Starten Sie den Audio-Text
Mit dem Audio-Player können Sie sich den Text anhören. Darunter finden Sie das Transkript.
The listening exercises in Business Spotlight Plus (p. 5) are based on the article “Pinball bounces back” (Names & News, p. 9). Here, we provide you with the audio file and transcript.
Click here to open the transcript
Pinball to bounce backzurückkommenbounces back
The first pinballFlipperpinball games appeared during the Great Depression. They had their heydayGlanzzeit, Hochphaseheyday in the 1950s and 60s and were largely replaced by computerized games in the 1980s and 90s. In 2000, WMS, then the world’s largest manufacturer of pinball machines, closed its unprofitable pinball business — choosing to make slot machineGlücksspielautomatslot machines instead.
But this 1930s invention is now enjoying an unlikely comeback. According to Stern Pinball, the last major manufacturer, sales of new machines have risen by 15―20 percent every year since 2008. The company is even planning to move to a new and much larger factory near Chicago. In 2022, the International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) approved about 8,300 pinball tournamentTurniertournaments, a 400 percent increase since 2014.
What explains this trend? First, the technology has had an upgrade. Games can now be connected to the internet, allowing players to post their scoreSpielergebnisscores online. Some believe the mechanical machines to appeal to sb.bei jmdm. gut ankommenappeal to younger players, who haven’t had that experience before. Of course, it also has a lot to do with nostalgia[wg. Aussprache]nostalgia. The generation that grew up with pinball is now middle-aged with the disposable incomeverfügbares Einkommendisposable income to afford their own machines.