Warlock got me thinking...a dangerous pastime, I know....
Stage 1 - Interest
Starting to lurk web sites and forums, thinking about maybe buying your first machine, fondly thinking of one you played as a kid and thinking how that will take you back to your youth if only you could have one of those.
Stage 2 - The First Purchase
You've done it! You have a pinball machine in your house! Congratulations! You're finished. And except for those rare few who can stay in Stage 2, with no real idea what's about to happen to you. One of the best things that can happen to you in this stage is if you buy a dog of a machine, and you decide that you'll cut your losses and get out....because if you don't....you also pick a handle and start posting on the forums - but choose wisely - your username can take on a life of it's own.
Stage 3 - The next purchase
Well, you've come to the realization that pinball machines are like bunnies, and potato chips. You can't eat just one, and they can multiply rapidly if you let them. You start to learn all you can about fixing them, because they do break and life is easier if you can do repairs yourself.
Stage 4 - More purchases (Obsession)
You start to rearrange furniture and run wire all over your house to power what is now your expanding collection. What you paid for that first machine is small potatoes as you expand your collection. You spend many of your waking hours on forums, reading all you can, and start to realize that more and more of your thoughts are pinball related than they should be. Your non-pinball friends and family start rolling their eyes if you so much as mention the word pinball, and your partner starts twitching when he/she hears the word.
Stage 5 - You're out of control (Madness)
More machines than space or money should reasonably allow. You spend your hours searching out those little parts to make your machines that much nicer. A Parts For Sale ad from 2005 might be worth an email, just in case they never sold it, right? A busted switch can send you into despair, and fixing that switch gives you a greater high than ever. You don't even dare mention the word pinball in front of your partner, and start minimizing windows on your computer whenever they come close, so they don't catch you on pbrev...again.
Stage 6 - Acceptance
You pare the collection down to a reasonable amount, where you have both the space for them, and time to work on upkeep. You have fun with your pinball friends, and remember the ability to discuss other topics with people who aren't sharing your obsession.
and the rarest stage of all - couldn't leave it out after I saw it posted below :
The Vengeance Stage - outside and beyond the normal realm of pinball collecting.
Pinball has consumed you entire life.
You play all the time, for hours at a time, fixing, repairing, cleaning, and playing more.
You schedule your vacations around it
Your only friends are pinball related
The only time you have a conversation outside of work it's pinball related
You build extensions on your home to grow your ever expanding collection
You travel half way across the world just to play more pinball
Your pinball friends use you as the example of just how normal they are compared to you.
Pinball is the Alpha and the Omega, it is the beginning and the end, it is ALL CONSUMING!
For me, I think I'm solidly in Stage 4, with a dangerous leaning towards Stage 5. I was a good boy on the weekend - didn't buy the machine I looked at, even though I wanted it. Shouldn't have even looked at it, to be honest.
Stage 1 - Interest
Starting to lurk web sites and forums, thinking about maybe buying your first machine, fondly thinking of one you played as a kid and thinking how that will take you back to your youth if only you could have one of those.
Stage 2 - The First Purchase
You've done it! You have a pinball machine in your house! Congratulations! You're finished. And except for those rare few who can stay in Stage 2, with no real idea what's about to happen to you. One of the best things that can happen to you in this stage is if you buy a dog of a machine, and you decide that you'll cut your losses and get out....because if you don't....you also pick a handle and start posting on the forums - but choose wisely - your username can take on a life of it's own.
Stage 3 - The next purchase
Well, you've come to the realization that pinball machines are like bunnies, and potato chips. You can't eat just one, and they can multiply rapidly if you let them. You start to learn all you can about fixing them, because they do break and life is easier if you can do repairs yourself.
Stage 4 - More purchases (Obsession)
You start to rearrange furniture and run wire all over your house to power what is now your expanding collection. What you paid for that first machine is small potatoes as you expand your collection. You spend many of your waking hours on forums, reading all you can, and start to realize that more and more of your thoughts are pinball related than they should be. Your non-pinball friends and family start rolling their eyes if you so much as mention the word pinball, and your partner starts twitching when he/she hears the word.
Stage 5 - You're out of control (Madness)
More machines than space or money should reasonably allow. You spend your hours searching out those little parts to make your machines that much nicer. A Parts For Sale ad from 2005 might be worth an email, just in case they never sold it, right? A busted switch can send you into despair, and fixing that switch gives you a greater high than ever. You don't even dare mention the word pinball in front of your partner, and start minimizing windows on your computer whenever they come close, so they don't catch you on pbrev...again.
Stage 6 - Acceptance
You pare the collection down to a reasonable amount, where you have both the space for them, and time to work on upkeep. You have fun with your pinball friends, and remember the ability to discuss other topics with people who aren't sharing your obsession.
and the rarest stage of all - couldn't leave it out after I saw it posted below :
The Vengeance Stage - outside and beyond the normal realm of pinball collecting.
Pinball has consumed you entire life.
You play all the time, for hours at a time, fixing, repairing, cleaning, and playing more.
You schedule your vacations around it
Your only friends are pinball related
The only time you have a conversation outside of work it's pinball related
You build extensions on your home to grow your ever expanding collection
You travel half way across the world just to play more pinball
Your pinball friends use you as the example of just how normal they are compared to you.
Pinball is the Alpha and the Omega, it is the beginning and the end, it is ALL CONSUMING!
For me, I think I'm solidly in Stage 4, with a dangerous leaning towards Stage 5. I was a good boy on the weekend - didn't buy the machine I looked at, even though I wanted it. Shouldn't have even looked at it, to be honest.
