Pinball+AG

The Pinball Philosophy Allyson Gorham

//I thought I was the Bally table king, but I just handed my pinball crown to him...//

The New Yorker story “The Pinball Philosophy” by John McPhee is far removed from McPhee’s usual works about environmental related causes. This piece tells the story of Anthony Lukas, a prominent Pulitzer Prize winning author living in New York, who happens to be a pinball aficionado. While McPhee chooses to focus on the pinball loving aspect of Lukas’ life he also uses that fact as a vehicle to give a profile of Lukas.

//He stands like a statue, becomes part of the machine...//

When McPhee visits Lukas’ home, Lukas is in the middle of writing his new book about the Watergate scandal. Lukas explains that when he comes to a particularly challenging section of the book and seems to hit writers block, he turns to his trusted pinball machine. After winning a game he finds that his writers block is gone. While Lukas shows McPhee the ins and outs of his pinball machine he finds that one part has broken, so, he takes McPhee and goes on search through New York City to find the replacement part.

Through the impromptu hunt for the replacement piece, McPhee is able to introduce a number of interesting facts into the story. For example, Lukas talks about how in NYC pinball has been deemed an illegal pastime, because it might corrupt the children. McPhee also adds in information about the different kinds of pinball machines, Bally, Gottleib and Williams (Lukas prefers Bally).

//How do you think he does it? I don’t know. What makes him so good?...//

The final scene in the story is perhaps the best of all. McPhee and Lukas end up in Circus Circus where they meet up with Lukas number one pinball competitor, Tom Buckley. They decide to have a head to head match, best out of five. Lukas chooses the Bally table, while Buckley prefers the Gottleib. At the end of five rounds Lukas is the winner. This scene is particularly memorable because McPhee is able to describe it in such a way that makes you feel as if you are in this dingy, smoky club, while two people are his this epic pinball battle.

All in all this was an excellent piece by McPhee. It had a lot of details but it did not overwhelm the reader, unlike some of his other pieces. This is by far my favourite McPhee piece yet.


 * //Sorry for the use of all those “Pinball Wizard” quotes. But I couldn’t resist!//