OH man, I used to lust after these things as a kid. I remember they would sell hover devices and in my mind I was flying to school in them. Then there were sea monkeys. I was convinced they'd be playing baseball in front of their King and Queen, based on the ads.

Long time ago when I was a kid some friends and and I were at the bowling alley feeding a pin. Someone's mom, who was bowling came over and started haranguing us about how pinball was just gambling. yada yada.

Years later I thought of the perfect response. It goes like this.

If you are perfect bowler and can knock out a 300 point game, then the most you are going to get is 10 balls to throw. If you are a crappy player and con only throw spares, you will get 20 balls to throw ( this was in the 60s. Pinball was then 25 cents for 3 balls. Bowling was $2.00 for a game. And you had to rent your shoes for extra. So, the perfect player would be paying 20 cents per bowling ball. The crappy player would be paying 10 per ball. The time it took to throw the ball was about 3 seconds. Forget all the laughing and scratching and bullshitting with your friends and reaching for your bottle of Bud. 20 balls for the crappy player offered about 60 seconds worth of play for $2.00.

But over here at the pinball machine, I get 3 balls for a quarter. That is 8.3 cents per ball. If I am a crappy player I will probably drain them all in 30 to 60 seconds. Let's say 60 seconds. That 60 seconds for 25 cents. Bowling was $2.00 for 60 seconds worth of actual play time.

Also, sort of like bowling, I can leave the ball in the shooter lane and stop and shoot the breeze and laugh and scratch with my friends. OR I can trap the ball and stop and shoot the breeze. However, unlike bowling where the crappy player gets more balls and a few more seconds of playtime, with pinball a good player can make that game last and get more mileage for a quarter than those over in the bowling lanes.

With pinball you know you are going to get 3 balls for your money. The only gamble is time.

That is what I wish I had told the old witch berating us about pinball.

I may go farther back than you... When I was a kid, a game of bowling in Middleton,NJ was 35-cents a game and shoes were also 35-cents! (And coincidently gasoline was 35-cents a gallon too!)

Actually, bowling a 300 perfect game is rolling 12 consecutive strikes in a game.

Well, I know Im not that old but Im celebrating Willie Nelsons birthday today, alone with my dog due to lockdown. I don't complain though, Im more worried about them alone without dogs.

It was 100 balls for a dollar when I was a kid.

Yeah, I remember a nickel a game, then prices raised to .10/game or 3 for a quarter.

When you’re taking a break sitting in your work vehicle, and this older lady, maybe 60+ walks by. She’s wearing a t shirt, w no bra..and you’re still looking at her for longer then I should..I love my g friend, I love my g friend..lol

...when you load your selfie into a software program that ages you 10 years and it shows you a picture of a mummy.

Tombstone one is popular too.

LTG : )

... whenever you finish using a modern day toilet, you habitually reach for the pull chain that isn't there.

Yep. I walked into Concord Bowl in St. Louis and pinball had doubled in price overnight. And no ball lifter. No more getting pissed off and shooting all 5 balls at once. Quite a shock.

In some places now, the proximity sensors that tells the commode you have left the area are starting to fail and the tried and true flush handle is making a comeback.

Anybody ever remember seeing the old time public toilets that had a foot pedal that you stepped on to flush? My mom taught me that flush handles were nasty.

My dad (81) said that to me last night (nickel a game). He also confided - for the first time ever - that he used his 25 cents Scouting dues to play play pinball. Every time he comes over, he only plays Jungle Queen. He was so happy when he rolled it over, and I think it’s the closest we’ve ever been. He’s back in Cleveland already.

Are there no other damn bowlers here that can offer up a simple "thumbs up" for this post!!!!?
jrpinball speaks FACTS and nobody can agree?

Has our world gone mad!!!??

QSS

You damn whipper snappers are probably more interested in redemption games or freaking interactive online gaming.

After all, who gives a good god damn shit about simple bowling facts.

I'm heading over to The Big Lebowski thread. At least they talk sense over there. To hell with ya all!!!!

QSS

I know I'm old ........ see previous 2 posts.

QSS

And get.......

off......

my.......

lawn..........

