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January 25, 2012

Photo Essay: Pinball Hall of Fame, Vegas

I'm like a bird.

Or a cat.

I like shiny things.

And bells and whistles.

And flashing lights.

This attraction leads me to amusement parks, Times Square, Hollywood Blvd, arcades, and Vegas, which is full of all of those things.

Vegas' Pinball Hall of Fame is billed as sort of a roadside attraction - a museum of oddities - but really it's just an arcade full of old pinball machines (and some video games) from the last several decades, dating back at least to the 1960s, maybe earlier.

And with enough quarters, you can play almost all of them.


X-Files


Revenge from Mars


The Twilight Zone



The Twilight Zone



Eight Ball Deluxe


Firepower



Pinball Wizard



Nugent


Big Flipper



Dr. Dude



KISS



The Bally Game Show




The Bally Game Show



Lawman

After playing nearly 20 of them, all circa 1970-2000, I realized I have a strong affinity for the pinball machines of the 1980s. Perhaps it's merely because of the familiarity of my childhood and what I must've played at Chuck E. Cheese, but given the fact I wasn't really allowed out of the house and never went to an arcade besides Chuck E. Cheese until I was an adult, I think it's more than that. In the 1980s, the pinball machines hit a nice sweet spot between electronic technology (at least, the score-keeping) and analog, manual mechanism. This era pre-dates the time when you press a button to launch the ball, and the predominant sounds are those of rattling metal, contracting springs, flipping flippers, bumping bumpers and kicking targets. You don't need LED video projections or movie quote sound effects to generate excitement. You feel the entire box quake.

Yet another amusement worthy of a trip away from The Strip.

More to come.

Related posts:
Photo Essay: Fremont Street Experience, Vegas

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