2020-09-07 How to Cheat at Pinball
How to Cheat at Pinball
Location: The Museum of Pinball
Date and Time: September 7, 2020
Summary: Pinball Shaman and Pinball Wiazrd
Mood Music: "Little Changes" - Frank Turner
Heading due east on a early almost fall morning, the Datsun manages to make record time heading to The Museum of Pinball, with a Funkadelic wake-up soundtrack. In the passenger seat, Luu sprawls out comfortably, a leg up against the dash and door. They're leaving LA, so Luu's more dressed down than usual in a black t-shirt, jeans, and chucks; the clothes though, are quite well tailored, and paired with Celine sunglasses at the moment. "This should be good practice," Luu notes as she takes a sip of from a slightly dented metal water bottle, before offfering it over to Jinny.
While Luu has always been quite talented with the connection between things and social dynamics, the way she practices The Arts, has been quite lacking on the material side of things. The insistence from a member at Gelndale Tool Company that what they weere doing was so completely different, only convinced Luu more that she could do the exact same thing in her own way if she just applied herself correctly. Research at Ascension Lodge was beginning to pay off, a new jewelery project had been planned for the near future, but today, Luu was going to try to 'cheat' at Pinball in a whole new way.
The radio in the Datsun, surprisingly, is one of the few splurges that's been put into the car that's not specifically period correct or in some way built for speed. Sure, the radio/bluetooth player was an afterthought since the screen was generally there to be used for diagnostics and the gauge package, but the fact that it did all that stuff and played music? That's a win/win in Jinny's eyes.
Luu's phone was the one providing the music, with a fairly decent internet connection and access to YouTube, any and all musical tastes could be dealt with. And, yes, while Maggot Brain wasn't the ideal early morning music for driving, in Jinny's opinion, there was something to be said about songs with drums, bottles, and bass that got a girl's toes tapping. Or, rather, as much as they could tap while working the pedals in Los Angeles traffic which, surprisingly, at this time of day, wasn't too terribly bad. Sure, there were slowdowns, but they never outright stopped thanks to the lack of accidents, construction, and what have you on the trip out there. Shifting hands, Jinny takes the battered bottle of water, uses her thumb to unscrew it, and takes a quick drink. "You know, we should check the water at the Node at some point, to see if it might have something interesting dissolved in it. Being so close to a source of Magickal power for as long as it has been? Could be a nice potion component or something if it had the right hints in it somewhere." The bottle is passed back, the white lines on the road reflected in Jinny's sunglasses as she turns back to watch the road.
"It should be." Jinny agrees to the statement about their goal and the potential goodness of their location. "We've got to keep Cupidiae's Arrows sharpened, after all." Jinny's dressed similarly to Luu, the weather necessitating something a little longer than the skirts and shorts she prefers. Today she's chosen some black stretchy leggings that go to mid-calf with a ivory-colored dress over it all that provides coverage and sexiness, depending on how she lets the straps go and how short she gets her skirt. Not one above using her body as a tool, it seems, when it's on her terms. "Any particular goals you're going for, other than 'this is going to be good?'
"We should figure out how to investigate that place more," Luu agrees as they breeze along the road, adding, "Finding it is a real blessing, but knowing more about it and using correctly what it provides? That's now our responsibility as stewards. Caves aren't a particular specialty of mine, but -- " A shrug is given to this, as Luu confidently says, "I guess they soon will be." Taking the bottle of water back, Luu places it back in the red-red Hello Kitty messenger bag that's where her feet should probably be. "Perhaps a component for a dye," Luu says with a slight hmmm, as she thinks about this; while not really a traditional Alchemist, she's still sure she can find some way to transform anything.
"Usually," Luu begins to explain about her methods, "I feel like I'm working to understand the space in which the balls exist, but I realize I'm missing the forest for the trees." A beat as she correct, "or more the trees for the forest. It shouldn't be one or the other. I need to do both. To hold them together in my head as separate or connected, as well as separate and connected. It's just a muscle I got to remember to excercise. It's like you end up able to do one thing so well, you forget there are other ways." Simplifying this, she says, "It's like I've been skipping leg day, and that's on me, but I would have figured it out eventually. Advantages and disadantages to be early ripening."
