Page 13 - REVIVAL Magazine

“BALLIN’”
“Ever since I was a young boy I’ve played the silver ball From Soho down to Brighton I must have played them all”
COLLECTOR SPOTLIGHT
-The Who
“Pinball Wizard”
credit:
popularmechanics.com
Pinball was banned from the early 1940s to the mid-1970s in most of America’s big cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, where the game was born and where virtually all of its manufacturers have historically
been located.
The stated reason for the bans: Pinball was a game of chance, not skill, and so it was a form of gambling.
The first full-fledged and highly publicized legal attack on pinball came on January 21st, 1942, when New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia banned pinball in the city, ordering the seizure of thousands of machines.
Today, the industry may be down, but it’s not game over -- not yet. Pinball is mounting a comeback: The IFPA’s rolls of registered
A few of Dean’s vintage Pinball machines. Yes, they work, and yes, he always wins.
pinballers hit a record 14,000 last year (it’s growing 30% annually)
Given that the American arcade is practically extinct, where is all this enthusiasm for
pinball going?
Overseas: 50% of Stern’s machines are exported. And stateside? In man caves: 70% of Stern’s machines go to high- end hobbyists
and collectors. 13