I stumbled across this introduction on the Pinside forum yesterday and enjoyed reading it as it echoed a part of my own experience. 
It was written by @Antray84 and I have his permission to reproduce it on this forum as he is too much of an introvert to do so himself.
I think it would be great if other members gave a detailed account of their pinball playing journey as I find it fascinating. So here is the article that was written and I have added a suitable poll to the thread
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My name is Ant (Anthony) I am from the UK and I have always chased that feeling of nostalgia and community. I didn't always realise it, but it is there. Trying to fill a hole of a time past.
After years of untapped nostalgia, In 2018 I suddenly realized I could own my own arcade machine. Fast forward 6 years and I have had and traded a crazy number of machines, chasing that nostalgia and the idea of being part of a nostalgic community. Unfortunately I never really gained any of that. Not truly. The problem was twofold. One was that I was chasing lightning in a bottle. That feeling young Ant had in the summer of 1991 when I would run into an arcade trying to pinpoint exactly where that Turtles theme music was coming from and hoping that no older kids were already playing on the cabinet. They were amazing memories with my brother by my side but I wasn't able recreate them at home in the modern day. Having 4 friends is hard enough, let alone 4 friends that come to my house and want to play an arcade with me and recreate my own personal memories.
The second is that sense of community. That idea that I would meet like-minded people to share stories with. Unfortunately, that has not happened either. I don't blame others for this as I know that a lot of older people have found that community. But the simple thing is that the arcade world is entirely based on something that happened 30 years (and beyond) ago. There are no new arcades being made and no new arcade fans. Eventually, the bubble will burst. And it seems it has. The market is dead and there is nothing new and exciting to get your teeth into. I still love the games and that pang of nostalgia but it's a dying hobby with nothing in the tank to keep it going. Covid was a huge boom period (as it was for pinball) but there is unlikely to be a second wind in the way that pinball has had.
Cut to 2021 and I started to get into pinball. It was the sister of that girl you fancied. You knew of them and they had a connection to something you liked but you didn't really give them much attention. Then suddenly you realise that the sister is actually the cool one after all and you had been chasing the wrong thing. That thing you loved suddenly becomes dull and you can't understand why you liked it in the first place.
That realisation took a while to solidify. I got a V pin and although Arcades were still fun the rewards became less and less. It wasn't until 2024 that I decided to take the plunge and pick up a Mr and Ms PacMan, the cheapest entry point I could find into the hobby. It was the price point of a man who had been chasing the dragon of arcade collecting to the point where disposable income was deceased. It was fun and exciting. It had its problems but I was in the game. I had a stake. I learned I listened I prodded and poked and I thought, this is different. This isn't digital, it exists in the real world. It's physics.
I decided I was going to make a go of this pinball world. I joined a league, something unthinkable for an introvert like myself. I turned up at a random dudes house to play pinball......with strangers!!!!.I got excited as Jaws a NEW game came out. My dream theme!!! I could play it in the flesh at a bar in London and share my score online. This was it.
But as summer became autumn became winter Pac and it's new friend (an EBD) stayed in a garden room away from the main house. Still not quite trusted. Could this actually be the real deal. Was I prepared to leave arcades behind and embrace something new. Space in the house is beyond limited and had always been a safe haven for an arcade. That is until now. I have made the decision to change the house rules. I love arcades and always will, they are a memory of great times past. But they are not a look into the future, and they now simply serve as a way to collect dust. Now I know a pinball machine from the 1980s isn't that forward-thinking, but what it represents is. A chance to discover something new and exciting that has already taken me out of my comfort zone way more than Arcades ever did. It's exciting and it's new. So this weekend the house arcade is going and the house pinball is coming in from the cold. The likelihood is that all the arcades eventually go altogether. Not because they are not fun, but because pinball has given me an excitement that rebuying my childhood never did. A chance to meet friends, learn skills and discover something new. Will I ever afford that Jaws Pin? Unlikely but is something to chase. The arcade community isn't a bad thing, but I don't think it is my thing anymore. So let's go full force into pinball......but also slow as there's a skill shot ahead.