"The logical thing would be to get another mage with a bit more scientific acumen to do some research for us, but the whole secrecy thing is part of the allure of the node. Hard to find node that's hard to get to and might have magickal stuff going on besides being a node? That's something that could easily be...ahem...borrowed if we weren't careful, and that's the last thing I want to have happen. I'm sure it's the last thing you want to have happen, too." Jinny makes a soft sound. "Dye component....clothes or hair?" She giggles and signals and takes the exit leading to the museum that prides itself as being the largest pinball museum in the state. "Magickal hair dye...changes color to what the person looking at you wants to see. The perfect color, no matter how many people are watching." Oooh, something to research.
Situated on 19 acres near a casino, it's not a place people would know to find unless they knew what they were looking for. The parking lot is about half full and Jinny manages to find a spot near a tree, near the front, wherethe car is visible to everyone and in the shade to boot. Letting the engine run for a moment to let the turbos cool down, she turns it off with the twist of her key and puts it into her borrowed Hermes purse. (thanks, Luu!). "So...let's go have some mystical time with the pinball wizards." She giggles. "God, it sounds like something Rick and the crew would be interested in."
"It's not just about to keep it's location secret," Luu explains of her concerns of the Node, "but anything we take from there? Has the potential to be traced back to it. I mean, it's not typical to just trace back the source of anything you run across, but if people think you're weak and having something powerful? Well, there's like totally going to be people to try to turn that to their advantage, or worse. The word is kinda mangled together from different sources, and there's a number of odd and ominous ways to translate it, but one fitting translation for 'Nephandi' is 'Eater of the Weak.' Our Chantry is young, so I doubt we're on anyone's radar, but we need to be careful about showing off anything to shiny. They might think we're easy pickings, and while I don't see either of us weak? We still shouldn't tempt anyone, as they'll still try to eat us anyway."
"The hair dye is an interesting idea," Luu notes to Jinny, "but I think I'd really have to be careful with that. I'm so used to controlling how people perceive my appearance, but part of that is by knowing how I might appear. If my hair is different depending on the person -- " Luu hmmms, as she thinks about this, and notes, "I suppose it's another thing I need to figure out, just like the pinball. When you think you got the whole picture, twist the kaleidoscope, but be prepared for it."
"It'll be embarassing," Luu notes of the forthcoming pinball experience, "but I got it do it wrong the right way, instead of doing it right the wrong way, and then be able to do them both the right way and know they're both the right way." Turning her head to look to Jinny, Luu grins and notes, "Once I accomplish that, then we can get Rick and others involved. While I'm still learning, only you get to watch."
"Hey, getting good at something means that you have to suck at it for a while first. I mean, you know the rules, you can walk and chew gum at the same time, and you can rollerskate without falling over. This? You've got this, even if you do use magick or something to bend reality to your will." Jinny shoulders her bag and locks the car, nodding towards the front door of the museum filled with all sorts of electronic gremlins that promise fun and adventure if they can flip a ball into the proper target. "Come on." She motions with one hand. "I'll get the admission if you buy us drinks - non-alcoholic ones - later."
"Yeah, definitely," Luu agrees with Jinny on this, but adds, "but you also gotta forget, for the moment, the way in which you're good at it. Otherwise you'll only think to do it that way. Just because I'm better at doing things one way, doesn't mean it's the best way, but a different way doesn't have to replace the old way, and in that way it opens up a new way." Shifting forward, Luu grabs her messenger bag with one hand as she opens the door with the other, and then stepping outside, straps the bag across her back. "I appreciate the confidence," Luu says as they begin to walk towards the entrance together, "and that sounds like a deal to me." A beat as she adds, "and definitely no alcohol, I remember the last time with pinball, we don't want to throw driving into that mess. It wouldn't be good to be broken like my mannequin." Turning her head, Luu narrows her eyes and glares at Jinny for a moment, before grinning.
"The right amount of duct tape and paper mache can fix anything." Jinny protests, walking around the front of the car to stand next to Luu, walking next to her towards the front of the building. The doors magically open as they step close enough thanks to infared light and a sensor above the door, and the sound of balls, pops, and bumpers can be heard echoing through the space. Of course, there are displays on the history of Pinball, along with some of the more rare examples set up, powered on, behind glass. And yes, these can be played, but with permission. Aftern all, you can't have a line of people waiting to play an EM game that has a high score of 1200.
