Memories Are Made of This

[yogi]

Can you imagine ...

[ocelotl]

Just wondered, it's almost the same size, but not the same thickness, as a TO220 package.

[yogi]

Wish I could be around to see what memory looks like 50 years from today ... or if there will even be a need for memory chips.

[Kellemora]

I don't remember how much my Wang HD held, but it measured 3 foot square by 30 inches tall, and had open platters inside, the top set of platters were removable to run backups on.

When we had the Lisa System, we had a separate 8" drive two bay floppy attachment we used for storage.

When I think of the hundreds of power transistors I replaced in pinballs and video games, it becomes daunting, hi hi.
The power feedback from a solenoid was heck on those transistors, hi hi. Pinball flippers and all the ball gates used solenoids.

Who knows, some day a drop of liquid gel about the size of a pencil eraser will hold all the data in the entire world, hi hi.

[yogi]

I've read of some MIT research where they can use individual molecules (or was that atoms) to store single bits of information. If that is ever made feasible in the real world you could store two earth's worth of information on a pencil eraser.

I am impressed that your pinball machines were so hard on the power transistors. Spikes from solenoids can be lethal, but that's why chokes were invented. LOL

[Kellemora]

Pinball machines, Video games, and KIDS, don't mix well together, they are rough on everything.
Some will even sit and hold a flipper until the solenoid starts smoking and the overheat sensor shuts it off, hi hi.
Pinball machine is places where there were only adults rarely had problems, but those in arcade areas accessible by kids, they always had something get broken on them, and quite often too.
With all the moving parts in them, you have to expect some parts will break over time, but when they break all the time and shouldn't have, you have to watch what the heck those kids are doing to the machines, hi hi.

Near the end of the era, when the companies started churning out theme style pinball machines every few weeks, they had more than their share of problems, simply because speed of production over rode quality of construction. And this is partly the reason for the downfall of the pinball industry. The machines skyrocketed in price, and the income from them was not enough to offset those high prices, so vendors bought less new machines, which really hurt the manufacturers sales. They were so used to being on the gravy train, they didn't want to back back down to normal sales and decided to call it quits.

[yogi]

I can only imagine that it's near impossible to kid-proof a pinball machine. The mechanics would likely be the most vulnerable part of the system, but I'm certain the electronics could have been better engineered. It's easy to understand why they were not because of the nature of the business. I would guess that quality was a factor in the demise of pinball machines, and I would also guess it happened when home video games became popular. Kids didn't need to go to arcades anymore because they could play at home without needing to put tokens into the slot. Now it can all be done on a phone. Then, too, there is no equivalent to a traditional pinball machine experience. But who needs that when there is virtual reality?

[Kellemora]

Williams and Gotlieb made the best pinballs, followed by Stern and a few others.
After Bally and Williams merged, the quality took a nosedive, all the way down to the quality of Stern pinballs.
Ironic though, Stern is still in the business of making pinballs, or were a couple of years ago, haven't checked lately.

There is no feel that can duplicate the feel of a real pinball machine. Virtual Reality can't do it, at least not yet.
We have three pinball suppliers and repair folks within about 30 miles of me here, and a few places who still have pinball machines.

[yogi]

I have memories of playing pinball when my age was in the single digits. It was a diversion while the adults spent time imbibing at the bar. Now that I think about it, it probably would be illegal today to bring your kids to the local pub to play pinball. By the time I was a teenager my pinball days were rapidly diminishing. I had buddies who were arcade freaks, but I never set foot in one on purpose. There are a couple restaurants which have a room for arcade type games, but I've not seen anything like the old time machines. They are all electronic now and not much mechanical action, which is a shame. Same goes for slot machines, which I only played once. I knew all those games were rigged for the benefit of the house, but I understand enough about programming to avoid any games of chance that are electronic.

About 30 years ago I had a refurbished pachinko game. It might have been more fun than an old time pinball machine. I would sit for hours on end flipping those balls around. Which reminds me of how I admired the way all those steel balls were made perfectly round. It must be an amazing process.

[Kellemora]

The types of pinballs they had in bars back then were for gambling. If you recall it was a long board filled with holes for the balls to drop in. You could build the odds up by dropping more and more nickels in them before taking your shot.
I too played those when my dad took me to the tavern with him, hi hi.

You got that right, there is no way you can beat a computer gambling device. They cheat and change the algorithm continually while playing. Let you win just enough to keep you suckered in, and losing, hi hi.

I had a couple of Pachinko machines, one was the recycling type so you didn't have to keep loading the balls in.
We had a small company back home named The Pachinko Factory. They didn't make the machines, just restored the old ones they acquired. They had a good business going for around five years or so.
Each of those steel balls, if you look close, were engraved with the casino they were made for.
And back then, I used to have a slotted shelf where I tried to collect as many different ones as I could.
If I recall, I had somewhere close to 25 or 30 different ones too.

[yogi]

I don't recall if it was called Pacinko Factory or something else, but there was such a shop only a couple miles away from my previous home up north. That's not where we got the one we owned 30+ years ago, but it's interesting to note that there was more than one restoration shop.

You probably are right about the old pinball machines being gambling devices. I just recall getting a few coins to keep me quit long enough for the older folks to finish their drinks. LOL

And, yes, those little steel balls I had for my Pachinko machine did have some sort of engraving on them. I didn't know it had anything to do with the home casino.

[Kellemora]

Japan was loaded with pachinko parlors, which is where most of the machines came from.
So it is only logical that the balls they sold to use in them came from all those casinos also.
People bought those steel balls like we buy poker chips at a casino.

