up. Monster bash, MM, Adams family and a few others over the years.

Also church street station pre-2000 was awesome! The arcade and the Old town magic shop was my favorite place in the world as a kid.

Fun machine sounds familiar but I'm not sure if I have ever been there.

Rocky's replay was a great place to take a girl on a date back when I was in college.
Yeah I miss those days of wandering around church street station. The games at the exchange were a blast and even the shops were fun to walk around in. The new age rock and mineral store, fudge making, I even remember a holographic art store near the piano bar and jungle Jim's. There was even Terror on church street and a great underground record store on orange Ave.
Who would think those days would end so quickly?