After four trips to Asheville over the past year I FINALLY had time to get my game on at the Asheville Pinball Museum…
If you’ve been following me for any length of time you know I’ve got a thing for pinball and arcades. I’ve recently developed an interest in pinball history and more specifically pinball art. Nowadays its hard to find working machines outside of a museum setting but back in the day you could find pinballs at bowling alleys, mom-and-pop grocery stores, and bars anywhere you traveled…
I have a thing for the Gottlieb, Stern, Bally, and Williams models made from 1950 through the early 80’s. Show me a Mata Hari or a Pinball Wizard and I travel back in time to summers spent at the seaside arcade and winters at the lanes, hanging with friends and experimenting with life…
I’m not really drawn to later model machines but I do love Bally’s 1979 and Stern’s 2015 Kiss Pro machines. What’s not to love about a machine that plays Deuce, Hotter Than Hell, Lick It Up, Shout It Out Loud, Detroit Rock City, Calling Dr. Love, Rock & Roll All Night, Love Gun, Love It Loud and Black Diamond while Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons talk you through the game? Of course, I played both these games at APB and never even heard the songs until I looked up some manufacturing stats and made the discovery…
There are only a handful of companies still making pinball machines, and few seem to use the line drawings of old. Photographs and life-like drawings can’t replace the stylized images, bold primary colors, and slyly sexy graphics found on older machines. It’s one reason I’ve been studying up on the history of the game, using old-school imagery as a jumping board for my a series I am working on which pays homage to vintage pinball art…
If you find yourself in Asheville and are looking for an alternative to drinking at one of 60 craft breweries in the area I recommend visiting APB (where they ALSO sell a number of craft beers in case you get thirsty banging those pleasure machines). For a set admission price you can spend hours playing all kinds of entertainment machines that will take you down memory lane too!
*Pin Ball Boogie – Red Foley & His Crossroad Boys
The Grey Goddess 