Confession Time: lie, cheat, or steal to play pinball?

[BillG]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Okay, so pinball can be addicting, but like other addictions, what have
you done (lie, cheat, or steal) to get your fix to play a game?

Here's a couple from when I was about 10-12 years old. Since then I
have turned over a new leaf and I'm on the right track .

1. Anything I could take back to a store without my parents noticing
was a source of cash. Things that come to mind were 32 oz glass
bottles for recycling, package of batteries and other stuff.

2. I remember going to a covenience store for a friend and somehow the
..83 in change became .08 cents (the store just got in a EBD).

3. Telling my brother I needed to borrow his Raleigh 10 speed bike to
go to a friend's house, but instead riding it to the local mall to play
pinball. I didn't think I needed to lock it up (yes, stupid me) and
when I came back out it was stolen. It was a long walk home, but once
my mom found out, guess who had to buy their brother a brand new
Raleigh 10 speed - me! It was a good lesson (my mom had plenty of
opportunties to provide them), but I had been saving for my own new
bike which would have to wait a while longer .

billg

 

[Nomad]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

We used to play the pins at a nearby hotel gameroom. They had an Evil
Knievel and we'd take a stack of magnets with us and you could "spin"
the spinner back and forth and rack up points. I think it took a long
time but we were able to get some free games by doing this!

nomad

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Never have. Pinball is my adult hobby, never played as a kid. - Q

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Same here, I don't remember ANY pins where I grew up.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

I think they were talking about last week as well. They use the term
"kid" to conceal the truth.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

LOL! Yes...

Same age, different time. We used to steal the wooden
Coke crates from behind the local pharmacy, sell them
back to the store. The proceeds were spent ENTIRELY on
the pins inside. 5 balls for a nickel...

Fred
TX
CARGPB#8
=========================

billg wrote:
> Okay, so pinball can be addicting, but like other addictions, what have
> you done (lie, cheat, or steal) to get your fix to play a game?
>
> Here's a couple from when I was about 10-12 years old.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

when i was 13 or so, the arcade craze was happening at the mall, which
was too far to walk too. Parents didn't drop me off either due to
something called a "bad element".
so i told them i was going to a friends house.. instead i took the
neighbors bike and hauled ass to the mall, stayed an hour or 2, and
came back.
I was also one of those annoying kids that checked the coin rejects all
the time, as stupid as that looked i always managed to find tokens like
crazy, sometimes in bunches! Found stringed coins many times. The
jackpot was finding a bunch of coins jammed in the slot and fishing
them out with a toothpick. Sometimes they would all go in at once..
beloved patriot.. beloved patriot.. cacacachink.
Those were the innocent times.

Marcel

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Back in the mid 80's my parents made my brother and I go to church
every Sunday. When I got my drivers license they decided we could drive
ourselves up to church. My brother and I would drive to church grab a
bulleten in the back of the church and then go over to Putt-Putt golf
and games. Use have a great time playing Pinbot. It was always hard to
make excuses of why we were so late.

That is my confession father! ;-)

 

[Jeb]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Oh man, I had it bad around 1970 (age 12 - 15). After rumaging around
in my dad's coats for coins wasn't enough, I started pounding out
pennies to the size of quarters or filing them down to the size of
dimes, a slow and tedious process indeed. The amazing thing with the
fake quarters was, after usually getting rejected a bunch of time, the
light weight would allow it to stick on the switch and quickly rack up
the maximum credits. Then the challenge was to bang it loose without
making too much of a commotion. Sometimes I'd have to turn off the
machine if it stuck hopelessly, especially those Gottliebs with the
semi circle credit display. Another bad thing I did was take a
screwdriver and pry a little space open on the side of the backbox
cover on Ballys, then I could poke in a cue stick and spin the credit
wheel up to 25. I can remember my back and legs aching like crazy
after 3 hours or so, but the pain was not enough to make me stop. Now
I feel bad about being a pain in the butt for the operators, but I
guess at the time I thought they were part of "the capitalistic
establishment". Now 5 bucks doesn't mean too much and I'm lucky to
find location pinballs that are worth pumping money into.

JEB

 

[Del]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Well, So Far I guess I'm one of the Few who knew how to use a Que-Ball
from a pool table to Hit the coin doors close to where the micro-switch
is & if you hit it just right ( not hard to do ) you could get free
games all day as long as the change guy wasnt paying attention,,, Ah !
The Good Ole Days =)

Pin-Del,

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

I did not start playing until I was in my early 20's, so no amoral
childhood stories...

Does lying about where I go for lunch at work to my workmates count?
Does letting the parking meter run out count as cheating? or stealing?
or both? Maybe I do then!
No need at home!

John!

billg wrote:
> Okay, so pinball can be addicting, but like other addictions, what have
> you done (lie, cheat, or steal) to get your fix to play a game?
>
>
> billg
>