Played BK and Gorgar in the mall arcade ("The Land of Oz") while my aunt was waiting in line (interminably) for tickets to "Empire Strikes Back". I had recently received the "Speech Synthesizer Module" for my TI99-4A computer as a birthday gift, so I was very enamored with the speech stuff and these games played right into that.

I say it was my "start" because somehow the stars aligned, and I put high scores on both machines that night; it's the point at which I started to "get" pinball beyond simply keeping the ball from draining.

I started playing in 1955!

First quarter ever went into Air Aces as Elton John's Pinball Wizard was playing over the loudspeaker at the bowling alley while I tried over and over to hit all the drop targets.

My jaw dropped when Lost World showed up later.

Needed to find a hobby during Covid and have cycled thru and refurbed 6 machines with 2 keepers... 79 KISS (restored by Land of Oz) and Capt. Fantastic.

118768687_10217601075166324_7260195818086198529_o (resized).jpg

162541920_10218949816084004_9218050927450966401_n (resized).jpg

JFK was president.