A Month of Pinball Fever

What's a good combination to not have much pinball around? How about being born in the mid 2000s in a rural area? The nearest big city is about an hour and a half away at most, but every time we've to a major city, we didn't exactly have any time for an arcade pitstop. The only time I can remember actually playing a physical pinball table was somewhere between 2011-2013, where the campground my family stays at had a table in the game room. I vividly remember hearing the machine shout "Come on, add a coin!" when you pressed a flipper. (If I remember correctly, and I think I am, it was Wipe Out by Gottileb, but I think the call outs came from a much more aggressive man than the actual callouts.)

That wasn't to say I didn't enjoy it. Even though I don't think I played that table, I remember I enjoyed this Bumper Ball (pinball, but instead of hitting with flippers, you move a bumper around) minigame on some casual minigame compilation for the DS. Plus, I spent many hours on Annoying Orange Pinball on Catoon Network's website, even fighting to make it on the leaderboard (when that was a thing), and for those weekends at camp where I couldn't get internet (which was most weekends), The Pinball Arcade was there for me.

Now here's something I only feel comfortable about talking anonymously: I am autistic. One of the many quirks of being autistic is having strong special interests, where we sometimes develop strong fixations on certain topics. At the end of 2022 and going into 2023, I developed one for pinball. If I had to summarize why, I figured I needed to start using my Switch again for something, and since I didn't need to worry about my brother having both chargers, I knew there was no beating around the bush. When I went back in to see what was on the Switch, I was greeted to ony of my options being the Pinball Arcade. While I initilaly favored some Monopoly, that soon faded, and to the Pinball Arcade I went. I was looking to expand my pinball collection because while I very much enjoyed Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, I wanted to try out some tables that I heard people talk highly about.

Thus, with some leftover gift card money, I bought my first table pack so I could play Black Hole. (It also came with Rescue 911, (which I had some experience with on The Pinball Arcade's iOS version,) Wipe Out, Bone Busters Inc., El Dorado: City of Gold, & the Goin' Nuts prototype.) I also downloaded Zaccaria's collection & Pinball FX3, which gave me some more wiggle room. Plus, I had an extra dollar to spare for the seeming mega pack of retro tables. However, I did not realize that by retro, the devs meant 1950s, and it felt like they were more of novelty tables than anything. Ah, well, at least I had some other tables to play.

However, here we are, and I just bagged myself two more Gottileb packs last night (specifically the 3rd & EM Gottileb packs). It's not until you truly spend time with this hobby that you realize it's not just crossing your fingers and hoping for the ball to hit bell-ringing bumpers. I've also grown much more appreciative of EM tables than before, because helps me to realize what makes pinball so special.