The PINBALL HALL of FAME

People just having fun

Hey all you Boomers out there! Any one remember playin' PINBALL back in High School and or college? Last weekend I went to Vegas to visit my mom and family that live out there as I usually do about every 6 to 8 weeks. As I was driving down Tropicana Blvd. to my left I spotted an old warehouse type of building with a small plastic banner across the front that read 'PINBALL HALL OF FAME'. Took a quick look in my rear view mirror to check for cars behind me, hit the brakes hard and made a sharp turn into the parking lot. Got out of my car into that 100° Vegas heat and walked into what was for me... PINBALL HEAVEN! Paradise!

The place is dimly lite, so as I walked down the isles, listening to bells ringing, the flashing lights from the machines put out an invitation of their own. Each isle was lined with dozens of classic machines on both sides. My eyes where bugging out of my head and my fingers were itching to hit the flipper buttons and send some silver balls into play. It was the 'Kid in a Candy Store' scenario to the Max! I put a $20 bill into the change machine, got a pocket bulging with quarters and proceeded to have a GREAT time. I played for almost three hours and smiled for another two afterwards. The Pinball Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to keeping those games and the art of pinball alive for all to enjoy. The address is 1610 E. Tropicana Blvd. and about a mile east of the Strip. The people that work there volunteer their time to keep the games clean and working . There are a couple of websites too. Just Google; Pinball Hall of Fame. The sites will tell you the whole story and its really interesting to read about it...Well, to me anyway. The place had men, women and kids of all ages inside, all with their eyes pinned to the playing field, so its a good place to take the family for some Cheep Thrill$.

Around 1965 as a Junior in high school, I played my first pinball game at an arcade... and I was hooked. After my Army stint I went to college, worked part time and made some friends in both places. I worked on Saturdays and on our lunch break, me and the two guys I worked with would go to a local Tavern, have a burger, a beer and play a few games of Pinball! My school schedule varied and I had a two hour break on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so what did I do? No, not study. I grabbed a sandwich and went across the street to an arcade and...you guessed it, played pinball. During the late 60's to mid 80's pinball was BIG. Then as technology stated to advance, people lost interest and pinball mostly faded into the things of the past, but I never lost my love for that silver ball bouncing off of bumpers, lights flashing, bells ringing and the numbered point wheels clicking loudly as they quickly turned, trying to rack up enough points for a free ball or a replay. At one time I even owned three machines which were in my living room. I worked on them myself and kept them running strong. My friends would come over at night and we would have Pinball Tournaments with a few brews and lots of laughs. I loved those machines, but as the decades moved on, things change. Dust gathered and I sold them off one at a time. Pinball never really went away, but it did change a lot over the years and lost most of its popularity. The old analog machines gave way to digital ones which I still liked, and were plenty fun. But those then evolved to even way more sophisticated playing fields and lighting schemes which for me, lost most of the charm that the older machines possessed. Sort of like the difference between a 1965 Chevy Impala and a 1995. Its just not the same thing. Most of the newer games produced were fashioned after Game Shows or popular movies and have a lot more glitz and more complicated routes for the steel ball to travel on its way to the gutter, but less personal involvement. They're Ok machines, but my all time favorites are still the old analog ones with the classic Back Glass Art depicting every type of theme you can think of. Just fun stuff and sooo 60's. Style you just won't see in any of in the more modern type of games. They are the CLASSICS and that style will never return again. When you click on the slide show below, you'll see some of the back glass art I'm talking about along with the more modern movie/game theme machines as well. And I was a little excited when I was shooting the video and made a few factual errors The actual number of pinball machines in there is about 200, and the machines date from the late 1940's to the early 1990s. So watch the video and then slide show and I hope you enjoy them both. And if your in Vegas and want to play a little pinball. The Pinball Hall of Fame has a ton of games to choose from. Its a non-profit org. and they could use the money. Besides, where else in that town can you have so much fun for only a few buck$.


Note to Anonymous: Thanks for reading my Blog. The machines I owned were a 1 player 'Doodle Bug' by Williams, a 2 player King Kool (my favorite) and a 4 player Jack in the Box. Both Gottliebs