Pinball One: Illustrated Historical Guide to Pinball Machines Volume 1

by Richard M. Bueschel

Pinball history is a rich broth of Pop Culture, plus a constant and dazzling array of new technologies and play principles, brought to the public by a multitude of positive personalities in over a century of active play. To understand the meaning of pinball and its pleasures, the game and the people that created and constantly refined it are inseparable. While a number of books have been written about pinball in the past decade or so that have touched on some of these areas, they have largely been limited in scope. The definitive history of the game remained to be written. And now it has, by renowned coin machine historian and author Richard M. Bueschel in his series "Illustrated Historical Guide to Pinball Machines." For the first time pinball history enthusiasts, collectors and players can follow the story of the development of the game as it really happened as well as learn a lot about the individual games introduced over the years. You ll find these pages rich in facts, fables, fantasies and funny anecdotes, and you ll find yourself wanting to play and own games you wouldn t have dreamed of looking at before. Old games, new games, classic games and forgotten names. That're all in these volumes. In addition to the forward dated historical section followed by the game-by-game coverage and pricing of a hundred different machines, each volume has an editorial section that is invaluable to pinball enthusiasts, collectors, restorers, and players. Subjects such as collectability, how to play, who made what games and when, and identification of the most valuable and the top collectible pinballs, are covered in depth. The end result in the volumes is the definitive history of the game from its early origins to the present, reference data to identify collectible pinball games, plus tips and suggestions to help you get the most enjoyment possible out of pinball knowledge, collecting and actual play. These are the pinball books we ve all been waiting for.

Paperback

Published May 1, 1988

About the author

Richard Martin Bueschel

Richard M. Bueschel (1926-1998) was and probably always will be the most prolific author and historian that our hobby will ever know. Dick most enjoyed “the fun of the search and the knowledge gained”. His view was that “If it’s good for the hobby, it ought to be done.” He penned dozens of books about coin operated machines.

He also edited a multitude of coin-op magazines and periodicals. Dick inspired us by sharing his collection of coin machine paper including photographs, vintage advertising and trade magazines. Dick also helped to lead the way towards the legalization of slot machine collecting throughout most of America.

Dick grew up in the heart of the coin operated machine industry, Chicago, during the 1930’s and 40’s. His primary focus was on gambling machines, but he also wrote about pinball, arcade, penny scales and vending among many other topics.

He served in the United States Air Force during 1945 and 1946. This led to his interest in Japanese war planes and subsequent books about these aircraft. His business career was as a creative person in industrial advertising agencies. Our hobby would not be remotely close to where it is today, not only in historical knowledge, but in the number of collectors, had it not been for the efforts and inspiration of Richard M. Bueschel.