Boing, Boing wizard
If you grew up in the ’60s, ’70s or ’80s, you likely have fond memories spending Saturday afternoons at a dark arcade surrounded by the dings, clunks, whizzes and zings of a classic pinball machine. As the lights flashed, you concentrated on keeping that little metal ball in constant motion, while racking up as many points as possible. Every once in a while you may have been caught tilting the machine. Playing pinball relied on equal parts skill and chance, and every game took you on a journey of highs and lows, but ultimately you’d walk away feeling a rush of euphoric joy. But after slowly being overshadowed by high-tech video games for decades, the beloved retro-clankers fell out of fashion…until now! The pinball machine is making a big comeback–and not only can you feel that child-like delight again, but you may also be able to cash in.
In 1931, the coin operated pinball machine was introduced by David Gottlieb. Over the next decade saw the rise of many innovative pinball machines, including features like bumpers, flippers, and score reels. The game’s popularity increased during World War II as a form of entertainment for soldiers, but in the 1950s, pinball machines became more elaborate, featuring multiple flippers, ramps, and lights. It was in the 1970s when pinball really hit its stride, when the machines began using electronic circuits, more impressive graphics and digital displays. By the mid-1980s Pinball went out of vogue as arcade games like Pac-Man and Space Invaders increasingly came to dominate the market, and the home video game boom in the ’90s continued to make pinball a thing of the past… until now.
The Economist, outlines just how triumphant the game’s return has been. In it, correspondent Daniel Knowles reports that every year since 2008 there’s been a 15 to 20% rise in sales of machines by Stern, America’s oldest and biggest pinball manufacturer. In fact, the demand for pinball machines is so high that the company is even moving to a larger factory in Chicago in order to keep up. The International Flipper Pinball Association, a group that organizes tournaments, also stated that pinball tournaments have become far more common, and there are now over 8,000 of them a year. Since its inception, pinball has also been an essential part of pop culture. There are countless pinball machines themed around movies, TV shows, comics and music — with so many different variations, there’s an entire Internet Pinball Database. “It’s tactile and delightfully mechanical,” he explains, which makes it a powerful antidote to our world of screens. Playing a pinball machine delivers a very different sensation than scrolling on your phone, and people are eager to have that type of tangible connection.
Popular Playtimes
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hat’s the most popular arcade game in Mexico?
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September 29th Birthdays
1980 – Chrissy Metz, 1977 – Ninel Conde, 1982 – Kelly MacCreary, 2002 – Chloe Moriondo
1948 – Bryant Gumbel, 1943 – Lech Walesa, 1989 – Kevin Durant, 1907 – Gene Autry