Finally made it over to this thread! Love to meet other women into pinball!

My name is Nancy, and I've been into pinball ever since I was a tiny kid looking to see if there were any unplayed balls on the machines at the bowling alley. I did a ton of research into owning my own machine back in the mid-90's, but life kept getting in the way, and eventually I stopped looking. That would have been the end of it, except for a rainy day at Disney this past winter. My 14 year old son has Aspergers, and was really upset that our final day's plans were being ruined by the rain. To help him get "unstuck", I took him to the hotel arcade. There was a PoTC there, and by the end of the day, my son was playing it with me. Pinball has turned into a great way for us to hang out together--we take road trips to different arcades in the area and play together on his iPad. My husband is not seriously into pinball, but he likes playing with me--we go on occasional date nights to the bar down the street that has a TWD. His hobby is garden railroading, so we don't fight over the space for our interests, lol.

I recently bought a really cheap project machine to start teaching myself how to mess around in machines, and I'm aiming to buy a newer machine next spring. I'm also hoping to eventually get a NGG for my son, since that's his favorite machine, but first I have to pay off his braces. I'd love to eventually have a sweet home arcade like some of the spaces that you've all shared--for right now, I'm glad to be able to tuck a machine in a corner here and there!

Has anyone developed tricks for working around heavy pins with weaker arms? For example, I was pulling a playfield out the other day, and I was able to pull it almost all the way out. I couldn't haul it up high enough to set the side bar in place though (I didn't feel like I was safely supporting the weight with one hand), so I had to ask my husband to come set it for me.

I'd describe my strength as average for a woman. I'm able to help move some of my pins, although the NGG with the box still attached was a bit more weight than I can safely carry. We got it inside fine, but not without a few hairy moments. I'd like to be a little more self-sufficient so that I'm not stuck always waiting for my husband to be free to help me out!

Congrats PavBall!! Kids are awesome...at least until they start hogging all the GCs on your machines, haha!!

And congrats on your ranking, Danni! That's an achievement you should definitely be proud of! I remember working my butt off when I was young to beat my dad at bowling--when I finally did it, I kept that scoresheet taped up at home for years.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only person who thinks of strength training days as "pinball workouts" lol! I know I need to not be so "delicate" when I'm handling the machines. Moving more decisively will help when I'm working on playfields. But I am jealous of everyone who posts about moving their machines around solo! Other than sliding them around an inch or two, my pins just start laughing at me when I try to budge them!

I'm going to be there Thursday and Friday (and a tiny bit on Saturday). Can not wait!!!

We did kinda run into each other but I didn't know it was you at the time, lmao, or else I would have said hello! Late Thurs night in the vendor hall over by the Stern display--I'm the gal that had blue highlights in my hair and geeky glasses.

Squeeeeeee! Adorable babies (and doggies!)! Congrats on the new little ones.

Also, welcome Natay-tay! Looks like you have some sweet pins!

I personalized my latest notebook at work lol.
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Rumor has it that justanottergirl will be there, but I ended up putting my travel budget elsewhere. Will be at VFW and Pintastic though.

Any club members planning on being at VFW this weekend beside justanottergirl and me?

Welcome @lucysuros! I’m sadly on the other coast, but congrats on the new pin! GoTG is a lot of fun to play!

At league last week, some of the guys were having a conversation about the things they bought their wives to make up for the pins they brought home. They turned and asked my husband what he had done.

“Uhhhh...So is my wife supposed to be buying ME stuff every time she brings home a new pin?

Welcome @roadmarks! It’s tough to be far away from any good places to play, but the more you hang around here, the more people you’ll get to know. 2-3 years ago I didn’t know anyone and now I have a bunch of pinball pals!

Wow it’s been super quiet in here! Was laughing with my husband yesterday that my Xmas wish list looked like it was for two different people—I asked for tools and pinball supplies, and then I also asked for lots of fuzzy soft pajamas and LUSH bath goodies!

I guess I was pretty good this year since I got both!!