My 100 favorite collectibles ... No. 96: Arcade games

Chicago was the pinball machine capital of the world in the 1940s-70s. Many of the leading pinball manufacturers — including Gottlieb, Williams, Chicago Coin, Bally and Stern — were based in Chicago in pinball's heyday. It was an ironic distinction, because pinball had been illegal in Chicago since the 1940s, as a gambling device that attracted organized crime.

Pinball, in fact, was also illegal in many suburbs (Oak Park, Arlington Heights, Evanston, Des Plaines and others) into the 1970s because they were deemed a gambling device by awarding free games for high scores and extra balls for expert play. Sounds crazy today — and it actually sounded crazy even in the day — but that was the world we were living in.

But pinball was legalized in Skokie in 1964 and I have fond memories of playing pinball — and arcade games — at Twin-Orchard Bowl on Skokie Blvd. in the 1970s. We also played at Novelty Golf in my hometown of Lincolnwood, which added a game room in the 1960s.

With a boost from Elton John's version of "Pinball Wizard" from the 1975 movie "Tommy," (an adaptation of The Who's 1969 rock opera), the stigma of pinball — and the silliness of banning it — receded and pinball became wildly popular and finally legalized in Chicago in 1977.

I cherish those memories of playing pinball and arcade games throughout high school in the '70s. I guess in this day and age you have to be an old-school pinball nerd to appreciate the complexity of the wiring of those old electro-mechanical machines. But in pre-computer microchip days, it was absolute genius putting those machines together.

I have spent most of my adulthood reliving my childhood, so in a failed attempt to distract my own kids from video games in the '90s, I started buying pinball/arcade games. They weren't very interested outside of the novelty of them, but every one of them takes me back to a glorious time.

Gottlieb's Royal Flush — just an awesome pinball game.

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The complicated wiring inside of "Swing-Along," — (left. to right) the box, playfield and head — is amazing. These machines hold up well. But you have to play them to keep them playing well.

You can have Mario Kart. I'll take Chicago Coin's Speedway any day of the week.

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I graduated from the University of Missouri with a major in journalism and a minor in Atari Football. This early video game was an obsession for me and my friends in 1979-80 at The Heidelberg on 9th street in Columbia, down the block from J-school. It's absolutely primitive — literally Xs and Ox and just four plays — but it was immensely addictive back in the day and still fun to play in 2026.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/b68e84_5eb026f6eea54fb3951981ef6ca41ab4/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

You know how athletes today are described as "like a video game" or "a cheat code"? In my day, not even a video game could replicate Caleb Williams' miraculous touchdown pass to Cole Kmet in the playoffs against the Rams. Starting at the 14-yard line and going back to the 40 — the pass Williams unleashed that found Kmet wide open in the end zone falls incomplete every time in Atari Football.

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Played this game at the Missouri Bar & Grill across from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat when I worked there from 1984-86.

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Sea Wolf was a submarine/periscope/torpedo game that was the most popular video game in 1976 and 1977 — right in my wheelhouse. You really have to play it to appreciate how great it was, so ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7pm4Lq1q3E

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We inherited this AMI jukebox when we moved to Lincolnwood in 1967. Great memories of playing pool and listening to "White Room" by Cream, "I'm a Believer" by the Monkees and "Build Me Up Buttercup" by the Foudations in our basement.