I grew up seeing these in 7elevens so it was easy for me to fall back in love once I was old enough to buy one.

Today Pinball is only as good as the designers and the creative input that goes into them. That being said,not much has really changed. Pinball 2000 scared people right back to the old designs which is what we still see today.
The cabinets are still rectangle with sharp edges and a clunky looking backbox. Could you imagine if cars stayed the same as a 1976 oldsmobile in it's appearance on a car lot today?
No wonder kids by and large aren't interested. My 10 year old boy does get into it on occasion, and my 19 year old caught right on with my JM when he came to visit,but had to see it from a different perspective to get the attraction.
They have to understand Pinball is a totally different animal than video games, and there is in fact a skill factor,ruleset,objectives,etc.,and a lot of times that's just too much of a learning curve(as in the case of my 12 year old daughter) to give a damn.

Funny my wife is way more nerdy than I ever could even try to be.
But when we go out and have a brew and play once in awhile, so she is also the coolest chick I know!