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I I I I I I I I I a I I I I I I Psychological Reports, 1992, 71, 160-162. 'e~ Psychological Reports 1992 PINBALL WIZARD: THE CASE OF A PINBALL MACHINE ADDICT ` MARK D. GRIFFITHS Polvtechnic South Ix'est. Plymouth Summary.-This is a description of a young man who is addicted to playing pin- ball machines. The subject's playing history and playing pathology are outlined using an adapted version of the DSM-III-R criteria for pathological gambling. Such an ad- aptation of these criteria is proposed as beneficial in monitoring and recording objec- tive measures of all gaming-machine addictions. This research note concerns the case of a young man (aged 25 years) whom this author interviewed for a recently published study on slot machine gambling (Griffiths, 1990d) but who was addicted to playing pinball ma- chines. During the post-experimental interview, the DSM-III-R criteria for pathological gambling (American Psychiatric Association, 1987) were used but the subject showed no signs of these. Spontaneously, he added that if he'd been asked the same questions about his pinball playing and videogame playing he would have answered "yes" to a majority of the questions. The author then changed the word 'gamble' in the DSM-III-R criteria to the word 'play' as follows. ADAPTION OF DSM-III-R CIUTExIA OF PATF1oLOGIcAI. GAMBLING . (APA, 1987) TO PINBALL MACHINE PLAY Have you ever done any of the following? 1. Frequently play and obtain money to play 2. Frequently played with larger amounts of money 3. Need to play more to get more excited 4. Restless if you can't play 5. Return to win back your losses 6. Make repeated efforts to stop playing 7. Play instead of going to school/job 8. Sacrifice other activities to play 9. Continue to play even when you owe money If a person answers "yes" to four of the above questions, the person is deemed to be an amusement machine "addict:" This time the subject answered "yes" to six out of the nine questions, clearly showing signs of pinball pathology. He added that he did not feel his pinball playing was an addiction but did think he played them too much. It was at this point he was interviewed further; the results of which are out- lined below. 'Requests for reprints should be addressed to Mark Griffiths, Psycholog}~ Department, Poly- technic South West, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, England PL4 8AA. I

I I I I I 1 I I I I I I I I I I ADDICTED PLAY ON PINBALL MACHINE 161 The subject began playing pinball machines and videogame machines at school when he was around 14 or 15 years of age. This he did with many of his male peers at the start of the "videogame explosion" (as he put it) in around 1979/80. He became "very good" at pinball playing and felt particu- larly good when lots of people, both male and female, were watching him and he was playing well. This implied he played mainly for social reasons; however, he also enjoyed playing on his own and, at the time of the study, he predominantly played alone. While playing, he reported that he experi- enced a`high'-a continuous high (as opposed to an immediate high or `rush' reported by some addicted slot-machine gamblers; see Griffiths, 1990a, 1990b, 1990c, in press b) which was especially notable when he "started off with a good ball," got "a free replay," or experienced something intrinsically motivating (e.g., someone watching him play). Kaplan and Kaplan (1983) have reported that male pinball players may be attracted by the machine's sexual graphics; however, this subject reported that he was more attracted by the features within the game and liked the idea that he could master a game, something which attracted him to vid- eogames as well. He went on to say that both pinball machines and vid- eogame machines were very similar because they both (a) score through points, (b) have no financial reward-unlike a fruit machine, (c) give the players pleasure from gaining a high score, i.e., an intrinsic reward, (d) have the chance to gain free replays, and (e) require skill to play well. The reasons he did not play fruit machines were because (a) its financial rewards were too infrequent, (b) they are mostly chance-oriented, (c) there are no points to score, and (d) there is no free replay feature-except of course if the player won and decided to play again. It has been argued at various gambling work- shops/conferences, etc. that this author has attended that "videogames are not as bad as fruit machines because the better the player gets, the less money the player spends." At face value this would seem to be correct as many adolescents can make 10 pence last over an hour on a videogame. However, the subject explained to me that he (and others) used to spend "hundreds of pounds" learning how to play particular videogames and then, when they were proficient at them, they would get bored with the game and spend their money learning how to play a new game on another machine. This might explain why there are some reported cases of `videogame addic- tion' [see Griffiths (in press a) for a full review of the literature on adoles- cent videogame playing]. For this subject, pinball machines were different from videogame play- ing. Although he had played many different pinball machines, he had a personal favourite which he always returned to because it was the one on which he had his first "major success," i.e., a very high score. From the points raised here, it would seem beneficial to adapt the DSM-III-R criteria for pathological gambling (and subsequent versions) for I

I I I I I I I I I I I I 1 I I 162 , M. D. GRIFFITHS use in the monitoring of gaming machine addictions. By using the nine-point checklist (which can be administered quickly and easily), it would be possible to record objective measures of incidence of probable amusement-machine addicts and possibly show whether these types of addictions are implicated or act as precursors to other more established addictions, e.g., pathological gambling. REFERENCES AatsxsCAS PsY'cxtA'nuc Assoctnnov. (1987) Diagnostic and statistical manual of inentcl dis• orders. (3rd ed., Rev.) Washington, DC: Author. GxrFtrxs, M. D. (1990a) The acquisition, development, and maintenance of fruit machine gambling in adolescents. Journal of Gambling Studies, 6, 193•204. GatMTHS, M. D. (1990b) Addiction to fruit machines: a preliminary study among males. Journal of Gambling Studies, 6, 113-126. GRr=xs, M. D. (1990c) The cognitive psychology of gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, 6, 31-42. GRZFFrrxs, M. D. (1990d) The role of cognitive bias and skill in fruit machine gambling. In S. E. G. Lea, P Weblev, & B. Young (Eds.), Applied economic psychology in the 199Q:~ Vol. 1. Exeter, UK: ~7ashington Singer Press. Pp. 228-253. Ga=HS, M. D. (in press a) Amusement machine playing in childhood and adolescence: a comparative analysis of video games and fruit machines. Journal of Adolescence. GRtFFt'nts, M. D. (in press b) The psychobiology of the near miss in fruit machine gambling. Journal of Psychology. KAPLAN, S., & KAPLAN, S. (1983) Video games, sex and sex difference. Journal of Popular Culture, 17, 61-66. Accepted June 12, 1992. I