Pinball Machines

—David Savona

“Two kind of people in this world,” Ray Liotta’s character says in the 1997 movie Cop Land. “Pinball people and video game people.” If you’re 50 or older, you might fall into the former group of gamers who are enthralled by the ringing bells, snapping flippers and the captivating combination of mechanics and electronics that make pinball irresistible. While it’s the ultimate Sisyphean game—the eternal (and doomed) effort to keep an 80-gram, carbon-steel ball from going down the drain—for those who love it, it couldn’t be more fun. Descended from bagatelles, with such evolution as coin-op (1930s) and flippers (1947), pinball dominated arcades (remember arcades?) and created diversions in bars and candy stores. Its star began to fade in the 1970s with the rise of video games, the mechanics and simple…

You're reading a preview of

Cigar Aficionado (Digital) - 1 Issue, September/October 2024

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.