![]() In fact, it’s more fun to keep the maximum free games on a machine and then when I get tired walk away and bequeath them to someone who’s been watching me faithfully.” It’s not the time he spends. You can’t get set good when there’s beer on the floor.” That way I can lock my feet in a good stance in front of the machine. “I like this place because of the carpets on the floor. It was midnight, sort of quiet, some good rock on the radio and Roger’s well-muscled arms were doing their familiar work. He now competes against himself.īut then why does he play? We were at a club in Austin. He could call ’em and then put ’em right there. Years ago Roger passed the final hump-his flipper shots became predictable. Obviously there’s a difference between us other than his capacity to bull and my capacity to believe him. If those pinball gods aren’t with you it doesn’t matter what you do.” Lest the skeptic start to smile like I did, remember that a machine is made out of wood and rubber and no matter how treated, varnished, or painted, on humid Texas days wood and rubber retain water and, …Well, I didn’t believe that one either so Roger, a patient soul, tried this: “See, the flippers and thumper-bumpers work on solenoids which after a time start to fray in their circuits so the flippers get a bit sluggish.” He can go on like that for some time, but if he shows symptoms of pinball on the brain, then how come he plays all night on a quarter and I have to go to the bank first if I want to play all night? He knew the personality of the machines so well he could almost outguess them. Soon, that too became a controllable factor. He learned the joys of competing against the machine. Then he got so good no one would compete with him. At first, he played with friends for a coke or a pack of cigarettes. He’s been playing for the last seven years. He wouldn’t enjoy it if it were too easy, if just anyone could walk in and be a master of the little steel balls. By day, his hair tucked up under a wig, Roger is a probation officer for Travis County. ![]() I learned a lot that evening, both about pinball and about Roger.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |