Pinball Geologist

I never had much money when I was pursuing my undergraduate degree. You didn’t really need a lot because the cost of an advanced education in the 60s was far less than it is today. As I remember, tuition, room and board at what was then Northeast Louisiana State College was only seventy-four dollars a month.

We had a wonderful student center complete with snack bar, pool tables and pinball machines. I was never very good at pool but I was a wizard when it came to pinball. The games in those days were all mechanical (as opposed to digital - either not yet invented or else too expensive for common use) and cost only a nickel to play (five games for a quarter).

Every college student had an angle and when it came to pinball the angle was this: a skilled and lucky player might win a hundred games. Four players could play at a time so he would charge his three challengers a total of fifteen cents to punch off four games. If one of the players also won games then he (mostly always a he) would split the take until all the games were played. A skilled pinball player could support his pinball habit while making a few extra spending bucks every day. And yes, pinball was an addiction.

I was a great pinball player but a horrible business man and even worse con man (you had to be a little of both to really make money at pinball). I usually ended up sharing my free games with buddies, and my brother Jack who was a needy (and I use the word kindly) pinball player.

During the last oil boom I was lucky enough to own a couple of analog pinball machines, including Aztec, possibly the greatest pinball machine ever created. Like the oil bust my machines went the way of my money – gone and might as well forgotten. Oh well! It was fun while it lasted.

I somehow managed to graduate from Northeast after four or so years but to this day I know more about pinball than geology (my college major). What a career move! They don’t even have analog pinball machines now and any self respecting ten year old (male or female) can whip my butt on Wii. Let ‘em try it on Aztec though and I’ll teach the young pups a lesson they’ll never forget.

Fiction South