Banzai Run was the game that made me stop shoving quarters into video games. Such a shame I missed one recently that was in great shape on craigslist (I stopped watching craigslist).

The feeling of just making to the top of the upper playfield was such a great feeling. Was a few years it seems till TAF caught my eye but honestly I only played it a few times and never was that good at pinball till I purchases my first last year.

Sad thing is I seem to be scaling back my collection and I doubt I will have ever have room for a Banzai Run or honestly want to ever work on one, that machine scares me to have to fix.

But honestly Tron LE was the one that got me thinking about pinball again but I unfortunately was about year late on getting one at the regular price. Anyways have one now and love it so I guess I acquired my grail pinball machine already and Banzai Run is really just nostalgia.

Her name was Megan McCormick. I kissed her by the curly slide at recess. What a great first....

Was this about pinball?

Hard to remember, but probably TAF or maybe FH.

as a kid I remember playing pins but don't really remember what they were, I know I played a lot of jacks open as my dad's friend had one in his games room. Most of my teens I don't even remember a single location that had a pinball machine until I was going to pubs at 18. A place my band used to play had a monster bash that I played a bit but I didn't get into playing regularly until about 2 years ago when I found a LOTR and TF:LE near my work to play on lunch breaks. Got hooked and spent half last year looking for a pin at a budget price (space jam) and now I've bought 4 this year and keep looking for more.
I'd still love to own a jacks open at some point but EMs seem rare here

It's remembering about your first cherry, so you're close.

Sorry, that wasn't much of a story. I remember being dropped off at the Putt Putt in our town with my brother many times, and I continued to go there after I could drive. I remember they had TAF, FH, DM, T2, BoP and I think some others that were rotated in and out like Gilligan's Island.

I remember falling in love with TAF and playing it the most. Before getting into this hobby, I would've guessed that TAF must naturally be the most sought after game!

Don't be a weirdo.....

Like Starbase a few posts above, Banzai Run as well as Haunted House stick out in my mind as machines that got a few quarters instead of a video game. However, they didn't seal the deal. I worked in an arcade in 1991 and it had Whirlwind, Rollergames, and Fire!, with Bride of Pinbot and Space Shuttle rotating in eventually. I sank many a quarter into Whirlwind and Rollergames, and to this day those are the two tables I'd most like to own. I didn't even learn the rules of those tables until years later playing them in Virtual Pin, but no matter. It was by those two machines that all others were judged for many years.

Tat:

Man, I haven't thought about that type of slide forever. We had one at a local playground in Philly that I loved. It felt like you were climbing up to the top of the Empire state building. In actuality, it probably was barely 20 feet high.

Thanks for a cool memory.

Dan

Earthshaker, followed by Getaway , then fishtales, I was hooked !

My dad had an old wooden machine for a nickel per play, but it didn't work very well. I'd say the first machine that I really got into was Black Knight. My parents were in a bowling league and they'd drag us kids along, luckily the bowling alley had pinball machines. I can't quite remember the others that were there, a few, but the magna save was so cool, I was hooked.

Xenon was my first, although I was 4yrs old...it was in my Grandfathers little pub...He had the machine til about 85.....the thing just had my attention, was kinda a built in baby sitter...heck my mom still laugh how they didn't even have to put quarters in it...My first real fasination came from highspeed....the whole "he got away" thing was funny to me

let's see.. earliest pin I probably remember playing was firepower when I was about 7 at some hotel pool cabana at a hotel for a wedding. Not the first talking pinball (gorgar was), but the first to me. I remember how cool that was, and probably the moment when I first realized pinball was no longer one of those outdated mechanical machines and shifted my quarters from pac-man to pinball. Pinball sat in the background for most of the rest of my childhood with video games pushing them out (ocassionally I would play them in bars, I do remember playing space shuttle at some bar). Did have a solid state evel knievel from about 9 years old until 11 (dad got rid of it when the roms kept failing). It wasn't until whirlwind, and games were becoming predictive pattern machines that I really started getting back into pinball hard.

Space Shuttle. We would compete with multiple players at the local arcade at lunch time. Yet it was a couple decades later when I really got into pinball.

I had EM's in my house growing up but Taxi was the first pinball machine on location that I remember discovering and learning the rules. Funhouse was my first love though.

