Rolled Asteroids Deluxe over 1 million multiple times in the early 80's when I was 15-16 years old but had no clue what was going on with the bonus ship level so never got any additional bonus ships after the roll over. Went off to college and it sat
at my mom's house for the next 35 years and was non-operational until I had it repaired (thanks Ken H.!). It didn't take me long to start rolling it over 1 million again and I was able to re-watch the video and figure out exactly what I needed to do to keep the bonus ship level at 10,000. Not too long after that I did the double roll over for the first time and finally, on Jan 28-29, 2024, was able to roll it successfully three times in one game and break the World Record. After 8 hours of continuous play starting a little after 8pm on Jan 28, 2024, and ending a little after 4am on Jan 29, 2024, it's now 3,458,840 and this 56-year-old kid can now die in peace.
I also own a 1966 Gottlieb Central Park pinball machine my mom had bought my father for Father's Day back in 1974, a year before he was killed. I played it quite a bit as a kid and, when I went off to college, I even snuck it into my campus quad for my last two years. My high score back then was 1,558 set on 06/02/1988. (I've actually surpassed the world record of 1,146 set in 1998 28 times to date.) Like the Asteroids Deluxe machine, it then sat unplayed for over 30 years. I bought a rubber ring kit a few years ago and my youngest son installed them his last summer break from college (thanks Micah!). I upped my high score to 1,775 on 01/02/2021 (thanks to the new rubber rings) but had never even thought about recording the pinball games until I joined Twin Galaxies to submit video for Asteroids Deluxe. Someday I'll record and submit a video for Central Park, but for now I'm going to take some time and just enjoy my Asteroids Deluxe World Record.