I’d like peoples opinion on the minimum age to have a pinside acct. my youngest, who is thirteen, asked if he could have an account. He is a huge 80’s nerd, and loves pins and arcades, jolt cola, 80’s music, etc. he helps me work on my machines, and goes to pick up new ones with me. He’s gone to MGC and expo for many years now, and wants to goto Vegas to the pinball hall of fame. He’s even been in a Todd Tuckey episode. I know many of the conversations here would go over his head, but it might benefit him to read through the tech pages and learn more. Some day, most of my machines will be his. Thoughts?

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Thanks guys for the input, he’s a great kid. It’s through kids like him that our hobby will live on after we’re gone. The pic is from last yrs expo, so he’s a yr bigger now. Man how time flies. We were at the Garcade on Wednesday, and he was commenting on how we need this or that game because this one has this shot, and it feels great. And how that one the geometry seemed off, but the flipper may need some adjustment.... I wasn’t thinking like that at 13 I tell ya. Anyone around Menomonee falls needs to stop by the Garcade, they have really upped their game. A ton more pins! Nice job guys.

I’m leaning towards letting him do it. The thing is, his older brother whom is 15, I would have no issues letting sign up. But he’s more into computer and Xbox games rather than pins. So my line is prob around 14-15, but Ethan is a mature 13. He bikes all over town to go to game shops. I will suggest better to be seen than heard for awhile. For me, I think if the worst thing he looks up on the internet is pinball stuff, I’m doing ok as a parent. Unfortunately, I’m sure kids at his school are on porn sites already. So I’ll keep checking in on him, and talk to him about what he’s discovering. The poll on here is surprisingly close.

I created an account for him, Kakashi2006. It’s some sort of Japanese cartoon character thing he’s been identifying with lately. Hopefully by including his birth yr people will recognize he is a minor and to exercise restraint. Anyway I’ll keep him under my wing for a couple yrs, and monitor his activities, and we’ll see if this works out. I’d like to present him with his first pinside badge at expo, so I won’t tell him about his account until then.