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The City Where Pinball Is Still Illegal

Posted on Monday, August 9 @ 09:37:01 Eastern by Duke_Ferris

There's trouble right here in Beacon, NY, and that starts with T, which rhymes with P, and that stands for.... Pinball?



You can't make this stuff up. When Fred Bobrow created his dream arcade museum in upstate New York, he probably never even considered that it might be against the law. But an old law still on the books makes pinball illegal in his town, and he has been forced to close. Just check out this CNN video.

There are plenty of crazy old laws on the books, you probably also can't put a wig on your goat in Beacon, but shame on the town for enfocing this one. I wonder what he did to piss off the mayor?

This is why I'm so pleased that California's video game censorship law is going before the Supreme Court this year. They're going to shut down bullshit like this for good.






  • De-Ting
    De-Ting - Joined: Nov 11, 2006
    Ah, Hell on Earth.
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 9th, 2010 at 10:14 am
  • wildmario
    wildmario - Joined: Jan 17, 2007
    The sad part is why these kinds of idiotic laws are still enforced when almost everyone knows it's dumb?
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 9th, 2010 at 10:31 am
  • Lien
    Lien - Joined: Feb 1, 2008
    Ever since I was a young boy, I played the silver ball
    from Soho down to Brighton, I must have played them all
    But I ain't seen nothing like this in any amusement hall
    That deaf, dumb, blind boy,
    Sure is against the law!
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 9th, 2010 at 11:01 am
  • acdibble
    acdibble - Joined: Jul 11, 2007
    Yeah, I have to agree with wildmario. What would happen if they looked the other way on this law?
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 9th, 2010 at 11:36 am
  • Klandathu
    Klandathu - Joined: Apr 6, 2008
    I didn't watch the video, but I've heard of something like this before. Is it illegal because the city somehow considers pinball some sort of gambling?
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 9th, 2010 at 11:42 am
  • cyberjim2000
    cyberjim2000 - Joined: Feb 28, 2010
    @Klandathu: Apparently, most cities banned pinball because people believed that pinball arcades were ran by the mafia and it's a waste of time.

    The Beacon's city council is looking to change the law but it was dumb of them to shut the guy down in the first place.
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 9th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
  • MrrClean
    MrrClean - Joined: Aug 7, 2010
    And you know damn well they won't appologise, or reimburse the guy for the inconvienience afterward. What really gets me, though, is that people were f*cking stupid enough in the first place to empower laws like this. Wait, people still are that stupid...
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 9th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
  • MrrClean
    MrrClean - Joined: Aug 7, 2010
    On changing the law - "We want to do it right, we don't want to do it right away."

    How can you make pinball legal in a wrong way? Maybe if the laws are too loose, the Mafia will get back in on the biillions to be found in underground pinball arcades.
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 9th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
  • UpAndAtThem
    UpAndAtThem - Joined: Mar 12, 2009
    Wow, that Fred Bobrow guy looks so evil. I bet he's running the whole Beacon Mafia from that arcade. Thank God that this completely reasonable law is keeping him in check!
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 9th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
  • madster111
    madster111 - Joined: Jun 4, 2006
    Or perhaps the ****tard cops in that city could simply... I don't know, maybe try not doing anything about it?
    The stupidity of some people irritates me greatly.
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Aug 10th, 2010 at 4:52 am

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