Pinball wizards!
Before there were fancy video games there were pinball machines. I remember walking to
the corner store at least once a day when I was 10 to drop a quarter in a pinball machine.
Usually they gave you 3 games with 3 balls each. If you were lucky you could find one
with 5 balls each game but they were always the older ones that were not that good. The
first pinball games were like pachinko machines. They didn't have flippers which were
called "replay's" they were more like those little plastic pinball games where the marbles
drop into a little cup to score. I remember when the corner store turned into a pinball
parlor. There were 5 machines there. It was like heaven. All the ringing bells and flashing
lights. The first technological advance I remember was the scoring wheels going away and
being replaced by lights that lit up the numbers. Those little tubes that had 10 little glowing
numerals in them. It was brighter and flashier even though the clickity clack of the scoring
wheel was no longer there. They got fancier and flashier and soon were a quarter for one
game. A small price to pay for a little bit longer play. (only if you were good)
Someone even introduced a multiple ball game. That one was called firepower. Hmm, I
remember walking into the arcade one day and seeing the space invaders pinball game.
This table was 1 and a half tables wide. It was also the first pinball game I remember that
was 50 cents to play. At first they gave you five balls but then cut it down to three. I
thought that was a bit much to pay even though it was the flashiest table around. Then
there was hyperball. 50 little 3/4 size balls shooting non stop. If you remember that one I
would like to hear from you :) Oh and the only significant changes in pinball games over
the last 15 years have been multiple levels and LED animated readouts. My current favorite
pinball game is fish tails.
All original content ©1997 Maracujá