New pinball: Tales of the Arabian Nights
A 1996 Williams Tales of the Arabian Nights, on long-term loan from my friend Troy's collection, acquired July 2014.
Tales of the Arabian Nights was my next machine, and I got it right in the middle of the basement remodel, so for a good while it lived in my living room.
It is just a fun, amazing game, and the art is genuinely some of the best in all of pinball. It is a John Popadiuk design from 1996 with artwork by Pat McMahon, and the whole playfield glows like a jewel box. The centerpiece is a spinning magnetic lamp that flings the ball off in unpredictable directions. Williams really nailed the One Thousand and One Nights theme.
This one came out of my friend Troy’s personal collection, and there is a sweet wrinkle to that. Troy has told me, more than once, that even though I own it now, he fully expects to get it back someday. He really misses it. He has a whole story about how and where he found it, and I think it carries some real emotional value for him. And honestly, I am completely fine with that. When the day comes, I will happily sell or trade it back to him. For now, I am just its caretaker.
It helps that it is such a beautiful machine, because Troy took incredible care of it. Everything works, everything is clean, and there is hardly any wear anywhere on it. I am doing my best to hand it back someday in exactly that shape.