A pinball collector’s library is not complete without these three pinball books which cover every decade of the game.
For my birthday my wife bought me a copy of the huge Pinball Magazine issue #5 which is dedicated to the life-long work of Wayne Neyens who designed 180 or so pinball machines in Gottlieb’s early years.
At over 350 pages with few ads, it’s a fascinating review of Neyen’s and Gottlieb’s output in the 50s and 60s. Back then games focused on the concept of winning replays.
Pinball has changed a lot since then with modern games moving away from the idea of replays to focus more on scores and achievements such as completing modes, triggering mechanical and even triggering certain sound clips or video clips. Pinball has become more of an amusement device whereas in the early days it was treated more like a gambling device with payoffs rather than entertainment.
You can trace pinballs history three volumes of collector books: Pinball machines the electro-mechanical era, The Pinball Compendium: 1970 -1981 and The Pinball Compendium: 1982 to Present
Michael Shalhoub has over 400 pinball machines in his collection. He is the author of four volumes on pinball machines from the 1930s through today.
Eagerly anticipated, this update of the highly regarded third book from pinball author Michael Shalhoub includes over 900 color photos and covers the most recent period in pinball history, from 1982 through 2011. Each chapter is devoted to a specific year and features descriptions, release dates, and historical background on the games released that year from manufacturers Gottlieb, Williams, Bally, Data East, Stern, Sega, and others. Current values are listed for each machine shown in the book.
Eagerly anticipated, this update of the highly regarded third book from pinball author Michael Shalhoub includes over 900 color photos and covers the most recent period in pinball history, from 1982 through 2011. Each chapter is devoted to a specific year and features descriptions, release dates, and historical background.