HOPPERS Crossing is home to a man who is an expert in his field.
For years he has studied his passion and seen tens of thousands of dollars worth of artefacts pass through his hands.
No he is not an archaeologist, but Jeff Page is keeping a dying art alive.
He is a pinball wizard.
For about 10 years he has imported pinball machines from the USA and returned them to their former glory, keeping his favourites and selling the others so they can be played for years to come.
Mr Page talks about his pinball machines like they are his children. He knows seemingly every detail possible about them, but he insists he is not an expert.
His favourite machine is called the Centaur, and he spent 10 years trying to find one.
“I think that one is my favourite because it’s a game I played when I was growing up and it is one of the most challenging ones from the early 80s,” Mr Page said.
Other machines in his current collection include the Gorgar, the first ever talking pinball machine, a Terminator 2 and an Austin Powers themed machine.
“Fifteen is the most machines I’ve had at any given time,” he said.
“When I was a kid I used to play them at the bowling alley in Footscray and the milk bar.
“I don’t want to see them die out because they’re a part of history.”
Mr Page said pinball became less popular when video games like Space Invaders were introduced in 1978.
“What killed them off, apart from computer games, was the poker machines,” he said.
“That was really the death of pinball, but now they are becoming more popular again.”
Mr Page classes himself as an enthusiast, but he said there were people known as pinball geeks, who study every shot and try to determine how to become perfect at playing a particular machine.
“That’s what I love about them. With a computer game, once you master it, you can pretty much master it every time you play,” he said.
“A pinball machine is different. Because it’s a round ball, it never acts the same way twice.”
Mr Page said many people purchased a pinball machine simply to use it as a furniture piece or a talking point in their house.
