AFF Presents Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball

Whenever we hear the word “pinball” all we can think of is drinking suicides in the game room at Mazzio’s Pizza and the lyrical wonderment of “that deaf, dumb and blink kid sure plays a mean pinball” from the Who’s Tommy. You may think of that one time, at Le Fun, when you pinged and flipped and bumpered your way to a tour of the Addams Family mansion, not knowing that you were conquering one of the best selling pinball machines of all time. Whatever it is, we think you would be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn’t shared the joy of pulling back a plunger and letting that little shiny ball rip.

This notion is what makes Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball a universal story, a throwback to childhood shared experience. In 1998 pinball was dying, thanks to a saturated market and shrinking player base. Williams, the world's largest pinball manufacturer (founded by Harry E. Williams, who in 1933 designed the first electric pinball machine) planned to abandon the game in favor of the more lucrative video slot machine business. Tilt tells the story of “Pinball 2000,” the manufacturer’s last attempt to resuscitate the floundering pinball market by integrating video projection with the backglass, which ultimately failed to pull them out of their death spiral. Tilt documents legends of the pinball industry, provides rare photos, as well as films of the best games the industry has produced and recaps the painful process of watching history die at the hands of capitalism.

Today, every Tom, Dick and Harry has their very own game console at home, be it the PS3, the Xbox 360, or in our case, an old school Nintendo (we still love Mario Bros. 3.) Perhaps the newest generation will never experience pounding the buttons on the side of a pinball machine, desperately trying to save that last ball from descending below the flippers, but we know that you can't get an arcade experience with a handheld controller and will always remember having to ask Mom and Dad for more quarters after receiving a tilt penalty.

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AFF Presents Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball
Thursday, June 7th
Alamo Drafthouse Lakecreek
7:30pm
[Tickets]