I love pinball. I always have. As a kid, I made my own pinball machine when I taped a bunch of wooden blocks to a board that I set at an incline, fashioned flippers out of long blocks, and substituted a rubber bouncy ball for a metal pinball. True story. I'm pretty sure my parents have pictures (maybe they will scan the pictures and send them too me... hint hint!!!).
Anyways, I somehow discovered a pinball machine in Seattle via the vast interweb. There's a $7 entry fee, then you can play as many machines as you want for free. The machines are placed in chronological order around the room, starting with 1961 going through to the latest and greatest machine. Not only is it fun to play the machines, but it's also fun to see the evolution of the game over the years - bells to electronic buzzers to digital sound systems, mechanical to electronic scoring, low tilt angle to high tilt angle playing surface, etc.
One of my favorite machines was called the Circus. It was from the 70's. Instead of the small ping of a bell, there were small horns that provided the audible feedback. The horns were different tones and were quite surprising as they stood out among the other similar sounding machines. Here's a video of me playing the Circus machine, listen closely for the horns!
I would recommend to anyone with any interest in pinball machines to go to the Seattle Pinball Machine. You can play games all evening and the machines constantly rotate (we saw three machines leaving as we were on our way out!).
With graduation approaching, are there any pinball machine companies out there that are hiring?
