....and The Who are the pinball wizards.

It's been a long time.

Back in 1970 the young and old in Penang were crazy about billiards and snookers. I didn't like that parlour game; those guys were too good at the tables and they have been at it for years! Every game involved some bets, and you can bet your bottom dollar, just too many "crocodiles" ( or "buayas" - the local term for hustlers targeting other players pocket money for a free meal) are after you.

The pinball mania hit Penang in that year, with a main distributor of the pinball machines raking in millions!

A new age for pinball as it entered the realm of electronic gaming. With circuit boards, colourfully illuminated digital displays, and upbeat music as you hit new high scores, gain extra-balls, and earn free games was truly pleasant to the ears!...man, those machines were cool!

It is an arcade game where the machines gobble 20 cent coins just like a crocodiles eating a mouse-deers for breakfast!

I invested, paid "tuition fees" to the machines to become adept in scoring points and earning free games by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case, - many a times I tilted those 300-pound machines just to keep the ball in play. I got better by the day, after losing much money; and with my neighbourhood chums, we became "Pinball Wizards"! What a title! Each time we walk into a pinball arcade, the "amateurs" look at us with awe, ...with respect and admiration!

The popularity of the game was compounded exponentially by The Who's rock opera Tommy, which went on to become a Broadway hit! Many songs from Tommy topped the charts all over the world, and one song "Pinball Wizard" became every pinball machine players' anthem!

The main objective of the game is to score as many points as possible, and to maximize the time spent playing with as few 20 cents coin as possible, by earning extra balls and keeping the ball in play.

Of course, elements of gambling crept into the game. Being good at it, I can make sometimes 10 dollars in a whole Friday night (normally) beating competitors out at the arcade. That was a lot of money in those days (a clerk earns just 80 dollars a month then!) Saturday nights, we'll enjoy the winnings....a kinda pinball hustler!

There were no pinball arcades in the heritage enclave where I lived then, so every Fiday nights we have to ride our bicycles to Macalister Road or Burmah Road where there a number of pinball arcades to check out!

Friday nights have always been special for me for a couple of years then. Friday is the time for the pinball wizard to make some money!

It will be Friday soon, but too bad, pinball playing has already gone out of style. Machines are no longer there.

Present day kids head for TGIF and other joints, go clubbing, get stoned on alcohol,  hang around complexes, or play 3D & networked computer games - paid by their parents.

Sigh*......