Tilt!(What's New? Holiday Gifts Galore) (pinball machine from Regent Sports Corp.)

Back in our high school and college days, a pinball machine was considered the devil's plaything by parents, teachers, and other adults convinced that hours spent hunched over these games, flipping metal balls around the tilted playing surface as flashing lights and a cacophony of bells and whistles accompanied our efforts, would ruin our lives. Feeding quarters into those seductive devices in the back of Sophomore Sol's luncheonette on the University of Pennsylvania campus was our generation's equivalent of the poolrooms Professor Harold Hill warned about in "The Music Man"

As with so many once--verboten activities, things have changed, and pinball machines are now in many homes' recreation room or den, while their owners rail about how video games are corrupting their offspring. To lure their kids from in front of the computer screen, parents might consider starting them on pinball machines at a relatively early age. Some of the most-entertaining models around for youngsters come from Regent Sports Corp., Hauppauge, N.Y.

These are not wobbly, poorly made toys, but smaller versions (36" long x 20" wide x 34" high)...