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So there you have it and I do hope you all add your stories here
It was written by @Antray84 and I have his permission to reproduce it on this forum as he is too much of an introvert to do so himself.
I think it would be great if other members gave a detailed account of their pinball playing journey as I find it fascinating. So here is the article that was written and I have added a suitable poll to the thread
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Arcade to Pinball a search for a feeling.
By Antray84
My name is Ant (Anthony) I am from the UK and I have always chased that feeling of nostalgia and community. I didn't always realise it, but it is there. Trying to fill a hole of a time past.
After years of untapped nostalgia, In 2018 I suddenly realized I could own my own arcade machine. Fast forward 6 years and I have had and traded a crazy number of machines, chasing that nostalgia and the idea of being part of a nostalgic community. Unfortunately I never really gained any of that. Not truly. The problem was twofold. One was that I was chasing lightning in a bottle. That feeling young Ant had in the summer of 1991 when I would run into an arcade trying to pinpoint exactly where that Turtles theme music was coming from and hoping that no older kids were already playing on the cabinet. They were amazing memories with my brother by my side but I wasn't able recreate them at home in the modern day. Having 4 friends is hard enough, let alone 4 friends that come to my house and want to play an arcade with me and recreate my own personal memories.
The second is that sense of community. That idea that I would meet like-minded people to share stories with. Unfortunately, that has not happened either. I don't blame others for this as I know that a lot of older people have found that community. But the simple thing is that the arcade world is entirely based on something that happened 30 years (and beyond) ago. There are no new arcades being made and no new arcade fans. Eventually, the bubble will burst. And it seems it has. The market is dead and there is nothing new and exciting to get your teeth into. I still love the games and that pang of nostalgia but it's a dying hobby with nothing in the tank to keep it going. Covid was a huge boom period (as it was for pinball) but there is unlikely to be a second wind in the way that pinball has had.
Cut to 2021 and I started to get into pinball. It was the sister of that girl you fancied. You knew of them and they had a connection to something you liked but you didn't really give them much attention. Then suddenly you realise that the sister is actually the cool one after all and you had been chasing the wrong thing. That thing you loved suddenly becomes dull and you can't understand why you liked it in the first place.
That realisation took a while to solidify. I got a V pin and although Arcades were still fun the rewards became less and less. It wasn't until 2024 that I decided to take the plunge and pick up a Mr and Ms PacMan, the cheapest entry point I could find into the hobby. It was the price point of a man who had been chasing the dragon of arcade collecting to the point where disposable income was deceased. It was fun and exciting. It had its problems but I was in the game. I had a stake. I learned I listened I prodded and poked and I thought, this is different. This isn't digital, it exists in the real world. It's physics.
I decided I was going to make a go of this pinball world. I joined a league, something unthinkable for an introvert like myself. I turned up at a random dudes house to play pinball......with strangers!!!!.I got excited as Jaws a NEW game came out. My dream theme!!! I could play it in the flesh at a bar in London and share my score online. This was it.
But as summer became autumn became winter Pac and it's new friend (an EBD) stayed in a garden room away from the main house. Still not quite trusted. Could this actually be the real deal. Was I prepared to leave arcades behind and embrace something new. Space in the house is beyond limited and had always been a safe haven for an arcade. That is until now. I have made the decision to change the house rules. I love arcades and always will, they are a memory of great times past. But they are not a look into the future, and they now simply serve as a way to collect dust. Now I know a pinball machine from the 1980s isn't that forward-thinking, but what it represents is. A chance to discover something new and exciting that has already taken me out of my comfort zone way more than Arcades ever did. It's exciting and it's new. So this weekend the house arcade is going and the house pinball is coming in from the cold. The likelihood is that all the arcades eventually go altogether. Not because they are not fun, but because pinball has given me an excitement that rebuying my childhood never did. A chance to meet friends, learn skills and discover something new. Will I ever afford that Jaws Pin? Unlikely but is something to chase. The arcade community isn't a bad thing, but I don't think it is my thing anymore. So let's go full force into pinball......but also slow as there's a skill shot ahead.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So there you have it and I do hope you all add your stories here
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