At the age of eight, Scott Bright was working as a paperboy, making money to spend on the pinball machines at the bowling alley in his hometown of Swartz Creek.
“From the time I was five years old, I loved pinball,” he said. “My mother and father were in bowling leagues, and I would do anything to beg them that I could go with them to the bowling alley because I could play pinball at the bowling alley.”
Now, at 66, Bright still spends his time with pinball machines – but now he knows them inside and out.
“They have all kinds of names for me. They call me the pinball wizard, the pinball poppy,” Bright said. “That one makes me laugh.”
This wizard doesn’t have a wand or a fancy hat, but he does have a lair of sorts. The office of Grand Traverse Vending is packed with pinball machines in all states of repair, dating back to when pinball machines didn’t even have flippers – in the 1920s and ‘30s.
“People ask me a lot, ‘What’s your favorite pinball game?’ and I say, ‘Well, I can’t answer that; it’s like asking me to choose a favorite kid,’” Bright said. “The guy I bought most of them from said it’s bad luck to know how many machines you have.
“I couldn’t tell you how many I have in restaurants and bars, in warehouses across the state.”
Pinball these days seems to share an affinity with vinyl records, which have become more popular with some consumers.
The Economist reported that sales of new and used machines have been on the rise since 2008. A generation raised on pinball in arcades now has disposable income.
In Bright’s case, he loves his job and wakes up every morning excited to do it.
“Both my sons, from the time they were five years old and big enough to carry my toolbox or whatever, ran the roads with me all the time,” Bright said. “Both of them say today that they learn more running the … arcades with me than they did in their college educations – more real-life stuff.”
One of his sons is taking over the business.
Meanwhile, Bright said he’s supposed to be slowing down, but he still helps out pretty much every day.
Beating the game might be a single-player activity, but he plays with a group of people he endearingly calls “pinheads,” the only people who come close to sharing his love for pinball.
The tournament that brings them all together on Thursday nights at Right Brain Brewery has now been around for about four years. RBB has 39 pinball machines and a specialty IPA called “free play,” named after the in-game bonus.
Russell Springsteen owns RBB.
Springsteen said it all started during the pandemic when the community picnic tables had to be removed, and Bright convinced him to gradually fill the space with pinball machines.
“You’ve got to be willing to kind of go with the flow and be willing to change,” Springsteen said. “So, right now, this is good. It brings a lot of regular people back in.”
Ben Harris has been running the tournaments and managing the website for about two years now.
Harris said he’s not there to win, although that feels good when it happens. It’s more about the camaraderie.
“We submit our tournament results to the IFPA, which is the International Pin Association, and anyone who plays here will be world-ranked,” he said.
They used to play for money, but after cutting the entry fee, the winners just get bragging rights and International Flipper and Pin Association points.
Even during the tournament, Bright was still fixing up pinball games, changing out a broken wire on the Toy Story 4 game and the Scooby-Doo machine.
He described the people who come to the tournaments as being from all walks of life, all very different – except for one thing in common.
“We all have this common things of loving pinball and enjoying good-natured competition with each other,” Bright said. “Thursday is the high point of my week. It’s not the weekend.
“It’s Thursday night for pinball.”
