Is it any coincidence that the patriarchy pushed for a pastime where balls took center stage? Consider the rampant misogyny on display by making the "hole" the loss condition.

ugh, just ugh. I can't even.

I don't know, there's a clear historical line from pinball to Sonic the Hedgehog so in retrospect this ban may have been a good idea from a consequentialist viewpoint.

Argh. This leaves out just about all the relevant information to make it sound like the governments that banned pinball were dumb busybodies

The pinball that existed when New York's ban went into effect was a game of almost pure chance. It was not anything like modern pinball. There were no flippers. You just shot a ball up and watched it come down. I don't know how that could possibly be fun unless gambling was involved, and illegal gambling was certainly a selling point for these things.

Once pinball started becoming legitimately fun these bans started being reversed.