Generation Gap and Pinball Memories
I was playing a pinball video game with Jonah tonight when it came up in conversation that he had never played–or seen–an actual pinball machine. We’ve got to find that kid a machine and let him play a few rounds.
I remember when I was growing up, I would show my dad how to play a video game and he–in turn–would show me how to play pinball. It was a bonding thing, I guess, and a great method to get him to take us to an arcade. Although, truth be told, I sucked at pinball; my brother really seemed to be the one who truly enjoyed the Bally table. In the late ’80s, I found it quite humorous how excited he and one of my friends would get when they saw a particular machine (I think it was called “Carnival”; all I remember is a ferris wheel(Matt or Jeff, a search on Google turns up one called “Cyclone”, was that it?)). On one trip to San Antonio, I remember the two of them spending hours playing that machine on a dollar or two while I wasted ten or twenty bucks on video games.
I remember when I was growing up, I would show my dad how to play a video game and he–in turn–would show me how to play pinball. It was a bonding thing, I guess, and a great method to get him to take us to an arcade. Although, truth be told, I sucked at pinball; my brother really seemed to be the one who truly enjoyed the Bally table. In the late ’80s, I found it quite humorous how excited he and one of my friends would get when they saw a particular machine (I think it was called “Carnival”; all I remember is a ferris wheel(Matt or Jeff, a search on Google turns up one called “Cyclone”, was that it?)). On one trip to San Antonio, I remember the two of them spending hours playing that machine on a dollar or two while I wasted ten or twenty bucks on video games.
26 August 07 at 7:09 pm
Yep, I definitely remember playing that. There was another good one around the same time. I’m pretty sure that it was Funhouse . They had one at the arcade on the Drag. Not Einsteins. The other one. Le Fun.
I kinda miss pinball. I never did master nudging the machine gently enough to move the ball without tilting. I seem to recall Dad could do it, though.