For Would-Be Pinball Wizards, the <i> Thwack’s </i> the Thing

Ever since I was a young boy, I played the silver ball . . .

Now, I wouldn’t for a moment call myself a pinball wizard, but what I lacked in wizardry I more than made up for in nickels.

With a personal pinball-playing history dating to the late 1950s, then, it was with more than the usual bounce in my step that I sought out John Ridgway, owner of the Pinball Palace in Anaheim. Ridgway sells new and refurbished pinball machines, but is more than a businessman. He’s a lifelong player and understands the tension, the fury and the utter inadequacy that overwhelms those who see their last ball drained with a free game just 10 points away.

Ridgway, 32, nodded knowingly as I relived that particular horror. “Especially if you’re a kid and you only have a couple dollars,� he said. “That was me when I was a kid. I’d get a dollar-a-week allowance. Games were a dime a game and three for a quarter then, so I’d part with a quarter. There was some major, major tension when I was getting close to a free game, because when that dollar was gone, I couldn’t buy anymore.�

To me, there was always something slightly raunchy about pinball machines. Pool halls and bars and smoky cafes had them, and the display windows usually featured some garish scene. And legend has it that some cities used to confiscate them and smash them with sledge hammers.

It bothered me that Ms. Pac-Man and friends almost relegated pinball to obscurity.

Ridgway confirmed that pinball was almost extinct when, in the mid-’80s, Williams Electronics came out with two new games: Space Shuttle and Hi/Speed. “Had they not been successful, I don’t think Williams would have survived,� Ridgway said. “They were the premier pinball manufacturer and they had considered getting out of pinballs. I understood that if Shuttle hadn’t been a hit, they would have gone out of business.�

But pinball survived. And thrived again.

The first pinball machine was made in 1932, Ridgway said. “In 1948, Gottlieb (a manufacturer) came out with Humpty Dumpty, the first game to use flippers,� Ridgway said. “Everybody went crazy over that.�

Before then, the ball was catapulted out of the chute and landed in craters with point allotments. That reduced the game to chance; flippers turned it into a game of skill.

Why do people like pinball?

“For the average player, it’s an inexpensive form of entertainment,� Ridgway said. “You have to concentrate when you play, so you get your mind off work, you get your mind off whatever problems you’re having. For a lot of people, it’s the artwork and the lights. There’s a lot going on when you’re playing, a lot of visual and hearing stimulation. And you don’t know what’s going to happen. Each time you play the game, it comes out completely different than the time before.�

What about the thwack, that great sound that indicates a free game and lets everyone in the room know you mastered the machine?

“They still use what they call a knocker, in all games,� Ridgway said. “That’s a solenoid, with a rod in the middle of it. They put a piece of metal on top of the backbox (where the score is displayed) and mount that solenoid about two inches underneath that metal thing. And then you’ve got the metal rod in the center of the solenoid, and it kicks up and hits that piece of metal really hard. The tone is a little different with each company, but they all do it the same way.�

He then explained that the first machines were played on countertops. Players could easily lift them and move them around to manipulate the game. Machine makers wanted a way to penalize players for doing that, so they introduced a feature that snuffed out a game if a player jostled a machine too much.

The result was the dreaded pinball feature known as TILT!!

Ridgway was getting my juices going. Give me some more lore, I said. What are the legendary games in pinball?

“The all-time classic, most popular pinball machine is a game called Fireball. The reason it was popular was that it was a multi-ball game and had a spinning disk in the middle, so you never knew what was going to happen. So when the ball got on that, it would throw it around. Plus, the artwork was considered the best of any pinball game.�

Video games still outsell pinball, but today’s pinball manufacturers are designing new machines to tie in with movies, such as “The Addams Family� and “Last Action Hero.�

Ridgway offered a caution, however.

“Pinball machines may be hurt again next year, because virtual reality games are right around the corner. That’ll be another cycle. Unfortunately, there is only so much money in the entertainment business. Kids only have so many quarters.�

I’d hate to think of a generation of kids who never hear the thwack of a job well done. Ridgway is optimistic that won’t happen.

“Pinball will readjust (to virtual reality games), and the technology will continue to go forward, and they will regain the players. Because there’s nothing like a pinball machine.�

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.