Pinball Machines Essay

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Pinball machines robbed the “pockets of school children in the form of nickels & dimes given them as lunch money.” This was spoken by the former mayor of New York, Fiorello La Guardia, who was obviously opposed to pinball (a type of arcade machine). Arcade cabinets have changed drastically since La Guardia’s time, not only in technology, but in successfulness as well. As arcade machines advance, they begin to show off more and more of modern technology. Old pinball machines relied on flashing lights and sometimes even artwork to bring people towards it. The bezel of the old machines, the area around the display of the machine, was usually where art and other pictures were put to create a theme for the machine. Many different kinds of bezels brought in many different people, so modern day pinball cabinets have the variety of themes as well. Flashy lights and bezels have also been put on video arcade cabinets such as Pac-Man, House of the Dead, etc. Rather than just normal arcade machines with pretty borders, today we have peripherals such as a physical gun for playing arcade games involving shooting, life size sports cars to control the car in the game, and other vehicles. Peripherals are used instead of the generic arcade controls to interest people in playing the game. Based on what has happened in the past, the more an arcade machine exploits new technology, the more people will be attracted to it. Arcade cabinets have often reflected the new technology of their time. The earliest arcade machines started out much differently then today. They were all games of chance, and therefore gambling, which was outlawed at the time of the start of pinball. In the early 20th century, pinball had to be played in secret, as it was... ... middle of paper ... ...t greatly limits where arcades will work out. The biggest problem with getting an arcade to work is trying to make it a good use of your time. The goal of modern arcades is to try to meet or exceed possibility of people just playing games at home by making arcades a place to see other people, but that has only worked in Japan where there is a dense population of people willing to go to an arcade. Arcade cabinets have had their high points, but they just aren’t showing a very bright future at the moment. Throughout time, arcade cabinets have shown off their fancy technology to become more popular. Arcades have been around for a while, some with mechanics advanced for its time, but they have still had mixed outcome. Arcade cabinets have been a part of pop culture since their beginning. But even with their significance in popular culture, they will soon die out.

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