friends and beer. Not necessarily in that order.

enjoying my self, get into my bubble in my own space a few minutes a day and forget about everything else.

fixing, modding, trying different things.

Getting in the groove on a game and really killing the high score or roll-over. The mastery of man over machine. What a rush!

Playing pinball with friends!

DEFINITELY the friends, the pinball parties, getting the latest scoop on Pinside about the new releases and code updates and buying some of the excellent mods you guys (and gals) make for the pins. For that, I thank you!

By far...the people I meet.

This hobby is responsible for some of my closest friends.

30 millions on BSD. Nothing gets more pinball nirvana than that to me.

The satisfaction of reassembling a machine and learning something new. And actually beating teenagers at something other than the playstation.

Finally, I've been thinking about this ever since that other thread started. Too much negative stuff nowadays, time for some positive things. And for me it's easy - I like playing pinball.

I just like playing, always have, always will. I def enjoy the competitive side of it. But more than "beating" people i just enjoy making a machine my bitch

Meeting new friends that share my hobby.

Maybe I have had a beer or three too many, but this quote coupled with your username of beatmaster had me LOL'ing.

lolll, not the first time someone's using my nickname depending on what i said... lollll

it's even funnier when it's someone call skins

Playing, competing, people, beer, fixing, tweaking.

I like the Physical Presence and Artistry of pinball most of all. The best pinball machines to me really are pop art and the ultimate physical toys. Very unique in the modern day in contrast to mainstream video games. In establishing a gaming environment pinball is a must!

For me it's the fact that these intricate,complex and nearly indestructable machines are so much fun.

I like to try to fix something that's really been bugging me, and when it's finally solved...
-- feel like a hero...
-mof

Looking back at everything that I've accomplished and done so far in this hobby and knowing there's more great things to come that I've just not gotten to yet. I take great pride in sharing it with others that are just as passionate about the art of creating something that everyone can enjoy.

John P. Dayhuff
Battle Creek, Mi.
269-979-3836

Temporarily escaping the stresses of real life to that little world under the glass where nothing else matters but the silver ball.

The nostalgia of it. It's great having the the machines that used to clean the quarters out of my pocket, in my basement to play and fix.

Here are more random things I love:

The quick-latch system on Data East/Sega/Stern games.

The disappearing magnet on ToTAN.

The details on the underside of a Gottlieb DMD game. Drawings galore...

Eye socket locks in the skull of CSI.

Lit ramps on Tron LE

Bill Ung's AFM saucer mod.

ColorDMDs

Spinning disc magnet on XMen, Twister and Lost in Space.

Stargazer Backglass

Watching my wife have a great game on a pin...

1. Playing, to me at least, is RELAXING.
2. The people. I had a baseball card business for 19 years and then collected and sold Hot Wheels for another 11 years. Let me preface what I am about to say by stating that you are going to have no-good idiot knucklehead people in almost EVERYTHING you get involved in. Having said that, let me now say that in the baseball card world the good guys outnumbered the numbskulls somewhere around 70%-30%. In the Hot Wheels hobby...on it's BEST day...I would say those that did things right with an air of courtesy and professionalism was MAYBE 50%-50% (people are the reason I got of the hobby, by the way)

In the world of pinball out of all the people I have met, how many would I group in the "suspect integrity" category? Two at most. Granted, one of those was a person that I will give the benefit of the doubt because they may not have KNOWN what they were doing was wrong. The other one was just a person that has been obnoxious EVERY TIME we have crossed paths on the internet. Aside from those two? ALL YOU PEOPLE ARE ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!

And THAT'S what I like the best about pinball...

CraZ and Pinchroma's informative discussions on what makes this hobby so fun to be in.

i love playing even though im not great . i love watching how excited my wife is to turn on metallica and play a few games !

The rubber bungy?

No...the Allen wrench for the backbox.

After destroying soooooo many B/W latches, I appreciate the Stern system.

Preserving history!!