My brother and I played MM and AFM 15 years ago when they were brand new... 3 years ago I thought to myself " I wonder if you can buy pinball machines on Craigslist"?

and there you have it.

it's everyones isn't it? before I knew anything about prices and ratings after I was hooked I set up visual pinball and upon discovering MM i played the crap out it and it became my favourite, when i found out how much it costs I was sad

it's why I play the lottery, keeping the dream of a full wing of pins alive

Played new games like space invaders pinball, Brand new out of the box Gogar!!!!! then new out of the box Black Knight Etc. I was hooked! These were set up locally in my home town. The same operator who I made friends with years ago sold me his remaining machines at a fair price in order get to out of the business last year. Very sad but he told me that the machines no longer made enough money to make it worth his while. The games he sold me were AFM, TAF, TOTAN,WCS,T2,TOM,and all the Later model Vids! I cleared out the warehouse of all parts, Manuals Etc.I saved a 8 ball champ from the roll-off bin also that day!

This was a pinhead dream come true!

Rob

Her name was Shannon on the 50 yard line at WHS. Oh you mean pinball. TAF sorry about that...

A 1965 Gottlieb Dodge City (circa 1976 or so).

bally playboy.... maybe i will get mine restored with the new cpr playfield waiting one day not enough time!!!

When I was in High School, there was a High Speed in the restaurant owned by a friend's parents. I am not completely sure they ever made any money on that machine. We played that for hours...with the restaurant's quarters. The only pins that have really stood out for me from playing in the wild were HS, Pinbot, and STTNG. I have all 3 in the garage at the moment.

I have always been more into arcade games, but I am sensing a shift. The more I play the DMD games, the more I want to play pinball in general.

When I was a child (playing Gorgar and Blackhole) it never occurred to me that I could one day own a pin. The first time that seed was planted was in 1991 or 1992 when I started playing TAF. Financially it was doable at the time, so it was put on hold for 10 years. I looked for a few years and then finally in 2004 I pulled the trigger on an EATPM (I overpaid too). The following year I finally got my hands on a TAF (wised up and got a good deal), that was a great day and now it's a hobby I will always be involved in on some level.

when i was a kid (two years ago) we had a high speed, i used to play at least 3 hours a day on that, it made me love Steve riches works and made me love (addicted to) pinball!

I think this was my first.

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I was not a big pinball player as a kid, I gravitated more to video games like Kung Fu Master, Spy Hunter, Asteroids, Journey, Galaga... the only pinball I actually remember playing was a Sinbad that I played at the Polish Home bar/restaurant in Rome NY in the late 70's/early 80's.

After I got a MAME machine setup in my gameroom last year my wife broke the news that she was a fan of pinball and asked if we could have that too? Tracked down a guy with some machines in PA, reviewed the games with her, the only one she recognized was a Sply Hunter she had played at a bowling alley when younger, and that's what we got as our first personal machine.

Great game and definitely wet my appetite for future pins.

Williams 8 Ball is the one I remember. There were others before that but I don't remember the names. 8 Ball is the one that hooked me!

As taken from my stories...on my info page. (copy and pasted, cause it is too long to type again!!) I added a bit at the end to kinda bring it up to date...

I remember playing pinball when I was a teenager, back in the 80's. My parents were on a church bowling league, (this was when gamerooms were dubbed as 18 and over...) there was a gameroom at the bowling alley, but it was closed off, I would get quarters from my Dad, and sneak into the gameroom to play pinball. (my Dad thought I was putting the quarters in the gumball machines) I remember playing Haunted House there, it was always REALLY quick games, cause all the flippers never worked!! Fast forward a year or two, at another bowling alley (no age restriction at this one) a friend of mine's Mom worked there, so we went to see her after school one day. I met my future hubby there he worked there also...While we were dating, we played lots of pinball. Space Shuttle, and Black Knight are two that I specifically remember...Black knight was removed, but SS stayed, and we played it alot!

After we got married, we got away from pinball for a few years (late 80's and all of the 90's). We had kids, and no time or money to drop in location games. Fast forward to 2000. We were house hunting, and our new house was gonna have a basement for our pool table (family heirloom from hubby) and we came back to pinball...found E-bay...and realised that you could have a pinball like the ones we remembered in your house. So in 2001 when we moved in, we got our first pin, Williams Space Shuttle...Still have it, it was the first game I restored and it will not be leaving anytime soon!

