And thank you STERN for saving pinball!

I have to say that I LOVE this channel. From day one I have been subscribed and it never failed to amaze me and I think this video illustrates pretty well why that is. From the topic choice of discussing something like pinball and finding that it actually has a very compelling story that involves politics and game dynamics (like inserting the flippers to the game) and having such an interesting character prove the state wrong. And look at that shot at 6:24!!! Not only you've introduced me to something I wasn't really part of but you also made me feel like I understand it and invited me to learn even more about it. I just wish I could support you guys in a financial way. Thank you so much for this channel!

Pinball never ever completely goes away and has cycles of about every 20 years. Nostalgia is key in the current cycle and the rise of people collecting in their house and operating as enthusiasts.

I was in the business from 1986-1997... The first company I worked for had a warehouse full of those old flipperless pinball machines, they were definitely used for illegal gambling before being replaced with video poker machines. Gambling certainly was not a rare occurrence.

Three games got me sucked into pinball: Cyclone was the first multiball game I played, Pin*Bot allowed me to learn a game's rules at home on the NES port, and Addams Family was the first game I played that took proper advantage of an actual processor & matrix display. Once I played Addams Family, I was hooked on pinball for life. I remember when Williams dropped out and Stern was the only manufacturer left. I figured it was just a matter of time before they closed shop too. I'm so glad they managed to hang on. I got to see the National Pinball Museum back when it was in Baltimore (it was in Washington DC before that). It's was a fantastic collection. It's such a shame that it never managed to find a permanent home. As I understand it, most of it ended up getting auctioned away.

Excellent video! The barcade owner is such a good dude too

I've wanted my own pinball machine since I was 4 years old. Thirty years later, I saw a Craigslist post for a free pinball machine. It was Space Riders, a wide body by Atari. With bright, psychedelic, '70s sci-fi artwork on a motorcycle theme, it couldn't get any better. Until I found a date scribbled inside the cabinet: 09/01/78, my birthday. I don't know what that date means for the machine, but I guess it was just meant to be mine.

When you visit Las Vegas, be sure to visit the Pinball Hall of Fame. No bar, but lots of vintage working machines to play. Run by someone who loves pinball.

I love pinballs and arcades so much. So much fun in the 80s and 90s

I grew up with a Jungle Princess made by D.Gottlieb (1977-1983). My dad still has it. it need some work to play right.

The virtual pinball is what keeps the entire industry alive. I hope that first dude in the interview is aware of this with his dislike for virtual pinball. It's cheaper and easier to get, and its cheaper and easier to design tables. All the best tables today are designed virtually first. You're welcome, first guy interviewed.

I keep an old Windows XP computer just because it has a pinball game on it. Video pinball doesn't really count I know but it's all I have.

Omg I'm obsessed with pinball. I can't wait to watch this video. ^_^

If i had the cash 1 of the 1st big spends i'd make would be tracking down a Guns N Roses Pinball Machine because i played the hell out of that thing every time i went to the skating rink. When the rink moved locations they told me they weren't putting any Pinball Machines in the new rink & i BEGGED them to sell me the GNR Pinball Machine but they wouldn't. i'd much rather have that particular Pinball Machine in my own home than a pool table, dartboard or any video game console.

I love the Addams Family pinball machine, but it's so hard to find a well-maintained copy of it. One of my all time favorites, but SO many moving specialty parts.

Here's 99 Percent Invisible's episode on pinball: 99percentinvisible.org/episode/for-amusement-only/

I really enjoyed this short but sweet doc on pinball. I grew up with an arcade in my home town...Noah’s Arcade, being my place to be during the early 80’s. I was 7 when the first Black Knight came out and I remember dumping loads of quarters into it. And many other machine.

Love pinball anywhere anytime

Was playing there last eve for pinball league. Such a fun joint and staff is solid too.

Glad it's still alive, can't imagine an arcade without at least a few pins in there

What a great informative video. I remember doing some research on pinball a while back and I wish this video existed then, well produced and good info.

I LOVED THIS SO MUCH. Wonderful job showing the pretty-amazing history of this wonderful, quirky pastime. (By the way, if y'all loved this as much as I did, I'd recommend checking out the pinball history episode of the Stuff You Should Know podcast. Great stuff.) Keep up the fantastic work! - Mike

Check out the pin ball museum in Budapest, it was awesome to see when we were there.

I'd love to see more b roll of the innards of the pinball machine, or at least a gif set, please and thank you

Politician destroying pinball shows just how much politicians create vs destroy

great episode!

You completely forgot Jersey Jack Pinball.

Poor Matt sounds like he's got a bit of a head cold this video. I love Pinball a LOT. So much so that I actually watch it on Twitch (one of the players featured in this video is a huge Twitch Pinballer, also has a KZfaq Channel kzfaq.info_flip)

"Pinball is not everlasting, but eternal. It is something that is physical and visceral, and has never been successful replicated by other amusement devices in nearly 90 years since it's modern creation." -TBK

Pinball is great, and is how I met a good portion of my friends.

