back in my day

[pinball god]

I've seen a couple of episodes of man space and their segment 'back in my day' and got thinking about how lucky guys of my era are. Now be honest, and you rich kids may have a different opinion, but how many of you thought as a kid playing a milk bar pinney etc, that you would own one or more. Coming from my background, big ticket items like that were for the rich, and everything you make goes towards the bills and family. I think we got lucky to be in a generation where income, pinball prices and circumstances just aligned correctly to make this dream a reality. Well I reckon its a dream come true.

Thanks for listening.

[noj472]

Totally agree. Never thought back in early 90's playing pinballs I would actually have one in my house. We're very lucky us Aussies. But I'm sure most of us work hard to fulfill our obsession

[Pop Bumper Pete]

Hmmm.
When I was 14, one of our neighbors had a Gottlieb pro football. I also knew somebody who had won a Gottieb Soccer. So I guess I knew pinball ownership was possible

Looking back now, we knew a lot of people in tbe 70s that were into high tech, so nothing much was out of the ordinary

[studley67]

at 13-14 i bought my fist pinball machine.A gottlieb "300" bowling theme with a cool headbox ball feature.I funded the purchase cost of $250 with money i had earned from my 3 paper rounds and supermarket job.I have owned over 40 machines in my time,but sadly time to share them around due to change of cicumstances.Work hard and anything is possible.

[Mr Pinbologist]

Never in a million years when i was a kid would i have believed that i would one day own a pinball... (let alone twenty, that i had at one stage) 
I used to liken them to poker machines, that they would be illegal to own    Glad i was wrong about that 

Not long after i did get my first machine when i was 20 (Stern Stingray which i still have to this day, paid $300 for it) i found out that they were out there to be had, sitting in peoples garages/sheds unloved and neglected.

[Cow Corner]

One of my mates from primary school had a pinny, it was never working but they had one. Can't remember the title though.
We used to play Lost World and Mata Hari on the way home from school at the local fish n chippery.
I remember saying to my mates that I would own a pinball one day. We must have been around 10yrs old at the time.

My parents like to tell a story of a family holiday we had when I was about 5yrs old.
We were at Tangalooma on Moreton Island and I had gone walkabout. My father found me in the games room of the resort trying to stuff a $20 note into the coin slot of a old em machine.
My addiction started very early in life!

[GORGAR 1]

I got my first pinball for my 13th birthday "Gottlieb playball" my mum worked next door to Golden West Amusements in Richmond Victoria and knew the owner well so she got a bargain then two years later I got a "old Chicago" and have had various pins all my life. I was very lucky looking back now :-)

Peter

[Strangeways]

I was plotting to keep as many games from the route days as possible. Paragon and KISS were definite keepers - and Dad agreed. When I moved out of home, my friends and I went looking for a house with a big games room to house my pins - and "taking" them made sure Dad didn't sell them or give them away. Sadly, the Mata Hari, Eight Ball, Power Play and Space Invaders were sold or given away.

I always knew that one day I'd be working on pins, and I didn't pay too much attention to the mid 90's when everything was free or cheap.

Even after I got married, the house we built had to have a massive games room. Now I have a full time business. 

[goodolddays]

Back in my milkbar and arcade days I never thought I would own one , let alone be able to fix and 'restore' them LOL.

In fact I never even thought about buying one until about 9 years ago .. what a damn idiot I am ! 

[pinball god]

Back in my milkbar and arcade days I never thought I would own one , let alone be able to fix and 'restore' them LOL.

In fact I never even thought about buying one until about 9 years ago .. what a damn idiot I am ! 

that's a point. I never thought I'd be under the hood trying to fix these babies either.

[Pavlov Pinball]

My school had an old pin which they used to demonstrate physics stuff  - coils and electromotive forces and all that. It never seemed to be in full working order though (perhaps that was intentional, to stop us playing on it) but I always looked in awe at the teacher who new how to fix it when a flipper stopped working or something like that.  It gave me a taste for pinball and for physics though.

Anyway, I figured that I could never own one because it would be too hard to fix without a teacher on hand. Turns out I was wrong on both counts.

[ddstoys]

Back in the early nineties I was 10 stuffed If I remember lol

[pinoffski]

I use to steal 1 & 2 cent peices from my step father to go and play pinball every day(and i got court)

I always had in may head when i get a job i will get a pinball

I got a job in 1984 , 2 months later my mum and me (i was 16 at the time) went to a massive warehouse in sydenham i think
and there was hundreds of pins i wanted a Flash and that was $375 and i didn't have that much so in the end i purchased a Paragon for $325  
2 years later i was kicked out of home and i had to sell it.

Then i was into Toranas ( Brocky and his influence)... had 5 of them at one time

and then in 2011 i start my pin collection  

[ddstoys]

I use to steal 1 & 2 cent peices from my step father to go and play pinball every day(and i got court)

I always had in may head when i get a job i will get a pinball

I got a job in 1984 , 2 months later my mum and me (i was 16 at the time) went to a massive warehouse in sydenham i think
and there was hundreds of pins i wanted a Flash and that was $375 and i didn't have that much so in the end i purchased a Paragon for $325  
2 years later i was kicked out of home and i had to sell it.

Then i was into Toranas ( Brocky and his influence)... had 5 of them at one time

and then in 2011 i start my pin collection  

    Good story apart from the kicked out of home part

[pinoffski]

The bummer was to sell the pin ..

moved to my grand parents and he said he could not have this gambling device here,,

and now i live here with my family


and all pins are welcome here ......