Every generation has their own interests. And they aren't always things we like.

Not a bad thing. Just not what they are into.

LTG : )

I'm not a parent, but I am a geeky uncle. Until I have room at home, my parents are holding onto my SOF for a bit. I got a call from my brother last Sunday, asking how to turn it on. Soon after, I can't hear him over the CLAK CLAK CLAK of my 5 year old niece going to town on it. The 9 year old is too into Minecraft to care though. But the 5 year old was all about it. I thought she was going to climb into the machine when I opened it up to fiddle with it.

I don't know exactly why she's interested in it; if it's because it's a big toy, or it's Uncle Trav's toy, or the sheer magic of seeing something new like a pinball inside. Honestly, I don't care. I'm enjoying the shared interest, even if it's a flavor of the month thing.

My son is 12 and has played less than an hour in his lifetime with a whole basement full of pins. He plays baseball, football, basketball and video games so I can't complain. My niece does play when she is over. Just how it is.

I'm getting back into playing pinball, my biggest problem isn't knowing the rules and goals of gameplay. maybe explaining the games to kids would help?

Those games you played when you were young are different than games in your home. They were on the beach. You didn't get to go there every day. Big difference. It wasn't just pinball.

Kids vary greatly, but mostly by age. When they're young, anything their parents do is golden. You could be a stamp collector and they would think that's the most awesome hobby ever. You could listen to nothing but Liberace music and your kids would think Liberace rocks. Once they get older, near being a teenager, suddenly everything their parents do is horrible. Stamp collecting? Old and busted. Liberace? No way. It's often very predictable and fun to watch. Enjoy the ride. It won't last long.

The cool part is, once they become an adult, they begin to figure out that maybe mom and dad do have a clue. My 27 year old son has gotten back into pinball big time. He's beating my scores on location, which leaves me with mixed emotions. My son is becoming a kick ass player, but he's knocking off my high scores. I'm proud and pissed off all at once. d

When our kids are in their 40s, they are going to be collecting ancient iPhones with the games they used to love on them.

"Shit man, I can't believe back in the day, we just threw those old iPhones away. Think what they would be worth today!?!!"

The first thing I'd do is teach kids how to use the flippers properly.

Both my kids enjoy playing, however my son has gone off the deep end. He constantly tries to sing Thunderstruck, TNT, and A Pirates Life For Me. When he sees my cell phone he is trying to pinball arcade. I think I am in trouble he just turned two three weeks ago!

My son is 11 and he likes to play his Playstation and X-box 360 online with his friends. He used to play a little pinball with me when he was 8-9 years old, but he's shown no interest in it since.

I actually wondered if I got some newer Sterns, if they'd appeal to him more than my collection of my favorite W/B pins from the 90's? New LE and premium Sterns have those cool looking color changing LED lightshows and newer rulesets which seem to get you into the action ASAP. Hmmmmm... sounds like an excuse to buy some more pins, LOL. I doubt it would interest him though. Anyone have success "modernizing" their collection resulting in their kids finding interest in the newer Sterns?

I have a 16 year old he enjoys playing as much as I do and has most of the high scores on the machines. He also looks a craigslist and lets me know when pins are for sale.

If my kid doesn't like pinball they will be grounded

Don't do it! If your kid is not really interested in pinball now then changing the pins is not going to really do anything. You will be a sad panda if you get rid of MM , MB or AFM. Those pins go for stupid prices. Take your kid to a place that has a lineup of the newer Stern games to see if he has any interest at all.

The newer pins wont get them playing much more than a few games to check em out the x-box 360 online is just to much fun for them and with out a cell phone at this age its there best way to talk to there buddys so the pins are kinda just for the old guys oh well OLD GUYS RULE right

Have 20 plus pins, the kids could'nt care less.

20 pins!
I'm up for adoption if you need a kid who is into pinball.

I think pinball has always been geared towards a slightly older crowd. I remember back in the 80's it was always the 'older' kids that were playing pinball. Lots of people I know started playing in college. I didn't start playing until I owned a house and started a game room. It wasn't something I was too interested in as little kid, but it really appealed to me as an adult who had been through it all with video games already.

Brian

Pinball can be a tough sell... My two kids play it sometimes... not always... but they will ask to play every now and again. On the flip side, I have a bunch of friends who come over to have dome hockey battles. Out of about 11 guys, only 2 or 3 touch the pins. Most of them are shocked to learn there are rule sets... etc.

Pinball is tough because it can be difficult to explain. I think that's its greatest barrier... understanding the game. And, frankly, you often have a 1 minute selling period to get someone interested. We all know it can take 10-15 plays to even begin to get a feeling for a game.

Bottom line, kids or adults, they have to have an interest in learning, otherwise, it doomed to fail from the beginning.

