[quote name=\'clanky06\' post=\'166075\' date=\'Oct 9 2007, 04:25 PM\']
I wonder if there is some correlation between the game show and pin ball heydays occurring about the same era.
[/quote]
Probably not, but it is a bit of a co-winky-dink how the scoring mechanisms have kept up with top prize money on game shows over the years and vice-versa:
1960's -- Game Show Top Prizes were maxed at around $10,000...
...In Pinball, the score would roll back to zero if you surpassed 10,000 points (in pinball lingo, you would have "flipped", or "turned over" the machine once past 9,999)
1970's -- Game show top prizes were around $100,000...
...In pinball, the analog scoring dials went as high as 99,999.
1980's & 90's -- Top Game Show Prizes at $1M...Pinball went to 6-digit analog and digital scores, maxing at 999,999
2000's -- Top game show prizes now at $10M...Pinballs now go to 9,999,999 and beyond, pretty much eliminating any chance of 'flipping' a machine anymore.