Now, inside the museum, Jinny moves over to pay their entry fee, getting a couple of pink tickets back for her trouble. One is passed to Luu and the other is tucked into Jinny's breast pocket. "So..." She says, looking around."Where to first to unlearn and re-learn the majesty of Pinball?"
A mannequin maybe, her heart, unlikely. Nothing is said, no indication of this momentary thought, as Luu walks towards The Museum of Pinball with Jinny. Taking a few steps in, Luu carefully removes her Celine sunglasses, putting them back in a case in her messenger bag. A few moments are taken to adjust to the space, looking around for a moment, before the intensity of the lights of the machines fade under that of their sound. "It used to be hard to find a pinball machine," Luu notes to Jinny, adding, "I think we found where they all went. Next we'll figure out where all the other socks are." The Spirit of the missing sock, probably has a lot of stories to tell, should they ever find it.
Taking the ticket from Jinny, Luu tucks it carefully into one of the inner pockets on her messenger bag. "That's a good question," Luu says, scrunching her face slightly as she looks around at all the options. "I figure it's probably good to try out a few different machines," she says after some consideration, "I imagine they'll have different feelings to them, and that's probably the best way to consistently throw me off-balance."
The last time the pair ended up in a place with pinball, the evening ended with a blur, a shattered mannequin, and at least three traffic cones from different suburbs of the city. This, being a museum, is probably not going to offer intoxicants to patrons since keeping the machines working and pristine is paramount to keeping the guests socially lubricated. Still, better to be careful than not. "Why don't we try the simpler, older machines?" Jinny suggests, steering the pair towards the 1950-1960's section where the ancient Electromechanical machines are set up in pastel orange, pink, and blue. Names like Jubilee, Surf Champ, Nuggy, and Circus Party, attesting to the difficulty one might have in naming a new Pinball machine when they were first developed, sit quietly, their score wheels set to zero, the few that are being played rattling and clicking audibly thanks to the massive coils clicking in response to the flippers and pops being used. "It may be a little easier, going with something more analog before trying to get through the ones that have a little more punch."
Walking beside Jinny, Luu makes her way through the variety of pinball machines setup through the museum. It's clear there's an organizational scheme of some sort going on, but she hasn't been able to figure out all of its details yet. Here and there she'll see a pattern, but she's sure there's more to it than she's immediately noticing. The groupings by era, she can see that, but beyond that? Too much noise to be able to be sure about the rest. "I bet anywhere else," Luu begins to say as she makes her way up to Jubilee, "these things would be real pieces of junk, but here they seem like they'll be well maintained." Clipping the latch to her red-red Hello Kitty messenger bag, Luu swings it to the front to dig out a few quarters, placing some on the machine, before she places the bag at her feet.
Walking up to the machine, Luu runs her hands along it's sides, beginning to get a feel for the physicality. Then, plucking in some coins, she gives a glance back to Jinny. "Alright, gotta try to cheat a new way, without falling back on the old way," Luu says, before turning to the machine and preparing to pull it's plunger. "Here goes nothing -- " she says, as she knocks the ball from it's rest, sending the ball in a fast loop around the top of the machine, and then right between the flippers before Luu has a chance to do anything.
"This is going to be tough."
Settling into her spot next to Luu's machine, Jinny slips a quarter into the slot with a satisfying clunk, settling down in front of Surfer Queen - a tiki-bar themed pinball that seems to specialize in brown skinned beauties on the beach enjoying daquiris while some very white band played music for them from the back glass. "Probably. It's a question of desirability and rarity. I mean...I'm sure I could find you something, somewhere, that's the only one that there is in that particular condition, but it wouldn't be worth anything unless you were the person who needed that particular thing. It's all in the eye of the beholder."
Pulling back her plunger, Jinny tries to aim for a spot about half power to see if she can't get the ball to fall into one of the slots at the top instead of going around and draining. "This is going to be tough." She agrees, letting go of the plunger, sending the ball on its way, and focusing on it with all of her might to get it to do anything other than bounce aimlessly from target to target until gravity takes hold.
