Lecari
Site Supporter
So, as a newbie to pinball I actually found out only recently about the whole controversy around the Pinball Adventures books, and got to have a quick look through paperback copies of Volume 1 and 2 (thanks @MajesticPinball). We had a good laugh at how awful they were. So imagine my surprise when today, I found that there is now a Volume 3 - released November 2020!
I read a lot and have a blog where I review and talk about books (it's my other big hobby), so at lunchtime I purchased a copy. I had absolutely zero hopes for it being good, but thought it might be a good laugh at least. (Vol 2 reminds me of when I was at school and I'd need to increase the word count so I'd add extra details to pad it out - but it did at least talk about each of the machines featured.) While I feel awful about buying the Kindle copy, the only other option was to buy second-hand paperback on eBay from the US for 3x that. I couldn't see anything on the forums about it so thought I'd treat you all to my 1 star Amazon review, so you don't need to buy it yourself (you know, just incase anyone was thinking about buying a copy).
Enjoy.
--
I have read paperback copies of Volumes 1 and 2, and so when I saw that there was a Volume 3 available, I thought I'd give this one a try on Kindle. The quality of the series has definitely gone downhill from the first volume.
There are sections on Baseball, Basketball, Bowling, Boxing, Car Racing, Football, Golf, Hockey, High Rollers (which seems to be poker and card games), Billiards, Soccer, Wrestling and 'Other Sports'. There is also a few other sections scattered throughout the book -
-a glossary of some pinball terms which are credited to Wikipedia;
-'Black & White', with old photographs of old arcades (some featuring pinball machines, some not);
-Collector Corner, featuring a pinball fan who talks about her love of the Simpsons and her Data East Simpsons Machine (which seems a bit out of place when the rest of the book is sports themed - but it's the best part of the book);
-Designers and Artists, which has photographs of some of the many people who have created pinball machines over the years (but no names or biography information - just a collage of photos).
So, onto the book itself. As an example, here is the first paragraph intro to the section on Soccer:
'This is a sport I have not watched as a pastime or followed in the local newspaper. I have heard of the betting that goes on and the following is incredibly overseas that lead to riots and stands collapsing due to the fans piling in. The pinball machines are great too with unique shots and fun themes. I own several of the soccer themed pinball machines and love them all. I am partial to Flipper Football, that did not do too well in sales, with its unique timer and overall theme. I am sure this game was great in the pool halls for betting and racking in the money with its tournament function.'
We are then treated to a whopping 7 PAGES about the history of football (yes, 7!), which I only skim-read as I'm buying a pinball book, and not a 'history of sport' book. There are then 16 pages of images of football themed pinball machines - pictures of the playfields or the marketing flyers. And that's it. Is my Kindle edition of the book perhaps missing some pages, or has this been published half-finished? I'm not sure, but there is no explanation or information on any of these machines shown - which, surely, is the point of the book?
Each chapter has the same format - approximately 10 pages of the history of the sport, followed by another 10+ pages of photos. I only read the first paragraph or so of each chapter (as this is the section that actually talked about pinball) and then skimmed through the rest. The only chapter that discusses a pinball machine in any detail is the chapter on golf, which starts out well by talking about Gottlieb's Teed Off for a page or so, before then explaining in detail the history of golf. There's also a nice long paragraph talking about a 'Gottliebi' barn find in the Boxing section - followed by 17 pages of Boxing history.
Even those few paragraphs I read had a few typos, and it seems the author (and editor) doesn't know how to use your/you're or their/there/they're. I also spotted some editing inconsistencies - for example, sometimes the names of pinball machines are in capitals and other times they aren't. The final section (Other Sports) also refers to 'No Good golfers' - a bit embarrassing! (And yes, the capital G is missing on 'Golfers').
