Ken's Obsession

When I was 7-10 years old (mid 60's) I would spend summers with my Grandmother at her cottage on the north shore of Lake Erie. 4 houses down there was a convenience store and they had a game room in back with 5-6 pinball machines. We would collect cast off pop bottles along the rural roads and turn them in for pinball money. The games I remember were Turf Champ and Miss Annabelle plus a pitch and bat game. The pitch and bat game would not record the out if you yanked the plug as the ball was heading for an out. You could plug it back in and carry on with the game. With my cousins assisting we'd play all day on that game.

One time the repair man would drop in and he would always leave a few games on the machines. And it was pretty cool watching him fix the machines. One day he actually left 40+ games on this Williams machine but another kid got the machine first. I asked "You going to share?" the LB (little bastard) said "Nope". I said "you better, the repairman is still up front, I'll go tell him!" And the LB "go ahead" So I did and the repairman came back and cleared all but a couple of games. Fixed his wagon but good. :-)

I wanted to get a game at home but parents wouldnt allow it, saying when you get your own place you can.

Well after graduating from college and moving out to Regina Saskatchewan I did just that. In 1981 I found a Kings and Queens game as well as a Buckaroo. I sold the Buckaroo to a buddy who was in Calgary and Ive retained the Ks&Qs for 34 years. Also bought a Sweet Hearts game, held it for 12 years then sold it. (Found another HUO just recently)

Last year my records show I sold 10 bought 12. Doing lots of restoration and painting these days.