T**
By Paula Lavigne
TV-free life
has benefits,
new freedom
Don’t ask me what Rachel and
Ross are doing. Deep Space Nine
has been galaxies away. No, I
haven’t seen the new Smashing
Pumpkins video. And I lost track of
Sami’s plot to destroy Carrie’s life
a long time ago.
Four months ago, after I took my
television on a cross-country trip in
the back of my car, the 20-inch RCA
wonder gave up on me.
One of two pieces of furniture
in my apartment, my TV just sits
there looking forlorn. Hooked up to
the VCR, it plays videos; but other
than that, it’s mute.
I didn’t have enough time or
money to get it repaired, and, at first,
I wondered how I’d live without it.
No more coming home and flip
ping it on to fill the void of a lonely,
silent apartment. No more lounging
in front of it while working on a
bowl of pasta.
So, when I started my TV-free
phase, I thought it wouldn’t last.
For the first month, it was kind
of a pain. I wasn’t a big fan of tele
vision before, but I missed the few
shows 1 watched. I really missed
CNN, but made up for that by'
watching the black-and-white TV at
work (but only when the sports staff
didn’t turn it to ESPN).
I started listening to National
Public Radio in the morning, and I
started reading more at night. Then
it became pretty normal, and I real
ized the benefits of not being
plugged in.
Point being, I could have been
doing better things.
I did. I mean, although it sounds
odd for a news person to be turned
off by a news medium, I really was
sick of television. Aside from CNN,
I felt that everything was geared
toward the lowest common denomi
nator. Commercials, fluff-news pro
grams, talk shows, cops shows and
poorly written sitcoms were the
fruitcake of the television banquet.
And I wasn’t very hungry.
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tured myself in the elitist position
of someone who shunned pop cul
ture and refused to give in. to the
forces of commercialized broad
casting. (Yeah, OK, so that’s just an
excuse for being too lazy to run the
chunk of metal to Best Buy for a
tuneup.) But it was kind of nice be
ing free from “Tickle Me” Elmo
commercials.
Even with that newfound free
dom, though, I felt kind of left out.
There are things you just have to see
— like Nebraska football and see
ing Bob Dole on Saturday Night
Live. ~ '
So, even though it's been a suc
cessful experiment, I think I’m go
ing to give up. When I move this
January, I’ll get the television fixed
and subscribe to Cablevision. ,
Yeah, I know, it means I’ve: re
assimilated. But,hey.Ijusthave to
know what my “Friends” are up to.
Lavigae is a senior news-edi
torial major and a Daily Nebras
kan associate news editor.
■ - —
Pinball wizardry
Game remains popular after centuries of play
By Cuff Hicks
StaffReporter
The Who was singing about it in
the ’60s and ‘70s, it was banned in New
York City for 34 years, it’s centuries
old and it’s still making money across
the world.
It’s pinball.
Despite its age, pinball is still (me
of America’s favorite pastimes. No
fewer than 20 different major pinball
machines are released every year, tak
ing in an average of more than $20
million annually.
“I spend like four bucks a month
on it,” said Chad Weidner, a senior
business administration major. “It’s a
cheap habit.”
Pinball is an addiction for thou
sands, and the reasons vary as much as
the personalities of those who {day the
games.
Weidner said he played the game
for the thrills involved.
“I live for the chance for a replay,”
he said. Weidner said his grandfather
was a pinball junkie and the addiction
was passed on to him.
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ii a ucuci man viucu games,
Weidner said. “You can get a replay
for free, which is something you never
get on other games.”
Free games or replays are skill
based, allowing skilled players to rack
up enough points to win a free game.
Am additional feature known as the
“match” dispenses free games if a ran
dom number matches the last two dig
its of a player’s score.
The game traces its origins back to
ancient Greece, where it was played on
hillsides on a smooth marble surface,
using large stone balls and holes in the
ground.
After that, a large gap in the his
tory of the game is filled with Pachinko
and bagatelle, both of which are con
sidered ancestors to the modem pin
ball machine. The fust machine was
upright, with just pins and holes in the
board, thus coining the.name “pinball.”
