Pinball Geologist

I never had much money when I was pursuing my undergraduate degree. You didn’t really need a lot because the cost of an advanced education in the 60s was far less than it is today. As I remember, tuition, room and board at what was then Northeast Louisiana State College was only seventy-four dollars a month.

We had a wonderful student center complete with snack bar, pool tables and pinball machines. I was never very good at pool but I was a wizard when it came to pinball. The games in those days were mechanical (as opposed to digital - either not invented yet or else too expensive for common use) and cost only a nickel to play (five games for a quarter).

Every college student had an angle and when it came to pinball, the angle was this: a skilled and lucky player might win a hundred games. Four players could play at a time so he would charge his three challengers a total of fifteen cents to punch off four games. If one of the players also won games then he (mostly always a he) would split the take until all the games were played. A skilled pinball player could support his pinball habit while making a few extra spending bucks every day. Yes, pinball was an addiction.

I was a great pinball player but a horrible businessperson and even worse con man (you had to be a little of both to really make money at pinball). I usually ended up sharing my free games with buddies, and my brother Jack who was a needy (and I use the word kindly) pinball player.

During the last oil boom, I was lucky enough to own a couple of analog pinball machines, including Aztec, possibly the greatest pinball machine ever created. Like the oil bust my machines went the way of my money – gone and might as well forgotten. Oh well! It was fun while it lasted.

I somehow managed to graduate from Northeast after four or so years but to this day, I know more about pinball than geology (my college major). What a career move! They don’t even have analog pinball machines now and any self-respecting ten-year-old (male or female) can whip my butt on Wii. Let ‘em try it on Aztec though and I’ll teach the young pups a lesson they’ll never forget.

Fiction South