Nearly everybody's confused by their first interaction with a pinball machine.

Some people think the game's broken because they don't know you have to press the start

button.

Or they get it going, slap the ball around a bit, maybe hit a few random targets before

draining, and the whole thing's over seconds after it began.

And why would anybody want to spend money on that?

Ball isn't even a game you can win, not really.

You can learn to use the flippers to gain control of the ball, aim shots at flashing lights

for big points, complete series of tasks for jackpots, and make it a competition to see

who scores the highest before they lose.

If you get a good enough score, the machine may even reward you with a free credit to

play again.

But after sending the ball up ramps through spinners and down, whatever winding trails

the designers put on the table, you're going to lose the free game too.

No matter how good you get, pinball ends with the ball going down the drain.

This is not a game you win.

It's a game you try to play for as long as you can until you lose.

In other words, if you're the kind of person who knows you can do better if only you had

another chance, pinball is inherently addictive.

You tell us how many kids there aren't at school over there? 3500.

You get much of that trade?

Quite a bit.

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