That was the begining...we decided that our one pin looked lonely, and we needed another one to go with it. And that if we got another one, we would still have one to play while we restored the SS... So we got another, and another, and another.......

Our first plan was to have an 80's theme. We were gonna have one Williams pin from every year in the 80's, and a few classic vids (Pac-man, Space Invaders, and Donkey Kong) We completed that particular goal, with a few years having doubles and even triples...so we decided we wanted all the system 7 games, then all the sys. 9s then all the sys. 6s....so you see where this is going...

Now it is late 2010, and we have all the sys. 7s, 9s, and all but 1 6 a couple of EMs, and 8 sys 11s...We are getting ready to join a pinball league, and we feel that we need to branch out and expand our collection a bit and have some newer DMD games. Highest on our list being AFM, and SM...so during 2011 we accomplish that, and add AFM, SM, and even a Congo to our collection. I feel we have a good array of games, and a little bit of everything now...I won't say I am done, cause we all know that ain't happening, but for the time being anyway, I am content with what I have...

Now almost June 2013...have added the last sys. 6 (that being Laser Ball...couldn't get it to come up to add to my collection?) and have also added Popeye to the collection...Have recently helped to start a new league Cincy Pinball League, and still play in The Ohio Pinball League. So my Pinball Saga continues even though it has gone through some changes and is still changing...It is still a great hobby (I have gotten back into the hobby side and pretty much retired from the restoration for hire side!) and I have met and am still meeting lots of friends and making lots of memories!!

Phoebe

Playing High Speed on location for my birthday celebration. Loved its speed and was so different than the other SS games that were at our miniature golf/arcade palace. Pumped almost all of my quarters into it. It was pretty newly released if I recall too so that would have made it my 13th or 14th birthday. Notice the fake top-siders with no socks. Sure miss 80's fashion.

Place was called Blackbeards in Fresno, CA in case anyone was curious. Pretty sure it is still there.

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DE Batman to wet my appetite, TAF to suck me in for life.

As a kid pinball I thought pinball was boring and a waste of quarters. I was an arcade game addict and spent way too much time and money playing games like Mortal Kombat (original) and Street Fighter II.

I remember being in the arcade one afternoon, when they brought in a brand new T2 pin. The op gave me some free games and I thought the game was a blast. Fast forward 15 years and T2 was one of the first pins I bought, TAF was shortly there after.

Sadly both got boring being in a home environment and were sold, good times.

On my account page: https://pinside.com/pinball/community/pinsiders/navajas/stories/bk-is-not-a-burger-joint

Short version, Banzai Run and Black Knight 2000.

First time I ever played Pinball was as a teenager going to the movies to hang out, maybe see a movie and of course to play TAF, love that pin and just last week put a deposit down to make it my first pin owned.

Me was my dads first pinball machine back in 05 which was a sf2

My first game was The Getaway: High Speed ll, then I got the machine last year!

For me it was Silverball Mania back in the early 80's. Lot's of great pins from the early 80's, but this was my favorite.

When I was 4 or 5 we had a Lucky Ace machine that I loved, it broke when I was 8 or so and almost 30 years later it still sits in my dads garage. However my love for pinball remained...

A few years later when I started bowling I would always play a couple of games of pinball after league during the golden era of System 11's...Jokerz!, F-14, Taxi, and Cyclone all cycled through, I still wish I could find Jokerz! or Cyclone someplace to play. I also dropped plenty of quarters into Whirlwind, Funhouse and Getaway...and a Kings of Steel at the corner store by my friends house.

A Bally Freedom

The earliest playing memory is a Comet that was at our local Dairy Queen. Star Wars DE is the one years later that got me really hooked in general.

Too bad you live 3,000 miles away. I'd sell you my Jokerz.

Excellent machine!

There's a Getaway: High Speed II at the car wash I go to. Great game and the operator keeps it in good shape too. I always drop a couple of bucks in it when I get the car washed. The last time, I couldn't get near it. A dad and his 3 kids kept playing and playing - what a great problem to have!

_{Post edited by txstargazer3 : typo}