QSS

And stop "throwing" those bowling balls!

And just a little bit crotchety, too

YEAH!!!!! STOP IT ya jarhead sons's a bitches!

You got that right.....prick!

QSS

..If you remember Johnny Crawford. Now reunited with his "Pa". Also a pretty good singer. 'Cindy's Birthday' wasn't bad. RIP. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/johnny-crawford-dead/2021/04/30/2642a33a-a9be-11eb-bca5-048b2759a489_story.html

One of my 1960 Christmas presents.

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Aw, this makes me sad. I grew up watching this show, and my son and I watched it together when he was little. It also reminds me of the funniest thing. I asked my son: “do you want to be a cowboy like Mark McCain?” and he replied: “nope, because I don’t want to be inside the TV.” Little kids have the craziest minds.

... when you take a nap and have a wild crazy dream with a bunch of famous celebrities and some of your relatives in it, but only after you wake up and think about it do you realize that every single one of them is dead.

You know you are old when you drive off to go to the store, and have to go back when you don't remember whether you shut the garage door.

And when you get back, you pull into the garage and go back into the house, forgetting to go to the store at all!

...when you grew up playing electromechanical pinball so even if a solid state pin was built during the Carter administration you still think of it as being relatively new-fangled and modern.

I just bought two new WiFi garage door openers that will work with Alexa so I can ask "Alexa, is the garage door shut?" Yes, I am not afraid to use technology as a memory crutch

alexa (resized).jpg

I just worry about technology becoming a security hazard. If the door sensor goes bad, Alexa might "think" it's closed when it's not. Also, a thief could wait until you're not home, hold a bullhorn up to your window and say, "Alexa open the garage door!"

You have to give it a security code I think so the bullhorn won't work. Yes the sensor could go bad but that is less likely than me forgetting if I closed it or not!

This has probably already been stated in the thread but i knew i was old when i had to start sitting down to either pull on or off my trousers

Hey my music is headed to Spotify and iTunes!
Who says old guys can't rock N roll!

I say about a month before I'm out of the studio. But that's the plan .

You can R & R all you want.

Just don't let anyone at the bar see you trying to dance to the Twist Or the Mashed Potato. Or The Swim. And as much as the Monster Mash moves you---don't, just don't

I did not realize that Bill Gates and his wife have been married for 27 years. It seems like yesterday when I read that Gates was getting married.

And now they are not.

https://news.yahoo.com/bill-melinda-gates-announce-split-after-nearly-30-years-together-205500649.html
------------------------------------------

I am old enough to remember The Captain and Tennille singing love would keep them together. And then they got a divorce in 2014

There’s a band called “Fossils and Foxes” that’s totally awesome. Older session musicians teamed up with young female vocalists. Well, just look:

When the twist is the only dance you know how to do.

When all the people you work with, only one knows and appreciates your joke about what "ancient Chinese secret" means...

And can't for fear of breaking something.

LTG : )

Oh wow ! That was good. Got anymore?

Check out their YouTube channel!

I think somewhere along the way I have stumbled onto some fountain of youth, and I am getting younger.

The reason I think this is because when I was young, I would hear people say look at that old man, I bet he is so old that he farts dust.

I wish I could fart dust.

I am more like a baby again with all that.

The way things are going and I am getting younger and younger, I would not be surprised if at some point I will end up in diapers again, just like I was when I was very young.

If you live long enough. Eventually you will. Someone to change you, clean your bottom. Everything.

They'll likely call them depends though, not diapers.

LTG : )

If there are any Chicago (Transit Authority) fans out there, you need to check out a group of Russian musicians known as "Leonid and Friends". They have a YouTube channel, of course. Be prepared to have your mind blown!

Quick link

Yeah, I know what you're saying; they're playing the record, and lip sync-ing. NOT!

I went to their concert here in Massachusetts last year. They are amazing. The director of the band writes all of the music by ear, since most of the music has no sheet music.

I wanted to see them at Foxwoods, but didn't make it. It was a free concert no less. You had to be there for tickets, and I imagine that the line was like the one at the Allentown show the last time!