Pinball Wizard

He stands like a statue,
Becomes part of the machine.
Feeling all the bumpers
Always playing clean.
He plays by intuition,
The digit counters fall.
That deaf dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pin ball!


~The Who- Pinball Wizard


Ever since I could remember I have loved playing pinball. Not many places have pinball machines anymore, electing for more modern and flashier games for its customers aka kids. Well, those places can have their flashy designs and graphics to keep the kids amused. All I need is two flippers, a plunger, and a couple metal balls to keep me entertained. Maybe pinball is not an intricate, complex, multi-player game created in a warehouse with top flight directors shooting the commercials. Maybe it does not have the same appeal or luster as some of the older games like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter that are still around to satisfy the need for some good old physical violence and blood. No, Pinball makes you stand up, heaven forbid, has cheesy electronic graphics on the backglass, akin, for me, to great album covers in that it is art that captures the game in a unique way. Yep, I got two mechanical levers and a high score(Sorry, I couldn't resist).


There are literally thousands of different pinball games to choose from that consist of different themes ranging from movies(Indiana Jones Franchise and The Addams Family) to video games(Super Mario Brothers)to TV shows(Family Guy; South Park), to superstars and mega-bands(Elvis, Evel Knievel, and Guns N' Roses). Pinball has immortalized pop cultures greatest icons. In doing so it has created a game that can take different shapes on its playing field that keeps the game from ever being static. Most games fit into a certain model, where as a pinball machine can be created into just about anything imaginable. The choice is given to the player into what world or realm they would like to play within. Yet, pinball for all of its history and nostalgic appeal remains highly irrelevant. Why?


I think the reasons that I enjoy pinball are the very reasons people do not. Its very simplistic. The idea of shooting a ball around a table is not something that exactly lights up the night. Especially when, by chance, you can lose that ball without having a chance to play. With the multi-button, interactive gaming of today, where you can play with strangers from all over, it is is easy to see why pinball would be a little lackluster to some. Secondly, the noise is annoying. The ball bouncing off the pop bumpers creating an incessant tommy gun "da,da,da,da,da", entering into a hole or a ramp that sets off a cheesy, Atari like sound effect. Now you have real people, characters from TV shows and movies, doing voice-overs for gaming. Gaming now has a clean and crisp sound, manufactured on a sound stage, that have been recorded specifically for a particular game. There is nothing cheesy about the sound effects. Only the sophistication of sound in our digital surround sound era. And lastly, the Tilt. Games can be maddening and frustrating. I know that on many occasions I swore I hit a button, but my character did not execute it, costing me a life or a game. It was at this point we may slam or throw the controller across the room in anger. Totally understandable. With pinball, the inventors made the Tilt mechanism to negate both anger and cheating. Of course, a subtle nudge or a a calculated jab will help put the ball in a more advantageous spot, but if frustrations abound the machine will turn off. Game Over. In our world of throwing controllers, threatening gaming systems, and banging anything in our general vicinity after a bad play; how is it this nomadic machine has the gall not to allow us to display our overt anger. Not only that, but it shuts down. It becomes the kid who thinks the game is getting a little too rough, a little too out of control, and just stops playing. Pinball- What a crybaby!!!


Pinball to me, however, is like going outside and shooting hoops. Its that solitary, individualistic moment when its just you and the hoop. Maybe the wind kicks up, maybe the hoop is bent, maybe the ball is flat, but that is what you have to deal with- the elements. There is the rythmic sound of the ball bouncing, clanging from the hoop and through the metal net(Yes, I went mental nets on you) After shooting for awhile you become locked in on hat you are doing. You forget about time, the noises, the cold and it is just you and the basket. Pinball is the arcade version of just going outside and shooting hoops. Its the act of repetition, learning different angles, and just being there concentrating on one thing, which eventually you will get lost in doing. You play pinball, just like you shoot hoops, for yourself. 


In pinball I see a metaphor for life. The three chances you are afforded are like the chances or opportunities we receive to make the next one count. You lose a ball quickly, well you have another chance and you better make this one count. You play the different elements on the board from ramps and holes to gates and targets like you would the obstacles in your life- with strategic manipulation. A person, after playing pinball for awhile, understands the places of emphasis to obtain the high score. It is no secret that when you hit the dragon's layer, put the ball in the alien spaceship, or put the ball inside the Eye of Mordor that you will be receiving the maximum amount of points. Just like life, having watched the outcomes of mistakes and successes, knowing which way to head to maximize your potential and value. You can face the multi-ball bonus where opportunities for points come flying at you or you can grow frustrated and blame the game as you enter the world of Tilt. This is a game only you can play, hovering over the board like a king on a throne, overlooking the world in font of you. The choices and direction affecting you as you continue on your path to a high score. 


Yet, the best part of the game is the luck and chance that rear its head for better or worse. Like I mentioned before there are times when the ball will make a few bounces and just go harmlessly to the side and out of play. There will be other times that it will infuriatingly roll down the middle of the board and in between the uprights of your flippers, as you stand there furiously hitting the flippers in a feeble hope the ball will strike and continue the game. But that is life. The swings and misses; the missed or uncapitalized opportunities that ultimately, just slide by the wayside and out of our grasps. The times when the ball will hang precipitously upon the stopper. Time freezes as the ball stops and rests as if deciding whether to remain in play- your hopes and dreams still alive- or to fall to the outlanes where you will curse to see your last opportunity innocuously roll away. Pinball, like life, showing it can giveth, but it can also taketh away. A lesson that we do not always have control of the world we live in, but rather we live in a world of chance. For better or worse.