Pinball is a type of arcade game. In pinball, the player tries to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The main objective of the game is to score as many points as the player can. Other objectives are to play as long as possible (by earning "extra balls" and keeping the ball in play as long as possible) and to earn free games (known as "replays").
From the 1940s through the 1970s pinball was banned in many American cities because it was thought to be a game of chance and therefore was considered gambling. The ban stopped in New York City in 1976, when Roger Sharpe, a player renowned for his talent, played so well in front of the City Council that he convinced them that pinball was indeed a game of skill, not just of luck.
Avebury
Avebury is the site of the largest ancient monument in Great Britain. It consists of a large henge, several stone circles, stone avenues and barrows. The main henge and stone circle surrounds the village of Avebury in the English county of Wiltshire.
Avebury is one of the finest and largest Neolithic monuments in Europe, about 5,000 years old. Although older than the megalithic stages of Stonehenge to the south, the two monuments were made by people of the same culture.
At , Avebury is roughly midway between the towns of Marlborough and Calne, just off the main A4 road. Avebury is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, a World Heritage Site, and a National Trust property.
On the World Heritage list, Avebury and Stonehenge are listed together as 'Avebury, Stonehenge and Associated Sites'. However, Stonehenge is really a different site built at a different time.
Most of the surviving structure is composed of earthworks, known as the dykes, consisting of a massive ditch and external bank henge. Although the henge is not perfectly circular, it has a diameter of about . The only known comparable sites of similar date are only a quarter of the size of Avebury. The ditch alone was 21 metres (69 ft) wide and 11 metres (36 ft) deep, with a sample from its primary fill carbon dated to 3300 - 2630 BC (4300+/-90).
Within the henge is a great outer circle. This is one of Europe's largest stone circles, with a diameter of , Britain's largest stone circle. It was either contemporary with, or built around four or five centuries after the earthworks. There were originally 98 sarsen standing stones, some weighing over 40 tons. The stones varied in height from 3.6 to 4.2 m, as exemplified at the north and south entrances. The fill from two of the stoneholes has been carbon dated to between 2900 and 2600 BC (3870+/-90, 4130+/-90)
Nearer the middle of the monument are two additional, separate stone circles. The northern inner ring is in diameter, but only two of its four standing stones remain upright. A cove of three stones stood in the middle, its entrance facing northeast. The southern inner ring was in diameter before its destruction in the eighteenth century. The remaining sections of its arc now lie beneath the village buildings. A single large monolith, high, stood in the centre along with an alignment of smaller stones.
The West Kennet Avenue, an avenue of paired stones, leads from the southeastern entrance of the henge; and traces of a second, the Beckhampton Avenue, lead out from the western entrance.
Findings of archaeological geophysics suggests that a timber circle of two concentric rings stood in the northeast sector of the outer circle. This has not yet been confirmed by excavation. A ploughed barrow is visible from the air in the northwestern quadrant.
The henge had four opposing entrances, two on a north by northwest and south by southeast line, and two on an east by northeast and west by southwest line.
Henge
A henge is a Neolithic earthwork. Henges are typical of the British Isles (for example Stonehenge), but there are a few similar structures in continental Europe.
Henges have a ring bank and ditch. They are not thought to be primarily defensive, because their ditch is inside the wall or rampart. For defence, it would seem better to have the ditch outside the bank. That way, attackers would need to climb up further. Their function is thought to be mainly ceremonial. This is discussed often in relation to Stonehenge.
Henges are divided into three types:
Carnac stones
The Carnac stones are the largest collection of megalithic standing stones in the world. The more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones were cut from local rock and erected by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany.
The stones were erected at some stage during the Neolithic period, probably around 3300 BC, but some may be as old as 4500 BC. The stones occur in a number of Neolithic sites around the French village of Carnac, in Brittany. They include rows of stones (alignments), dolmens, tumuli and single menhirs.
In recent centuries, many of the sites have been neglected, with reports of dolmens being used as sheep shelters, chicken sheds or even ovens. Stones have been removed to make way for roads, or used as building materials. The management of the sites is a controversial topic.
There are three major groups of stone rows — "Ménec", "Kermario" and "Kerlescan" — which may have once formed a single group, but have been split up as stones were removed for other purposes.
Eleven converging rows of menhirs stretching for . There is what may be the remains of stone circles at either end. According to the tourist office there is a "cromlech containing 71 stone blocks" at the western end and a very ruined cromlech at the eastern end. The largest stones, around high, are at the wider, western end; the stones then become as small as 0.6m high along the length of the alignment before growing in height again toward the extreme eastern end.
This fan-like layout recurs a little further along to the east in the "Kermario" alignment. It consists of 1029 stones in ten columns, about in length. A stone circle to the east end, where the stones are shorter, was revealed by aerial photography.
A smaller group of 555 stones, further to the east of the other two sites. It is composed of 13 lines with a total length of about , ranging in height from to . At the extreme west, where the stones are tallest, there is a stone circle which has 39 stones. There may also be another stone circle to the north.
A much smaller group, further east again of Kerlescan, falling within the commune of La Trinité-sur-Mer. These are now set in woods, and most are covered with moss and ivy.
There are several tumuli, mounds of earth built up over a grave. In this area, they generally feature a passage leading to a central chamber which once held neolithic artefacts.
The tumulus of Saint-Michel was constructed between 5000 BC and 3400 BC. At its base it is , and is high. It required of stone and earth. Its function was the same as that of the pyramids of Egypt: a tomb for the members of the ruling class. It contained various funerary objects, such as 15 stone chests, pottery, jewellery, most of which are currently held by the Museum of Prehistory of Carnac. It was excavated in 1862 by René Galles with a series of vertical pits, digging down . Le Rouzic also excavated it between 1900 and 1907 discovering the tomb and the stone chests.
A chapel was built on top in 1663 but was rebuilt in 1813, before being destroyed in 1923. The current building is an identical reconstruction of the 1663 chapel, built in 1926.
Also known as "Er Mané", it is a chamber tomb long, wide, and high. It has a dolmen at the west end, and two tombs at the east end. A small menhir, approximately high, is nearby.