In the dim glow of the arcade, David Dahl-Hansson deftly bumps and rocks a 250-pound machine, activating flippers to caress and careen a metal ball that triggers a mesmerizing flurry of lights and bells.
Pinball captivated him as a boy in Sweden. It has re-established its hold on him at 35, as he pursues this passion when he’s not busy with his other one — teaching English at Community College of Denver.
“I usually tell my students about it as an ice-breaker,” says Dahl-Hansson, who came to the U.S. in 1993 as an exchange student and now is a world-ranked amateur pinball player. “Some of them say, ‘What’s pinball?’ You really could miss it your entire life.”
After dabbling in the game off and on for years, he discovered Colorado’s growing pinball community in 2009 and jumped back into the mix. He entered a local tournament — there are 50 to 60 a year in the area — and finished 10th, good enough to convince him he could compete.
He entered another and finished fourth.
“And I was hooked,” he says.
On that first trip back to the arcade, he asked another English teacher at CCD, 25-year-old Karyn Kiser, to come along as his date. She had no idea what she was getting into.
“I thought it was a one-time thing,” says Kiser, who had known Dahl-Hansson since graduate school at Colorado State University. “But it was so fun. The second time I played, I was better than the first. But I was too nervous on our date to do well.”
She got over it.
The couple married two months ago in Sweden, where the pre-wedding bash was held in a home featuring more than 139 pinball machines. Back stateside, they had wedding photos taken at Lyons Classic Pinball.
Kiser has settled comfortably into the pinball milieu, even as she wades slowly into the game as a player. She embraces a culture she describes as “vibrant, diverse and devoted” even though she pursues pinball more as a de-stresser than a competitive outlet.
She finds the pinball community quick to welcome newcomers into its homes, some of which feature several vintage machines.
“I think it’s an eerie glimpse into my future,” she says with a laugh. “You’re surprised so infrequently in this life. It’s a world you’d never guess existed.”
Dahl-Hansson owned some pinball machines years ago, when he was an undergraduate student in California. But he eventually sold them. Now, as residents of a second-floor Lakewood apartment, the couple have held off on a purchase out of respect for their neighbors.
Besides, there are lots of places to play “if you know where to look,” Dahl-Hansson says. Next on their list? — an upcoming event at a 10,000-foot mountain campground near Black Hawk known as the Dory Hill Pinball Campout.
In August, he finished 12th out of 208 competitors in his division at the prestigious Professional/Amateur Pinball Association tournament in Pittsburgh. Overall, 15 Colorado players made the trip.
“There’s a high caliber of player here,” Dahl-Hansson says of the Colorado scene. “It’s competitive. In terms of ability, I’m an amateur. But I’m working on it.”
At the moment, he’s ranked 476th out of about 10,000 ranked players in the world. A year ago, he was 1,947th; last month, he was 513th.
“It’s slower going now,” he says, “but I’m still moving up.”
His goal: earn a ranking among the top 64 players and compete for a world title by 2013.
Kiser says that in community college, where it’s not unusual to see students who came of age in the ’70s or ’80s, she finds some who have a history with the game. Other, younger students often develop “an interesting nostalgia for what they haven’t experienced.”
“Pinball is a safely nerdy thing,” Kiser says. “They expect nerdiness from an English teacher.”
From the moment Dahl-Hansson breaks the ice with his pinball story, there’s usually only one other time all semester his passion spills over into his English instruction. To make a point about writers connecting with their audience, he tosses some terms to his students.
Tilt. Home ball. Slingshot.
“I sometimes use obscure pinball terminology when we talk about jargon, words that most people wouldn’t understand unless they’re an insider,” he says. “But all of these terms make perfect sense if you’re in the community.”
Kevin Simpson: 303-954-1739 or ksimpson@denverpost.com
