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November 2023

A job for the fun police?:Regulation of  pinball machines in the 1970s and 1980s

Fig 1. The Herald, 19 Aug 1980. 78/267, folio 222

This month, we were entertained by a Department of the Capital Territory, City Services Branch file, titled Amusement Devices at Shopping Centres (file 78/2678). It mostly relates to the regulation of pinball machines in the 1970s and 1980s, when there was concern about their association with juvenile delinquency. The file provides some interesting insights into how the government considered the issue, and into some of the social conditions of the time.

By this time, pinball machines had been around for more than half a century, but recent innovations like digital displays had revived their popularity. New arcade electronic games like Space Invaders were also popular and often situated in the same or competing venues.

Press clippings and correspondence on file shows that journalists, politicians, police and bureaucrats across Australia were talking about pinball machines, with some attention-getting headlines like the one above. In a sentiment that might resonate today, the Corio Shire officer quoted in the article said:

It is a sad indictment if we have to use gadgetry to keep kids entertained. They are being placed in an unhealthy environment and becoming zombies.[i]

Another clipping describes a 13-year-old Adelaidean pinball enthusiast named Colin. According to the article, after being caned for playing pinball during school hours, Colin organised a school strike and ran away from home. There are no prizes for guessing where he was found.

Fig 2. Newspaper clippings, 78/2678, folio 242

Fig 3. Pinball machines and fun parlours: Study plan for a ministerial briefing, 10.4.1980 78/2678, folio 46

The file documents how various jurisdictions attempted to regulate pinball machines and other gaming devices, and how they monitored developments elsewhere. Various state, territory and council bodies from the Northern Territory to the Municipality of Woollahra wrote to request for copies of reports and regulations produced in Canberra.

Newspapers clippings and notes on file show that restrictions on the operation of machines were put in place in Goulburn, but were successfully appealed in court. Stirling City Council in Western Australia banned Space Invaders and pinball machines at venues like shops and delicatessens. Deniliquin Shire regulated that children under 12 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. And the Municipal Association of Victoria expressed:

…concern that one coin-operated amusement machine in a building is one too many – particularly having regard to the addictable attraction of such machines to the young.[i]

Mr Harry van Moorst, Sociology Lecturer at the Footscray Institute of Technology, refuted this view, based on his studies relating to games and juvenile delinquency. He commented on the hypocrisy of criticism of young people but not the bingo industry:

People don’t see anything wrong with gambling there but they accuse young people of gambling on machines they can’t even gamble on.[ii]

Canberra had nothing to match the scale of George Street in Sydney. There were small numbers of machines in suburban venues like milk bars, and larger numbers at amusement centres like Dickson Rollerworld (21 machines in late 1980) and Coolamon Court Leisure Centre (18 machines).[iii] Like in other places, correspondence, reports and clippings on file show that there was some community concern about the machines being addictive and/or associated with truancy and crime. Some centres had better or worse reputations than others; the Australian Federal Police described the Pot Black parlour in Alinga Street as a meeting place for “undesirable ‘hoodlum’ types.”[iv]

Within the Department of the Capital Territory, as it was at the time, the issue was carefully considered from different angles. Copies of papers on file indicate that it had been monitored since at least the early 1970s. The assessment of the ‘problem’ had changed little over time. A 1972 memo from the Director of Welfare argued against further regulation of amusement centres, stating, among other reasons, that:

…the money used by children in these activities may be stolen, but in a town like Canberra is far more likely to be the handout from over-permissive parents.[v]

In 1980, Michael Welbourn, acting Assistant Secretary for Urban Affairs wrote the following Ministerial brief summarising the issue, and proposing a study plan for responding to it:

Fig 4. Pinball machines and fun parlours: Study plan for a ministerial briefing, 10.4.1980 78/2678, folio 45

A variety of government stakeholders gave their input, including Rates, Welfare, Land Administration, City Services, Policy and Planning, Recreation and Tourism, and Education. The Australian Federal Police reported on the issue too, finding that:

…the mere presence of fun parlours and machines throughout the Territory does not (alone) pose a threat to the morals and social behaviour of juveniles. However… certain elements such as inadequate parental control, excess pocket money and the use of such centres by ‘latchkey’ children [are] undesirable.[i]

The Standing Committee on Education – Report No. 2 – Inquiry into Pinball Machines was released in May 1980, based on government research and feedback from the community include school principals, Parents & Citizens Associations and the Canberra Homemakers Committee. The Committee made a variety of recommendations to regulate the industry, including reducing the cost to play from 20 cents to 10 cents.

Fig 5. Standing Committee on Education - Report No. 2 - Inquiry into Pinball Machines 1, 78/2678, folios 166-172

Were these recommendations implemented, especially the reduction in in game cost? The file does not clearly answer this question. The Amusement Machine Operators Association Limited certainly argued against it. The Association reasoned that a lower cost would encourage children to play for a longer period, and that the industry was already subject to onerous government fees including 83% of the price of imported amusement machines.[i] The final item on file dates from 1982, most likely indicating the decline of the pinball era both for youth and for parental and community concerns about them.

Fig 6. Standing Committee on Education – Report No. 2 – Inquiry into Pinball Machines 4, 78/2678, folios 166-172

Fig 7. Standing Committee on Education – Report No. 2 – Inquiry into Pinball Machines 2, 78/2678, folios 166-172

Fig 8. Standing Committee on Education – Report No. 2 – Inquiry into Pinball Machines 4, 78/2678, folios 166-172

Images References

78/2678 –

i The Herald, 19/8/1980. Clipping on file 78/2678, Department of the Capital Territory – City Services Branch – Amusement Devices at Shopping Centres folio 222

ii The Age, 19/9/1980, 78/2678, folio 232

iii Ibid

iv 78/2678, folio 265

v 78/2678, folio 274

vi 78/2678, folio 20

vii Summarised in letter on 78/2678, folio 278

viii 78/2678, folios 68-69

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