"Now...a cheater would try to use the flippers..." Jinny says as the ball rattles into the trap, her impressive score of 20 dinging up on the scoreboard. "To trigger them without using the buttons...." She blows out a breath. 'pppprt' and sighs. "At least we're going to get an idea of what doesn't work."
"The context here helps as well," Luu notes, as she takes a quick glance around The Museum of Pinball. Then, looking back to her machine, she exhales slowly as she readies herself to go again. "I don't think I'm yet at that level," she notes, as her hand rests on the plunger. "I need a new way to observe the balls first," she explains of her pinball methods, "focus on the ball itself, not the space surrounding the ball. It's probably not that hard, it's just ... not what I'm used to, so it will probably take a moment, but at least I'm a little more prepare for the game's speed." Pulling back the plunger, the ball once more loops around the top of the game. As it comes back around, Luu manages to hit it back up with the left flipper. Twice more, she hits the ball, but it's no graceful juggle, just a bit of knock-about that happens to work out for her.
"Mmm." Jinny says softly, her voice barely heard over the clatter of the pinball machines surrounding them. She waits for the ball to cycle and then does it again. "I imagine that taking that initial step on our own will be monumental. It's probably why you find a teacher to show you the basics instead of hammering it out for yourself. I mean....this is just a ball bearing that's a little more than 3/4ths of an inch wide. If we can get this down, scaling up shouldn't be too hard. Maybe we find a teacher then and get to unlearn it all over again."
Jinny's voice is low, conversational. Any passerby might think they're chatting about school or something mundane, not the magickal stuff they're actually working on. She pulls back the plunger again, focusing on the ball, trying to feel how it moves across the stage of the playfield, trying to impose her paradigm on the game itself. All the world's a stage and this little round player needs to do what she wants it to.
The plunger is released, the ball arcs up and around, bouncing off the pop bumpers again, then down towards the flippers where they're hit back, bounce off a pop, and then drain right down the middle."
Tilting her head slightly, as she looks at Jinny, Luu notes, "I don't think it's particularly easy to find yourself a this sort of pinball. It's a pretty niche subject matter." Pulling back on the plunger, Luu's eye mirrors theball as it goes around the loop, the flipper hitting it almost gracefully this time. As it goes up, it ttakes her a moment to start tracking it again, but she does manage to latch on. The ball bounces with her eye, moving this way and that across the pinball machine, as she knocks it up a few more times. The ball clatters around the top, ratcheting up the score, and causing parts of the machine to light up. Then, still tracking the ball, Luu watches it go right down the middle, ending the game for her. Turning to look at Jinny, Luu says, "Getting there?"
Jinny glances over to Luu as she watches the ball, not saying a word to allow her colorful companion to focus on what's in front of her instead of what's around her. With the cacophony of noise, it's difficult to focus but Luu seems to get it, Jinny smiling a little and turning back to her machine. "Almost." she says softly, her eyes closing for a moment as she draws back the plunger, opening them again, and sending it spinning up the ramp.
Not knowing how to focus on a shiny silver ball in the 'right' way is difficult, but when one makes the rules, right is whichever way she decides. As the ball curves down from the far right bumper, Jinny's attention focuses fully on the ball. A well-timed flipper sends it spinning back up towards the pop bumpers at the top, her score going up by fifty whole points as it rockets back and forth between a pair, her attention not on the noise or the popping, but the ball itself. In fact, she's so intently paying attention to it that when it starts down the playfield to the bottom, she forgets to flip and loses it down the middle.
Jinny straightens and blinks, looking to Luu. Slowly getting there." she says. "Journey of a thousand miles and all that."
"It's always going to be almost," Luu notes as she puts some more quarters in the machine, "pinball isn't a game you ever 'win,' you just get better at, and better at cheating at it. You can't stop that ball from cycling around, but you can work to be the ball, and keep it out of the gutter." Pausing to think about this, Luu turns to look at Jinny and says, "You can't win' at pinball, right? Well, I'll still play like I'm trying to win." Turning back to Jubilee, Luu pulls the plunger once more, sending the ball around as she eyes it with an enthusiastic attention. As it comes back down, she catches it it with a flipper, holds it for a moment, then slowly releases, before knocking the ball into the light-up bumpers. "Once I really figure this out," Luu says as she keeps juggling the ball with the flippers, "I actually should be able to tell just how far the ball has travelled in a game. A new kind of keeping score."
