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THE HIGHEST EARNING PINBALL MACHINE EVER.....(?)

new forest pinball

new forest pinball

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5Years
Joined
Oct 27, 2015
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Location
brockenhurst hampshire
Ok....so here it is...just serviced a gottlieb black hole for a customer...and it had a copy of the flyer in the cabinet...here it is...
81038
Got me thinking, which pinball machine took all my pocket money(whilst at school) and hard earned cash whilst at uni? (U know the score working like a navi in a bar or a chip shop.....) after a short spell of deep thought and reflection, I came up with the following..this is by far the top five machines back in the day that took the majority of my loot ..now black hole is definitely up there..it was so addictive..but sooo difficult..what about that multi ball ...what a challenge! Took for ever to get..(and hundreds of pounds! Slight hyperbole but it sure seemed like that when you are fifteen).
Then drain in about 3 seconds......anyway here's my top five coin takers...what's yours..and your early memories of the silver ball...would be great to hear your experiences.....K.
SCHOOL.
1). Kiss.
2). Black hole.
3). Eight ball deluxe.
4). Xenon.
5). Haunted house.
Fathom would of been on this list but the ones near me hardly ever were in working order. Same with seawitch and flight 2000 fabulous machines!

COLLEGE.
1). Pinbot.
2). Space shuttle.
3). Vector.
4). Time machine. (Zaccaria).
5). Centaur.
Put money in many others have fond memories of gorgar, Harlem globetrotters and soccer kings....amongst many others.....looking forward to your comments, also what do we think is the more recent big earners 1990's I guess has to be taf...modern stern hhmm ghostbusters....no idea...the only modern sterns I have sited is rbion, bdk and bbh................
 
Operators always tell me that space invaders ate money back in the day . When pinball took off in 1992 some TAF were covering their £2500 price tag in 3 months . Sounds good but some turtles video games paid for themselves in a week !
 
Ever?

Well Raphael in Paris says Sluggin Champ 1955 and Mystic Marvel 1954 had full cash boxes every single week without fail.

I think those very early operators made a fortune.

He has properties all over the world from operating pinballs in Paris in 50's, 60's and 70's!
 
When I was a kid my first job was at a bowling alley changing shoes, they had a Roadshow and over the years I probably put enough money in that machine to have paid for it alone. I haven't played one since and would definitely like to get one some day. I would say the pin on location that eats most of my money now is probably Addams Family!
 
In the 80s I was far more a computer and vid game kid. I remember seeing pins in arcades but tbh never paid them much attention, had the occasional game but always found it utterly baffling and usually a rather short lived affair [emoji16]

I remember Centaur lurking ominously in the corner of our local arcade. And Haunted House stuck in my head.

My school dinner money was fed into vids really - PacMan, Gorf, Vanguard, Salamander, Wizard Of Wor, I Robot some of my faves.

Anyway fast forward to early 90s and the DMD pins start appearing in pubs.

T2 was my gateway drug. So many games and accompanying pints on it in our local rock pub. Juke box booming. Great times.

Also a lot of Fish Tales, Star Wars, TZ, Black Rose etc in various pubs, bowling alleys etc

Mid 90s in London I played a lot of Roadshow, Guns N Roses, IJ, Tommy

Sent from my D5833 using Tapatalk
 
There still seem to be a fair amount of spider men (SpiderMans?) out on site so I guess this must have done ok

Back in the 90s TAF and T2 probably got the bulk of my cash.
 
I get sent pictures from friends of pins on sites, SM has come up twice (which in a field of say 7 is amazing!) - GB I think has come up 2 times also...
 
I grew up during what I learn is called the "Golden Age" of video games - 78 Space Invaders - 84 Paperboy. All the cool kids were on the vid's with their 10p's lined up on the latest titles, small kids at the back, and the poor old pins were relegated to the back of the arcades largely ignored. My only pinball distraction was Space Invaders for obvious reasons.

Golden age of arcade video games - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
An arcade game called Cadillacs and Dinosaurs took most of my pocket money in the 90s. It was one of the best 2D side scrolling beat'em ups I've ever played, that and Streets of Rage, naturally.
 
I also grew up in the golden age of arcades, and living in London and also being into punk, ska and the mod scene at 14 would walk up to Carnaby st with friends to hang out.
This took us through soho and the great seedy sex district also had an excellent arcade that catered for mainly the large Chinese population.
Here I saw pheonix released, ( that game had a huge effect on us as it incorporated new graphics effects). Also lots of other top titles way before they hit the suburbs.
Also going to Blackpool for our holidays each year, ( throwback to being born a scouser ) I remember gorgar, Flash Gordon, Harlem globetrotters, space invader, and centaur but was also a vid guy like Sarge and so just looked.
Fun times
 
+1 for Phoenix, it did seem like a big leap forward at the time. Then later we had Gyruss playing real music.

This has got me thinking that I remember which arcade (5 in Bognor where I lived) and exactly where within each of my favourite machines was situated. Strong memory's, I can't remember what I had for dinner yesterday:tut:
 
The game that took most of my money by was Galaxians, followed by Space Invaders.

I remember looking at the pinball machines, and only playing them when I spotted free credits!

Had no idea how to play, what you were supposed to do.....

Some things don't change:D
 
Being from West London I used to go to Soho, there were a few arcades back then. Played video games mainly then.
The pinball I can remember playing was in an Acton arcade which was my local and was Mr & Mrs Pac-man which I loved at the time, they used to have a weekly Defender high score comp in there and the owner was so into it he smashed the bezel/screen cover a few times😂
I had a Defender for about 15 years, wish I never sold it☹️
 
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Replay said:
The game that took most of my money by was Galaxians, followed by Space Invaders.

I remember looking at the pinball machines, and only playing them when I spotted free credits!

Had no idea how to play, what you were supposed to do.....

Some things don't change:D
Click to expand...

Galaxian was my coin taker. Had one in the local cabby.
I think the first pin played was Paragon possibly in the Kent pub Ealing.
Not 100% sure it was Paragon though . Was topped up with London pride most times.
I think it had a knight on the front and one ball trap on the left side.
 
I hail from Sussex and remember the first Space Invaders machine being installed in my local arcade, It was 1978 I was a punk and pinball which had taken all my cash up until then became a dinosaur.
Happy days in the Mermaid on the beach green, and loads of cash in Space Invaders, Asteroids not forgetting Vector and pac-man.
Zip forward to the 90’s and Adams Family, Fish Tales, CFTBL, Twilight Zone, and Indy appeared one after another in that order in our local, pinball was back on my radar.
Me and Mrs Tox could probably have brought one new back then if we had back all the cash we put in them during that period.
 
Slimetime said:
An arcade game called Cadillacs and Dinosaurs took most of my pocket money in the 90s. It was one of the best 2D side scrolling beat'em ups I've ever played, that and Streets of Rage, naturally.
Click to expand...

One of the best side scrolling beat en ups ever. I was playing it recently on my cab and it's still great, brilliant sprite work
 
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