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JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

The last pinball wizards keep game alive

Lifestyle Sep. 15, 2011 - 05:59AM JST ( 5 )

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Annual sales of new pinball machines have plummeted to the 6,000 or so that Stern Pinball sells worldwide

Gary Stern, owner of Stern Pinball, spends about $750,000 designing each game

Pinball enthusiast Henderson (R) placed fifth at the PAPA World Pinball Championships in Pennsylvania last month

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5 Comments

2

presto345Sep. 15, 2011 - 03:32PM JST

Give me the electromechanical machines of the 1960s! These machines were often found in large, carpeted restaurants. Places where a little quiet was appreciated. The machines were placed at the far end of the room and they did not beep, play noisy tunes, etc. It was a real thrill when you had lined up 5 balls and the machine started counting out your takings. The machine took dimes, not quarters.
1

YogizunaSep. 15, 2011 - 06:12PM JST

Gottlieb's "Kings & Queens" was my favorite way back in 1966, and I was racking up free games at the Tia Rosa restaurant in New Jersey way before it was featured in the movie "Tommy". :) No computer chips, no audio except for a few chiming and bell sounds, just flashing lights and good basic pinball action!
1

ExportExpertSep. 15, 2011 - 08:59PM JST

Store next door to us in the 60's had the first pinball machine we'd ever seen, used to spend hours playing it once we figured out how to get free games with out setting off the Tilt mechanism.
0

BurakuminDesSep. 15, 2011 - 10:56PM JST

They went out along with bryl-cream, ten-pin bowling and horn-rimmed glasses. To be honest - I was always a crap player as a kid!
1

John BeckerSep. 16, 2011 - 01:52AM JST

I loved pinball. While the newer electronic, complicated games are great, there's no beating the old Bally, Williams, Gottlieb and Stern machines from the '60s and '70s. I remember a game called El Dorado that had a nearly empty playfield. There were some bumpers at the top, and in the middle of the field were a long row of drop targets on one side and a shorter row on the other. There were also small flippers about halfway up the sides, in addition to the two regular flippers at the bottom. It was a pure target-shooting game, with all kinds of bonuses for dropping all the targets, dropping them in order, etc. Here's a link: www . ipdb . org / machine . cgi?gid=766

And Yogizuna, here you go: www . ipdb . org / machine . cgi?gid=1381

And Presto, those games were plenty loud - the bells would be heard easily all over a quiet restaurant. I remember seeing them in luncheonettes, the occasional deli or drugstore. And then arcades got popular in the early '70s, and we got to see lots of different machines. From about '65 until the late '70s, it seemed like there was one great machine after another being produced.