Even if you’ve played pinball in Seattle, you may never have noticed a small label on the corner of each machine.

The sticker reads: “City of Seattle Amusement Device.”

Under city code, “amusement devices” include pinball machines, arcade games, billiards tables, and jukeboxes.

But why do these licensees exist in the first place? It turns out, their history takes us back to the early 20th century and the nationwide war on vice associated with prohibition and morality laws.

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