So yesterday marked the end of an era — no pinball machine in the house anymore. About a year after graduating from college, I got myself a full-sized pinball machine, themed with one of my favorite flicks — Back to the Future. That pinball machine has been a part of my household across three different homes. But unfortunately, it’s been a bit of a thorn in my side and running gag as the thing has been out of commission for like six years or more. It had a short for awhile, got fixed and then someone else helped me fix it and put too big of fuses in it, sending a surge up the internals, and fried a ton of components.
Unfortunately, pinball machines are a near thing of the past, as arcades have become a scarcity as home consoles have taken over. With them becoming an endangered species, so too have replacement parts and repairmen to replace those parts. So my very large non-functional pinball machine has sat unusable for years. Over the years, thanks to eBay, I’ve been able to replace parts slowly myself, but have one more that’s yet to function — the mainboard CPU. I have a lead on a company in Philly that may be able to resurrect my mainboard, but it obviously has not been a priority over the last half-decade or so.
Amanda’s been hassling me for quite some time to sell it. I continue to refuse, but compromised and this past Saturday, thankfully with some help, moved it to my sister’s basement. So I’ll still have visitation with it, and if the Philly deal works out, maybe those visitations will include some actual games. If it ever does function again, one day it will return to a future Keefer household, maybe with its own room and a few brothers and sisters, like this, this, this or this. Dream on, right?
I think we need to have a moment of silence for such a sad occasion. It’s like saying goodbye to a member of the family who’s moving away. But you know, now that the pinball machine isn’t in the house anymore, you’ve freed up room for something else, like, oh, I don’t know, a 7-foot pool table ;-)
Sorry to hear about your Pinball machine. Pinball’s unfortunately are becoming a rare sight, i think the only company still producing tables are Stern Pinball. I’d still keep the machine and maybe some day find replacement parts. Have you thought about building a MAME cabinet? I’m sure it could create some amusement in household.