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The NYC Pinball Association

Though it sounds quaint in the age of Wii/Xbox/PlayStation, the seemingly ancient art of coin-operated arcade games is still in vogue with a hardy crew of players: Max Pinball (as he’s called) has headed The NYC Pinball Association since this January. The favorite haunt for the association’s 18 active players is the Amsterdam Billiard Club (11th Street and Fourth Avenue), where the machines (including Spider-Man and The Machine: Bride of Pinbot) are kept in good condition. So far, NYCPA has had two seasons, where divisions of two to three members with comparable skill levels are gathered together to compete against each other—Max himself won the top division in the latest season. They also boast a group of roughly 100 players in the metropolitan area who compete in area tournaments, and made a strong showing at the 2008 World Pinball Championship this past August, where NYCPA member Sean “the Storm” Grant finished sixth place overall.

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