It's kind of nice, having something with that kind of inevitability just down the road in the local arcade. A game that, no matter how much you practice, how many hours you put in, how much money you spend, you will always loose. Like playing tennis against a backstop, the immutable forces that the Pinball machine follow will eventually succeed and your three fleeting chances will be spent, no matter what you do. "It's a metaphor for life." Jinny says after her third ball drains, her attention going back to Luu on Jubilee, leaning on the glass to watch her ball now, using it as the focus. Perhaps with both of them watching, it'll do something. The mention of keeping score without keeping score? That earns a smile from Jinny, followed by a short nod. "It's all data, isn't it? Every little movement, every little stop and hitch from the smoothness of the table, the power of a bumper, will change that. Get it down to the millimeter and be able to prove it...well, you'll have a Guinness record with your name on it if you decide to submit it."
"Quarters make it a metaphor for reincarnation," Luu notes, as her eyes tracks the ball bouncing around the top of the machine, lighting up bumpers. "mmmm," she says, thinking about that, "I don't know if it's the kind of thing I'd publicize. Start with just learning how to do it, then I'll figure out what it can do for the world, but my name in a book?" Wanting to shake her head, Luu doesn't, but instead keeps her attention on the ball. "Yeah, I don't know that I need that," she sayss as she knocks the ball up with the flipper. "I'll be the ball and everything else," she notes, to Jinny, "but not everyone needs to know that sorta thing. Might have an army of Pinball Wizards showing up at my house to have a word with me, either for spilling their secrets or wrecking their top score. Either way. Easy."
"Makes you wonder how many quarters a person has gone through in their existence." Jinny murmurs, still watching Luu's ball dance around the playfield, her attention on it and the conversation and not much else. "Didn't say you had to, of course. Just said you could. And now why am I imagining a pinball table with no bumpers, that you simply have to keep the ball going for as long as you can? That might be an interesting exercise. Training wheels to use before you move up to the real stuff." She straightens and moves back to her machine, feeds it a couple of quarters, and begins again, feet spread slightly apart as she tries to find that trance moment that gamers almost inevitably find while playing and focusing.
"It does," Luu concurs with Jinny, as the ball kees going around. "No bumpers could be interesting," Luu notes with her eye on the ball, "no flippers would be the real challenge. I don't think I'm there yet, and I don't think they'd like it particularly much if I tore off the flippers here, and as far as I know we don't have a pinball machine of our own." As the ball goes down the middle, Luu says to Jinny, "Getting there. I'm keeping my focus on the ball, but it's yet to really focus on the ball. I'm sure it will eventually all click, but I feel like I'm at least on the right path here." Looking around, the place, she says, "Shall we try out a more contemporary game? See the difference in how things feel. I think that might help for this."
Jinny may be hearing Luu, but she doesn't really show it. She's focusing on the ball moving over the well-polished field, bouncing up off of the flippers, then bouncing back. "It...should be pretty easy. I mean...just a board that's polished, in the same shape as a pinball machine, just a plunger and flippers and a drain hole to deal with. We might actually be able to find one. Get it to the other chantries as a training aid." She chuckles, imagining sending one to Straussen and having it immediately claimed as an invention long lost, or one that they had just been working on. Sadly, her concentration lapses for a brief second and the ball takes that momentary lapse to vanish into the depths beneath the flippers, never to return. Game over. "Darn." Jinny says, a playful stomp of her foot following, turning to Luu. "Sure. Contemporary ones. I'll have to focus on the ball and not on the game. IT'll be harder with the blinky things but maybe the distraction is going to be good." Turning away from the machine, she pauses. "Quick question....do we need to go skating sometime soon?"
Bending down to pick up her messenger bag, Luu then straps it to her back. With a gesture of her head, she begins to walk with Jinny towards the newer pinball machines. "Sometimes soonish," Luu notes to Jinny, "but I still got some time. Why, you like wanna join me for a skate?" A beast as she notes, "I'm still kind like w-t-f on whatever happened to your poor rocket bunny. I still think you're pranking me with that one, but -- " Remembering when that happened, and /why/ Jinny would likely be unable to prank her like that, Luu blushes lightly, turning her head a bit to look at the wall of pinball machines. "Anyway, I could go skating sometime soon," she tells Jinny, "but I don't think there's any immediate need on it."
