Everything old is new again. Back in high school, in the 1980s, I had a tight circle of friends who met regularly at Mazzio's Pizza, to play D&D and eat some of the worst pizza in the world. (Okay, maybe not the worst when it was fresh, but I tell you, reheated cheese that turned translucent and gluey was not appealing to me.) There was a game room at the restaurant, and I spent hours playing pinball there when we weren't gaming. I can't calculate exactly how much of my life occurred at that Mazzio's, all these decades later, but I could probably pick out half a dozen clear memories that stem from inside that building, with those people. That's better than almost any other venue or setting during that period of my life.
Tonight, the Rotary social for this month was at a pinball arcade in Lyons. There were at least four rooms of an old house downtown that were filled with classic pinball machines, some of which dated all the way back to the 70s and even 60s. There were more of the newer ones, with throwback themes but also with fancy video screens embedded in the scoreboard panels. I showed up with a small pocketful of quarters (maybe 4 bucks worth), expecting to stick around briefly and play, and then split early. I ended up running money through the change machine and dropping most of it in a 50-cent-per-play machine trying to beat a creepy ventriloquist dummy named Rudy (see photo). I stuck with the oldest machines in the hall, the ones with a more forgiving action in the flippers and a less-slanted grade on the board. The older ones were more appealing to me, not just because they were cheaper.
I was supposed to leave by 6:30 to get home in time to clean before the Wednesday D&D crowd came over. I was about 20 minutes late and rolled into my driveway as the second person was showing up (T was already inside, yukking it up with Mr S-P). I had worn myself out playing pinball, but the game this evening was engaging and fun, so I found a second wind to participate.
It was a little surreal, driving to a pinball hall, listening to You Better You Bet by the Who on the radio (from the album that turned me onto an obsession with the Who in the early 80s), and then heading home to play D&D. If this wasn't enough, one of the guys from my high school circle, about whom some of those very clear memories exist for me (but I'm keeping them to myself), is moving here next month, and setting up an office a couple of blocks from that pinball hall. You know, if so much of the 80s are coming back for me, there are a few other things I'd love to have back, like a teeny, tiny waistline and the ability to digest gluten.
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