Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)
Issue: 1947 July - Page 16
..
COIH
MACHIHE
REVIEW
16
FOR
JULY
1947
materialism in the heart of the player than there is in pin balL
I know that this is a little hard to believe. The following excerpt
from a Collier's article will give you the attitude of Tex Hughson,
Red Sox baseball pitcher:
"Deep in the heart of Tex Hughson there is a consuming, almost
a crusading, urge to become the champion pin ball machine player
in the major leagues.
"Hughson, a tall, dark, determined party, who was incongruously
christened Cecil in the range country of Texas thirty-one years ago,
trains for this bauble of flickering lights, rubber bumpers and bells
with th e same enthusiasm he expends in pitching baseballs for the
Boston Red Sox.
"In any hotel on the baseball circuit where th e management has
installed these gimmicks, Hughson can be found manipulating the
plunger. Most of his wakin.g hours, except the time spent in uni-
form, Tex passes seeing how high he can run his score without
registering a tilt.
.
"One such afternoon in Philadelphia, while the Red Sox idled
before a night game, Hughson was so engaged when a hotel guest,
ten feet away, shook his head in incomprehension.
"'Look at those ballplayers', he complained. 'Work two hours a
day. Then they waste the rest of the day and their money watching
little balls rolling around a machine.'
"Had Hughson heard the busybody, he would have beguiled him
with a two-hour dissertation on why pin balls are good for the soul,
particularly one belonging to a pitcher."
Or, if you want to see the purest, most wholesome type of game
activity · in the field of recreation, just sit or stand around a pin
game in a hotel lobby some evening and watch and listen to a
group of men playing the game. Their interest is deep and sincere
b~~ond words; they love what they are doing and observing; all
VICIOusness has departed; their souls are laid bare and their souls
will look all right to you!
They have even developed a "pin game code of courtesy" that
is followed religiously in pin game locations in Big City, Middle-
town and Smalltown, U.S.A. When there are many players and
only one table, no one player holds the table too long. It was un-
necessary for us to write Emily Post about pin game etiquette but
we, at CMI Public Relations Bureau thought we would an;how
asking Emily what a player at a table should do about the others'
when others were waiting. We received this typical Emily Pos~
reply:
.
"When others are watching they should be asked if they would
like to play and if they are waiting, then after a game, or p.ossibly
two-depending how long it takes-the table should be relin-
quished."
It is usual, rather than unus'ual, to see a player, deeply im-
mersed and in love with the table, courteously look around after he
ha~ played a. f~w times, and ask the ~nlookers if they care to play.
ThiS man, glvmg up the table, doesn t want to give it up. But he
has so much respect for the appeal of the game and so much
under~tanding of how strong this same appeal is for others, that he
turns It over to them for a few rounds-then comes back to it!
Tens of thousands of times a whole evening is passed by a group of
players, playing and surrendering the table to one another almost
as much interested in the other man's game as in their oV:n. I do
not think any other sport in America can boast of such grand con-
sideration on the part of players.
Pin Sport Thrives on Variety
Of modern pin tables, perhaps 2,500 individual tables have been'
designed and manufactured in the past 15 years_ Each manufac-
~eep
turer is everlastingly trying to get the jump on his competitors by
bringing out something new. Sometimes the "something new"
doesn't click and the fea ture fades into oblivion. Sometimes the
new feature takes hold like wildfire and pretty soon becomes a
standard adjunct of all games. The pin game today is a marvelous
example of action through electronics and the bumping, scoring,
lighting and agitating devices on the tables have developed a
technology that proved indispensable to the Army and Navy when
they caUed on our factories during the war to manufacture some
of the most sensitive and intricate detection devices for attack and
defense.
The uninformed person thinks one pin table is just like another.
The dyed·in·the·wool player, however, knows the big difference that
exists and very often goes blocks out of his way to find the location
that has exactly the kind of table that best challenges his skill.
