Mom and I have been lucky enough to secure a table by the window on the second floor of Stella Marina overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. As dessert arrives I catch Mom staring out over the water, watching the waves crash on the sand. She wears a subtle smile. I suspect she’s reliving in her mind her teen years riding a bus to Asbury Park with her girlfriends for a day of fun at the Jersey Shore. She now looks at the shell of the arcade where she once played Skee-Ball and rode the carousel after a day of swimming in the ocean.
“Let’s play pinball after dinner!” I say.
Mom looks at me quizzically, then her face lights up. “You mean that new pinball arcade on the boardwalk? That sounds great.”
Other evenings we might linger over dessert, but tonight we’ve got pinball to play. No sooner have I paid the dinner tab then I’m thinking about the dilemma in front of me: which pinball machine will I play tonight? I’ve gone to Silverball Museum pinball arcade dozens of times already and I have several machines that I consider my favorites. Mom has no idea what delights await her inside the arcade, but I know she enjoys anything with a touch of nostalgia. She’ll be thrilled when she finds the arcade has pinball machines from the 1950’s and 1960’s. She may even find a machine she played in her younger years.
After a 5-minute walk along the boardwalk we arrive at Silverball. From the outside, it doesn’t look like much. It’s a plain cement building with tinted glass windows that hide the treasures that await inside. As we open the door we are greeted by the sight and sounds of a sea of pinball machines. Machines are lined shoulder to shoulder in neat rows and along all four walls of the arcade, with more rows of machines lined up to create several aisles.
Silverball “retro arcade” sweatshirts and ball caps are for sale under the glass ticket counter. But we’re not interested in merchandise; we’ve come to play pinball.
“Welcome to Silverball Museum,” the arcade employee says in a rote greeting. “All machines are set up on free play. You pay by the hour. How long do you want to play?”
His lack of enthusiasm contrasts with our excitement and eagerness and the promising “bong, bong, ding-ding-ding-ding” of the machines. At just $15/hour, it’s the best entertainment deal around. I love that the machines are set up on free play; no need to bring a stack of quarters and pile them up on the glass top of the machine, staking out your claim; no disappointing sting if your game lasts only two minutes—the next game is just a tap away from the “Start” button.
“Two people for one hour,” I reply, handing him my credit card for payment. He glances over his shoulder at the simple black round clock hanging on the wall behind him reading 7:35, then grabs two red paper wristbands and writes 8:35 on each. He tears off the small plastic tab on each band, wraps them around our wrists and affixes the adhesive strip to the wrist band.
We proceed through the metal turnstile to enter the arcade past an eight-foot-tall plastic Elvis statue on the right side of the turnstile. We’re tempted to stop and take a selfie, but we’re ready to play pinball, so we pass.
The arcade isn’t so crowded for a Saturday night. There are about thirty other people in the arcade that night. We have to navigate around a few couples on dates, some teenage boys and a group of ten-year-olds that appear to be the remnants of a birthday party.
Mom’s told me that she loved playing pinball as a kid. I don’t know if there is such a thing as a pinball gene, but if there is, I have it and I got it from her. I take a few minutes to show her around. She’s quickly drawn to a pinball machine representing the 1964 World Fair in New York (Gottlieb, 1965). It’s a nostalgic choice; she went to that World Fair. Too slow for my taste, but she pushes start and gets right too it. Mom and I aren’t the type to stand around and watch someone else do something, not even each other, so I head off on my own search. I’m itching to play.
But which machine? My choice when I come depends on my mood and how crowded the arcade is on any given night. I don’t like having someone playing directly next to me, so if someone is playing beside one of my favorite machines, I eliminate that one for consideration for the evening, or at least for as long as someone is playing next to it. Each machine has a small placard attached to the top that lists the name of the machine, its manufacturer, year of introduction, and a few other key facts about that game. They’re like the little plaques in art museum indicating the year, title and artist of each work. This truly is a pinball “museum.” But unlike an art museum where you have to keep a secure distance, here you can touch (and play!) every pinball machine. I could play several over the next hour, but tonight I feel like testing my mastery of a single machine, maybe getting my name on the board as a top scorer, so I decide to play just one machine for the entire hour. But it’s got to be the right one. Which one? Which of my favorites will it be. There are over 100 pinball machines in the arcade but the three that I return to most often are KISS, Guns N’ Roses and The Sopranos.
