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TILT: The Battle to Save Pinball DVD. One of the great maker tales of the game industry. In 1998, Williams was the world's biggest pinball manufacturer, but they were in trouble. Two legendary designers took their "crazy" idea out of the company and into a garage; the result, "Pinball 2000," became a sensation... until Williams mysteriously pulled the plug. This grass-roots effort to innovate inside corporate America will fascinate any student of technology, design, or business. Two-DVD set includes seven hours of extras, including interviews with industry greats and a pinball factory tour...
Related:
Pinball - MAKE 08.
The making of a pinball game.
Pinball hall of fame - MAKE @ Vegas.
HOW TO - Make a Pinball Coffee Table.
Saving pinball would be much easier if we still had arcades in malls, instead of crappy, brightly lit "games center" where the most fun in sight is 50 cent skee-ball. I miss the dark, cave-like arcade from my youth. The kind that had pool tables and Mortal Kombat, as well as classics like Arknoid and Mrs Pac Man.
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No dissertation on pinball is complete without:
Lucky JUJU in Alameda, CA:
http://www.ujuju.com/
This is run by a guy who does a pinball class at the crucible, he's great!
Lots of those fantastic old school machines. I took the class, and it was very illuminating as to how the mechanical logic works, and also practical methods of reconditioning these old beauties into functioning again.
I also miss Silverball, that was the local dingy videogame parlor of my youth. Ahh, the black plywood background, so ignorable as you dive into another 8bit challenge...
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@ Bandman- I have found pinball to be hiding in bowling alley arcades and hotels in the central FL area. Some select bars, but the high maintenance of a bar route keeps most of them 'off to the side', in slower areas.
I have 7 machines, and 3 are destined to be tables. Hoping for a little more style in the cabinet, and some automation to have a play, autoplay and static mode.
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