When our neighbor kids come over, I keep all the keys in my pocket and play host. I stay within earshot of them and listen. I'll take care of any ball hang ups, and I will turn a game off and back on if someone loads up 4 players and leaves for another game. I did get a kick out of a 5 year old who came over for the first time a month ago. He could not believe his eyes. He didn't say 1 word during the 30+ minutes that he played, he just ran around in circles to each game, loaded up credits, flapped both flippers, and then ran to a new game. He was experiencing extreme sensory overload!

It has been fun to watch certain kids ages 10 & 8, girl and boy, actually learn the strategy of the game and get better at it. They can then tell others how to get better. Also, now that they have played pinball, I always hear new stories from them playing pinball in the wild. (i.e. "I found an Attack From Mars at a pizza place and played it. They other kids couldn't believe how good I was at it!")

One thing I have done is to always give a certain time limit and stick to it. When I tell them it is either time to start a movie (movie night) or go home, they always finish wanting more... rather than playing until they become bored. My 4 year old doesn't love pinball yet, she thinks it is too hard. She does play my Galaga and she can get double ships, which is pretty amazing in my mind! Maybe she will enjoy pinball when she turns 5.

I am excited for WOZ to arrive, I think this group of neighbors is going to absolutely freak out when they play it! Right now CV and TOTAN are the favorites of the girls, MM and AFM are the favorites of the boys.

No drinks in the gameroom, don't punch things (or people).
For awhile there was a rule that shoes were required but I fixed that grounding issue.

Result of this thread: comprehensive list of who (and who not) to invite to a party.

Also, Pinball machines are the right height for body shots.

I don't have rules for my game room. I'm always amazed that someone actually wants to play pinball enough to be in there playing!

I hate [stupid] kids, this one with 3 ball - 1 minute 15 second game would be told to cut the crap. And if his parents game me crap about it "goodbye". The only that would cut a kid off quicker is slapping the glass. No tolrance. Swear, throw the bird, smack you head, but don't beat the machine. I'll try to tell you how to play and if don't listen . . .

I have sent my rules to people before coming over. The big three are Don't let the dog out, No It Is Not For Sale and don't drive away drunk.

Drinks? There is a bar at the end with at least 100 bottles of booze. Up stairs is a fridge with at least 4 shelves of mixed beer. Games in every room and lots of snacks but wash your hands if you are eating Cheese Doodles.

i'm guilty of this, although it's not "constant"... i'll give them a few flicks pretty regularly... it's more a habit than anything else, kinda like patting your glove when catching a ball... of course, i'm an em guy, and em pinball is a much more "physical" brand of game... you MUST give the machine a good thrashing in order to successfully play...

short of someone kicking the heck out of a machine (more because i don't want them to break their foot) or slamming the glass (safety first, when tempered glass breaks it's usually not pretty), bang away... a friend of mine came over today to see/play the new toys (new owner here) and i had to tell him to beat on them a bit, he wasn't using enough muscle...

of course, i also allow people to eat dinner, drink and smoke whatever they want in my theater too... my "toys" were purchased to be used, not admired... if they break, i'll fix them, and if they get dirty, i'll clean them...

I don't really let kids younger than about 6-8 yrs of age play them. Unless very well behaved.
No Food
No Drink
Don't play two games at once.
If you start it finish it.
I don't like "Monkey flipping" either but to each there own way if it breaks I will repair it.

Surprisingly an Adult was the only one attempting to set a beer on the glass while playing that pin. Um no.

Other than that welcome and have fun. There on freeplay and here is your beer =)

all my pins have pingulps on them helps from people trying to put drinks on the games,
no rules, just have fun, everything runs on tokens, so it stops the 4 player games,
just enjoy it, they are meant to be played and enjoyed, people are too anal,
just my .02

Now that's a party

Sounds like a blast.

jonnyo - the pinball kid vid was stupid funny. Nice find.

