There is a machine sentimental to my wife and I through my father-in-law.

I got into Pinball (didn't really play much as a kid in the 80's) after building a MAME arcade machine. After completion my wife liked it, but asked if it was possible to get or build a pinball machine? My wife got into Pinball from her Dad, who she would sometimes tag along with when he went to watch/bet on horse racing. I didn't meet him until later in his life when he was slowing down, but a really interesting guy. Military, bit of a greaser when he was a kid, a good boxer. And in hindsight, he is responsible for my new love of all things pinball.

The few times he came over my house, he would immediately head down to the couple pins I had and play most of the time during gatherings. I was still new to pinball and didn't have much experience with repairing, but I thought it would be amazing to get him his own pin. I found a partially working Post Time (single player EM horse racing theme) for cheap. The flippers were choppy and the cab was painted bright yellow, but I fixed the flippers, repainted the cab, cleaned it up and got all new rubbers. Delivered it to his home a few years ago and he was as excited as I've ever seen him.

He proceeded to play the hell out of it, I believe putting hours on it each day. His mind started to go a couple years back, but he could still play somewhat. He broke a flipper, wore out rubbers, which I repaired when I could. He has since sunk deeper into dementia, and in/out of hospitals/rehab. Last time I was there he had trouble recalling how to start a new game, but once the ball was available he goes into auto-pilot and can play. Doesn't care about score or making specific shots, just watches the ball and tries to keep it in play. He struggles to walk, but can stand at a pinball machine. He still tries to shake the machine.

He'll likely be gone soon, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with the machine. It's old, beaten up, doesn't work 100%, and isn't worth more than a $100 or so in current condition. But when he passes, I'm trying to decide if I want to try and get it. His wife only tolerates it because it keeps him occupied, the rest of the family thinks it's neat but doesn't have a tie to it. I'm sure my wife would love to keep it in memory of her dad. If we had it, I know she would think about him every time she played, and would love me to get it running well again. it would mean a lot to her.

So I'm considering ways to get this old machine from NJ down to Tampa where I'm based now, to work on it and add to our gameroom. Purely for sentimental reasons.

I just realized that I still have this game's backglass as my avatar, so guess it still means a lot to me too.

post time (resized).JPG