He'll be laughing when you see the nursing home he picked out for you. Funeral, Ha, let the county bury him.

LTG : )

Don't have kids, but my sister always complains when I bring a new machine into the house. That all changed when Theatre of Magic came in one morning. I still can't beat her high score.

They keep asking to play more and more.

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It's a mixed bag at our house. When the kids have friends over they usually want to show off the pins... but the interest doesn't usually last very long, maybe only a game or two before something else distracts them. It's rare, but I've seen a few kids around age 10-13 really turn onto it and play entranced for a half an hour or so. The ones that are really into it seem to almost be on the spectrum, if you know what I mean. Maybe this says something about all of us!

Nope kids not into it one bit. Now the boyfriends tend to be drawn to pins which is a great diversion away from the focus on my daughters

I have kids I dont enjoy as much as this hobby, does that qualify?

My kids love playing pinball and come to pinball tournaments with me.

Yep my son is 6 and he got hooked when I took him to Pinburgh. He's always played mine but now he goes to our monthly tournaments and looks forward to it all month. Loves going with me on road trips to pick up new games and all.

I think showing him how to control the ball and that there are rules and goals really helped. He likes getting multiball so I always show him what he needs to do to make it happen.

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My son (age 24) is as passionate about pinball as I am. Matter of fact, he talked me into making my first pin purchase.

When I can tear her away from her laptop, she likes to play....not as much as I do. She's more of a geek I guess, she wants to build her own. I just have to learn how the insides work better so I can teach her.

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I also have some help with the schematics.

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I'm one for two: a son who plays frequently and a daughter who couldn't be paid to play.

The kids used to play more when they were younger, but now it's all about the X-Box...

Pinball used to make a great baby sitter! LOL!

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My kids run straight to the MAME and leave the pinballs in the dust. I don't have a very big or impressive collection though, maybe that's why.

When you have pinball machines in your house, I think kids take it for granted a bit & its not as special as when we were kids & only enjoyed them at arcades or places around town, & you were also limited by quarters but that also made each game more important (its easy to forget about that part now that we have games in our houses set to free play). Maybe they will appreciate pinball more when they move out? & surely you've at least planted a seed of nostalgia in their brains where they will have fond memories associated with pinball & maybe even want to get some themselves.

Damn kids today and their new fangled Playstations n iphones.

My daughter who is 10 is a pin freak. She bought her own Cleopatra and worships TFTC, BK and Gorgar.

The boy (9) I thought was not into pins, until I bought SST and now he can't stop playing.

He loves video games ( mostly Neo Geo, Atari jag and Xbox 360), while she hates vids but loves pins.

I'm super lucky

Nice collection if you ask me.

Pinball is kind of like the prize you get at the bottom of a cereal box with kids. As they get older, it becomes less impressive with them for some reason. In my case, I'm still digging through the cereal box for the promised prize inside.

My kids could care less.. all I get is "that's neat Dad".

It's too bad hindsight is always 20/20... we may look back on this post and realize, "oh man, Vid was a visionary!"

I may be saving my iPhones now... just in case.

There was little interest, then, one day, BAM, it's like the oldest hit some magic early teenage birthday and suddenly he AND HIS FRIENDS got into them. Which got their younger friends into them and it took off.

I just think that they like videogames, but they're sameold sameold with this gen (which is the exact opposite it was with us), so mechanical entertainment is much more novel.

What goes around, comes around.

I'll be fascinated to see how WOZ does in my environment.

My oldest (17) has no interest in pins. Youngest (15) loves them, does a lot of soldering and work. His toolbox is kept by the pins and I buy doubles of everything for tools. He gets a set for his box we use on the pins.

bought two pins for THEM (wink wink) as christmas gifts. they were about 7 and 9. played with them for a couple of years, but as I knew nothing about maintaining them, there was a lot of downtime. so with that interest waned by all. as i have posted here, ad nauseum i am afraid, sold both (TZ and STTNG) for $1800, as I tired of calling for fixes.

now I have 4 machines (NGG, WCS94, LOTR, WPT) and my daughter (23) , still in the house, plays only on occasion and mumbles about being "unlucky" , and goes back upstairs. lol When my son (25) comes over, he plays every time, but not for too long. I am hoping the NGG will be up and running (board issue) and that my daughter will find it more fun than the others (just got the WCS and the NGG). When her friends come over they all seem to play for a longer period of time.

I can now address some of the issues (soldered on my pin for the first time yesterday to finish off a flipper repair!!!!) so they should all run more consistently and with that I hope they play more often.

I'm saving that picture! Looks like one of our cats too lol

Thanks! I just started collecting two or three months ago. I wish I had your Tales From The Crypt.