{"product_id":"same-player-shoots-again-a-biography-of-the-pinball-machine-paperback-softback-9781509569441","title":"Same Player Shoots Again; A Biography of the Pinball Machine (Paperback \/ softback) 9781509569441","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eSame Player Shoots Again\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eA Biography of the Pinball Machine\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eAndreas Bernard (Author), Valentine A. Pakis (Translated by)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781509569441, Polity Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 16 January 2026\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e112 pages\u003cbr\u003e21.6 x 13.5 x 0.8 cm, 0.159 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Part memoir, part cultural history, \u003ci\u003eSame Player Shoots Again\u003c\/i\u003e beautifully evokes a lost world through a single object. It offers an illuminating window on that strange and unknown land, the very recent past.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoe Moran, Liverpool John Moores University\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Charming... often poignant... Reading this book was like my experience of playing pinball: it was all over much too quickly.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWill Wiles, \u003ci\u003eLiterary\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eReview\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Touchingly Proustian... Bernard's genius is to communicate something of his life's grand obsession, while recognising how pinball machines are emblematic of an industrial culture that was slain by digital in the 1980s.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eStuart Jeffries, \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eSpectator\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"The German writer Andreas Bernard is right: a pinball machine belongs to the bar, the arcade, the pier and other places of ill repute and misspent youth.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWill Hodgkinson, \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eIdler\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A beautifully melancholy story... I was never an aficionado, having grown up with video-arcade machines instead, but after finishing this deeply evocative book I've resolved to play the next machine I happen across.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSteven Poole, \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is an ode to the lost golden age of the pinball machine. These vivid, flashing portals of entertainment were mainstays of nearly every bar, pub, and amusement arcade from the 1960s to the 1990s, but today they have all but disappeared. Andreas Bernard, looking back on his coming of age as an avid pinballer, reflects on what the disappearance of pinball machines tells us about the modern transformation of leisure time and public spaces.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe demise of pinballing at the end of the 1990s converged with huge social shifts which eroded the distinction between work and leisure. Now we use the same screen to organize both work and leisure, and games have been absorbed by a professionalization of daily life that is impossible to escape. Is our free time, as we know it, really free? Bernard also shows how the replacement of pinball machines by pocket-sized vessels of distraction was accompanied by the ebbing away of social critique.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e1.  Time Warp\u003cbr\u003e 2.    Monaco\u003cbr\u003e 3.    Harlem Globetrotters\u003cbr\u003e 4.    Pinball Champ ’82\u003cbr\u003e 5.    Paragon\u003cbr\u003e 6.    Earthshaker\u003cbr\u003e 7.    Taxi\u003cbr\u003e 8.    Star Trek: The Next Generation\u003cbr\u003e 9.    Tilt\u003cbr\u003e 10.  Same Player Shoots Again\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: Society \u0026amp; culture: general [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on Society \u0026amp; culture: general\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22Society%20\u0026amp;%20culture:%20general%20%5BJF%5D%22\"\u003eJF\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Polity","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52460668387608,"sku":"9781509569441","price":9.29,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/2037\/5320\/files\/9781509569441.jpg?v=1785457458","url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/same-player-shoots-again-a-biography-of-the-pinball-machine-paperback-softback-9781509569441","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}