11 Things You Didn't Know About Pinball History
Today, pinball may seem like a harmless, all-American pastime. But the game's history—from its rebellious roots to its nerdy present—is more bizarre than most people would imagine.
By Seth Porges
Published on: August 19, 2009
« Previous Page
6. It Took A Babe Ruth-Like Move to Legalize Pinball In NYC
| Roger Sharpe plays pinball for the press. |
In 1976, the New York City pinball ban was overturned. The
coin-operated amusement lobby (which represented the pinball industry) eventually
succeeded in earning a City Council hearing to re-examine the long-standing ban. Their
strategy: Prove that pinball was a game of skill, not chance, and thus should be legal. To do
this, they decided to call in the best player they could find in order to demonstrate his
pinball wizardry—a 26-year-old magazine editor named Roger Sharpe. Fearful that this
hearing might be their only shot at overturning the ban, the industry brought in two
machines, one to serve as a backup in case any problems arose with the primary machine.
Suspicious that the pinballers had rigged the primary machine, one particularly
antagonistic councilman told them that he wanted them to use the backup. This presented a
problem: While Sharpe was intimately familiar with the first-choice game, he had never
played the backup. As he played the game, surrounded by a huddle of journalists, cameras,
and councilmen, he did little to impress City Council's anti-pinball coalition. So he made
a final Hail Mary move that, to this day, he compares to Babe Ruth's famous called shot in
center field. He pulled back the plunger to launch a new ball, pointed at the middle lane
at the top of the playing field, and boldly stated that, based only on his skill, he would
get the ball to land through that middle lane. He let go of the plunger and it did what he
said. Almost on the spot, the City Council voted to overturn the ban.
I recently asked Sharpe what he thought would have happened if
he had missed the shot. After thinking about it for a few hours, he got back to me:
"I'm not sure pinball would be legal today."
7. Pinball Has a Surprise Best Seller
| The best-selling pinball machine of all time is still "The Addams Family," which came out in 1991. |
8. Pinball Is Still Illegal in Some Places
| New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia tips over a pinball machine in August 1938. |
Just a few
years ago, Nashville overturned its ban on children under the age of 18 playing, or even
standing within 10 feet, of a pinball machine.
And, to this day, it is illegal to play pinball on Sundays in Ocean City, N.J.
9. Hugh Hefner Is a Huge Pinball Fanatic
| He collects pinball machines and has cooperated with pinball companies for at least three Playboy-themed pinball machines over the years. A former editor at Playboy told me that the magazine's editorial offices had a "Fireball" pinball machine in the '70s. |
10. There Was a Pinball Video-Game Hybrid
In 1999, Williams Pinball
was the largest pinball company in the world. But it was also part of a larger, publicly
traded company that demanded higher profits than the games were producing. And so the
bosses gave the pinball division one last chance to save the company—and its jobs. It
was to create a new game that would bridge the gap between pinball and video games. The
result was "Pinball 2000," and it was a strange hybrid between the two types of
games. Instead of relying on physical targets, the system projected holographic characters
on the screen that would interact with the flying ball. The new game was considered a
modest success, and two Pinball 2000 games were produced. But it wasn't enough for
Williams's parent company, who nonetheless pulled the plug on the entire pinball division.
11. Just One Company Still Makes Pinball Machines
| And they do it in the U.S. Every new pinball machine comes from a single Stern Pinball factory in the Chicago suburbs, where factory workers assemble several thousand parts, largely by hand. |
Copyright
3D Music Company ® 2009 All Rights Reserved
Tel: 1-800-242-1291
