Special When Lit

... that being the documentary. I stumbled across this documentary about pinball machines. As a big fan of pinball machines, I know a fair bit about them, witnessing their evolution the past 40 years.

This documentary illustrated their historic beginnings and the inner workings of their conception, design and marketing. Several points were brought up that I did not know: Pinball Machines were considered gambling and were banned in all US states at one time! Only in the 50's did they start trickling into acceptance as "entertainment only" citing the flippers made it a "game of skill". By the mid 70's, pinballs were common throughout the US.

It stated 90% of machines built prior were shipped to Europe. Who knew? Obviously the filmmakers, since this is a British documentary. The pinball industry made more money than the film industry in the US between 1950-1970!

The documentary visits the only remaining manufacturer of these machines and discusses their design, psychology and shows they are all built by hand. It also profiles fans & players, a National competition, and a NYC Arcade owner-all great interviews that flesh out many aspects of pinball's appeal.

I was impressed with the clever closing credits of digital style framing & lettering, indicative of new "digital" pinballs. It's a clever bookend to the opening credits featuring old style artwork. Highly recommended.

As a child, my grandparents had a "Captain Fantastic & The Brown Dirt Cowboy" pinball machine in their basement. I had a lot of fun times playing that machine, but never really appreciated it until it broke down and eventually was not able to be repaired. I hadn't thought about those experiences for quite awhile until stumbling upon this nostalgic little documentary on Netflix. Boy, did the memories ever come flowing back!

This documentary takes two distinct tacts in discussing pinball: First, it gives a history of the game, which I found to be very fascinating. Second, it focuses on the pinball players themselves, which is where the doc dragged and couldn't nearly live up to the drama of, say, "King of Kong".

Though not around in the heyday of pinball (1970s-early 80s), that machine in the basement provided me with some pinball memories, something I cannot say for my younger siblings or the younger generation as a whole. That is why this documentary appealed to me so much. Without any prior pinball experiences, viewers will find this doc to be just a collection of nerds with no life. For those that have experienced the thrill of pinball, however, it is much more personal.

Overall, this is a better-than-average documentary on a niche subject. I suspect the viewership demographic to be very slim, but those who "get it" (like myself) will find it to be a fascinating, highly nostalgic subject.

At times, Special When Lit seems to be looking for the answer to the question of whether or not pinball is dead. At other times during this slow-paced pseudo-documentary it seems its purpose was tacked on, and the film is simply a random slice of pinball life. My guess is that in early test screenings the general response was "It's kind of interesting and funny, but it doesn't really have a point."

They also felt they had to imitate King of Kong by finding people to make fun of, but where KoK ultimately has a soft spot for its protagonists and outcasts, too much of Special feels mean-spirited. It takes its shots - nay, it goes out of its way to take its shots - and then the film switches subjects entirely, looking for fresh meat.

Mostly, Special just plays like a eulogy to Pinball, and I don't know how many people would pay to watch a eulogy no matter how many flashing lights and fast edits. The interviews of industry notables are mostly confined to events that happened decades ago, reminiscing about "the good old days". But the film never truly challenges its subjects with how they might envision a better future. Maybe the answer is still a bleak one but Special doesn't try very hard.

Once you get passed the so-so interviews and cheap humor, the film has an interesting segment on competitive play that is probably the most even-handed in the film. It focuses on the yearly pinball championship held near Pittsburg and the action is addicting. Several top competitors are interviewed and provide an insight into how it's possible to play a game with skill and consistency that many consider a matter of luck.

Could pinball ever make a comeback? The film just seems interested in why that could never happen. Yet at the iPad's launch one of the top selling titles was a pinball game, and the same company sold three million units of similar pinball titles on the iPhone. It's not a failure of Special When Lit to see possibilities - one gets the feeling it just isn't interested in them.

I've never been into pinball and I'm still not.

For me they're just the Jurassic Park machine in some grey shopping mall arcade that no one could be bothered to master. They're the grease-covered Adam's Family machine we hammered and screamed at in an all-night burger bar on the outskirts of our neighbourhood, back when my friends were just learning to drive.

For me, they were a passing amusement, archaic and somewhat ridiculous, impossible to play and far too eager to swallow what little money you had in your pocket.

What has changed however, after watching Special When Lit, is the level of respect I have for the culture.

Like many other great documentaries, what SWL offers you is an insight into something that is present in your life, but never fully appreciated, in an entertaining and lightly informative manner.

Apart from tugging on the obvious nostalgia heart-strings, the film places pinball as an icon - a monolithic machine for disseminating American pop culture to adolescent males all over the world - embracing the design, art and spectacle of the medium from head to toe.

It's a gem of a film, well executed and beautifully illustrated, and I agree that it could have looked at the concept being enjoyed in other formats, such as digital versions of the game, but I think it would've probably been quite unnecessary.

Afterall, the physicality of pinball is what it's all about. A pinball machine has a presence. It's a dominating piece of furniture; it's big and brash, screaming out to you in blasts of colour, light and sound - pretty much everything American in a box. Arcades, although undeniably odd and misanthropic, were interesting social hubs, the machines being something that you, your friends and rivals could crowd around and enjoy together. It's not quite the same playing alone on your mobile phone.

The game itself is something that can never truly be replicated in another form. It's largely unpredictable, being little more than controlled chaos (much like making a documentary). It's kinetic. It's satisfying. Just ask yourself why people still visit casinos instead of everyone throwing it all away online. Or any of us leave the house anymore. It's just not the same.

Love or hate pinball, SWL certainly does its subject justice: it's respectful of its subjects, celebrating (and chuckling) at their quirks, passions and eccentricities. And, most importantly, it's entertaining! Pinball, like many wonderful things, might not be as popular as it once was, but it's films like this that educate, inspire and ensure they live on in the hearts of others. So it still might not be a niche or cult that I'm a member of but I'm glad they're out there.

Being oldschool and retro gamer I watched this documentary with much attention. It brought back some distant memories, an era that probably never will come back. Pinball is a dying form of entertainment and it's a shame. The older generation remembers spending hours if not days in the local arcade to play the pinball machines. I lived in Belgium and when I entered a pub the first thing I checked was if there was a pinball or an arcade game. If there wasn't I wouldn't stay very long in that pub. Special When Lit brings back that feeling of nostalgia. Beating the high score was the main goal. When you were a pinball wizard (which I was in my humble opinion) you had everybody's attention (well the local youth that is) once you controlled the machine. The documentary is well made and enjoyable to watch. Maybe not for people that didn't lived in that era. Personally I wouldn't have paid that much attention to some players as the majority looked like there was something off with them. More attention to the playfields and the machine itself would have been better but still it's a good documentary. Made me wish I still owned pinball machines. Unfortunately I don't have the room for it anymore, nor the finances. The Addams Family from Bally was my all time favorite so maybe one day I will buy that one again. It shouldn't be too difficult to find as it was mass produced due to it's overwhelming succes. A bit of history about the most famous pinball machines would have been welcome as well. It's a shame Gottlieb, Bally, Williams and Zaccaria don't make pinballs anymore. Those had the most popular machines made. Luckily there's Stern now, which still makes unbelievable cool machines, but let's face it, the youth isn't interested in this kind of entertainment anymore, and that clearly showed in Special When Lit. It's a shame but that's life, pinball is dying but I'm glad I was part of that generation.