I think it's a shame EM games were never fully invented. I look at a pinball hall I see another dimension where Breakout and Space Invaders weren't pushed or hyped and discontinued after a year, so in 2021 we have arcades filled with nothing but Pong and its variants with Pong clones and the like, as well as the Atari PongStation and Magnavox P-Box.

Basement please!

Too bad he didn't mention Jersey Jack Pinball who produces truly modern pinball machines that feature a full 1080p display in the headboard. They're a relatively new company compared to Stern, but i'm just saying, Stern isn't the *only* company producing quality pinball machines anymore.

Pinball Rocks!

I love bars like that. I come for the beer, stay for the pinball.

I'm terrible at all games, but it's fun to be terrible in a group.

I def got nostalgic woth this episode - going to try n find out if there's a Bar-cade somewhere in Melbourne!

I would love such place over here. Most pin-ball machines (they're actually called Flippers here) that once existed that I knew are either gone or no longer working...

great episode.

To be fair, pinball is still deader than disco in most places, so unless you're lucky enough to live in one of the Chosen Cities (as I call them) like Chicago, New York, or LA, that "group pinball get-together" that the video harps on about simply doesn't exist because there's nowhere for it to happen. Case in point: I live in a major metropolitan area, and there's still nary a pinball machine in town (even at the big arcades and whatnot, you can count yourself lucky to find even one). The good news is that we do have an annual retro gaming convention that's usually loaded with pinball, so at least we can enjoy that experience once a year. But outside of that, people in my city are pretty SOL.

Craig that echo

Glad to see stuff like this still around. I remember killing it on an Elvis Presley pinball game at one of the theaters in Chicago. Dont know if its still there. Developers making pinball games on phones now are just money hungry making you buy every table. I'm surprised no one mentioned the Pinball game that shipped with Windows.

That guy must be a Pinball Wizard.

I'm only a few months in to playing, but I suggest everyone check out pinballmap.com and find a machine near you. Look up the basics of how to play and once it clicks you'll get hooked.

I miss the arcade. The reason they died was because of they all talked about drugs. It was lame and insulting to everyone besides those too young to actually play the games. Even every pinball machine I played did it. You score a point and get a "1000 points!" message for a second and then "winners don't do drugs." Kids would say "wieners don't do drugs" as a joke. It was a bad joke that made arcades look even more lame. Fact is if every Super Nintendo game began with an anti-drug warning, Nintendo would be dead and my computer would probably have the Sega logo on it. Problem is in the 60's pinball machines were called gambling machines and outlawed in a few states. Machines sold for play had at least a "for amusement purposes only" warning somewhere. The arcade was forever stigmatized as something that corrupts the young. That's what killed the arcade as well as Sega. The death of Sega happened in 1992 when they were sued over the FMV game Night Trap for the Sega CD. In the 70's they won for pinball and were able to sell them, they proved pinball can be about skill and not just chance, but they did not prove the innocence of arcades and that in itself was a crime.

These things are just fantastic examples of engineering. I don't think I've touched one in fifteen years. The culture it talks about here is pretty similar to karaoke culture, or bowling. It makes me nostalgic and want to go play, but it's hard as hell to do with kids and responsibilities. Society lost something vital when it lost these community experiences. It's on Millennials to bring things like this back.

Nice video ^w^

the free game on Tron taunted me throughout the interview lol

There were some larger machines at the end there :) Thats what I want to try, I find the standard size a bit restrictive, and the standard decor a bit cheesy, are there any not based on TV/film, are there ones with significantly non-standard layouts, there might be there. It'd be really enjoyable to improve with a big choice of tables like that.

I prefer to play on my pinball machine in MY basement LOL....Thats cause I can play for HOURS at a time

Do you know, by any chance, if there's any recording of perfect shot that "saved" pin ball in 1976 by Roger Sharpe. I found absolutely nothing, despites seeing cameras on it.

great

Adoring fans and drunken accolades ftw!

I never got really into pinball, wasn't very exciting to me... interesting video. thank you!

I thought the last video just said the season was over?

The best pinball mqchine ever is FUNHOUSE!

Love pinball, would buy my own if i could afford it

As for your question at the end: neither. Playing alone in my apartment while streaming :D Now if only I could amass an audience...

It's not 100% American British inventor made the first plunger on a bagatelle game with bells on it and it was a smaller game

Me, it was me

Not a word mentioning "slot machine"?

Does he have Kiss pinball?

this was never really my thing (I'm rather a pool guy when it comes to bar sports) but it was part of the good old bar atmosphere. so even I find it kinda sad that these machines are so rare nowadys

Iv got 5 and they are like tattoos, i just want more.

He reminds me of the midget from "Jingle all the way" LOL

I'm antisocial. No gaming among large groups of people for me, thanks.

Loot boxes all over again...

Too many closeup face-shots of bearded men. I really wanted to see this video too.

FIRST

"Sordid?" Did you maybe mean "storied"?

Well, we all know it for certain now Hillary supporters don't like pinball.

If we are going to talk about Trump, I'll just stay at home thank you very much!