I made some drastic purchases over the last week. I've been looking over Craigslist for two things. My constant searches are for pinball machines and sectionals. One of them won... twice.
First, I saw that someone had a Space Riders pinball machine for pretty cheap and it had been fully restored. It had been on Craigslist for a while, so I was pretty sure I could get a deal. After work, I drove to a machine shop in Burnsville. The man there was very nice. He wants me to do a website for his machine shop. He also was very angry about gas prices and how poorly his new pick-up runs on E85.
Things that make Atari's Space Riders rad besides the amazing art. It has an extra wide body. There are only a handful of these models made. Also, it's electronic. Atari made the first electronic pinball machines. This started in the mid-seventies. Space Riders in the last in the 1st generation of these machines. It came out in 1978. Also, it has a movie cameo in Before Sunrise where Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy play it for for about 5 minutes. If you haven't seen that movie, you should.
We were able to get it into our Subaru Impreza by taking off the legs and the backbox. When I got it home, I called my friend Hui who lives down the street and he helped me bring it inside. We put it on the kitchen table and put the legs on. Everything came together easily and then we played.
That night I saw that someone was selling a Pin-Bot for over half off what I usually see it at. I ignored it. Yesterday (5 days after I tried to be strong), I called the ad and someone was getting it. I left my number just in case. That night I got a call. The guy ended up not getting it because the backbox doesn't come off (or fold down because he doesn't have the key). It didn't fit in his pick-up with the topper on it. I told him I'd rent a truck.
I went with Hui. The guy's house was in North St. Paul. It was very dirty and he had his Rottweiler chained up to his oven. It was going nuts barking and lunging. On the main floor, he had two of those massive Ski Doo and skateboarding machines where you get in front of a big projection screen and you ride on the device to control your movements.
The machine was upstairs and he also had a Gilligan's Island pinball machine as well as ~10 other arcade games, pool and air hockey. We didn't take anything off the machine. We carried it downstairs. I had the heavy end. At one point we had to tip its nose in the air so the box would clear the ceiling. I thought I would die. I gave the guy $20 to drive me back to my place.
His son was asleep in the back of the cab. It took Steve and I 40 minutes to get to this guy's home, it took longer to get home. He was in his early 40's and retired. He told me he was prison guard for 15 years, but got hurt on the job. He's been getting money from them ever since. I didn't ask what happened. It rained for about 10 minutes. I tried to act like I wasn't worried about the machine.
Our dog's name is Pinball. Turns out Pinball the dog hates pinball the machine. The noises they make get him to run to his safe zone... under the coffee table.
Pin-Bot has a special place in my heart. I bet some of you have even played it. It came out in 1986 and was so popular that it had two sequels. Freshman year, my friends and I would play the old Nintendo version of it in my dorm room. Now it's out on a PSP compilation that I play all the time on the bus. Both machines are fun, but Pin-Bot is my favorite. This morning I woke up at 6:30, took off the glass and cleaned it. I also reset the flippers, because one was off.
He are some pictures that don't have to do with pinball:
I got some more cavemen and wanted to show them off. Very important.
Also, here are some Battle Beasts. I found some with weapons at the State Fair Flea Market.
Needless to say, I felt very guilty for spending all that money on pinball, so I sold all my Wii stuff. It'll pay for one of the machines and then some. I really haven't played it since people came for New Years. Wii has let me down. It has so much potential, but the games seem half-hearted. I've been a big fan of past Nintendo consoles. They always had all the best 1st party games. DS had a slower start, but was able to substantially prove itself witin a year. As it stands, I'd rather have pinball machines than a Wii. Maybe I'll buy the next Nintendo console that is backwards compatible.
