Pinball
Pinball was banned from the 1940s to 1970s in many cities across America. New York City’s mayor made a show of bashing pinball machines with a hammer. Church ladies in suburban Chicago went on vigilante raids, ripping games out of stores. In this episode, we go through history to understand how a simple game became demonized. The answer, like pinball itself, requires us to bounce from one object to another, but ultimately falls into one big question: Is pinball a game of skill, or a game of chance?
EPISODE NOTES
• Seth Porges, journalist and pinball history enthusiast
• David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research, UNLV
• Zach Sharpe, pinball champion and Stern Pinball director of marketing
• Lucky Charms pinball commercial, 1980s
• The Fonz pinball commercial, 1970s
• Bullets or Ballets, 1930s movie clip used in episode | IMDb
• “Mrs. Earle Hits Pin Ball Tale” – New York Times, 1941
• “Police Open Raids on Pin Ball Games” – New York Times, 1942
• “War on Pin-Ball Machines Near Schools Is Ordered” – New York Times, 1948
• “I’m Not A Juvenile Delinquent” by Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers
• Fiorello LaGuardia highlight reel (some used in episode)
• Kefauver Committee final report
• How One Perfect Shot Saved Pinball From Being Illegal – Gizmodo
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