STORY DATE - Decmeber 2013 / LOCATION - Longueuil, Québec

I had to posponned my service call tonight, but somehow still feel a belligerent need to write. Man, it's scary to not be able to shut up, even when I am drained and  exhausted.

I was suppose to go to a senior citizen's residence in Longueuil after work tonight in order to fix a ball eject problem on a pinball machine. This thing has it's own dedicated space in a communal gameroom on the top floor of this high end senior's home. I had been there once before when the administrative powers of this boomers' final "hang out" wanted an older, but clean nostalgic looking pinball machine installed in one of their big ass hotel like residences as a test site to see if they would do it in the rest of their edifices. They called on me for some reason, I think they should have called the "fishstore" (i.e. Starburst Coin Machines) instead, better match on a corporate business ethics level.

This is not a government run place, these are privately run big business machines that are banking on the looming demographic jackpot of people with more money than they need getting old and living longer than the average normal or low income senior. Back in the 70's and 80's business minded boomers had the chance to rip off the generation(s) that came after them, and many of the more ruthless ones took great advantage of not having to think about the long term damage and consequences resulting from their mostly careless and unregulated business decisions. So now that it is time to pay the piper, these luxurious residences' shareholders are going to get all or most of this money back from these boomers for as long as they can keep them alive by providing (read selling) medicine, private hospitalization services, clean living and excercise so that they can keep these humans alive & more importantly paying. It is all very nice to take care of eachother that way right until the very end, isn't it ?

Regardless, their gameroom is so well arranged that I thought I would try and describe the place tonight based on what I remember, so let's do this from the ground floor lobby to the top floor gameroom.

Last time I visited this old girl (a 1975 WLL Triple Strike) in what remains an old folks home no matter how luxurious, I got an uneasy feeling about the client, whomever the hell he, she or it was. I am use to dealing with a human being in their home and face to face, not a nameless and faceless corporation running severals homes. And yes, the place looked good, and comforting, like a four star Vegas hotel at four in the morning. But there was no way I felt that this was a place where things were going to get better when it was time for the guests to finally really go home. I walked through the lush soft carpeted hallways as I was heading towards the inevitable end of the hall where a great gameroom was looming. Again, there is absolutely nothing good about getting old, it sucks no matter what, and there is nothing you can do about it except accept it and try to do it well and peacefully. And I guess that is what these corps are hoping to sell to these boomers for as long as possible. OK then, - it is just business right ?  No point thinking about how the cookie inevitably crumbles.

The lobby had a huge fountain and a front desk, but no casino attached to it, and no chance at winning anything at all, not even a good time. Just a quiet sense of ease and tranquility, which is nice, - I guess. The elevator up to the sixth floor was smooth, spacious and quiet, in fact everything was quiet, until I got to the game room. Inevitably, there was a glass soundproof door to open in order to get into this great big room which houses an air hockey, bubble hockey, foosball and pool table all to one side. An LCD screen the size of the wall at the other end with wii game consoles and several controls neatly placed on coffee tables in front of the lush couches facing the screen. Then, at the other end of the gameroom, in an alcove was the pinball machine which looked like a mechanical relic, but had lots of older men around it talking, laughing and taking turns at playing it while occasionally pushing it around in much less aggresive ways than we (their younger counterparts) do at league nights across the country. Some women were yakking away on the couches, while others were playing wii with their visiting grandchildren. The children were mostly showing their grandparents how to play video games on the wall. I was there to level the pin and adjust a flipper last year, and what stuck in my mind was that the game playing spirit of these people brought out the kids in them again (albeit less bositerous) and that is something I too am starting to enjoy about playing pinball, or most physical games for that matter. But pinball machines being period pieces, that is what makes you feel young again will largely depend on which game you remember and have had a chance to play. They remain time machines of sorts for so many of us who have imaginations left. I don't think it would be the same for these gents around this 1975 pin if this was the latest Stern or even the WOZ machine by Jersey Jack even with its' old timey theme. The feel of the latter games are not from their time, when they were full of piss, vinegar and spunk. I don't think a newer machine would bring out their younger spirit like this one did, even when not working properly.


In closing, I would like to share a message I received from a reader, and I think it covers pretty much the reactions of late to this thread and the other comments I have been getting.

"Sorry to bother you with such a silly question. But you refer in your stories to the "fishstore". Is this an actual fish store you work at (with rows of fish on ice pallets)...or is this like a pinball repair shop? I cant quite figure it out which it is.

Love the stories....the repairs are neat...mind you...im a newbie...so alot of the fixes I dont understand since I don't know the lingo.

Thanks for the entertainment."


Keep smiling boys, that youthful energy is still something we can hang on to for a while. And I promise to explain the "fishstore" analogy somewhere, sometime & eventually on this blog at one point in time or another. WTF - Stay tuned and keep smiling.

