Reliving the past
I took advantage of the free admission day and headed to Georgetown to the National Pinball Museum. Today was their last day in the present location. They are beig forced to move and hopefully have a spot in Baltimore for early next yaer. While I was playing, I overheard a conversation with the owner/collector of all the pinball machines asying he had signed a two year lease less than a year ago, but the mall owners had been forced into bankruptcy and apparently the new owners don't have to homor his lease (or something like that). Not a good situation all around since he obviously spent time setting that place up. There are history plaques everywhere explaining the history of pinball or of that particular machine. This guy has over 800 pinball machines in his collection. The only advantage of the move apparently is that he will be able to display more of his machines (I think there are about 100-200 displayed right now).
The history of the pinball machine is quite interesting. They started out as pure games of chance, but when flippers were added, became games of skill. Despite that, for decades they were deemed illegal gambling machines in at least two cities (New York and Los Angeles) since early ones paid cash if you got a high enough score/completed a specifc task. It was not until 1974 that the California Supreme Court finally made them legal again. That was right about the time I really got into video games/pinball machines (although I only played pinball sparingly).
Almost 3/4ths the machines are playable, most for 75 cents. I played a few other machines, and then tried my hand at Twilight Zone, a pinball machine first produced in 1984. Very soon after I/moved into my townhouse I bought a used Twilight Zone machine and kept it for nearly two years. Even after more than ten years of not playing any pinball I quickly remembered how to play and proceeded to win three free games (by getting a high enough score) on that machine. The highest score on the machine was only half the highest score I ever acheived on my own machine, although I did not come close to it today. I did win a free game on another machine (Sar Trek Next Generation) so it was not just that I had owned that particular one.
All in all a very fun day.
The history of the pinball machine is quite interesting. They started out as pure games of chance, but when flippers were added, became games of skill. Despite that, for decades they were deemed illegal gambling machines in at least two cities (New York and Los Angeles) since early ones paid cash if you got a high enough score/completed a specifc task. It was not until 1974 that the California Supreme Court finally made them legal again. That was right about the time I really got into video games/pinball machines (although I only played pinball sparingly).
Almost 3/4ths the machines are playable, most for 75 cents. I played a few other machines, and then tried my hand at Twilight Zone, a pinball machine first produced in 1984. Very soon after I/moved into my townhouse I bought a used Twilight Zone machine and kept it for nearly two years. Even after more than ten years of not playing any pinball I quickly remembered how to play and proceeded to win three free games (by getting a high enough score) on that machine. The highest score on the machine was only half the highest score I ever acheived on my own machine, although I did not come close to it today. I did win a free game on another machine (Sar Trek Next Generation) so it was not just that I had owned that particular one.
All in all a very fun day.