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There was literally the exact same claims being made about kids being turned in to gamblers by pinball games decades ago: “New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia w
by AJ007 7y ago
There was literally the exact same claims being made about kids being turned in to gamblers by pinball games decades ago:
“New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia was responsible for the ban, believing that it robbed school children of their hard earned nickels and dimes.[41][42] La Guardia spearheaded major raids throughout the city, collecting thousands of machines. The mayor participated with police in destroying machines with sledgehammers before dumping the remnants into the city's rivers.[42]”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball#Pinball_and_gambling https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball#Pinball_and_gambling
- gambiting 7y agoI don't think it is the same though. With pinball you pay 20c or whatever, and you get to play the game. That's it. It's like paying $100 for an entry ticket into a bike race - you pay, you get to do the activity, the outcome is "random" in that it only depends on your own skill and external factors. With sticker packs the contents are truly random, there is no skill involved, you literally don't know what you are buying.
- kube-system 7y agoPinball games at the time often paid out prizes and didn’t always do so based solely on skill. The shift towards the modern idea of what pinball machines are like today was a reaction to laws threatening to ban them.
- amyjess 7y agoFor anyone who's curious, this article has some more details on this: https://www.theverge.com/2013/1/16/3740422/the-life-and-death-of-the-american-arcade-for-amusement-only https://www.theverge.com/2013/1/16/3740422/the-life-and-deat...
- a1369209993 7y agoFair enough, but in that case it's a bit disingenuous to say those claims were being made about "pinball games" without qualification, because what you describe is not what someone today[0] thinks of when you say "pinball". 0: citation: myself and gambiting and barneygale at a minimum
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago> The shift towards the modern idea of what pinball machines are like today was a reaction to laws threatening to ban them. Then, sounds like the hubbub at the time was both mostly reasonable and effective.
- barneygale 7y agoPinball is skill-based; loot boxes are not.
- Spooky23 7y agoThere is more to that story. Pinball and other gaming machines were rackets mostly controlled by the mafia and others of that ilk.