The last machine I remember seeing on location within 50 miles of my house was a High Speed in a 7-11 game room around 87 or 88. If there was anything on location after that, I don't remember seeing it or knowing about it. The arcades in my city just had video games. After 7-11 got rid of the High Speed and their whole gameroom, I had no pinball to play other than pinball simulations on the computer or on gaming systems, and that didn't cut it.

When the 90's came, I heard news of Williams/Bally releasing all these incredible pins, but I had no place to go and check them out anywhere close to me.

Then 2007 comes around and I have a chance to buy my first game, a TZ. This pin was 14 years old at the time, but it was new to me. Now I've been making up for lost time as all the machines built after that HS I last played at 7-11 are all new to me. It's been great, I must admit, to be able to go down into my gameroom and fire up a pin and play it to my heart's content. If I didn't have them, I'd probably not be playing anywhere on location, as I still know of no pins on location anywhere close to me.