Leisure: The comeback of the pinball machines

A shining, clacking universe opens up in an inconspicuous industrial building: Around 50 pinball machines are lined up on around 200 square meters – from classics such as the “Wizard” to “Addams Family” to modern titles such as “Game of Thrones”. Welcome to the Flipperhalle Berlin, which is located in Teltow (Brandenburg) on ​​the border with Berlin. Flippers are the order of the day. Nationwide there are other pinball halls, such as Freddy’s Pinball Paradise in Echzell in Hesse (around 180 flipper machines) or the German Flipper Museum in Neuwied (Rhineland-Palatinate) with 150 exhibits from 1930 to the present. Almost all of them are playable.

“It is an excessive living of my hobby,” says the owner of the Flipperhalle Berlin, Jörg Meißner. He makes his collection accessible visitors every weekend and also indulges in his passion. Flipper from several decades are in the hall. Meißner divides her into different categories after the sound. “The bell player from the 70s – when you meet, sound bells,” says Meißner. And then there are the striking devices with elaborate sound systems such as the Harlem Globetrotter.

“I started to flip at 15, stopped at 16 – the work was more important,” says the 59 -year -old electric master. But the fascination never let go of him. “In 2005 I bought my first flipper. Every weekend I was in West Germany and Holland and got other machines. I found it just beautiful and wanted it.” According to his own words, he had put together 100 devices a year later.

As a master electrician, Meißner brought the necessary know-how-at least theoretically. “I had a idea of ​​electricity, but none of these things here. I was looking for myself.” He was particularly fascinated by old electromechanical devices: “For example – the wizard – he makes his sound without any speakers, only through relays and coils.” This is fascinating that it still works at all.

Romans already played with balls

“The first patent for a pinball machine was registered in the USA in 1871,” explains Arne Hennes from the Flippermuseum in Schwerin. There has been fun playing with balls for much longer. “During excavations in old Roman settlements, stone slabs were found on which played with marbles,” said Hennes. The game is the forerunner of the pinball machines. A ball is shot over a sloping board to score points – without electronics, but with a lot of skill.

The first machine with the typical pinball arms was developed in 1947, says Hennes. “Only then could you actively intervene in the game and the pure gambling became a game of skill.”

His hall is not a game hell, emphasizes Meißner: “Families come to us, we celebrate children’s birthdays. Our guests are between two and 90 years old – and there are also many women.” Jörg Lathwesen, chairman of the Association of German Flipper Friends, the German Pinball Association (GPA), praises Meißner’s commitment: “Without such offers, many devices would continue to be with private collectors and will not be accessible to the public”.

Precisely because of the high entry hurdle into the hobby, it is important that places like this offer the devices to flip. Automats cost thousands of euros and need space. “This offer is particularly great for young people and young adolescents, since the flipper on the one hand demands reaction, patience, calm, concentration, but also promotes cooperation,” says Lathwesen.

From classic pub to the collector’s item

Since the early 1970s, flipper machines have been part of the inventory almost every pub in the Federal Republic. “In the GDR, flipper machines were only allowed at fairs,” says Hennes. At the turn of the millennium, flipper machines were almost extinct. “The setting up was no longer worth it financially,” says Meißner. Video games and home consoles also pushed the pinball off to the sidelines around 20 years ago. Many manufacturers disappeared from the market.

“In 2005 the pinball was dead, there were just 10,000 people on the world rankings that played tournaments. Now we are at 90,000,” says Meißner. Flippers experience a revival. This is also thanks to the retro trend, says Andreas Hennes. “Due to the small number of devices in the line -up, the” grubby pub image “has been stored for years,” says Lathwesen. The GPA has around 700 members. The aim of the association is to promote flipper as a cultural asset, sports equipment and art object.

Digitization meets nostalgia

Despite digitization, club chairman Lathwesen sees the future of flipping positively: The digital development brings “new opportunities to make the devices more interesting,” he reports with a view to spectacular lighting effects or the intermediate storage of achieved results.