If someone had told me a year ago that they were putting out a documentary about pinball, I probably wouldn’t have given it a second look. Pinball? What’s interesting about that? Then I saw King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters which managed to make a competition over King Kong interesting. If Kong can be compelling, why not pinball?
With that logic in mind, I’m looking forward to the April 8th DVD release of TILT: The Battle to Save Pinball, a documentary about Pinball 2000, an attempt by Williams Electronic Games to save the game that wound up failing just as people expected its success. The documentary is made up interviews with pinball experts, legends in the industry, and some footage of the best games in the genre.
The DVD sounds like it’s being done right. The press release for the documentary says the disc will include a director’s commentary, three hours of extra interview footage, a video tour of the Williams factory prior to its close, a discussion with Pinball 2000 team members, video footage of unreleased prototype pinball games, and marketing and promotional videos from Williams Electronic Games. That’s a lot of extras for only a 60-minute documentary!
TILT: The Battle To Save Pinball is unrated and hits DVD on April 8th.
