This fall we came into possession of a pinball machine. Back in the day, I loved pinball. Then I loved video arcade games. I never got into home video games but I guess I outgrew the genre. However, you reach a point where everything old is new again.
This game is called Star Pool.
It’s not one of your more coveted machines based on a TV Show or celebrity but the technician says it’s a good, solid machine made by a reputable company. The technician, by the way, was featured on CTV in a series about unusual jobs. If he had trouble finding work before the broadcast he’s busier than ever now. Apparently there are lots of people who have pinball machines in need of repair.
He spent five straight hours in our garage, tinkering away until “just about everything that could go wrong” was fixed and the machine was playable. And he was a pleasant, chatty, interesting guy who knows a lot about the history of these machines. Ours was made in 1975 and is at the lower end of the collectible scale but any machine that works is worth no less than $500. Funnily enough, that’s what this baby cost back when it was new. Any machine that doesn’t work is worthless.
Apparently, gambling rules were so strict decades ago that machines weren’t allowed to give a “free ball”. Instead it just gave you an “additional” ball or play. Our machine is destined for a bit of a theme room we plan to create in the basement once one of us gets all of our tools out of it and into the garage!
Star Pool can now take up to four players at a time and it’s free to play. Bets are being placed and trash talk has already started. If you need me I’ll be in the garage, practicing.