55 year old Dirk and his third wife Isabelle have a large family that just keeps growing with time. Two sons from Isabelle's first marriage who are now in their twenties and were over for supper tonight when I showed up to fix a tired and neglected pinball machine. Dirk as well has two sons from his first marriage who played hockey in the juniors, and two daughters from his 2nd marriage. His sons are married now, and his daughters are in their late teens and still live at home. And to boot, Dirk and Isabelle have adopted a young boy a few years back who is now nine years old and loves this pinball machine that his adoptive father has brought home and decided to put in his room. The machine sparks up and plays, but just barely, little Philipé still gets a kick out of it regardless. I asked him what he likes about it, and he told me that it was a cool thing to have in his room, and to look at while falling asleep. I agreed, they do make cool looking nightlights, especially when 1/4 of the GI barely works.

Dirk called me at the end of this summer and said that he had been given a pinball machine by a buddy who had just gotten divorced. The machine had been abandoned in the 1990's by a small time street operator who no doubt was making better money elsewhere (video poker and fruit machines were all the rage) than with an old "C" location dated pin filling a dark corner of a neighbourhood bar. It was likely retired to the basement of that establishment when it stopped working, and after no one showed up after the location repeatedly called for service. In fact, it looks like no one ever bothered to even pick it up.

I had to reckon that it had most likely been repaired maybe once after having been brought up the location's basement stairs and into the light by Dirk's buddy who had just gotten married at that time. He then proceeded to put it in his mancave and that was where it stayed until last summer. The 3.6 volt nickel cadium memory battery had been changed and some work had been done under the playfield, but no serious hacks, and as to be expected the rubbers looked like they were on the verge of being due for a change and the playfield was very well protected by dirt, grime and rubber ring dust. Other than that, the usual weakness shined under this beat up Bally. Tired connectors, cheap lamp sockets which had become intermittent, dried capacitors and badly pitted flipper button switches. Wickedly carbonized e.o.s switches on the flipper units along with beaten coils stops and plungers/links. Everything else seems to have held up pretty good and had aged gracefully.

It is interesting to observe the effects of time on a pinball machine when no over zealous collector or dumb ass hasmessed with it by changing all sorts of parts that may not have needed to changed. You get to see where the real weakness are in the original essence/engineering of the machine, and if you look close enough you can see the effects of time via the relationship between the environment and its' past commercial use. It is important to leave certain marks to remind you of what has happened and why. I am a strong believer in not erasing one's scars while not ignoring past experiences if possible.

Much like Dirk and Isabelle who have gone through the work and pain of relationships to get to where they are now with all their original parts pretty much intact. They have changed partners yes, but they seem happy and are still managing to grow their family regardless of the effects of time which creeps up on us slowly and subtly. That is what I thought about tonight as I slowly turned back the clock on an old pinball machine while respecting its originality.

Lots of things came back to life on this machine tonight as I watched and listened to my client joke around, talk about what was going on in their lives around the supper table, as this Bally started lighting up a little more brightly than previously and reacting with more "umph" than it had in a while. I thought to myself how simple it is to make things good again when you let life happen and take its course in due time and not interfere too much, just let yourself light the way. But with a screwdriver, a soldering iron, an internet connection which often brings on a hasty disposition in some of us, things can eaisly go "sideways". It is OK to get old, living clean, keeping active and sharp is the most important part of the gig in order to keep doing the work properly.

I must have spent a good solid three hours around these people and their machine. They inspired me enormously with their good humour and ease of conversation. The time spent there didn't seem to wear on me like it usually does on a service call around uneasy and easily distracted humans after a full days work at the god-damn fishstore.

Dirk and Philipé came into the room after most of the clean up was done. There was no way that this thing could serve as a nightlight anymore without keeping this adopted boy awake. I asked Dirk if we should move it out of the room, but he said that since little Philipé in truth adopted Isabelle and himself as parents, and not the other way around, he would let him decide that as well.

"Fair enough", I replied, and packed my tools in order to try and make it home in time.

Robert A. Baraké  (R.A.B.)

