Once again this year, Pinball News’s Editor, Martin Ayub, was asked to write an article to be published in the Texas Pinball Festival’s show guide. As before, he was happy to oblige.
With so many topics from which to pick, after much deliberation the subject of the article was chosen in the form of the question you see above. It is one which, if feedback received at the show is any guide, readers of the guide enjoyed considering. We thought you might like to read it too.
Here’s the article in full…
These are exciting times for pinball.
The number of pinball makers far exceeds our wildest dreams from back in 2000 when only Stern Pinball remained. Modern bars and arcades are springing up all over the world allowing younger players to discover the huge fun and excitement of the game for the first time. These millennials are streaming their gameplay online, tweeting their high scores to their friends and followers, and seeing the very real possibility of buying their own games to play at home.
Pinball has a real future, so obviously, pinball manufacturers are falling over themselves to capitalize on fresh, modern and relevant themes designed to appeal to this new generation of players and buyers, right?
Well…. actually, no!
At the time of writing, the theme of the biggest pinball maker’s current title is based on a 53-year-old black-and-white TV series, while their previous release was themed on a band which dissolved 49 years ago.
Well then, if not them, what about the other manufacturers?
One began their business with a (now) 80-year-old movie as their launch game, and is widely expected to announce their next game as being based on a 48-year-old flick. Meanwhile a start-up pinball maker in Texas is believed to be working on a 33-year-old movie-themed game, another based in China launched with a mid-’60s puppet show title, while two European pinball companies which ran into severe (and possibly terminal) financial problems were building games based on 40-year old and 21-year-old movies.
It’s not all old movies though. In Wisconsin the latest release from