"I could skate." Jinny says nonchalantly, bumping her hip against Luu as they walk from the more archaic pinball to the more contemporary and modern ones. Mechanical switches make way for microcomputers and even smaller ones, the amount of memory and processing power in these machines rivalling some of the more powerful computers of the day with the basics still in play. It's always a ball, a pair of flippers, and a slightly inclined table where you stood and tried to juggle under glass. "Yeah, poor rocket bunny." Jinny says forlornly. "I'm getting it replaced, but it's still taking its sweet time getting across the ocean. I mean, if I wanted to spend a thousand dollars on a new skate, I could probably have it now, but slow boats are just as inevitable as Pinball. They'll get there eventually." She pauses, remembering waking up in bed after a shower with a substantial headache, cuddled up next to Luu, blushing faintly at the memory. "Still. I wouldn't mind another bout of skating with you. It was nice, hitting Disco night. It was...." She trails off, nearly saying 'almost like we were a couple' but doesn't finish that thought.
"It was a lot of fun. Hey, look..." She points. "Attack from Mars Pinball. If that doesn't have your name on it, I don't know what does."
There's a few moments of walking awkwardly as they both let that converation pass, not fully explored. "ooooh aliens," Luu squeals as the pinball machine is pointed out. Walking over, Luu unclips the messenger bag from her bag, putting it down at the bottom of the machine. "Time to take me to your leader board," Luu says with a grin as she steps up to the machine, and gives a small laugh. A quarter is put in the machine, and Luu sends the ball flying with the plunger. "Definitely a different feel," she responds almost immediately, working to track the ball as it bounces around. "Both are well maintained, but this is -- " Luu barely manags to knock the ball with a flipper, as she notes, " -- yeah, different feel, different timing. This is good practice."
The posters on the wall, old advertisements, neon, and the like, make a wonderful distraction, allowing the pair to walk and not look at each other while the conversation - and memory - of the pair of very close encounters the pair had are shuttled back into the halls of memory to be called forth when necessary and not now, when discomfort and embarrassment will most definitely be called. Thankfully, the distraction of little green men does its job, and Jinny lets out a soft sigh of relief. She takes her spot at an Alien game that's wider than usual and seems to be based off the movie from the 70's. More modern than the games they were on, for sure, but not so new that video screens or A/I are involved. In go her quarters and off goes the ball. The first one, she lets go just to watch it move, how it bounces off of the wire dividers and the like, but the second is when she starts to play. Yes, she's following the ball, but she's returning it fairly well, too.
"Oh yeah...super different." She agrees. "A little more speed, a lot more interaction. A lot more variables to...*clunk*" There goes the ball. "keep track of."
"and a lot more lights," Luu add as the ball bounces around the bumpers. From the bumpers, the balls rolls into a hall, triggering martian sound effects. Luu's eyes light up as she hears this, and then notes, "Ok, we gotat train on a variety of machines, but this one is pretty sweet." The ball shoots back at her, and she knocks it high with a flipper, watching it zip all the way around, and back for another flipper thwack into the bumpers. The ball bounces around, making a crazy amount of noise, definitely on a different level than what Jubilee was capable of making. "I bet they have other cool ones too," Luu says, in a slightly excited way, as she hops lightly from one foot to another. "but no, gotta keep my eye on the ball," she reaffirms, as she tracks its movements around the game, "then later we can explore, but don't rush the journey."
Jinny snickers, watching Luu for a moment before getting into her own game. There's a lot of fun to be had for sure, but this is a learning excursion as well. Feeling the ball through the wood, through the way it rolls through the stage that it's been placed on, is a subtle art that will take quite a bit of time to perfect but, as Luu said, don't rush the journey. After all, life moves fast. If you don't stop and take a look around every once in a while, you might miss it. "I'm guessing this is a perfect birthday or holiday gift for you, huh? Spirits, where would we even find room for this at the house? I'm guessing somewhere in the ballroom?"
