DIXON-

So, what is it exactly about a pinball machine?

The contradiction between the zen of that shiny little ball and the angst of the relentless gutter, or the collision between warm nostalgia and cool retro?

Whatever it is, welcome to Pin-a-Go-Go.

“This is the oldest running pinball show west of the Mississippi,” said Steven Faith of the Northern California Pinball Association.

And the guy who keeps the machines running, at least some of them, is Jack Jarret of Folsom.

He pops the box to reveal orchestrated chaos. The synapses of neurons of some prehistoric game ancestor.

Still, somehow surviving to engage the whole person, body and brain. At least that’s the way Jarret sees it.

“Visual of the machine. Art works. Electrics. Mechanicals. So it’s an engineer’s dream, or nightmare depending on your point of view,” said Jarret.

Or maybe both a dream and a nightmare, after all the end is inevitable. Always the same for all of us.

But if they give no quarter, that’s okay. Today they take no quarters either.

Just pay the admission, and all the games are free. They’ll raise about $25,000 here for Dixon youth.

Fitting in a way, because everywhere you look, folks are wracking up childhood points. Getting new high scores glee. And in general, facing down the unavoidable with a smile on their faces.