1/23/2024 0 Comments Pinball life exposlotionBerk established a program of seminars featuring such legendary individuals as Alvin Gottlieb, Steve Kordek, Norm Clark, Wayne Neyens-men who had shaped an industry. This exposition allowed collectors, enthusiasts, and hobbyists to show their appreciation. And so it was that Pinball Expo was born over the November 22nd-24th weekend in Chicago in 1985.įor the first time, there was an exposition dedicated to celebrating individuals, many of whom were around when pinball was starting out during the height of the Great Depression in the early 1930s. And I thought wouldn’t it be something special to recognize them and pay tribute to them”. In doing this I learned the names of the artists and designers responsible for the games and realized they were bringing me a great amount of happiness through what they were creating. With pinball all around him and reading books on the subject as well as joining a club of collectors who would get together once a month to play games, Berk had a thought that would not only change his life, but also change the fortunes of pinball for more than thirty years and counting.īerk had an idea as he expressed, “I was such a pinball enthusiast, playing as much as I could and reading about the history of the machines and industry. It was this ardent passion for pinball that drew Berk into an entirely different enterprise that has endured far beyond his initial plan. His collection has grown to over 750 pinball machines, spanning all eras, with his personal favorite electro-mechanical game still being that very first Post Time and for more modern machines, he counts Williams’ Medieval Madness at the top of the list. Rob Berk’s life was to completely change when he started college at Kent State University in 1972 and discovered as he recalls, “…a room full of pinball machines as far as your eye could see, and that really got me going to the point where I decided I wanted to collect pinball machines from the 1960s.” The first game he purchased was a 1969 Williams Post Time, which also triggered his love affair for add-a-ball pinball machines. Gottlieb Texan, manufactured in 1960 and the last 4-player wood rail game from the company, to the family basement. In fact, there was a bookstore called Alfies on Alton Road in Miami Beach that had two pinball games and we would just play for hours.” The connection and fascination intensified when Berk’s father added a D. I guess he liked pinball, so it was his way of introducing me to it. As Berk remembers, “My dad, for whatever reason, always made it a point to take the kids to the arcade. Although there was a 1948 United Baby Face pinball machine in his basement, it was during the annual family vacation to visit his aunt in Florida when a very young Rob Berk became completely captivated by the wonders of the silverball.
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