Gaming and Coin-op in the News...
From time to time, we hear some pretty funny things in the news about gaming and Coin-op and we wanted to share some of the stories with you. So, sit back, grab your coffee and get your gaming news here...
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Combining Your Love of Classic Cars and Billiards
This one off pool table was built outside Seattle WA, it was originally a '65 Micro Bus that was chopped and shortened to make it a "regulation" size table, the VW emblem in the front is mother of pearl and the rails are mahogany, it also has a power inverter so you can plug it into a wall and the head and tail lights will turn on. Seattle Mariner Ken Griffey Jr. played several games on it when it was at Dr. Cue's Billiards in Seattle.
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Collector Porn: King of Pinball Machines Shares His Loot
When self-described "Pinball Amasser" Richard Conger stumbled onto what he believed to be the world's first pinball machine, it was sitting in a farmhouse basement. The owner refused to sell him the game by itself, so Conger bought the entire farm.
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That was 40 years ago. Today, at age 72, Conger has a truly impressive collection. He owns more than 500 different pinball games, 700 machines if you count duplicates (he sometimes has three of the same game). About 200 are in working order, and he intends to fix the rest... -
Did you know... That Pinball used to be illegal?
Pinball was banned from the early 1940s to the mid-1970s in most of America's big cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, where the game was born and where virtually all of its manufacturers have historically been located. The stated reason for the bans: Pinball was a game of chance, not skill, and so it was a form of gambling. To be fair, pinball really did involve a lot less skill in the early years of the game, largely because the flipper wasn't invented until 1947, five years after most of the bans were implemented. Up until then, players would bump and tilt the machines in order to sway the ball's gravity. Many lawmakers also believed pinball to be a mafia-run racket and a time- and dime-waster for impressionable youth. (The machines robbed the "pockets of schoolchildren in the form of nickels and dimes given them as lunch money," New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia wrote in a Supreme Court affidavit.). Read More
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New King of Donkey Kong Crowned
Donkey Kong, the arcade game dating back to the '80s that's launched numerous Mario-related spinoffs, including the latest New Super Mario Bros. Wii, has a new world record high score.
Dr. Hank Chien, a 35-year-old plastic surgeon from Queens, N.Y., set the new high score of 1,061,700, according to the New York Daily News. He bested by 10,000 the previous world record score set by Billy Mitchell. Chien's score was certified by Twin Galaxies, the official score keeper of video games...
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Share Happy Vending Machine Dispenses Ice Cream for a Smile (and your soul)
The brainchild of Unilever, (the company that owns Ben & Jerry's, Good Humor, Breyers, Klondike, and Wall's) Share Happy is a $20,000 ice cream vending machine that takes your picture, using facial recognition to determine if you're smiling and Photo Booth-esque features like superimposing funny hats, a mustache, glasses, bow tie, afro hair, etc. to coax you into smiling. And once it determines that you are smiling, it gives you a free ice cream treat -- but not before collecting valuable demographic information by analyzing the image for things like gender and approximate age and by asking you to sign away your likeness for promotional use...
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Freekade, the iPad Arcade Cabinet, goes up for Auction
This iPad accessory is built to hold your iPad and interface with genuine arcade controls via Bluetooth. It is nostalgia-infused and has now added a veneer of style to its retro control scheme, with "walnut effect" sides and a matte black finish. It is currently compatible with ines, isnes, snes4iphone and PSX4ALL on jailbroken iPads, this is a fantastic accessory for your iPad and looks great on the desk, with its matt black centre and walnut effect sides. This is a truly great example of a Freekade designed machine...
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Nov. 23, 1889: San Francisco Gin Joint Hears World's First Jukebox
1889: The first jukebox is installed at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco. It becomes an overnight sensation, and its popularity spreads around the world.
That first jukebox was constructed by the Pacific Phonograph Co. 4 stethoscope-like tubes were attached to an Edison Class M electric phonograph inside an oak cabinet. The tubes worked individually, each being activated by inserting a coin, so 4 different listeners could be plugged into the same song simultaneously.
Towels were given to patrons so they could wipe off the tube after each listening.
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Criminals constructing ATM skimmers from DAPs
Here's a reason to deal with a high integrity company that's been around for decades.
A recent article highlights a new trend in ATM skimmers: by using parts from cut-rate audio players and spy cams, criminals are able to construct something called an audio skimmer that records the data from the magnetic strip for later playback. Also included in the device is a miniature spy cam, which captures the user's PIN. The basic methodology behind the device is nothing new (for instance, it could be found in an issue of Phrack dating back to 1992) although the use of DAPs means that the whole thing is a lot more elegant than it was in the days of the portable cassette recorder. According to a recent report by the European ATM Security Team (EAST), devices of this type have been found in five countries, two of them "major ATM deployers" (with 40,000 active ATMs or more).
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