Tilt: A documentary of what pinball almost was

Bobby Miller 31 Aug, 2009 at 2:49pm ET Article published in Gaming

Growing up I had an arcade near my house. I spent my quarters on two things there: Street Fighter 2, and pinball games. I loved pinball to death and played it at every chance. Dare I say, I was a pinball wizard. It soon became painfully clear to me, however, that pinball was not going to last. As technology increased and arcades began to lose their luster, pinball was destined to be a casualty.

Williams was the greatest of pinball table manufacturers. They produced tables until 1998 when they decided to fold and focus on video slot machines. Williams gave their designers one final shot to revolutionize and revive the fledgling pinball industry, or else the pinball division would shut its doors for good. The designers and engineers at Williams went to work, and they created that revolution with the advent of Pinball 2000. Pinball 2000 infused interactive video with pinball by projecting images onto the glass of the table. It was grounbreaking, but before the new technology could fully blossom, Williams pulled the plug, and pinball met its demise.

Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball is a documentary that showcases those designers from Williams, and chronicles the events of Pinball 2000’s conception, creation, and eventual death. I just discovered the trailer for this film, and it looks incredibly fascinating. Much in the vein of gaming documentaries like King of Kong, Tilt takes a very candid look at those who tried so hard to save a gaming medium, and the incredible technology that would never be given a chance.

I remember reading about Pinball 2000 in an old issue of EGM years ago, probably around 1999. The tech looked like a blast to play with and ever since then I always hoped I’d have a chance to play a Pinball 2000 table. I doubt I’ll ever have that chance, but at least I can watch Tilt and see what we could have had.

Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball can be purchased on DVD through their website or from Amazon.

Comments

31 Aug 2009 ~ 3:22pm Sliquid i want to see this.

i spent many quarters on 'revenge from mars' at national coney island, and was very bummed when they replaced it with golden tee. next to rockband, pinball fx gets the most play on my 360. :smiles:
31 Aug 2009 ~ 4:22pm Cliff_Forster Pinball is more than a gaming experience. A good machine is a work of art.

I occasionally go to the DE shore and they have a Pizza joint on the boardwalk there, Gotto Pizza. They have Pinball glass all over the place as eye candy. Some of the old machines were so meticulously crafted, a nice arcade machine is cool and all, but a well crafted pinball table, now that's art in motion.

http://www.okcpinball.com/pics/Buck_Rogers.jpg
31 Aug 2009 ~ 4:52pm QCH When I was a kid, a friend of mine had a pinball game in his basement. We would play that thing for hours and hours. He was so good he could flip it (999,999 points). The sound of the occational GREAT flipper action and the ball nicks the glass... the slight nudges on the machine to get the ball to do what you wanted... I'd still play if they were around more.
31 Aug 2009 ~ 5:08pm wthww Oh man. Like many others, pinball is one of my favorite things to play at old arcades; I was quite obsessed with it for a long time, and when we got our PS1, I was heartbroken that pinbot wasnt ported. I cant remember the name of the pinball game I picked up later for the PS1.
31 Aug 2009 ~ 5:48pm Kwitko I was a huge pinball fan. I made a promise to myself that I would buy a table as soon as I bought a house. The problem would be deciding which one. So many amazing games out there. I tried PinMAME but it's just not the same experience.
1 Sep 2009 ~ 1:37am UPSLynx I've played that Buck Rogers table!

There was a table, Doctor Dude I think it was called, it was at our local arcade and I played it so much one day that I landed the #1 high score. My initials were on that machine, it was one of the hilights of my gaming career. I'd walk in there and look at those initials and be so content with the world.

Then the arcade sold the table

wthww - Pinbot was SO good. Regarding the one of PS1, there was a series called Pro Pinball on the system. They released a few different tables, I had one of them. Pretty good for a pinball game, but I never enjoyed it like I enjoyed Pinbot.