People who have never played pin ball think many of the latest
tables with their complicated scoring systems are too hard to under-
stand. But if these people will spend a nickel or two to play the
game a couple of times, they will find that their brains have bridged
the chasm from simple arithmetic to calculus in a few minutes_
Playing pin ball produces immediate understanding!
Each indivi~ual pin game contains an infinite variety of action.
It is almost mathematically impossible for two games of pin ball to
give action ~at is identically the same. W. A. Patzer, chief engi-
neer of a member factory of Coin Machine Industries, Inc., studied
mathematics at the University of Bonn, Germany, under Alfred
Einstein and compiled the following interesting figures. On a ltable
having 12 bumpers and five balls, a given player has one chance in
720,000,000 of ever seeing two games with ball action and angles
exactly alike. The possibility of two identical games in every .minute
respect, occurring in succession are one in a vigintillion. That
means 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,-
000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
Tribute to Pin Ball
The .writer of this article has been connected with sports and
recreation for more than forty years, and has held the title of
champion top spinner of the world for thirty-seven years. I have
played nearly all major American sports with old men, with middle-
aged .men, with .young men and with kids. I am not a pin game
~anatI? for t~e Simple reason that it is difficult for me, in the city
m which I lIve, to find a place to play pin ball unless I go to a
friend's rumpus room. I do play the game when I travel and would
like to play it every day.
I haye in~ensively studied the sport since it sprang into promi-
nence m thiS country 15 years ago. I know of no sport that offers
more fun to the American people, fun with not a trace of harm or
danger attached to ~t. A man can drop into the corner drug store
and spen.d a few nIckels and receive a half hour's joyous amuse-
ment, whICh helps distract him from his worries refreshes his brain
~n~ ~ives hi.m a new lease pn iife. The game i~ so wholesome tha~
It. IS Il!lposslb~e for ~ad or vicious thoughts or intentions to enter
hiS mmd while he IS playing or watching it played. It is the
cleanest sport ever offered to the American public.
So, naturally, I get het up when some glib commentator who has
never. played th~ game, and is too dumb to know that 40,000,000
:\~encans l?ve It, casts aspersion~ ~n this sport by trying to infer
It IS. somet~llng other than what It IS. If any critic of pin ball is
readmg thiS, and wants to be fair, all I ask of him is to take an
hour off som.e ev~ning, dr~p into a few locations, playa few games,
and study. PI?- ball and pm ball players. His eyes will be opened
and he Will !nstantly change from a wet dishrag to a raving pin
game enthusIast!
.
PD4ted , , ,
It will pay you in many ways to keep in touch with Ben Rodins.
Every week, guaranteed up-to-date equipment is offered for sale
. at EXCEPTIONALLY LOW PRICES. Remember . .. if I can't
guarantee it I won't ship it!
Write r(JdOIl
A Postcard Will Do
Let Ben Rodms Add
Your name" to
His moiling List
mARLin
Amusement Earparation
412 9th St., N. W .• 01. 1625
, WASHINGTON 4. D. C.
Gottlieb Stars Lucky
Star Shipments
CHICAGO-Deliveries of the game,
Lucky Star, were being made to distri-
butors during June, according to officials
of . D. Gottlieb & Co., and production was
bemg put ' into full swing so that operators
could be assured of full quantities in all
parts of the country.
Dave Gottlieb, head of the firm, said
the trade response to pre-release announce-
ment was very encouraging and the in-
form.a ti~n gained had been of great help
to distrIbutors. The game has a combina-
tion of features which have been gained
by a quarter of a century in the manu-
facturing business, he said_
Lucky Star is described by the makers
as a 5-ball replay game that offers "mete-
oric action" on the playing field. The high
sco:e appeal is featured in kick-out pockets
w.h!ch score. as high as 15,000, giving ad-
dmonal actIOn and the big high score
mark set at 400,000. Replays are awarded
for winning scores.
COIH
MACHIHE
REVIEW
16
FOR
JULY
1947
materialism in the heart of the player than there is in pin balL
I know that this is a little hard to believe. The following excerpt
from a Collier's article will give you the attitude of Tex Hughson,
Red Sox baseball pitcher:
"Deep in the heart of Tex Hughson there is a consuming, almost
a crusading, urge to become the champion pin ball machine player
in the major leagues.
"Hughson, a tall, dark, determined party, who was incongruously
christened Cecil in the range country of Texas thirty-one years ago,
trains for this bauble of flickering lights, rubber bumpers and bells
with th e same enthusiasm he expends in pitching baseballs for the
Boston Red Sox.
"In any hotel on the baseball circuit where th e management has
installed these gimmicks, Hughson can be found manipulating the
plunger. Most of his wakin.g hours, except the time spent in uni-
form, Tex passes seeing how high he can run his score without
registering a tilt.
.
"One such afternoon in Philadelphia, while the Red Sox idled
before a night game, Hughson was so engaged when a hotel guest,
ten feet away, shook his head in incomprehension.
"'Look at those ballplayers', he complained. 'Work two hours a
day. Then they waste the rest of the day and their money watching
little balls rolling around a machine.'
"Had Hughson heard the busybody, he would have beguiled him
with a two-hour dissertation on why pin balls are good for the soul,
particularly one belonging to a pitcher."
Or, if you want to see the purest, most wholesome type of game
activity · in the field of recreation, just sit or stand around a pin
game in a hotel lobby some evening and watch and listen to a
group of men playing the game. Their interest is deep and sincere
b~~ond words; they love what they are doing and observing; all
VICIOusness has departed; their souls are laid bare and their souls
will look all right to you!
They have even developed a "pin game code of courtesy" that
is followed religiously in pin game locations in Big City, Middle-
town and Smalltown, U.S.A. When there are many players and
only one table, no one player holds the table too long. It was un-
necessary for us to write Emily Post about pin game etiquette but
we, at CMI Public Relations Bureau thought we would an;how
asking Emily what a player at a table should do about the others'
when others were waiting. We received this typical Emily Pos~
reply:
.
"When others are watching they should be asked if they would
like to play and if they are waiting, then after a game, or p.ossibly
two-depending how long it takes-the table should be relin-
quished."
It is usual, rather than unus'ual, to see a player, deeply im-
mersed and in love with the table, courteously look around after he
ha~ played a. f~w times, and ask the ~nlookers if they care to play.
ThiS man, glvmg up the table, doesn t want to give it up. But he
has so much respect for the appeal of the game and so much
under~tanding of how strong this same appeal is for others, that he
turns It over to them for a few rounds-then comes back to it!
Tens of thousands of times a whole evening is passed by a group of
players, playing and surrendering the table to one another almost
as much interested in the other man's game as in their oV:n. I do
not think any other sport in America can boast of such grand con-
sideration on the part of players.
Pin Sport Thrives on Variety
Of modern pin tables, perhaps 2,500 individual tables have been'
designed and manufactured in the past 15 years_ Each manufac-
~eep
turer is everlastingly trying to get the jump on his competitors by
bringing out something new. Sometimes the "something new"
doesn't click and the fea ture fades into oblivion. Sometimes the
new feature takes hold like wildfire and pretty soon becomes a
standard adjunct of all games. The pin game today is a marvelous
example of action through electronics and the bumping, scoring,
lighting and agitating devices on the tables have developed a
technology that proved indispensable to the Army and Navy when
they caUed on our factories during the war to manufacture some
of the most sensitive and intricate detection devices for attack and
defense.
The uninformed person thinks one pin table is just like another.
The dyed·in·the·wool player, however, knows the big difference that
exists and very often goes blocks out of his way to find the location
that has exactly the kind of table that best challenges his skill.
