WHY was pinball a banned game?The game was invented in the late 1700s, and by the 1930s it had become one of the most popular games in the world.
Surprisingly, New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia banned the game in the early 1940s, and it remained illegal until 1976. The mayor believed pinball was ripping off schoolchildren.
Entire raids were created around the city, picking up thousands of machines and destroying them.
Prohibition ended when Roger Sharpe testified before a committee in Manhattan court that pinball had become a game based on skill, not luck, like gambling.Sharpe demonstrated the various techniques of the game and proved that the outcome depended on the professionalism of the player.
