Pinball 1977
This week's cover story in Chicago Reader is about Roger Sharpe, the man who played a huge role in legalizing pinball machines in the 1970s. His two sons are still involved in the scene and do their part in promoting pinball machines. The author of the article, Ryan Smith, put a post on the paper's blog Bleader about how pinball machines were illegal in Chicago for decades, and how the ban was overturned in 1977.
The reason why is because pinball machines were considered "gambling," and the big fear was that mob bosses would use them as a way to make money. As late as 1976 Alderman Ed Burke (who's still in the city council) argued against legalizing pinball machines for this reason - he was also concerned that kids would waste their lunch money on the machines.
I bring all this up because despite this ban, Chicago was one of the big centers for manufacturing pinball machines - Stern Pinball, American Pinball, and the Chicago Gaming Company are some of the leading manufacturers of the machines today. And the Chicago Coin Company, Bally's, Midway, Game Plan, Jennings & Company, and Gottlieb were all leading manufacturers in the 20th century - during the decades when they were banned in the city.
One of Haruki Murakami's earliest novels, "Pinball 1973" is about a fictional pinball machine made by "Gilbert and Sands," a (fictional) pinball manufacturer based in Chicago.
I wonder why that is, that Chicago was such a center of making something like that.
The reason why is because pinball machines were considered "gambling," and the big fear was that mob bosses would use them as a way to make money. As late as 1976 Alderman Ed Burke (who's still in the city council) argued against legalizing pinball machines for this reason - he was also concerned that kids would waste their lunch money on the machines.
I bring all this up because despite this ban, Chicago was one of the big centers for manufacturing pinball machines - Stern Pinball, American Pinball, and the Chicago Gaming Company are some of the leading manufacturers of the machines today. And the Chicago Coin Company, Bally's, Midway, Game Plan, Jennings & Company, and Gottlieb were all leading manufacturers in the 20th century - during the decades when they were banned in the city.
One of Haruki Murakami's earliest novels, "Pinball 1973" is about a fictional pinball machine made by "Gilbert and Sands," a (fictional) pinball manufacturer based in Chicago.
I wonder why that is, that Chicago was such a center of making something like that.
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