Food and drinks isn't a big concern in our game room. There's not much space to put foodstuffs, so the kids would have to go to the kitchen or living room to eat or drink something.

As long as there's no kicking or hitting the machines, I don't care *how* kids play pinball. They're playing to have fun, not to beat my high scores (Good Lord!). Up to an age of, say 7-8 (just guessing) they won't comprehend the gameplay anyway. It's just whacking that silver ball all over the field.

So forget about telling them "Just one game after another, 3 balls each". Hey, even many adults don't understand how long a game lasts with the occasional extraball, multiballs and ball saves. How should children get that? Let them have 4 player games, they'll start squabbling whose turn it is next after two or three balls anyway.
They don't see "one game" as a series of three consecutive balls - "one game" is playing on one machine until it get's boring.

I agree - "machine gunning" is annoying. Not because it's not helping with the game, but rather because it's noisy. Like kids with a toy whistle - it get's really on your nerves, but they're *kids*. You have to endure that (to a certain amount).

Seriously - you really make people take off their wedding rings and/or belt buckles? I'd get an "emergency call" and leave a Nazi party such as that.

My wife has an Aunt that is nuts like this. When you enter her house, taking your shoes off is NOT good enough. She meets you at the door and hands you a pair of socks...to put over top of your own socks. You are not allowed to sit down until she first lays down a towel. Her daughter - when old enough - moved to the complete and utter opposite end of the lower 48 states. And to top it off, when the lady comes to your house - she's the complete opposite and doesn't show your property even a fraction of the respect she demands of hers.
I'd hate to live in complete and utter fear of damaging "stuff". Must be a pretty miserable experience. It's just stuff - it doesnt matter in the grand scheme of things. You'll feel alot better if you just go ahead and put at least one small ding somewhere on each of your games. Get it over with, then get back to enjoying them for what they are - fun games!

Dings are like scars - they remind you that you LIVED. A person with no scars has lived a crappy, boring life. Same with pins. A pin that doesnt have a single ding has lived a crappy, unplayed life.

We set pizza boxes on a machine last night and used it as a buffet table. OMG THE HORROR.

This video that jonnyo posted with the kid playing TSPP, reminds me a lot of my mom playing pinball at my house. She doesn't try to time her shots. She just keeps pushing the flipper buttons continuously. Whack whack whack whack! Good thing my pins are players.

My mom did the same thing and I politely asked her to leave.

She is on notice to stay at least 6ft away from WOZ at all times.

Way to many rules, my friend. Try collecting paintings, then you can just rope them off and no one will think anything of it.

These are commercial machines, meant to take plenty of abuse, they are not delicate flowers

No boinking on the invisa-glass

That's pretty funny. Step away from the pin!

I just plan on cleaning them after parties.

well your no fun

Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice, pull down your pants and slide down the ice.

Kids visiting make me a little crazy, but these things were meant to be played with in public 24/7. If they break, I'll fix them.

You'd have passed out at my place. I'd have 2 Birthday parties a year (for each of my kids) with lots of adults and children. I'd check in from time to time and I'd find 4 player games sitting there with no one playing. Kids would just flip endlessly etc... Oh well.
For most of those parties I'd have some serious collector quality machines and somehow they survived.
I had a MB in better than new condition (clearcoated PF new decals, etc..) and a near perfect MM.
You cannot expect a 3 year old to follow rules in a gameroom. My 2 year old likes to put her mouth on the glass. I have pretty much one rule. No shoes in the house. I like to keep my carpets clean and keep my allergies at bay. (shoes drag in pollen and other allergens into carpet)
My advice to you....don't invite anyone over.

Yeah. One rule. The person that has the most fun wins.

Try running an arcade. It's hell.

so basically i can rest assured that at any time, there's absolutely no chance of any sexy, well-manicured cowgirls covered in chocolate, anywhere near you or your pinball machines.

you sure know how party!

-jon

wife got me this sign for my arcade, which is the second floor of my shop.

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