During Prohibition the U.S. Government passed a bill that made a multitude of substances illegal. The most prominent inclusion on this list of illegal substances is alcohol. Prohibition also banned all forms of gambling. This included poker, slots, and pinball.

Pinball had been a game reserved for people 18 and older for most of its early existence. This is due to the fact that early versions of the game were largely dependent on luck and required little to no skill. As the game evolved it became less about chance and more about timing. Yet, the game remained under the label of gambling. With technological advancements, pinball developed a high score board which added a competitive aspect to the game. It also allowed for more complex gameplay that made it more difficult to pick up and play as a whim.

While the game developed and became more intricate Prohibition struck. Pinball’s community, which was relatively small in comparison to other forms of gambling needed some way to take off. Under prohibition the pinball community went underground and began to slowly gain popularity. This increase in popularity was most likely due to the taboo aspect it had. Eventually, there were whole blocks on Sunset Boulevard, California (called Sunset Boulevard because after sunset is was a big spot for illegal activity during Prohibition) dedicated to pinball clubs.

For a long time, the pinball industry was nothing more than a side hustle but with this newfound popularity it became a full-time job developing and distributing pinball machines. Stern was one of the first companies to take advantage of this large-scale distribution. When prohibition ended pinball had evolved into a worldwide hobby and that called for worldwide distribution. Stern took advantage of this and began large scale production of household and corporate machines. Stern was the company that lobbied for pinball to have its age limit abolished further increasing their profits.

Through the rich and obscure history of pinball we learn that one of pleasures that we take for granted only the became popular through the power of criminal action. Without prohibition the sport of pinball would have never truly taken off.

Note from 2024: This was written in 2016 and it is neat seeing what a terrible writer I was, the pinball story is awesome but I didn’t even tell it here. If I have too much spare time I will refresh these old posts. They were originally homework for a middle school class, I don’t know how I passed it with writing like this.