The Who Pinball Machine Rings Up a Big Money Score on eBay

You might say that one lucky eBay bidder wanted to learn how to play a mean pinball with this purchase:

At the end of December, a bygone era of arcade games was brought to the modern day when a Who-themed ‘Tommy Pinball Wizard’ pinball machine (pictured on the left) sold for more than $2,400. One of only a reported 4,700 of the machines in production, the Who’s pinball machine made its debut at the Hard Rock Cafe in Dallas in 1993. The machine features 21 songs performed by the cast of the Broadway hit production, ‘The Who’s Tommy.’

Only a handful of musicians can lay claim to having their own pinball machine. Ted Nugent saw a reported 2,671 units of the ‘Nugent’ pinball machine available in the late ’70′s. The King of Rock n Roll, Elvis Presley, received a posthumous tribute with 2004′s simply titled ‘Elvis’ pinball machine. And last January, Aussie legends AC/DC had their own pinball machine launched by Stern Pinball Inc.

Despite the increase in popularity of home-based video gaming systems, pinball machines remain a popular game choice of all age groups. With the virtual extinction of arcades, finding the pinball machines to play is a whole different story, however.

The Who recently wrapped up the North American leg of their ‘Quadrophenia + More’ tour. As listed on their official website, the next round of shows takes place in Europe starting in June in Ireland. While the group’s North American shows were routinely well-received, Pete Townshend caused a bit of a controversy when he cursed out a seven year-old girl who was holding up a sign that read “Smash Your Guitar, Pete!” Townshend later apologized for the incident and promised that he would be meeting with the girl and her family in efforts to mend fences.