Wouldn’t this have been an awesome gift as a kid?

No way on Earth would my parents have been able to afford this!

I have always enjoyed playing pinball, but the decline in the popularity of these machines seems to be in direct correlation with the popularity of video games. Though I did enjoy playing video games as I grew up, I think if I had to chose one or the other I would go with a pinball machine every time.

My favorite pinball machine of all time was the “Black Knight”.

Did you prefer pinball over video games? What was your favorite pinball machine?

Released in 1978, Space Invaders had me scrounging for quarters for years to come. One of the few greats in the arcade game history. I still play it now and then today.

Back in the 70s I used to mow yards to make money before I could even drive. Anytime I had left over quarters from purchasing something, or if I had been paid in change (you only made a couple bucks per yard in the 70s) I would set the quarters aside so that I could go crazy at the arcade at Indiana Beach.

When our small town pizza shop finally put in a couple of arcade machines, my friend and I, on the occasional Saturday, would ride our bikes all over town and along the highway to gather up pop bottles to get some money to play the arcades. You could sometimes get $5.00 to $10.00 just from discarded pop bottles.