Article from a local paper up that way
BY all accounts, Rob Denton is a bit of a pinball wizard.
The Eleebana resident loves pinball so much, he recently travelled to Germany to play in a tournament.
This weekend he’ll be closer to home, with the staging of the second annual Pinfest at Caves Beach – which Mr Denton started.
He first began playing pinball aged seven.
‘‘I preferred pinball to video games because I always had the chance of getting a free game,’’ he said.
Twenty cents was a lot of money for a young bloke back in the 1970s, he said.
‘‘I remember when the cost of a game rose from 20 cents to 40 cents, everyone was most upset.’’
The price of a game these days is $1 to $2, but at Pinfest singles will pay $10 for entry and families $20 – with no cost to play the machines.
About 10,000 people are expected to attend the two-day event, which will raise money for Hunter Region Sids and Kids.
Up to 70 retro and modern pinball machines worth more than $450,000 will be at the event, along with arcade games.
Pinball machines will include Addams Family, Bride of Pin-bot, AC/DC, X-Men, Empire Strikes Back, Playboy, Paragon and Mata Hari.
Arcade games like Frogger, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Galaga, Asteroids and Gyruss will be there.
Mr Denton said the event was ‘‘old-school fun that can be shared and enjoyed by the whole family’’.
‘‘Playing pinball and arcade machines brings back great memories for people,’’ he said.
‘‘Today people spend a lot of time on the internet, but we used to meet friends and play games at the amusement arcade.’’
The event will be held on Saturday and Sunday at Caves Beachside resort.
Resort owner Bill Saddington said power supply would have to be increased by 30per cent to stage the event.
‘‘It’s quite a logistical exercise,’’ Mr Saddington said.
Sure plays a mean pinball
PINBALL Wizard is a song written by Pete Townshend and performed by the English rock band The Who. It reached the top 20 in the US charts and the top five in the UK.
Pinball Wizard featured on The Who’s 1969 rock opera album Tommy, which told the story of a ‘‘deaf, dumb and blind kid’’.
Tommy was exceptional at pinball but his skills helped to cover a disturbed past.
Tommy’s parents would leave their burdensome son with relatives, many of whom took advantage of him. He was tortured by his malevolent ‘‘Cousin Kevin’’, and molested by his uncle Ernie.
Tommy was turned into a British musical film in the 70s in which Elton John performed the song Pinball Wizard.
The stage show Who’s Tommy also ran for more than two years on Broadway in the early 1990s.
Just realised that a huge torana show was up that way last weekend, Toranafest
http://www.toranafest.com.au/I should have made a week out of it
