A Pinball
Christmas
Every so often, something happens that just amazes you.
Something that is so far from the ordinary that you cannot believe it. For
me that happened one Christmas back around the late 70's. I awoke on
Christmas morning with my brother Larry and we found something left that was far
beyond the GI Joes or Planet of the Ape toys we received in past years. In
our basement was not one, not two but three pinball machines. My father
went out and bought three pinball machines for the family for Christmas.
One machine would have been a huge surprise, but to find three left us
speechless.
My brother and I were pinball fans, but it was not something we asked for. We played Joker Poker at our cousin's house and played some games at our one uncle's store, but we never imagined owning our own machine. But there along the wall was Pitstop, King Rock and Four Aces. Each one ready to be played. It took no time for us to jump into the games and start playing. We were in pinball nirvana.
Only one thing kept us from playing all day long. My father was at work (he worked at the steel mill and they paid a huge bonus if you worked on a holiday) and we did not know where the keys were. It only took a few hours to exhaust all the quarters in the house. We frantically went around trying to find open stores or gas stations that could make change for us. We were able to get a few bucks in quarters but we went through those quickly as well.
In the coming weeks, we found a secure place to set the keys and enjoyed playing the games over and over. I was most fond of King Rock but I enjoyed each machine. Making laps on Pitstop was always a challenge and getting the balls to stick on the magnet at the top of Four Aces was a great challenge. Later on, my older brother bought a Polo pinball machine and added another machine to our collection.
The machines are still at my parent's house and we still play them. Not all machines are working at all times, but I still sneak in a few games of King Rock or Pitstop when I can. My own children love playing them when they visit their grandparents and it is great to see the machines still bring joy. It was definitely one Christmas I will never forget.