"It would be a little extravagant," Luu notes to Jinny regarding a pinball gift, adding, "and then I'd probably have to get more. Not that we have a ball room -- and, haha -- but if we did, and we got one pinball machine, we'd start getting more, and then the ballroom would be the pinball room, and then we'd eventually need a separate storage annex for the extra pinball machines, and I need that space for shoes." Knocking the ball with the flipper, Luu watches as it crosses over and begins lighting up the bumpers, along with alien invasion sound effects. She's definitely getting better at this, and she could be doing even better at this if she was cheating in the ways she knew how to, rather than trying to find a completely new way to cheat. Thre's already at least four simple ways she knows, but the matter of the pinball is what's on her mind right now.
"What's a little extravagance between homosexual life partners?" Jinny asks with a smirk, her ball triggering the escape part of the game, where she has to get the ball into a particular hole that's lit up to knock the alien down in enough time for her crew - whatever that is, she wasn't paying attention to the rules of the game - escaped to the drop ship and 'won.' At least, before the next round when the game reset, leaving all scores and starting up the ladder of events again.
Losing Shoe Antechamber 4-B was a blow and giving up another room for shoes to hold pinball machines would probably not be a thing Luu would easily do. They didn't use the dining room, after all, so why not make that a game room as well? Or a parlor but, no, that's used for Luu's workroom. The garage? No...that's Jinny's parking. It seems that the options for home pinball are few and far between and the chances of it happening are about the same as a snowball's on a sunny day. She glances over, just in time to watch Luu's ball move oddly, shifting sideways towards a bumper a fraction of an inch. Yes, it could have been an imperfection in the field, but it might not be as well.
"I saw the studio you were renting," Luu jokes, before she adds, "but I know you would if you could, and this is appreciated and understood." A beat as she notes, "We'll figure something out, I'm sure." Focusing her eye on the ball, Luu watches it bounce around as the score board animates little alien figures, her score in the middle. Watching the ball shift slightly, Luu wonders, "Did you see that too, or is it just me? Well, maybe both." Luu leets out a little laugh at this, as she knocks the ball up around for another loop. She seems to be getting pretty confident about the way things are going with this. Probably a little more practice, and she'll really have something here, and then who knows?
Jinny's studio, all four hundred square feet of it in the front half of a shop, was really only rented because there was a window that she could work in and show off to people. When she exited that lease, the landlord, a Croatian man that seemed more ancient than the country he called home, had it rented almost the same day to another artist, desperate for the exposure. Jinny, of course, tagged the window on the outside before she left, leaving a mural that, were the glass removed from the pane intact, could easily be sold for a tidy sum but, of course, someone decided to huck a brick through it. Thus is the transient nature of graffiti on the street.
"I saw it." Jinny said quietly. "It might have been you, but it might not have, too. We'll have to practice, over and over and over again, just to be sure, on our pinball table with no bumpers, no ramps, no nothing."
A nod is given, as Jinny seems to confirm that Luu is figuring out this whole new method for doing pinball. "That seems like it would take up a lot less space," Luu notes of the practice board, "but I think it could work out pretty well. We'll have to work on that when we get back to our place." A beat as she says, "Wanna see if they have those non-alcoholic drinks? You covered admission, so as I said -- or maybe, as you said -- I'm buying drinks." Stepping back from the pinball machine, the ball seems to hold for a moment, before finally dropping down. Picking up the messenger bag, Luu looks to Jinny and says, "Drinks before we go?"
Jinny nods, stepping away from her machine, pulling back the plunger and sending ball 3 up into the top to bounce around for a little while. She's done playing for now. "I'll do the art on the board?" she says with a smile. "Or we could do something with cloth and epoxy and get it nice and smooth...I'm sure the guys at the shop would help us put some clearcoat on it so it'd be like a sheet of glass. Colorful glass, but still..." She glances to her machine, the pinball balanced on the top of one of the bumpers, just perched there until she looks and then, when it falls, it's right down the middle, like all the entropy had built up and it was feeling as bleak as the Cure's biggest fan. She shakes her head and smiles to Luu. "Sure. Let's. A drink that doesn't end with me having a lampshade on my head sounds like a good plan."
"Sounds good to me," Luu says with a smile, gesturing with her head towards the refreshments area. "no broken mannequins, either," Luu says with a smirk, as she walks away from the pinball machines with Jinny. As they walk, Luu can't help but glance at all the pinball machines they pass by, lights and sound going off everywhere. A small shrug is give, before Luu turns to Jinny and smiles.
