MY STORY
Until the mid 90s, Putt Putt Golf 'n Games in HarborCreek, PA was my second home. Even though the arcade was rather small, it always housed the newest and greatest video and pinball games. The majority of my pinball memories stem from this location. Whenever I had a free chance (and could bug my mom to drive me there), I was plopping tons of Putt Putt tokens into my favorite machines.
Unfortunately,
starting in 1990, there was a period of two years where Putt Putt was sold to
a different owner. He almost ran the place into the ground. He never rotated
games or even repaired the broken ones. The same pinball machine (which was
something from the 70s) stayed in the arcade for almost two years. Luckily the
business was sold once again and the new owner brought Putt Putt back to its
former glory. That is when Funhouse arrived.
When
I first played Funhouse, all I can remember is being in awe of the talking
"Rudy" head located at the top right of the playfield. Even though his eye
lids didn't close (truthfully I didn't know they were even suppose to on a
fully working game), he still mouthed the words and followed my ball with his
eyes. It was a fantastic sight. In fact, I drained many times while watching
this occur.
After this initial excitement, I began to try and learn the rules. Funhouse epitomized everything that was great about 80s pinball rules while adding a bunch of new goodies into the mix. In fact, the game attracted a wide variety of people and FH competitions were not unheard of (some were even between the various employees). Even though I originally was not very good at FH, a long history with the machine was about to begin.
Eventually, FH was taken from the lineup. I did see the machine at a few other locations. However, the condition was usually in the below average range. So, my vow was to one day own this fantastic machine. Someday! Somehow!
My story continues with information and pictures from my
Funhouse
game HERE
