Monday, July 11, 2011

What a month...

After a month or so of some unexpected time & sanity consuming setbacks, imma try and get back into the swing of pinblogging. Let's get back to business...

There's no way around it. Pinball is an expensive hobby. Sure, there are plenty of deals to be found in the maelstrom of Craigslist and other pinball classifieds, but: 1. You've gotta have the cash up front, and 2. You've gotta have proper transportation for hauling pins. Alas, I have neither of these. Of my three pins, 2 were free, and one was less than what we pay for dog food in a month. To be fair, all needed extensive repairing, which also costs money, but creativity can lend to a reduction of cost in this department. So what to do you're jonesin' for a new game, no pins are on location, AND you're broke?

I like to hit the books. Or zines. Multiball was an awesome '90's self published zine out of Portland, Oregon, which is now a pinball mecca itself. Imagine Maximimrocknroll with pinball thrown in, and you're pretty close to the feel of Multiball. Tales of ribaldry in houses of ill-repute, all while keeping a focus on the silver ball is the agenda here. I found most of these zines through a generous soul on RGP, and for the price of a cube of Miller Lite, my desires for new pinball exploits could be somewhat sated through pictures and the written word. Also, Jon Chad and Alec Longstreth had a great feature on the publishers, Brinda Coleman & SD Soule, in their own amazing pinball/comics publication,  Drop Target. Brinda and Sam even own the pinball stomping grounds Slabtown in Portland, making me all the more jealous of the western seaboard's affinity for pinball.

Maybe by the end of this summer I can scrape up enough for another bargain game. But until then, keep your minds sharp, pinheads. Read some pinball.