Vol 2 wasn't great - it was filled with typos and each machine had approximately a page of 'filler' talking about the theme of the machine, but at least the author talked about the machines. In Volume 3, it feels like no effort has been made at all. The only section that actually talks about machines is the Collector Corner (which I assume was not written by Andrew MacBain). Where's the pinball?
I read a lot and have a blog where I review and talk about books (it's my other big hobby), so at lunchtime I purchased a copy. I had absolutely zero hopes for it being good, but thought it might be a good laugh at least. (Vol 2 reminds me of when I was at school and I'd need to increase the word count so I'd add extra details to pad it out - but it did at least talk about each of the machines featured.) While I feel awful about buying the Kindle copy, the only other option was to buy second-hand paperback on eBay from the US for 3x that. I couldn't see anything on the forums about it so thought I'd treat you all to my 1 star Amazon review, so you don't need to buy it yourself (you know, just incase anyone was thinking about buying a copy).
Enjoy.
--
I have read paperback copies of Volumes 1 and 2, and so when I saw that there was a Volume 3 available, I thought I'd give this one a try on Kindle. The quality of the series has definitely gone downhill from the first volume.
There are sections on Baseball, Basketball, Bowling, Boxing, Car Racing, Football, Golf, Hockey, High Rollers (which seems to be poker and card games), Billiards, Soccer, Wrestling and 'Other Sports'. There is also a few other sections scattered throughout the book -
-a glossary of some pinball terms which are credited to Wikipedia;
-'Black & White', with old photographs of old arcades (some featuring pinball machines, some not);
-Collector Corner, featuring a pinball fan who talks about her love of the Simpsons and her Data East Simpsons Machine (which seems a bit out of place when the rest of the book is sports themed - but it's the best part of the book);
-Designers and Artists, which has photographs of some of the many people who have created pinball machines over the years (but no names or biography information - just a collage of photos).
So, onto the book itself. As an example, here is the first paragraph intro to the section on Soccer:
'This is a sport I have not watched as a pastime or followed in the local newspaper. I have heard of the betting that goes on and the following is incredibly overseas that lead to riots and stands collapsing due to the fans piling in. The pinball machines are great too with unique shots and fun themes. I own several of the soccer themed pinball machines and love them all. I am partial to Flipper Football, that did not do too well in sales, with its unique timer and overall theme. I am sure this game was great in the pool halls for betting and racking in the money with its tournament function.'
We are then treated to a whopping 7 PAGES about the history of football (yes, 7!), which I only skim-read as I'm buying a pinball book, and not a 'history of sport' book. There are then 16 pages of images of football themed pinball machines - pictures of the playfields or the marketing flyers. And that's it. Is my Kindle edition of the book perhaps missing some pages, or has this been published half-finished? I'm not sure, but there is no explanation or information on any of these machines shown - which, surely, is the point of the book?
Each chapter has the same format - approximately 10 pages of the history of the sport, followed by another 10+ pages of photos. I only read the first paragraph or so of each chapter (as this is the section that actually talked about pinball) and then skimmed through the rest. The only chapter that discusses a pinball machine in any detail is the chapter on golf, which starts out well by talking about Gottlieb's Teed Off for a page or so, before then explaining in detail the history of golf. There's also a nice long paragraph talking about a 'Gottliebi' barn find in the Boxing section - followed by 17 pages of Boxing history.
Even those few paragraphs I read had a few typos, and it seems the author (and editor) doesn't know how to use your/you're or their/there/they're. I also spotted some editing inconsistencies - for example, sometimes the names of pinball machines are in capitals and other times they aren't. The final section (Other Sports) also refers to 'No Good golfers' - a bit embarrassing! (And yes, the capital G is missing on 'Golfers').
Vol 2 wasn't great - it was filled with typos and each machine had approximately a page of 'filler' talking about the theme of the machine, but at least the author talked about the machines. In Volume 3, it feels like no effort has been made at all. The only section that actually talks about machines is the Collector Corner (which I assume was not written by Andrew MacBain). Where's the pinball?
