Pinball Wizards

Pinball Wizards

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  • Author: Adam Ruben
  • Publisher: Chicago Review Press
  • ISBN: 1613735936
  • Category : Social Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 288

Pinball's history is America's history, from gambling and war-themed machines to the arcade revolution and, ultimately, the decline of the need to leave your house. The strangest thing about pinball is that it persists, and not just as nostalgia. And pinball didn't just stick around—it grew and continues to evolve with the times, reflecting the zeitgeist of every era it passes through. Somehow, in today's iPhone world, a 300-pound monstrosity of wood and cables has survived to enjoy yet another renaissance.Pinball is more to humor writer Adam Ruben than a fascinating book topic—it's a lifelong obsession. Ruben played competitive pinball for more than a decade, rising as high as the 80th-ranked player in the world. Then he had kids. Now, mired in 9,938th place—darn kids—Ruben tries to stage a comeback, visiting pinball museums, gaming conventions, pinball machine designers, and even pinball factories in his attempt to discover what makes the world's best players, the real wizards, so good.Pinball competitions are on the rise, thanks in part to modern phenomena, like "nostalgia bars," with several hundred International Flipper Pinball Association–sanctioned events occurring annually—yet they're only a small corner of the pinball world. Pinball Wizards examines the bigger story of pinball's invention, ascent, near-defeat, resurgence, near-defeat again, and struggle to find its niche in modern society.


Pinball Wizards & Blacklight Destroyers

Pinball Wizards & Blacklight Destroyers

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  • Author:
  • Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
  • ISBN: 9780764351785
  • Category : Art
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 152

Pop-art connoisseurs are treated to a mind-bending journey through the blistering paintings of San Francisco artist Dirty Donny Gillies. Take a visual tour of his vibrant, hand-drawn and screen-printed poster art series "Blacklight Rebellion" and hand-painted solo art show "Fantastic Voyage." This ultimate collection of cool also includes his iconic work for Stern Pinball, metal giant Metallica, Vans Skate, Snap-On tools, and Cruz Pedregon's Top Fuel Funny Car, not to mention work on his own air-brushed 1970s boogie van. The art attack continues with eye-melting imagery from skateboard decks, decal sets, toys, guitars, drums, and his series of model kits for AMT. Pop-art collectors will appreciate full-page photos from the likes of legendary street photographer Ricky Powell, as well as the commentary by Ed Robertson of the Bare Naked Ladies, Mastadon's Brann Dailor, Brendon Small of animated series Metalocalypse, Howie Pyro, (Danzig, D-Generation) and fellow weirdo artist Skinner.


Pinball Portfolio

Pinball Portfolio

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  • Author: Harry McKeown
  • Publisher:
  • ISBN: 9780450028489
  • Category : Pinball machines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 160


Arfur: Teenage Pinball Queen

Arfur: Teenage Pinball Queen

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  • Author: Nik Cohn
  • Publisher:
  • ISBN:
  • Category :
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 200


Of Wizards and Wolves

Of Wizards and Wolves

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  • Author: David Farland
  • Publisher: WordFire +ORM
  • ISBN: 1680574191
  • Category : Fiction
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 328

A memorial anthology for fantasy master David Farland A good story can entertain us. A great story can transform us. Two iconic archetypes in fantasy and fairy tales are wizards and wolves, and both are known for their ability to transform. Wizards can work magic to change the rules of the world to fit their wants and needs. Wolves can transform from man to beast under the light of a full moon. Both can represent power and danger as well as inspire loyalty or fear. This collection of eighteen short stories celebrates a wide variety of both wizards and wolves—often in the same story—as well as peels back the layers of what it means to be transformed. You’ll read stories of people turning into wolves—or wolves turning into people—but you’ll also read stories of a wizard passing on his legacy before he dies, and a hockey game played to reclaim part of a stolen soul. You’ll find a twist on the familiar story of a young girl in a red cape, and a tale of a pinball machine that is more than it appears to be. From fantasy to horror, to science fiction to humor, these stories offer something for everyone. David Farland transformed lives, not only with his writing and imagination, but also with his mentoring of new writers. This anthology supports the scholarship fund of the Superstars Writing Seminars, which he co-founded. “By turns heartbreaking and humorous—but always magical—this anthology is a fitting tribute that’s sure to please Farland’s fans.”—Publishers Weekly Don’t miss the other anthologies that support the scholarship fund.


