🏺 Pinball and Arcade History
By Alexander Visotin
One aspect of the pinball hobby I particularly enjoy in addition to repairs and restorations is the history. I enjoy finding out about the history of each machine including where they have been and who has owned them. Whenever I buy a machine, I try to find out as much about the history of the machine as the current owner can tell me. Some of those histories can be long and detailed. For example, if the owner is an operator who sited the machine for revenue. Most operators have a good memory for where they have sited particular machines, where they earned well, and how much play they got. You'll also learn how many times the machine has been broken into or vandalised, or even stolen! Some of the histories are quite short. If the machine has only been owned by one or two people, there is often not much to tell. Oftentimes, the current owner has little to no knowledge of the machine's life before they acquired it.
But even in cases where the machine has no known history, there are clues on and in the machine that can piece together a story. If you're lucky, you may find game manuals, purchase invoices, advertising materials such as flyers, distributor information, and miscellaneous memorabilia inside the cabinet. These are a gold mine for figuring out where the machine has been or who has owned it (or even how much they originally paid for it!). Scans of some of the more interesting advertising paraphernalia I've found in games appear below.
🧑🤝🧑 Pinball People
Another important part of pinball history is the people. The people who designed, programmed, and assembled the machines. Pinball companies are manufacturing companies at their core, with huge teams of people putting pinball cabinets together. It would be impossible to meet them all. However, I have been lucky enough to meet several key industry figures at pinball events and conventions. Below are photos of Fiona and myself with Gary Stern (founder of Stern Pinball) and Jack Guarnieri (founder of Jersey Jack Pinball).
👨🔧 Pinball and Arcade Operators
People are one part of pinball and arcade history, but they seldom work alone. Most of them work for some kind of amusement company. The backbone of the coin operated amusement industry were operators, both one-man-bands and larger companies. These businesses were responsible for purchasing new coin operated equipment, and placing it on site for the public to enjoy, whether that be in an arcade or a street (non-arcade) location. There were thousands of operators around Australia, particularly in the 1980s during the video game boom. Most of these businesses cropped up quickly, but died a few years later when profits sank or when the operators discovered how difficult it is to keep electronic amusement equipment operational. All that remains of some of them are the identification stickers and business cards left on or in the games they used to own and operate. I love recording these; they are a perfect time capsule of the machine's past life. Some of the operator stickers I've found appear below.
#️⃣ Serial Numbers
There is one additional source of historical information inside most pinball and arcade cabinets: the serial number. The serial number can either be stamped, etched, or on a sticker somewhere inside, or on, the cabinet. Different manufacturers applied their serial numbers differently, and each had their own method of generating and allocating serial numbers. One fantastic resource I contribute to regularly is the Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND). Whenever I repair a machine or see one in public, I try to record and upload the serial number to the database for posterity.
When machine serial numbers are logged in this way, individual machines can be tracked as they move to different owners, or even when they move internationally. Even individual circuit boards can be tracked, which may be in a different machine to the one they originally left the factory in! This is very valuable information for someone interested in the provenance of a particular machine, whether for sentimental reasons or to confirm its history prior to purchase. I encourage everyone to submit their serial numbers to the database, as this resource is only as valuable as the data submitted to it. Alternatively, please contact me with your serial number information and I would be happy to add it to the database for you.