[yogi]

I recall reading about some of the history of Pachinko, and what you describe matches what I read. Back in the day playing Pachinko seemed to be the national pastime in Japan. I can't imagine what a Pachinko Parlor would sound like. The one machine I had made all kinds of noise and lights flashed and in general created havoc. I guess that was part of the attraction. It was mesmerizing for me anyway. Engraving those balls with the casino logo probably was a necessity given that people could trade them in for cash. However, I can't see anybody looking at all those little steel balls to make sure they had the house signature on them. LOL

[ocelotl]

I have memories of playing pinball when my age was in the single digits. It was a diversion while the adults spent time imbibing at the bar. Now that I think about it, it probably would be illegal today to bring your kids to the local pub to play pinball. By the time I was a teenager my pinball days were rapidly diminishing. I had buddies who were arcade freaks, but I never set foot in one on purpose. There are a couple restaurants which have a room for arcade type games, but I've not seen anything like the old time machines. They are all electronic now and not much mechanical action, which is a shame. Same goes for slot machines, which I only played once. I knew all those games were rigged for the benefit of the house, but I understand enough about programming to avoid any games of chance that are electronic.

About 30 years ago I had a refurbished pachinko game. It might have been more fun than an old time pinball machine. I would sit for hours on end flipping those balls around. Which reminds me of how I admired the way all those steel balls were made perfectly round. It must be an amazing process.

I heard this passing by at a WiMax class in the Pueblo Amigo Hotel in Tijuana in 2008: "Check machines 6 and 9, they are about to give away money" I never cared about gambling, since it was illegal in this country since the mid '30s to 2005. Some places had special permits in certain places, such as Tijuana, Cd. Juárez, Cancún and Cozumel Island. Hearing that revealed to me the whole point of casinos. Even when having been talked to visit one, I still don't care and tell this same story.

As for pinballs, since mostly they are a money drain and didn't really got a weekly allowance until I was 10 or so, never got the bug about it, or billiards. I first got into a billiard by myself since I was looking for a classmate in junior high that asked me to meet there for some stuff for a homework. He wasn't there at the time he promised, so I left and did the homework and presented it alone and not as part of a team.

[yogi]

My wife's brother at one time was a big fan of the casinos located in Los Vegas. He lived in a Chicago suburb but would travel out to the Nevada casinos several times a year. One of the casinos was his favorite and he became a member of their VIP Club. As a member at one point he was invited by the casino owner to come out for a weekend with all expenses paid by the casino. His air fair and a luxury hotel room plus all the meals were covered. By some coincident the weekend he was there as a guest was a very lucky one. He tells how he attracted a crowd around the slot machine he was winning on and how he was cheered on by the onlookers. He won a few thousand dollars over the course of three days, which was very unusual for him. While the casino never admitted it, bviously it was all rigged. The idea was to get the crowd excited so that they would try their luck. Apparently the plan worked very well.

I was a teenager when I learned how to play pool, or billiards. We had Pool Rooms or Billiard Halls in several places, but I think you had to be a certain age in order to be allowed in. My buddies and I played pool in several of those places but never once even thought about betting. We couldn't afford that even if we wanted to. Apparently pool is a huge betting game, but I didn't find that out until much later in my life. I didn't play the game a lot and never was in a tournament. I still love the game but there are no pool halls where I live now. Then, too, I have not looked for any. I do have a computer version of it that is pretty good. I play that almost every day.

[Kellemora]

I imagine the Pachinko Parlors didn't really care if the balls from different Parlors got mixed in with theirs.
But I'm sure they watched for unmarked ball bearings being used!
Parlors treated their balls about like Casino's treat their Poker Chips, you can never buy them at a discount, hi hi.

I lost the amount of money I planned to lose in the Casino when Debi and I went on our one and only cruise together.
I guess it was enough they sent things to my room, small gifts, food, candy, flowers, etc.
Right before we were ready to end our cruise, I decided to play a card game, and they let me win back about 500 bucks.
That was just enough to appease my wife that I didn't lose so much, hi hi.

I used to play pool at the Kirkwood Cue Club, mainly because it was about the only thing to do back then.
In later years, I had a custom built pool table made for me from exotic woods I collected over the years.
I loved that table, although I was not really good at playing. Gave it to my brother to hold for me when I had to move.
Then through a turn of events, he had to sell his house and move also. He got like 3 grand extra on the sale of his house if he left the pool table and the other games he had in the finished basement.

I must be an olde foggie, all I play on my computers are FreeCell and Spider Solitaire, hi hi
But when I go down to the house on exercise days, I play some Windows Games that Debi bought for a half hour.

[yogi]

I insist that I am not a gamer in spite of all the high end gaming equipment on my desk. LOL We all play computer games but the true gamer is obsessed with them. I got one high tech game free with a video card I purchased and it turned out to be a highly regarded piece of software. I liked it so much that I bought all the DLC's that came out after the original game. Those high tech games are in a class of their own but it takes a lot of time and involvement to play them. To me the excitement is in the equipment that it takes to play those games. I'm what you might call a power user and have a deep appreciation for performance. I think it's safe to say that old age takes the shine off many things we enjoyed in our youth. Winning Spider Solitaire isn't as rewarding as beating the boss monsters in WItcher 3, but it sure takes a lot less effort.

[Kellemora]

Actually, I love Mystery Games, not just the simple seek n find, but those where you have to actually solve something in order to move ahead in the game.
We have quite a few of those that give you a list of things to find on the screen, some have a story with them, but most don't. Although I do play them, I don't prefer that type of game.
But then too, I don't like the ones that are so hard to figure out, the only way to get ahead is to find a cheat sheet somewhere that tells you what it was you needed to do in that scene.

But for a short break between tasks you are working on, a quick simple board or card game you can do in 5 to 15 minutes is ideal to clear your head for the next project at hand. Especially if you don't have time for doing something next that takes an hour and you only have ten minutes until lunchtime, hi hi.