Pinball Machine

The Dark Days of Pinball Prohibition | RetromashPinball is enjoying something of a return in this day and age. By that it is meant that a growing number of people are tacking up playing pinball, after a something of a hiatus for the past 10 years or so. What most people do...

In an age before Modern Technology...

Just Kidding! Most of the People who come to this page will have seen or played a pinball machine. The game is old, but not that old.

Although, one of the more notable pieces of Pinball trivia was that the machines were actually banned in the City of New York from 1931 to 1976! Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia banned them based on two beliefs: they were forcing children to unfairly spend their lunch money and that it was a Mob Racket (or scam).

Whether or not these machines did unfairly steal the money of children or had ties with the mob, the Mayor cracked down on them regardless. Conducting "Pinball raids" on various underground facilities believed to have been housing the illegal machines.

Ironically enough, this Pinball Prohibition lead to the creation of such facilities in the first place. Perhaps even bringing the mob into the illegal pinball business due to the market the Mayor had accidentally created.