Andreas Bernard – Same Player Shoots Again: A Biography of the Pinball Machine
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Andreas Bernard
Same Player Shoots Again: A Biography of the Pinball Machine
Translated by Valentine A. Pakis
Polity Press: Cambridge/New York, March 2026. 112 pages, Paperback $12.99.
For every pinball player, there are some machines that will always hold special meaning: there’s the first machine they ever discovered as a child, the ones they were really able to control and played some perfect balls on in pubs and arcades, and the one where they met someone special for the first time. Andreas Bernard’s book “Same Player Shoots Again” narrates these stories. It’s a biography of pinball machines, from Harlem Globetrotters to Paragon, from Eight Ball Deluxe to Earthshaker, from Taxi to Star Trek: The Next Generation. Set in Munich, Germany in the 1980s and 1990s, the book examines the influence of American culture in late 20th century Europe. It also reflects on what the disappearance of pinball machines around the turn of the century might tell us about the modern transformation of leisure time and public spaces. At times nostalgic and lighthearted and at others bitingly astute, this book will appeal to all pinballers, past and present, and to anyone interested in the changing world of culture, gaming, and entertainment.
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