Do you let pre-schoolers play your pins?

[hippochrome]

I have two pinball playing kids; a 2.5yr old, and a 4yr old

When they were babies it was cute plopping them down on a stool or on playfield glass in front of me while I played a few games. Sometimes they'd even hit the flipper buttons a bit.

Now, however, they are a little too "mobile". They wander up to the machines and turn them on and off willy nilly, they start games, fill it up to 4 players every time and play only a few balls then walk away, and the few balls they do play is rapid no reason chimping of the flippers....I just cringe. I figure everytime that they are going to kill the power supply, and deaden the flippers.

But then i think that these are games designed to live in the wilds of bars and arcades. Surely they are build for this abuse. Also, I want pilball to be an enjoyable experience with their pop in the gameroom, not a nag-fest. I have drawn the line on them turning the pins on and off "only mommy and daddy are allowed to turn them on and off"...but they totally test that when we leave the room.

Thoughts...how do you run your gamerooms with your young kids?

 

[brewmanager]

Agreed- these machines have been thru more in the wild then they ever could in your basement. Just turn off a walked away from game, and keep common flipper parts on hand...just in case.

 

[meegis]

My nieces have been playing the machines since diaper days. As long as you teach them early, they wont be so bad.

 

[dnewman]

My 2-year-old daughter is constantly telling me she wants to "go play pinball". She stands on a stool and starts a game, but I have to pull the plunger for her. Lately, she's been hitting the flipper buttons to hit the ball!

She's not abusive to the machines, but I have to agree that these machines were built to take a lot more abuse than a toddler can throw at them. I'm not even worried when my 7-10 year old nephews are downstairs playing them.

 

[matthewra]

Our 2.5 year old nephews loves pinball. He often doesn't last through all 3 balls in a game but wants moved to a different stool/game sometimes pretty quickly.
yesterday he grabbed the SS mod of the glowing eyeball shooter and ripped the eyeball right off.

 

[Fifty]

I just rebuilt my flippers. I played a game without any issues. Then let my 5 year old have a go. He blew the flipper board fuse in less than a minute. The best way to test your pin for durability is to let those pre-schoolers play.

 

[Monkeybug]

My solution to people who are uptight about kids playing....

 

[somed00dxx]

If I was worried about the little ones I would get a keyed power switch.

Richard

 

[hippochrome]

I let them at it today and they chimped quickly and repeatedly for about 30min straight...I held back my cringes and just let it happen. The game/victim played fine after their onslaught.

Although, I'm glad I only have B-listers...I can't imagine holding back as easily if my games were MB, AFM, and MM

 

[Honey Badger]

Just be happy you don't have the grown adult playing your pins that blew Geoffs Stern Star Trek at TARG from repeatedly flipping to earn a free game since the machine was broken and giving away free points with each flip. He did this for over an hour apparently. :FP: :FP: :FP:

 

[Chris Bardon]

I let my kids (2 and 6) play all the pins, and they're fine with them. The 2 year old's favourite thing is the start buttons, which I suppose is better than his sister at that age (who loved the power switches). Neither will really play a full game themselves, and neither is super hard on the games, but I'm not too worried about them breaking something just by hitting buttons. I'm mure more worried about something getting thrown and going through a backglass, or one of them trying to climb on top of a game.

 

[spiroagnew]

My oldest at two and a half can power up and start a game on his own. Just starting to time his monkey flips to hit the ball. No harm no foul. He's one of my best play testers! I knew I solved my WH20 reset problems when my kid got on it for ten minutes and it experienced no issues. I've curtailed his random galavanting around the gameroom by telling him one of my non-A-lister games is "his". That's the one he now wants to play the most.

 

[Fifty]

Just be happy you don't have the grown adult playing your pins that blew Geoffs Stern Star Trek at TARG from repeatedly flipping to earn a free game since the machine was broken and giving away free points with each flip. He did this for over an hour apparently. :FP: :FP: :FP:

I'm surprised Geoff doesn't have to replace the coin doors on the games at TARG. Every time I've been there all I see are kids going from machine to machine looking for rejected coins that have been left behind.

 

[tom_454]

I let my 3 year old greasy fingered nephew play my Tron LE. Only rule I have when the kids play is no food or drinks near the games. The day I don't let em play is the day I am out on the front porch yelling "and stay off my grass!" Never want to get that old. I like to see kids have fun, life will get serious enough for them soon enough. Besides, we have a basement full of games so doesn't that qualify us as being big kids?

I will admit that I will clean the flippers and lockdown bars a little extra after the kids leave. Then again it isn't any worse than those drooling, sweaty OPL pinheads.

Keep on flipping!

 

[kevin the 1984 kid]

I let my boys(age 4 and 7)play if I'm in the room with them. Yes there toys...but for big boys My 4 year old likes to turn them on and off and will play only a few games just hitting the flippers pretty much repetitively. I help him out once and while to school him on technique. My 7 year old is starting to get the rules and playfield goals down pretty good now. Got 4 loops on the Getaway last week...pretty impressed considering 2 years ago he played like his brother.

 

[TwilightZone]

When my kids were younger, I let them and their friends play. Still do. I try to teach the kids not to chimp. Some get it, some it takes a bit longer to figure out. I really enjoy seeing the kids play the games and don't work too much about it.

Cheers,
Duane

 

[FastEd]

Hmm, another post got me thinking about this thread again. Considering that Pins are high voltage machines, should we let kids play pins unsupervised? I didn't think much of my kids coming home and playing pins after school, but, got me thinking.

 

[mwong168]

The main concern would be if something like a transistor blows causing a coil less obvious like a pop bumper or flasher staying locked on can melt resulting in magic smoke

Another safety precaution you can do when you first get a new game is make sure all fuses are the properly rated ones installed. If something is over fused can cause fires too!