KISS made by Bally, 1978. The cabinet of the machine is white with red wave-like flames painted along the bottom. The focus of the cabinet artwork are sketches of the four members of KISS – Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter. The playing surface is a wild assortment of white stars and yellow thunderbolts on a background of black, orange and green. The top four rollover lanes spell out K-I-S-S and the four bumpers underneath the rollover lanes once again have the sketches of the band members. High intensity LED lights flash with each score, and the higher your point total, the louder the crowd noise comes from the machine’s high-fidelity stereo sound effects and music. Some machines rely on the boing-boing-bong-bong ding-ding-ding sounds to add excitement, but a machine designed after a rock band is all about the music. Ten famous KISS songs play throughout the game. Playing the game is meant to make you feel like you are at a live KISS concert.
Guns N’ Roses made by Jersey Jack Pinball, 1994. The artwork is much more sophisticated than the KISS machine, and includes actual concert photos of Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan and other members of the band. The cabinet is solid black and painted with red roses and green vines. Instead of a typical plunger, an old-fashioned revolver is used to shoot each ball at the start of the game. Again, no simple bongs and dings here; “Welcome to the Jungle” is played when the game begins. The playing surface is much more intricate and detailed than the KISS machine. There are three rollover lanes, but they are suspended on ramps, and each one lights up G, N’ or R completing the band’s logo. The colors of the ramps, bumpers and flippers are mostly the primary colors of red, yellow and blue. The backdrop on the playing surface features guitars and some of Alx Rose’s tattoos. The backdrop is also illuminated with the GN’R logo. My favorite element on the playing board of this machine is Slash’s signature black top hat. You get a bonus ball once you hit all the targets on the top hat.
The Sopranos, made by Stern, 2005. This machine is a true work of art. The outside cabinet artwork features black and white photos of the actors from the TV show: James Gandolfini and the other main stars. The photos were taken directly from the original HBO promotional artwork. The design of the playfield includes all your favorite elements from the show. There are two stripper poles from the Bada Bing! club, and metal cut-outs of the dancers twirl around the poles when a certain point level is achieved. Tony Soprano’s fishing boat, The Stugots, releases extra balls as bonus play when all targets in that section are hit. The goal of the game is to climb the eight ranks of mobster life until you reach the ultimate goal of being the Boss. Displayed right in the center of the playfield are the eight ranks: Associate, Soldier, Good Earner, Acting Capo, Capo, Consigliere, Under Boss and finally Boss. Each rank lights up once you achieve that level. This game doesn’t have a selection of songs like the KISS and GN’R games, it only plays the theme song from the show “Woke Up This Morning.”
KISS, Guns N’ Roses or Sopranos? What will it be? What do I want tonight? I choose KISS. They were one of the most popular bands when I was in high school. Like Mom at the 1964 World Fair, I’ve got my own nostalgia. Though on opposite sides of the arcade, Mom and I aren’t far apart in our respective choices. I walk up to the KISS machine and push Start.
By the time the hour is up I’m exhausted from my virtual KISS concert. I go to find Mom. She’s no longer at the World Fair. I look around and finally find her playing Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure (Williams, 1993). What is she doing there? Mom, who won’t drive at night because she can’t see the lines on the road, is somehow keeping up with the fast pace, multiple modes and multi-ball play of this machine. She’s shooting targets, collecting medallions and racking up millions and millions of points. I watch in admiration until Game Over.
“It’s 8:35, Mom, our hour is up.”
“Wow, that went by fast,” she says, “I’d like to come back here again.”
“I thought I’d still find you playing the 1964 World Fair,” I say as we leave the arcade.
“I wanted to, but there was a lot of commotion a few machines down from me. Everyone was saying ‘Bruce is here, Bruce is here.’ It was hard for me to concentrate on my game.”
© 2022, Diane Gottschalk
Very fresh and enjoyable. I liked the surprise ending!