Disclaimer: I apologise in advance that I don't have any amazing pinball anecdotes & yarns like the many amazing responses I've read here.
1. Earliest pinball memory?1977 - I was around 9yo with my uncle getting fish and chips at a take-away in Mascot. That was the first time I ever saw one and remember how noisy it was. It had card playing designs on the cabinet but I was too short to see the PF (I think I was a bit scared of it too.)
A couple of years later my brothers and I started catching the train to Kings Cross to play pinnies at that huge amusement centre near the Wax Museum. I'm freaked out thinking about this now because we were 5, 10 & 11 year old kids walking around the Cross playing pinnies - my parents had no idea, they were slaving away 7 days a week, morning till night in a corner take away.
2. All time favourite pin? Why?Crickey that is definitely not an easy question to answer!! I have two :) The first was Sinbad in the early 80's and then Cue Ball Wizard in the 90's (Southgate Bowling Lanes at Sylvania)
3. Favourite pinball manufacturer?I don't have one but if I was forced to choose at gun point I'd say GTB especially late 70's machines - System 1, because I spent a lot of time maintaining them, but secretly I LOVE 70's Bally SS machines.
4. Favourite game in your collection? Why?The Machine Bride Of Pin*Bot - I love the "ooh" & "ah", sounds she makes when you hit the right holes
5. How long have you been collecting?I started in 1982 when I was 13 but took a break and started back up this year.
6. First game and how did you find it?GTB Volley, my dad and I went to all the pinnie sellers on the St Peter's strip and settled on Able Amusements
7. Do you still have it?Sadly no, I stupidly parted it out a few years later after I got GTB The Hulk - the Volley BG had the pox really bad so the first form of vandalism I committed was scraping off all the BG artwork and doing my own lame design
8. What are you currently working on?GTB Skipper 1969 (as soon as it arrives next week.)
9. Most wanted game to add to your collection?Sinbad, Cue Ball Wizard or BTTF, I'd also love one of the later DMD machines like ToTAN or CV but I'm a realist and I'll never have spare money to invest in these titles.
10. Best all time bargain game added to your collection?Volley $300
11. Worst ever miss – tell us about the one that got away!I was a broken man when I missed out on Shangri La
12. Worst ever purchase – tell us about the game you wished you never boughtGTB The Hulk - borring game play, sold it to a high school friend in the late 80s to buy GTB Genie - I believe he still has the haulk in his old man's shed. I'm trying to think of a way to buy it back off him though we haven't spoken in nearly 10 years.
13. Describe your collectionMinimalist but not for long
14. Describe your gamesroomHa ha, for the moment it's my office, I work & play throughout the day:)
15. Do you have other games other than pinball?I recently eBay'd a MAME cabinet I built 10 years ago and redirected the funds towards pinball stuff :)
16. Where can you see the hobby in 10 years?I say it will definitely be a home hobby as there is no interest by operators to have pinnies on site and let's face it the market isn't big enough to manufacture machines for the home market. My recent visit to a huge city arcade confirmed that video shooting games is what the young ones want to play today. I don't know that new pins will be continue to be made, instead, what I see is a new generation of virtual games made up of screens that can emulate the design & game play of all the classic pinball plus creation of new ones.
It's up to us collectors to maintain what exists and rescue the machines that are sitting in old sheds rusting away.
Thanks for reading :)
