From Cornell Daily Sun, 1972
In past decades Cornellians, like other American college students, have enthusiastically appropriated a number of sedentary, slightly juvenile diversions, including Monopoly, punch cards, comic books, and tiddly-winks.
Now we have pinball.
Over the past year or two Cornell has witnessed the growth of a large, indigenous colony of so-called pinball freaks- individuals so fond of the game that they play for half an hour, an hour, even two hours at a stretch, at least once a day. The number of these freaks is constantly increasing.
One learns of a friend after friend who has become addicted to "the pins." It's a bona fide craze.
To accommodate the rage, Cornell has installed scores of new pinball machines in the recreation halls of each of its three student unions.
At the same time, numerous local proprietors have purchased or rented machines. One discovers the noisy, ostentatious devices in many of the off-campus fast food establishments, strategically placed to induce customers to play a few rounds while waiting for their hot meatball subs and pizzas.
Several Collegetown "carry-outs" feature impressive arrays of ten, fifteen, even twenty machines. One Eddy Street submarine house is already celebrated for its sponsorship of a weekly pinball competition; each Friday the highest scorer on its "Granada" machine is warded a free sub with all the dress-
ings.
The omnipresent devices may also be found in many of the student laundromats and, of course, in virtually All of the local bars.
In all there are about two hundred And fifty machines located somewhere
On the Hill, a pinball freak's delight.
The Willard Straight Hall Game-oom is an excellent place to observe the new craze at its most extreme.
Readily accessible because of its central location on campus, the Gameroom is Visited daily by hundreds of eager students. A relatively small number patronize the pool tables, but the battery of twenty pinball machines is in continuous use.
Upon entering, the visitor immediately finds himself back in Coney Island as he is immersed in a storm of BING-BING-BINGs and TACKA-TACKA-ZONKs. Students stand before each of the large, garishly decorated, twittering contraptions: slipping in dimes, pulling plungers, pushing
"Ripper" buttons, following the bouncing pinball with what appears to be a rapid alternation of indifference, genuine amusement, serious interest, and wide-eyed, near-obsessive fascination.
Players curse and laugh aloud, mutter to themselves, shout for joy…