Oh yeah for sure...awesome invention! I'd even put it ahead of Capcom's fold down speaker/dmd panel which is the bomb

Oh man, so much to like:

The light shows

The sound effects, especially when the game's cranked up loud

The competition, whether a 2-player game or trying for a personal best

Having the games I played 30 years ago in my own home

Trying a game for the first time and it turns out to be great

Turning out the lights, turning on the games, and just sitting and watching attract mode

Forgetting about my crappy day while I'm immersed in a game

Working on them (although that can be a pain sometimes)

All the help and advice available from other pinheads

The fact that there is a veritable ocean of things to learn about fixing pins

I like that I only have to press two buttons

Nice and simple

Tearing down games, moving games, and setting up games. These are the things I like
Terry.

Putting up initials, hanging with friends and playing and learning a new (or old game), meeting new friends and playing in general.

Also love how pinball reflects the times, the artwork and themes etc.

How do I start the game?

HOW DO I START THE GAME?????

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!

(Sees Shadow, faints).

Did I mention Pinballlife as something I love?

Because....I sure do.

the machines themselves Soooooo many different ones , Playing them , learning more about them , having good games and achieving goals on them, working on them/fixing them ,Modifying them, when I have a problem I can get help on this forum (love that) meeting people at pinball events & the events themselves , all the funny people and comments on the threads I read on here , the overall challenge that pinball brings, the addiction Itself in all of its forms

I like meeting and talking to people in person. There's about a 95% chance it'll be pleasant whereas here! about 95% chance it'll be an argument.

Playing the games with others.

I forgot to mention LED OCD

The people.

I've met some really nice people through the years.

LTG : )™

1. The people
2. Fixing broken games
3. Putting high scores on games...I put the number three high score on a local MM tonight.. 64 and change. Felt pretty good

How do you start a game?

Did anybody cite sarcasm?

Reliving some mother/daughter memories with JP and TAF as our first pins, because those are the ones we snuck off to the mall arcade to play the most when I was a teenager. Introducing my husband to a new hobby and bringing a project Spiderman (his favorite comic) back to life together.

Decorating my JP area with posters and little dinos, then when we got more and more pins and took over another room, dedicating the whole wall beside my JP to a 6 foot hot pink T-Rex decal that's lording over the game. Converting a 1970s decor basement into a modern arcade space with a lime green fireplace and LED accented walls, because my husband and I are just geeky and weird enough to do it and not care what other people think.

Making friends online and a few in person. Going to the Florida expo 2 years ago and meeting Art/Oldpinguy then going to his house last year to play his pins. Meeting a few guys I'd never seen in person and they acted like we were old friends. Going to the Atlanta Expo this year and playing A list games that I'd never seen or touched before. Today getting a couple of PMs from people who were saddened by my other thread posting, and them offering to invite me to any big future pin gatherings so I can feel a little more included in the hobby.

And that despite the bickering, outright fighting, clashing of opinions, etc that goes on on Pinside, when tragedy strikes or there's a cause that needs our help, everyone bands together and gets it done. We put our differences aside to donate to children who need medical equipment, grieve with those that have lost loved ones, play detectives for those who have been taken advantage of or stolen from, offer to help complete strangers out states away, donate to charity raffles, and send postcards to sick kids to make their day despite it having nothing to do with pinball.

I like all the GREAT people I've met.The pinball world is truly full of first class people!

New people I have met via pinside that are now great friends beyond pinball.

My favorite thing is stepping up to a game I don't know and learning it with friends for an evening.
I need more of that!

That my wife enjoys it along with me. I came home from work yesterday and she said lets go play Spiderman, an hour later we had put 2player games on all the pins in the pin cave. Good times!

My lady loves some Met Pro I'll tell you that.

EDIT: Which is good becasue then i don't have to play W?D

Two player game
Epic battle
Ball three just drains
The scores are close
Bonus calculating
Cha Ching
Cya Ching
X 22

For the win by a minimal amount!

I love the thrill of the hunt when you realize there's a pin you want. Everyone, and I mean everyone that I've bought from and sold to have all been great people.

I love going to the shows. For how much complaining there is about them, I think they're fantastic!

I love living 30 minutes from Mike Pacak. It's great stopping out there to just shoot the breeze for a few hours. He's a fascinating person and has a pure love for pinball.

I love that we have EM & SS pins.