Zine is short for “fanzine” which is a self published magazine usually appealing to a niche audience. Some claim the origin of zines goes back as far as the 16th century with the publication of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses in 1517.

But most folks feel that the real birth of what we consider zines today started in the 1930s with Science Fiction zines like The Comet and Amazing Stories. The Comet, first published in May of 1930, is often cited as the first fanzine.

Much of my inspiration came from the punk rock zines popular in the late 1970s and 1980s. The DIY nature of punk rock made fan made zines a perfect fit. Most of these zine were black and white with rudimentary graphics just like Pin Headz. Two of my favorite punk zines were Sniffin’ Glue and Slash. Fun fact I’ve never actually read a punk zine. There is an archive of Slash issues on archive.org so maybe I’ll grab those and read a couple.

But the first zine I ever put my hands on and read was a pinball zine from Seattle called Skill Shot. I picked up issue #48 (and maybe a couple others) at Pinburgh in 2017. I subscribed for a short period of time after that and eventually did a trade for a bunch of back issues. Like Pin Headz they have stopped publishing print issues but the Skill Shot brand is still very much alive. Seattle is a pinball mecca. They have the most venues and the most tournaments. Looking at the event calendar on the Skill Shot website there are 5 different tournaments on Tuesday and Wednesday.  You could play in over 300 events a year without leaving Seattle.

And below are some other pinball zines I’ve collected over the years. If you know of any other pinball zines let me know, I’d love to add to my collection and help support others. And if you want to start your own pinball zine and have any questions I’d love to help in any way I can.