Anyone remember the Ninja Turtles pinball table that had the spinning pizza in the middle? That thing was sweet.
1 Sep 2009 ~ 2:28am Thrax All I gotta say is: Epic Pinball.
1 Sep 2009 ~ 2:44am shwaip I still have the cd for that. Wonder if it works in 7...
1 Sep 2009 ~ 10:43am Brian Leonard Bobby Miller, where do you live? If you tell me, I can probably find a Pinball 2000 for you to play (unless you're in a very rural area).
--Brian Leonard
1 Sep 2009 ~ 10:54am _k They had a pinball machine and original style Pong at QuakeCon. They were always busy unless being worked on.
1 Sep 2009 ~ 5:56pm ardichoke Oh man... the Epic Pinball series was one of the first video games I ever bought (that and Iron Lord, I never could get anywhere in that game though). The floppy disks are still floating somewhere around my parents house... or perhaps in one of my unpacked boxes. Those were fun games.
1 Sep 2009 ~ 8:46pm UPSLynx

Brian Leonard wrote:

Bobby Miller, where do you live? If you tell me, I can probably find a Pinball 2000 for you to play (unless you're in a very rural area).
--Brian Leonard

I am currently, sadly, located in northern Indiana. Elkhart, to be specific. It's near South Bend.

AKA, middle of nowhere.

Fatcat knows, he's seen it, he knows how horrible it is.

I would LOVE to play Pinball 2000, but I'm almost certain there isn't a location with a working machine anywhere near here.
1 Sep 2009 ~ 9:04pm wthww I cant really remember the name. Its hard to describe. It had weird mini games you could play, and I seem to remember that there was somethign to do with sipders, and a woman. Random huh?
1 Sep 2009 ~ 9:05pm wthww arg, sorry for the double post, but want to do some netplay with fceu+pinbot?
1 Sep 2009 ~ 10:02pm Kwitko Theater of Magic. Do want. Tommy. Do want.
2 Sep 2009 ~ 2:57pm Obsidian *cough* pinball sucks *cough*

Sure I played it from time to time but you guys are making it out to be like Pinball was the Messiah in gaming form. I'll take my 10 year old StarCraft CD with so many scratches I don't know how it still works over some old pin and ball machine any day
2 Sep 2009 ~ 4:00pm Cliff_Forster Obsidian,

Pinball offers a sort of visceral arcade experience that a video game can not give you. I'm not saying that it is better, but it is a nice change of pace from time to time.

It's a game of real concentration and skill as well. A very small margin of error for the best players. Its like classic static screen arcade games, Pac-Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong, all simple to play but nearly impossible to master, they are real contests of concentration and skill. A good pinball player gets into a focus zone that is kind of addicting once you get there. I'm not proclaiming to be a great pinball player, but there are a couple of machines that I am more than respectable on, and once you get locked in, its just you two buttons and that ball.

I'm also a classic arcade nut, especially Galaga. I have been so locked in on a Galaga machine from time to time that I literally have this sort of zoned out of body experience where I just focus on that little ship and everything trying to blast it, the patters automatically familiar, the strategy immediately executable, totally in the zone. Guys that love pinball, at least in a competitive sense, that is the experience they are searching for, the zone, total 100% concentration.

Modern 3D games are amazing, but there is something about an old school game of skill and concentration that is really a lost art.
2 Sep 2009 ~ 4:55pm QCH ^5 to Cliff... 100% spot on!
2 Sep 2009 ~ 5:41pm Obsidian I think you could say a lot of the same things about some more current video games. For good racing games all the top players will be just an inch from perfection. People really get "in the zone" trying to be just a hair faster than everyone else and one little slip up can mean utter failure. Memorizing the tracks can even be related to memorizing patterns in Galaga which is vital to being a great racer.

What gives modern games a big advantage for me is great multi-player. Working directly with or against other people adds so much to the experience. Whether it be an unpredictability element or working with your team to achieve something great multi-player just takes it to a whole nother level.
2 Sep 2009 ~ 5:56pm Koreish Bah Modern video games are for the young. I miss the arcades of my youth, (I was very young). Nothing like a good game of Ski ball.
2 Sep 2009 ~ 8:10pm UPSLynx Totally agree with what Cliff said.

I think the thing that truly differentiates the 'pinball zone' from modern games is that pinball is a simple game, a game of twitch response and reflexes. It's so simple, that the small nuances begin to create a masterful web of complexity that only the most devoted players begin to uncover and attmempt to harnass. It's a very different experience, playing a game like that in an arcade, than you'll find in a modern game with 31 other people on the internet.