title: Special when lit: A visual and anecdotal history of pinball
author:  Edward Trapunski 
description: A visual and anecdotal history of Pinball by Edward Trapunski
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ON THE ORIGINS OF PINBALL  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  First of all, we'll need to know the name of one Raymond Maloney. It seems
  that there used to be someone by that name, but he has since died. That's
  about all there is to know about his life. Which is to say that nobody knows
  him from nothing. Not any more than they know a water spider at the bottom of
  a well.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  To be sure, it's a historical fact that by this man's very hands the first
  prototype of the pinball machine was brought unto this realm of defilement in
  1934 from out of the great, golden cloud of technology. Which is again the
  very year that, across that giant puddle called the Atlantic, one Adolf Hitler
  was getting his hands on the first rung of the Weimar ladder.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Raymond Maloney's life story has none of the mythic color of the Wright
  Brothers or Alexander Graham Bell. No heartwarming episodes of youth, nor any
  dramatic "Eureka!" Only scant mention of his name on p