The Silver Ball

For four hours last night, I couldn’t hear my mobile phone, or anyone’s mobile for that matter, above the bells, chimes, bumpers, replay knockers and hard rock music. I was at the Second Annual Pacific Pinball Exposition at the Marin Civic Center, which must be the largest pinball show in the US, the Free World and probably the galaxy. For the price of admission (with no overage charges), one could play unlimited pinballs until the wee hours. (I love unlimited plans!) 

 

And unlimited pinballs is exactly what I did; I couldn’t stop playing, even though I could feel the early onset of carpal tunnel creeping into both wrists! My wrists and index fingers were the only casualties, as I logged hours bobbing, weaving and occasionally cursing the Gottlieb pinball machines, my favorites, of which they must have had more than 100, including Sixties and Seventies classics like Royal Flush, Flipper Cowboy, Bank-A-Ball, Crosstown, Royal Guard, Target Pool, Joker Poker, Jack in the Box and Playball, to name a few. These were vintage machines, most fully restored and many in “museum condition” – which is exactly what the show’s sponsors are doing: raising money for a new pinball museum in nearby Alameda. (I love a good charity event!) Today, museum founders have the Lucky Ju Ju Pinball Gallery, as well as a Mobile Pinball Museum contained in a fully restored and modified 1947 Spartan Manor Travel Trailer. They already have more than 100 machines in their collection awaiting a home for the museum. For the event, collectors also loan machines, some of which are for sale, to the show. All in, there were more than 250 machines at the Expo last night. There were also tournaments, auctions, memorabilia, t-shirts (of course), “food”, beer and an endless stream of hard rock music blaring in the background.

 

When I reluctantly left at 10:45 pm, wrists aching, the animated crowd was still going strong, playing, jumping and swearing at machines. Pinballs clearly bring out aggressive behavior; on three different occasions throughout the evening, I found myself playing a few machines away from the same guy, recognizing him each time by the same stream of swear words after missing another shot or draining another ball. Thankfully, there’s blood pressure medication for these people!

 

The throngs were bigger this year than at last year’s inaugural show. Not surprisingly, the newer machines, with their fancy electronics, neon lights, ramps, chutes, music and modern (and more violent) themes, often borrowed from movies or TV, were heavily played by teens and twenty-somethings, while the older, Post-War classics — which far-outnumbered the newer machines — were played by the folks who played them when they were seemingly in every bar, diner, bowling alley and arcade. (Mind you, I had occasion to visit such establishments as a result of an ongoing research project I was conducting into American folkways, financed through a grant from the Morris National Bank converted to an endless stream of quarters until my graduation from law school.)

 

The Pacific Pinball Expo is a great event, and the promoters promise an even bigger one next year. I’m already counting the days.

 

Tags: pinball, Gottlieb