55 year old Dirk and his third wife Isabelle have a large family that just keeps growing with time. Two sons from Isabelle's first marriage who are now in their twenties and were over for supper tonight when I showed up to fix a tired and neglected pinball machine. Dirk as well has two sons from his first marriage who played hockey in the juniors, and two daughters from his 2nd marriage. His sons are married now, and his daughters are in their late teens and still live at home. And to boot, Dirk and Isabelle have adopted a young boy a few years back who is now nine years old and loves this pinball machine that his adoptive father has brought home and decided to put in his room. The machine sparks up and plays, but just barely, little Philipé still gets a kick out of it regardless. I asked him what he likes about it, and he told me that it was a cool thing to have in his room, and to look at while falling asleep. I agreed, they do make cool looking nightlights, especially when 1/4 of the GI barely works.

Dirk called me at the end of this summer and said that he had been given a pinball machine by a buddy who had just gotten divorced. The machine had been abandoned in the 1990's by a small time street operator who no doubt was making better money elsewhere (video poker and fruit machines were all the rage) than with an old "C" location dated pin filling a dark corner of a neighbourhood bar. It was likely retired to the basement of that establishment when it stopped working, and after no one showed up after the location repeatedly called for service. In fact, it looks like no one ever bothered to even pick it up.

I had to reckon that it had most likely been repaired maybe once after having been brought up the location's basement stairs and into the light by Dirk's buddy who had just gotten married at that time. He then proceeded to put it in his mancave and that was where it stayed until last summer. The 3.6 volt nickel cadium memory battery had been changed and some work had been done under the playfield, but no serious hacks, and as to be expected the rubbers looked like they were on the verge of being due for a change and the playfield was very well protected by dirt, grime and rubber ring dust. Other than that, the usual weakness shined under this beat up Bally. Tired connectors, cheap lamp sockets which had become intermittent, dried capacitors and badly pitted flipper button switches. Wickedly carbonized e.o.s switches on the flipper units along with beaten coils stops and plungers/links. Everything else seems to have held up pretty good and had aged gracefully.

It is interesting to observe the effects of time on a pinball machine when no over zealous collector or dumb ass hasmessed with it by changing all sorts of parts that may not have needed to changed. You get to see where the real weakness are in the original essence/engineering of the machine, and if you look close enough you can see the effects of time via the relationship between the environment and its' past commercial use. It is important to leave certain marks to remind you of what has happened and why. I am a strong believer in not erasing one's scars while not ignoring past experiences if possible.

Much like Dirk and Isabelle who have gone through the work and pain of relationships to get to where they are now with all their original parts pretty much intact. They have changed partners yes, but they seem happy and are still managing to grow their family regardless of the effects of time which creeps up on us slowly and subtly. That is what I thought about tonight as I slowly turned back the clock on an old pinball machine while respecting its originality.

Lots of things came back to life on this machine tonight as I watched and listened to my client joke around, talk about what was going on in their lives around the supper table, as this Bally started lighting up a little more brightly than previously and reacting with more "umph" than it had in a while. I thought to myself how simple it is to make things good again when you let life happen and take its course in due time and not interfere too much, just let yourself light the way. But with a screwdriver, a soldering iron, an internet connection which often brings on a hasty disposition in some of us, things can eaisly go "sideways". It is OK to get old, living clean, keeping active and sharp is the most important part of the gig in order to keep doing the work properly.

I must have spent a good solid three hours around these people and their machine. They inspired me enormously with their good humour and ease of conversation. The time spent there didn't seem to wear on me like it usually does on a service call around uneasy and easily distracted humans after a full days work at the god-damn fishstore.

Dirk and Philipé came into the room after most of the clean up was done. There was no way that this thing could serve as a nightlight anymore without keeping this adopted boy awake. I asked Dirk if we should move it out of the room, but he said that since little Philipé in truth adopted Isabelle and himself as parents, and not the other way around, he would let him decide that as well.

"Fair enough", I replied, and packed my tools in order to try and make it home in time.

Robert A. Baraké  (R.A.B.)