it for awhile. But what we found is that most
players don't read the instruction cards, and after
orne time I found out the reason they don't read
the instruction cards is that t hey don't understand
the terminology. So what we did was take the
in truction card from Spirit of '76, which is fairly
typical, and then break it down line by line,
explaining what it means and what it doesn't mean.
Then there are chapters on pinball strategies and
diff rent types of skill shots, a chapter on some of
the people in the industry and how they got into the
business, and then there's a chapter on legality.
The book also includes sections on etiquette,
tournaments and associations, the future of the
game, and then a comprehensive glossary.
P LA Y METER: When will it be out?
KIRK: We're taking orders now. There's a
hard -cover trade edition, and right now there's only
a limited number of the soft -cover edition . But I
expect it to be out everywhere within the next
couple of month .
P LA Y METER: How could people go about getting
a copy of the book?
KIRK: They should write: Special -When-Lit Corp.,
Box 496, Park Ridge, DIinois 60068. Or they could
telephone their orders by dialing 1-312-SPECIAL. I
might add that I see this book as a vehicle for us to
let people understand the game and to help us
expand the pinbaJl association. What we're looking
for at the association are people's names and
addre se , and hopefully this book will provide us
with that. We know that t here are people out t here
invited u down to his dressing room where we
played pinball for about three hours. We were
told later Tom just does not invite people down to
his dressing room.
PLAY METER: Let's talk about your book for
awhile. Why did you write it?
KIRK: First of all, I had met an awful lot of people
in this industry that I felt were fascinating. And
when I was a kid, I always wanted to know who D.
Gottlieb was and who Mr. Williams was and so
forth . After all, I was playing their games. So when
I actually got to meet David Gottlieb, it was kind of
a big thrill for me. From that point on, I guess I had
it in my mind that one day I would write a book and
talk about these people . This is, after all, a strange
industry. You have to be an interesting person to be
in this business in the first place.
PLAY METER: Can you give u a brief description
of the book.
KIRK: It's sort of a player's book, although it was
written for everybody . It's about 50,000 words, 128
pages. Something I think is unusual and interesting
about it is that we try to correlate orne of the
events that were going on in the world with how
they affected pinball. The World' Fair of 1933, for
instance, had a great deal of influence on the pinball
industry. But as far as the format of the book, the
first part is devoted to the history of the game. The
next part of the book is on the basic things you
should know about playing pinball. I also have a
chapter on understanding the game's instructions .
This is a kind of strange section, and we debated on
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FISCHER
FIESTA ...
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For more informa tion about our coin-op program , contact
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PLAY M ETER, February , 1978
Brand new this year!
Premium quality construction
for excellent playability
year after year. 7' and 8 ' models.
~BOnIT~71
15