I couldn't believe my good fortune! We went to Movies 400 in Cumming a few weeks ago, and there it stood, ready to be experienced by a little guy who never knew it existed. My son Will, age eight, has seen his old man play pinball before, on the PlayStation and on the Wii. But here, in the corner, like a relic from a bygone age, sat an Indiana Jones pinball machine. With a plunger, two flippers, flashing lights, moving platforms and hazards and a stereo soundtrack that was sadly turned down to the point of anonymity.<br />
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It's hard to explain the fascination of pinball to our kids. Before the advent of Nintendo and even Atari, the pinball machine reigned supreme in the arcades, and we all had our favorites. Bill Maine's is Black Knight, the first multi-level pinball machine that also featured "Magna-Save," which allowed you to save your ball from the "death chute" on occasion. I had a special affection for "Pinbot," although it was almost unfairly difficult to achieve a full flight from Pluto to Earth.<br />
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Simulations of pinball have come a long way in the last couple of years. There are a couple of low-priced PlayStation and Wii "Hall of Fame" games that salute the classic tables above from the Williams library and a corresponding set of games from the Gottlieb factory. And now, a company called Farsight Studios has begun painstakingly digitizing classic pinball machines into a format to be played on your home computer or even your smartphone.<br />
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But somehow, despite best intentions, nothing beats the feel of standing in front of an actual pinball machine
