If you haven't ever listened to Retrogaming Radio, I'd recommend it very highly. I used to listen to them on my desktop, but now it'd probably make more sense to put them your iPod or what-not and listen to them that way. I'm not sure what the status of the show is at this point, but I'm pretty sure you can buy DVDs with the old shows on them. You might not agree with everything Shane (the host) says, but that's half the fun!

IMO, the best shows are the earlier ones; it kinda goes downhill once Shane starts imitating the likes of Howard Stern and padding the shows with all kinds of unedited interviews and auction segments (not my cup of tea). Still, you can always skip the parts you don't like, and the rants are always worth a listen.

Anyway, as far as pinball goes, I think my best experience with one was during my summer at McNeese State at Lake Charles, Louisiana. I was there with some good friends, and there was a little arcade on campus that had a circus-themed pinball game. We were only 14 or 15 at the time, and we were good at catching the operator when he came to collect. He'd give us about 60 credits and we'd have a blast. Even after hours and hours of practice, though, it was still purely luck. Either you got lucky or you didn't. To my understanding, the pros at this are masters at "tilting" the machine, that is, bumping or tilting it just enough to keep the sensor from disqualifying them (usually by locking up the paddles). That's obviously something you can't duplicate in a virtual setup, though many games have tried (with buttons for tilting, though if you press them too much you lose).