People who have never played pin ball think many of the latest
tables with their complicated scoring systems are too hard to under-
stand. But if these people will spend a nickel or two to play the
game a couple of times, they will find that their brains have bridged
the chasm from simple arithmetic to calculus in a few minutes_
Playing pin ball produces immediate understanding!
Each indivi~ual pin game contains an infinite variety of action.
It is almost mathematically impossible for two games of pin ball to
give action ~at is identically the same. W. A. Patzer, chief engi-
neer of a member factory of Coin Machine Industries, Inc., studied
mathematics at the University of Bonn, Germany, under Alfred
Einstein and compiled the following interesting figures. On a ltable
having 12 bumpers and five balls, a given player has one chance in
720,000,000 of ever seeing two games with ball action and angles
exactly alike. The possibility of two identical games in every .minute
respect, occurring in succession are one in a vigintillion. That
means 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,-
000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
Tribute to Pin Ball
The .writer of this article has been connected with sports and
recreation for more than forty years, and has held the title of
champion top spinner of the world for thirty-seven years. I have
played nearly all major American sports with old men, with middle-
aged .men, with .young men and with kids. I am not a pin game
~anatI? for t~e Simple reason that it is difficult for me, in the city
m which I lIve, to find a place to play pin ball unless I go to a
friend's rumpus room. I do play the game when I travel and would
like to play it every day.
I haye in~ensively studied the sport since it sprang into promi-
nence m thiS country 15 years ago. I know of no sport that offers
more fun to the American people, fun with not a trace of harm or
danger attached to ~t. A man can drop into the corner drug store
and spen.d a few nIckels and receive a half hour's joyous amuse-
ment, whICh helps distract him from his worries refreshes his brain
~n~ ~ives hi.m a new lease pn iife. The game i~ so wholesome tha~
It. IS Il!lposslb~e for ~ad or vicious thoughts or intentions to enter
hiS mmd while he IS playing or watching it played. It is the
cleanest sport ever offered to the American public.
So, naturally, I get het up when some glib commentator who has
never. played th~ game, and is too dumb to know that 40,000,000
:\~encans l?ve It, casts aspersion~ ~n this sport by trying to infer
It IS. somet~llng other than what It IS. If any critic of pin ball is
readmg thiS, and wants to be fair, all I ask of him is to take an
hour off som.e ev~ning, dr~p into a few locations, playa few games,
and study. PI?- ball and pm ball players. His eyes will be opened
and he Will !nstantly change from a wet dishrag to a raving pin
game enthusIast!
.
PD4ted , , ,
It will pay you in many ways to keep in touch with Ben Rodins.
Every week, guaranteed up-to-date equipment is offered for sale
. at EXCEPTIONALLY LOW PRICES. Remember . .. if I can't
guarantee it I won't ship it!
Write r(JdOIl
A Postcard Will Do
Let Ben Rodms Add
Your name" to
His moiling List
mARLin
Amusement Earparation
412 9th St., N. W .• 01. 1625
, WASHINGTON 4. D. C.
Gottlieb Stars Lucky
Star Shipments
CHICAGO-Deliveries of the game,
Lucky Star, were being made to distri-
butors during June, according to officials
of . D. Gottlieb & Co., and production was
bemg put ' into full swing so that operators
could be assured of full quantities in all
parts of the country.
Dave Gottlieb, head of the firm, said
the trade response to pre-release announce-
ment was very encouraging and the in-
form.a ti~n gained had been of great help
to distrIbutors. The game has a combina-
tion of features which have been gained
by a quarter of a century in the manu-
facturing business, he said_
Lucky Star is described by the makers
as a 5-ball replay game that offers "mete-
oric action" on the playing field. The high
sco:e appeal is featured in kick-out pockets
w.h!ch score. as high as 15,000, giving ad-
dmonal actIOn and the big high score
mark set at 400,000. Replays are awarded
for winning scores.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).