Presiding – Charlie Wagner

Attendance – 65

Greeters – Lester Pierce & Rick Swaim

Invocation – Bill Landrigan

Announcements –

• End of year banquet, September 25, this will be an evening meeting
• Car show was successful, thank you to everyone that helped
• Golf outing is upcoming Sept 10th tee sign sponsors and teams are needed
• Fall displays are upcoming, be ready to help

50/50 – $41 to Everett Nifong

Sergeants – Members were asked to name the “Science” involved with Pinball and Pinball trivia.

Program – The World of Pinball and STEM by Jeff Murphy – Given the opportunity, Jeff Murphy can talk about pinball machines.

“I can talk all day about pinball,” said Murphy. He intertwines the history of his passion for pinball machines with the history of the pinball companies. At one point, Murphy had 18 pinball machines in his house – 15 in the garage and three in the basement. Currently, Murphy has just five pinball machines and two video games in the garage, but another two pinball machines are at his parents’ lake house.

Murphy isn’t the only person in his family who has an affinity for pinball. His brother-in-law has four to five machines. His son, Tom, won first place in the youth division at the 2002 Pinball Expo in Chicago. “In the ’70s, pinball was really popular. It was around the ’80s when video games started exploding,” said Murphy.

Pinball companies started struggling in the 1980s as the video game craze intensified. Many of the pinball games in the early ’80s were themed after the video games, Murphy said. As home play stations started coming out, video games started falling out of favor. In the early ’90s, however, pinball machines started coming back. Their comeback lasted only a few years.

In the past 15 years, Murphy bought and sold about 35 pinball machines, he said. Usually, he’d buy one that needed some repairs, but nothing too major. He’d play it for awhile, and then sell it. Murphy bought his first pinball machine not long after he got his first real job.

Quote -What is the difference between an optimist and a pessimist?
An Optimist laughs to forget, but a pessimist forgets to laugh.

Did You Know? – In England The Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak

Next Week’s Program – Classic Arts Program, Mike Lewis