The old pinball games were VERY hard. It was a feat just to keep the ball going for more than a minute. Still, it was amazing getting to play these--the look and especially the feel are much different than anything else. It's easy to see how these old electro-mechanicals were superb machines and quite fun, and also why video games must have look pretty damn simple comparatively. I'm guessing the latter won out simply because they were cheaper to produce with fewer moving parts, but I'd like to learn more about that.

I was very intrigued by the peep shows and other odd coin-op devices they had, especially the little mechanical "shows" you could watch. Many of these involved little puppets and "grisly" executions, but one was a country western dance. I hadn't seen anything like them before, so it was definitely fun.

I do hope we can eventually all get together. I was discussing the possibility with Bill earlier about some type of AA vacation or tour. We'd probably have the most fun going to Bill's house since he has all the gaming gear in the U.S. :)