STORY DATE - Decmeber 2013 / LOCATION - Longueuil, Québec

I had to posponned my service call tonight, but somehow still feel a belligerent need to write. Man, it's scary to not be able to shut up, even when I am drained and  exhausted.

I was suppose to go to a senior citizen's residence in Longueuil after work tonight in order to fix a ball eject problem on a pinball machine. This thing has it's own dedicated space in a communal gameroom on the top floor of this high end senior's home. I had been there once before when the administrative powers of this boomers' final "hang out" wanted an older, but clean nostalgic looking pinball machine installed in one of their big ass hotel like residences as a test site to see if they would do it in the rest of their edifices. They called on me for some reason, I think they should have called the "fishstore" (i.e. Starburst Coin Machines) instead, better match on a corporate business ethics level.

This is not a government run place, these are privately run big business machines that are banking on the looming demographic jackpot of people with more money than they need getting old and living longer than the average normal or low income senior. Back in the 70's and 80's business minded boomers had the chance to rip off the generation(s) that came after them, and many of the more ruthless ones took great advantage of not having to think about the long term damage and consequences resulting from their mostly careless and unregulated business decisions. So now that it is time to pay the piper, these luxurious residences' shareholders are going to get all or most of this money back from these boomers for as long as they can keep them alive by providing (read selling) medicine, private hospitalization services, clean living and excercise so that they can keep these humans alive & more importantly paying. It is all very nice to take care of eachother that way right until the very end, isn't it ?

Regardless, their gameroom is so well arranged that I thought I would try and describe the place tonight based on what I remember, so let's do this from the ground floor lobby to the top floor gameroom.

Last time I visited this old girl (a 1975 WLL Triple Strike) in what remains an old folks home no matter how luxurious, I got an uneasy feeling about the client, whomever the hell he, she or it was. I am use to dealing with a human being in their home and face to face, not a nameless and faceless corporation running severals homes. And yes, the place looked good, and comforting, like a four star Vegas hotel at four in the morning. But there was no way I felt that this was a place where things were going to get better when it was time for the guests to finally really go home. I walked through the lush soft carpeted hallways as I was heading towards the inevitable end of the hall where a great gameroom was looming. Again, there is absolutely nothing good about getting old, it sucks no matter what, and there is nothing you can do about it except accept it and try to do it well and peacefully. And I guess that is what these corps are hoping to sell to these boomers for as long as possible. OK then, - it is just business right ?  No point thinking about how the cookie inevitably crumbles.

The lobby had a huge fountain and a front desk, but no casino attached to it, and no chance at winning anything at all, not even a good time. Just a quiet sense of ease and tranquility, which is nice, - I guess. The elevator up to the sixth floor was smooth, spacious and quiet, in fact everything was quiet, until I got to the game room. Inevitably, there was a glass soundproof door to open in order to get into this great big room which houses an air hockey, bubble hockey, foosball and pool table all to one side. An LCD screen the size of the wall at the other end with wii game consoles and several controls neatly placed on coffee tables in front of the lush couches facing the screen. Then, at the other end of the gameroom, in an alcove was the pinball machine which looked like a mechanical relic, but had lots of older men around it talking, laughing and taking turns at playing it while occasionally pushing it around in much less aggresive ways than we (their younger counterparts) do at league nights across the country. Some women were yakking away on the couches, while others were playing wii with their visiting grandchildren. The children were mostly showing their grandparents how to play video games on the wall. I was there to level the pin and adjust a flipper last year, and what stuck in my mind was that the game playing spirit of these people brought out the kids in them again (albeit less bositerous) and that is something I too am starting to enjoy about playing pinball, or most physical games for that matter. But pinball machines being period pieces, that is what makes you feel young again will largely depend on which game you remember and have had a chance to play. They remain time machines of sorts for so many of us who have imaginations left. I don't think it would be the same for these gents around this 1975 pin if this was the latest Stern or even the WOZ machine by Jersey Jack even with its' old timey theme. The feel of the latter games are not from their time, when they were full of piss, vinegar and spunk. I don't think a newer machine would bring out their younger spirit like this one did, even when not working properly.


In closing, I would like to share a message I received from a reader, and I think it covers pretty much the reactions of late to this thread and the other comments I have been getting.

"Sorry to bother you with such a silly question. But you refer in your stories to the "fishstore". Is this an actual fish store you work at (with rows of fish on ice pallets)...or is this like a pinball repair shop? I cant quite figure it out which it is.

Love the stories....the repairs are neat...mind you...im a newbie...so alot of the fixes I dont understand since I don't know the lingo.

Thanks for the entertainment."


Keep smiling boys, that youthful energy is still something we can hang on to for a while. And I promise to explain the "fishstore" analogy somewhere, sometime & eventually on this blog at one point in time or another. WTF - Stay tuned and keep smiling.