Let me regale you with a tale about my fleeting glimpse of pinball wizardry:
When I was a college freshman in 1997, they had “Attack from mars” pinball down in the quad. like this -
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It was right next to the little snack shack, so whenever I went down for snacks or whatever and had some change, I would play Attack from mars pinball. I was never very good at it.
A few months into the semester, my roomate’s buddy came to visit, and he brought a few hits of acid. I had never tried it before, but was pretty enthusiastic about giving it a go. So we all dropped our doses and just kinda kicked back in the dorm room and started planning out what we were gonna do for the evening. We eventually realized we’d all be starving at 3am when it wore off, so we went down to the quad to get snacks before shit started getting weird.
I got my bagel bites or whatever and then went to play attack from mars pinball while the other guys were checking out. At first everything was normal but then after a few minutes I realized I was doing really well. Better than ever before. I was on the first ball longer than my usual game. On the 2nd ball, I got a bonus double-ball going and that lasted forever. On the third ball, who knows man, shit was getting weird, but I was crushing it.
My associates, who I assume were also getting weird, were torn between the desire to hurry back our collection of black light posters and seeing me beating all the bumpers and always playing clean. After somewhere between 2 and 30 minutes, the final ball dropped and I learned that I had scored 8 gajillion points, rocketing me into the machine’s number 2 spot
I spent another 2-30 minutes inputting my initials - I really wanted to get them right - when I realized my friends had left me behind.
I kinda freaked at that point and hurried back to the room, where I met back up with the other guys and we listened to sublime and talked about galaxies for the next 10 hours.
At one point I told them I got into the #2 spot in pinball and they told me I was full of shit and probably just imagined the whole thing. Throughout the evening I couldn’t decide if it was true or not. It was kinda bugging me.
Around 3am we were all pretty much back to normal and hungry. I couldn’t find my bagel bites, and the last time I remembered having them was at the pinball machine. So we all shuffled our Jncos down there and, lo and behold, there was a soggy, thawed box of bagel bites on the windowsill between the lobby and the arcade. Right next to Attack from mars pinball. (By the way, yes I ate the bagel bites, they were still sealed and I was 18)
I had to know
I scrounged another quarter and played my standard quick, lousy game. But I got a glimpse at the leader board, and there I was in all my liquid crystal glory, seated proudly at #2. And pretty close to #1 even.
Nobody cared, but I was vindicated
About 8 years after I graduated I went back through that quad on the way to a football game with my girlfriend, now wife. Attack from mars pinball was still there.
I had to know
it was now $.50, but I scrounged some quarters and played a typical short, lousy game. But I got a glimpse of the leader board. I had slid to position #5, but I was still there. I like to think that 3 other lucky kids on their first trip had slotted in above me.
I was immortal!
a few years after that, the whole quad was remodeled and Attack from mars pinball was lost to the sands of time
if you ever see one, lemme know
They’re not especially uncommon and I have no idea what the actual score was.
