My Life With Pinball!!!

I was born in 1962. From 1952 untill 1984, my family owned and operated a drive-in theater in Swainsboro Ga.. In the snack-bar, there was always a pinball machine. I can't remember the different names of the machines, but I could play the crap out of them! I started car-hopping at about 6 years-old. I would spend my spare time playing, using my tip money. I got so good, that I would win the max 10 games, then sell them to someone else who was waiting to play. In the morning cleanup time, my brother and I would play when all work was finished! One of my jobs was to clean the glass on the machine. Between the ages of 6-12, I would spend all day Saturday making things in my "Thingmaker", then lay out a sheet over the pinball to display my "goods" for sale that night! About 1979-80, my dad decided to buy our own machine, instead of using a "route" machine. You could hardly ever get the vendor to come rob the machine. We bought a Laserball! I could play it blindfolded. In my sleep! I still have that machine, tucked away in an outbuilding! He closed the theater in 1984 due to heart problems. Until lately, Laserball was the last machine I had played.There was nowhere else to play pinball in my hometown. Only last year did I discover all the machines that have been made since Laserball. The evolution is incredible!!! I have fallen in love with the hobby all over again!!!With all the great titles released in the last 30 years, I feel like a fat kid in a candy-store!!! My first game was a CFTBL. Perfect for me, don't you think? [Drive-In Theme]. Next was Gotlieb's Strikes & Spares.

Then The Machine BOP, and finally TAF! All are Near-Mint! I check Craig'slist every day for my next aquisition. I also have 2 OMT CD wurlitzer jukeboxes, wurlitzer bubble speaker, 2 Cleveland neon clocks, 1883 Brunswick Balke-Collander pool table w accessories.,!920 soda-fountain backbar, movie posters and speakers from the drive-in!!! This is MY room, to escape the wife and kids, even though they're always welcome! I don't think they appreciate my room as much as I do! And I don't really care!!! Another reason I like pinball is the community of others involved. Everyone is VERY helpful and friendly. There is a vast number of suppliers of parts, mods, and info. In the old days, if the machine broke, you were at the mercy of a vender for repairs. Not so now! You can now get the parts, tools, and instructions and do it yourself! That's also part of the fun, Knowing you fixed it yourself!

That makes your machines that much more personable!!!

Anyways, thanks to everyone who has helped me, and feel free to let me know if I can help you, as well!!!

Tony