Teaching kid to play pinball

TOK

Well-known member

Donor 2011
Joined
May 28, 2004
Messages
4,772
Reaction score
241
Location
Pennsylvania
My daughter is not really the gameroom kind of kid some of the guys here have. She likes the pins better than the vids, but has been doing the typical kid monkey flipping (both flippers together) since the beginning and getting frustrated. I tried talking to her about using one flipper at a time and slowing the ball down, but she wasn't getting it.

I decided to try something new. We started playing two player games, and when it was my turn, I had her put her hands on mine to feel what I was doing. When it was her turn, we switched... Same deal with me doing most of the flipping, but her fingers were on the buttons.

It was amazing how well this worked. I could feel her wanting to flip and would tell her to wait. Within 4 games like this she was single flipping and trapping. Another few games and she's a different kid. It all just clicked. We both went nuts when she opened up Pinbot and scored a multi-ball. Final score was just shy of 1.1 million and she popped a match on top of that.

This is the first night I had to tell her it was time to quit, and all the way up to bed she's making plans on playing tomorrow. She told me not to move the toolbox (her other secret weapon) :)

What a fun night!
pinbotkid1.jpg

pinbotkid2.jpg
 
that's way cool. nothing like seeing your kids having fun with your games.


oh, and my kids LOVE getting a match too.....sometimes they enjoy that part more than the game itself. LOL.
 
awesome! thats what pins are all about. having fun and sharing a game with someone you love.
 
Seriously!!! What's with Pinbot stalking me?!

But on the upside, I guess since I'm seeing so many of them, there should be a TON of them out there for me to buy one, RIGHT? :)

That's awesome. I'm going to use that approach with my wife and see if I can get her to play like an adult. :)
 
I'm going to have to try that trick with my kids. Right now they are both just banging on the flippers. They are 3 and 4 so I don't know what I expect.

My 3 year old son actually does better but their biggest downfall is constantly getting distracted by the DMD on STTNG =)
 
Nice. I've also had success getting kids to focus and flipping better if we each handle a flipper. I'd trap the ball and post pass to their flipper whenever I could; slowed the game down for them. Plus you are right there to make saves down the middle or nudge away from the outlane. And it's nice to have the team approach rather than me vs. you kind of thing as a 2-player game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TOK
Nice. I've also had success getting kids to focus and flipping better if we each handle a flipper. I'd trap the ball and post pass to their flipper whenever I could; slowed the game down for them. Plus you are right there to make saves down the middle or nudge away from the outlane. And it's nice to have the team approach rather than me vs. you kind of thing as a 2-player game.

Exactly on the team thing... I should have noticed this, but every game we play (vid or pin) all my kid cares about is if she lost. I don't want to lie to her so I just tell her it doesn't matter, we're just playing to have fun.

She's at the age now where she isn't buying that crap, but hates losing. I think us working together and eliminating the competitive feeling was the main thing that turned her around. Getting the skills from helping flip was just a bonus.
 
Last edited:
Very nice Tim!

We need more that are interested in getting kids into pinball!

Looks like she was having a great time. Enjoy these moments together!

Chris
 
That's very cool! Congrats on teaching her and getting her turned around on pinball.

I'm still trying to do that with my kids, both like the pins more than the vids but they're still dual flipper at the same time players. I'll try your approach to teach them to use each flipper.

Tom
 
My nefarious motive here is teaching my kid to beat the crap out of my buddies at either pin I own. Would anything be more humbling than being beaten down by a 6 year old girl that needs a boost to see the playfield?

Watching that happen to the guy that consistently kicks my ass at Robotron in my own house would be the happiest moment of my life! ;)
 
That truly is inspiring for us people with kids.
I have two girls, 10 and 17.
I purchased a WCS94 for the youngster because she plays soccer and thought this might get her interested. That lasted all of maybe a week. I've tried the "share the flippers" trick, having her on a step stool, and explaining how pinball has a goals and accomplishments like arcade games. Shoot hat lit arrow yadda yadda. Nope, just no interest. I just traded that machine off a couple weeks ago because no one played it.
The 17 year old played a couple rounds on each machine and walked away never to return.

Watching places like Chucky Cheese or any pizza joint or nickle arcades, kids never play pins. Hell even at bars (multiple) I watch the 20 something crowds and they don't play pinball either. The future looks pretty bleak unfortunately.
 
I see that a lot at our nickel arcade too. There were two teenagers (And I mean like 15-17..) there, it was late, they were screwing around on redemption machines.

My goal when I go there is to put my name on every machine. I don't care so much WHICH high score slot it is as long as it's on there. I put up FRX and move on. Replays are relatively easy to come by their settings on most machines except Tron and NBA. So I get done with IJ4, BDK, and LOTR...there's like 3-4 plays on each machine, the place is mostly empty. I flag these two kids down and just say "Hey, if you guys want to play some pinball, I've got a bunch of free replays on these machines."

They looked at me like I was a stalker or something. Was very unnerving...all I did was ask them if they wanted some free games, and the machines were all 10-15 feet from where I was. All I can say is that if we can't even interest people at the price of FREE, much less the 15 cents a game actually costs there....we're screwed. :|
 
I have a PS3 and a Wii in my house. They get no use at all. I just don't play them much and I have never shown them to my kids (3 & 4). The day after I brought home STTNG I brought my kids into the garage to let them play. They have either played or asked to play every single night since. Its a big thing for them. I'm glad that I am able to give them this experience before they start getting corrupted by console games and such. Hopefully the experience while they are young will foster the same kind of love for these games that we all have.

I'm actually looking for an early SS without a DMD or a EM for them as their own machine. Then they can learn on an easier machine without being distracted with deep rules and flashy DMD scenes.
 
My kids (7 &10) learned to play on a williams gulfstream. The EM is much slower and has a much easier rule set. I even lowered the playfield angle to slow it down even more in the beginning. I am not a huge EM fan but I find new pinballers move toward the EM. All of my kids friends now come to my gameroom to play the games (pinball machines) that they have never seen before. The driving vids get a lot of playtime but the pins are on all of the time. I feel 100 years old giving 80s arcade history lessons everytime i'm asked about a game. You should see their looks when they get to see a 45 play on the jukebox for the first time. One neighbor kid asked his parents for pinball collection for his wii and complained to his parents that it is nothing like playing the real thing.
 
Last edited:
She told me not to move the toolbox (her other secret weapon) :)

LOL, I had trouble figuring out a good "stool" for my kids to use.
Hit pay dirt at a local Ollie's store with $5 rubbermaid type stools.
They stack nested, so I bought 4 and they hide away nicely under the pins.

I'll have to try and see if your method helps my daughter too.
BTW, she just lost the ball on Addams and was snapping her fingers with the games tune. :D

d17747c4.jpg
 
I started my daughter playing pinball at 3 years old (she's 4 now) when she first started playing I was surprised that she never banged the flippers like most other kids do when they come over to play. She plays pretty good and she loves pinball more than playing my arcade mchines. Here's some pictures from the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk she found the stool all by herself pulled it up and started playing the pinballs, love this picture of her.

SataCruz089.jpg

SataCruz085.jpg
 
Back
Top Bottom