My family, and about 10 other people from the Boise area, traveled to the Sacramento region last weekend for the Golden State Pinball Festival. About 300 machines to play. Some were for sale. Also an opportunity to buy pieces and swag – and enter competitions.
Let’s start with the room of old machines. These are called electro-mechanical machines, EMs for short. The name refers to how they operate. They don’t have computers or LEDs. The sounds are bells and chimes.
Here’s a quick tour of the old school game room at the festival.
One row featured machines from the 1940s and ’50s called “woodrails,” manufactured prior to 1961. Even though the edges were wood, they all have cigarette holders on them. It doesn’t seem like a good idea, but it was standard. Sometimes, you will see burn marks on the edges of them.
Many of these older machines show the score by lighting up rows of numbers. Later, score reels were developed to track play.
Your intelligence was usually also determined by your score.
Many old machines do not automatically pop the ball into the shooter lane after you press the start button. It has to be done manually. The knob is underneath the plunger. Push it in so the ball loads into the shooter lane. Then plunge the ball. Super slow-mo of the process:
Some of the backglass art can be risque. Jumping Jack (1973) has several different backglass options, including this one that had to be censored at the show. Yeah, my husband peeked behind the tape.
The girls are wearing shirts in the standard version of the game.
~Debbie