Actual coin-operated pinball was
introduced in 1931. Flippers weren’t
added to die game until 1936, and they
weren’t placed at the bottom and fac
ing each other, as they do now, until
1950. Even then, they were tiny com
pared to the now standard flipper size,
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The first customized addition to
pinball (after the coin-operation sys
tem) was the tilt device, which most
pinball players have come to hate. Any
severe rocking of the machine will
cause a coin-operated machine to lock
up, costing the player one of their three
game balls.
Since then, pinball has cane a long
way, with dozens of additional bells,
whistles, chutes and other assorted
gizmos.
But the steps have all been logical,
according to Josh Paymer, a pinball
historian who owns more than 30 dif
ferent machines.
“It’s just getting more and more
complex to keep the game interesting,”
Paymer said. “Players constantly want
new challenges and pinball companies
Me trying to provide.”
Tables, as pinball machines are
called, are now themed after various
movies or topics. Current machines
include:
• Goldeneye (after the James Bond
film).
• Whodunit? (a mystery-noir
thane).
• StM TVek: The Next Generation
(afta the television show). n
• StM Wars (after the film classic).
Photo illustration by Lane Hickenbottom
• Indiana Jones (after the film se
ries). 1
• The Twilight Zone (after the clas- i
sic television show).
There are upcoming tables based on
films like “Space Jam” and “Daylight”
as well. Movies and television are com
mon themes for tables.
Currently, Tilt!, on the lower level
of Omaha’s Westroads Mall only has
one table, “Freddy’s Nightmare” based
on the horror icon, but tables come and
go TillJ’s general manager, Kevin
Kamphuis, said.
“They (tables) have their follow
ing,” Kamphuis said.
Kamphuis also said there is no spe
cific age group that plays pinball.
“It varies,” Kamphuis said. “We get
everybody.”
Paymer said, “It’s not uncommon
to see younger kids playing pinball, but
it’s the older players who nave the skill
necessary to acquire a replay.”
Weidner said he gets free replays
about half the time. Some players even
play for more than three hours on one
quarter.
This system of free replays caused
pinballto bp banned in New York City
for 34 years. Gaiming the system was
a form of gambling, Mayor Fiorello
flenry LaGuardia smashed several pin
jall machines in front of a supportive
;rowd.
In 1976, however, a man by the
lame of Roger Sharpe attended a City
Council meeting and demonstrated that
pinball was indeed a game of skill by
winning a replay in front of them. The
t>an was repealed.
The ban is still in effect on replays
in New York City, though.
However, most arcades, bars and
convenience stores in New York ignore
this ban — there are no known cita
tions for giving out replays since.
There were three major companies
making pinball machines at the begin
ning of this year: Bally/Midway,
Gottlieb and Sega. Of the three, the
Bally/Midway group is by far the old
est and most respected among players,
with Sega amply a newcomer.
Each has its own plans for the fu
ture of pinball. Sega’s idea is to add
more balls and chutes, making game
play more challenging.
“Sega seems to focus on the bells
and whikles a lot, and not all that much
on actual game play/* Paymer said.
“Plus, they’ve been trying to do multi
balls with way too many balls.”
Paymer said Sega’s “Apollo 13”
table has a 13-ball multi-ball mecha
nism.
“Those machines are always bro
ken,” Paymer said.
Bally/Midway is working on a to
ken-redemption system, which will be
released shortly. Such a move would
give players an extra goal for which to
strive. %
“Bally/Midway are the biggest
company in the business and probably
the best,” Paymer said. “They always
seem to be one step ahead of the com-.
petition and their machines are rarely
in need of repair.”
Gottlieb, however, shut down in
October of this year, citing poor re
sponses to its machines in arcades and
low productivity. Even though Gottlieb
p«n fewer than five tables on the mar
ket each year, Paymer says it will be
greatly missed.
“It’s always sad to see a pinball
company pass away,” Paymersaid. “If
we're not careful, pinball could be
come a dead art.” -