A Native's Guide to Chicago

A Native's Guide to Chicago

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  • Author: Lake Claremont Press
  • Publisher: Lake Claremont Press
  • ISBN: 9781893121232
  • Category : Biography & Autobiography
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 500

Packed with hundreds of free, inexpensive, and unusual things to do in all corners of the city, this is the perfect resource for tourists, business travelers, and visiting suburbanites--and mostly resident Chicagoans themselves. Readers learn what's new in town as seen through the eyes of a team of native Chicagoans. 23 photos. 9 maps.


The Pinball and Chain: Clean & Wholesome Fake Marriage Romcom Romance

The Pinball and Chain: Clean & Wholesome Fake Marriage Romcom Romance

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  • Author: Jordan Riley Swan
  • Publisher: Jordan Riley Swan LLC
  • ISBN: 1957627115
  • Category : Fiction
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 321

Can love become real when the marriage is fake? Hard-working Canadian expat Amy Bell found her home away from home in America. In a few short years, she’s built up a small pinball arcade into a coast-to-coast franchise, and nothing is going to stop her now. Nothing, that is, until immigration services comes knocking. The company she hired to get her a green card husband—a lumberjack so handsome he’s almost a cliché—is under investigation, and so are all the marriages they brokered, including Amy’s. She must convince the US government, as well as her new business partners, that she really is married to a man she hasn’t seen in years . . . Reclusive Victor Sullivan just wants to be left alone with his woodworking tools and his golden retriever on his own private stretch of Wyoming. So when the woman he married sends her lawyer to fetch him, he would return the man empty handed—if not for those pesky F words the attorney uses . . . fines, fraud, and federal prison. Vic finds himself heading to California. He isn’t disrupting his life just to see that gorgeous, smart, energetic woman again. It’s only to stay out of jail. No other reason. And maybe if he says it enough, he’ll actually believe it. Book three in The Unwedding Vow: Having just attended a wedding with the queen of all bridezillas, the ten unmarried members of wedding reception table nine have taken an oath. They will never, ever get married. Can this collection of oddball personalities keep their promise to be single? Or will love pick off each member of The Unwedding Vow?


Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School

Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School

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  • Author: Adam Ruben
  • Publisher: Crown
  • ISBN: 0307589455
  • Category : Humor
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 194

This is a book for dedicated academics who consider spending years masochistically overworked and underappreciated as a laudable goal. They lead the lives of the impoverished, grade the exams of whiny undergrads, and spend lonely nights in the library or laboratory pursuing a transcendent truth that only six or seven people will ever care about. These suffering, unshaven sad sacks are grad students, and their salvation has arrived in this witty look at the low points of grad school. Inside, you’ll find: • advice on maintaining a veneer of productivity in front of your advisor • tips for sleeping upright during boring seminars • a description of how to find which departmental events have the best unguarded free food • how you can convincingly fudge data and feign progress This hilarious guide to surviving and thriving as the lowliest of life-forms—the grad student—will elaborate on all of these issues and more.


Pinball Perspectives

Pinball Perspectives

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  • Author: Marco Rossignoli
  • Publisher: Schiffer Book for Collectors w
  • ISBN: 9780764326097
  • Category : Antiques & Collectibles
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 0

Describes pinball machines both vintage and contemporary and 50 games. Each chapter outlines a game's special features, historical background, game rules, graphic images, collectibility and current value.


From Pinballs to Pixels

From Pinballs to Pixels

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  • Author: Ken Horowitz
  • Publisher: McFarland
  • ISBN: 1476647968
  • Category : Games & Activities
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 537

From early classics like Contact to marvels like High Speed, gaming publisher Williams dazzled arcade goers with its diverse range of quality pinball games. The age of video games catapulted the company into legend with blockbusters like Defender and Joust, and by the end of the 1980s it was the largest coin-op publisher in North America. Williams' acquisition of Bally/Midway began a period of hits that included Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam, as well as the best-selling pinball machine of all time, The Addams Family. The history of Williams spans nearly six decades and is filled with great games, huge gambles and technical innovations that impacted every aspect of pinball and arcade video games. With interviews of 40+ former designers and executives from Williams/Bally/Midway, as well as information from hundreds of contemporaneous news reports and documents, this book presents a never-before-seen chronology of how the small company became a coin-op juggernaut. Thirty pinball and 26 video game classics are examined in depth with direct input from the people who made them, along with the story of the events that shaped one of gaming's greatest publishing houses.