Tilt, The Battle To Save Pinball ( A review)

[BobA]

“Tilt, The battle to save pinball” is the story of  Williams pinball 2000.  A great machine that was doomed to failure even with its success.  This is a 2 dvd set that gives insight into the art and science needed to build a pinball machine.  It gives us a first hand view of what goes into the making of a great pinball machine and how the powerful corporate forces of profit and bottom line can kill even the most innovative project.

Director Greg Maletic was intrigued by a Revenge from Mars pinball from Williams in 1999.  It was the first of Williams pinball 2000 series the used a video display to place targets on the playfield without interrupting real pinball play.  This revolutionary machine became the basis for the documentary.

I like pinball machines but am much more a video game fan.  I bought this DVD set because I also like the history of games and the technology behind them.  “Tilt” is told from the perspective of the developers of the pinball 2000 and gives a lot of interesting details on why it  was so successful and why it inevitably failed. 

The 2 dvd set provides an extras DVD with new clips about pinballs, Williams, lost machines, tributes, cast discussion and highlights not included in the documentary. It adds detailed information to the original documentary. 

The documentary includes interviews of many of the Williams pinball 2000 design team.  Well known names such as George Gomez, Pat Lawlor, Tom Uban, Cameron Silver,  Lous Koziarz,  Pat Patla,  Roger Sharpe, Lyman Sheats  and Steve Kordek.

I sat down to watch the documentary as soon as it arrived.  I found it to be very interesting and it drew me in as a story and not just a technical work on a new pinball machine.  The struggle of the design team to meet an almost impossible deadline and their joy at the success of the machine plays very well.  The bitter closing of Williams pinball division shows how other forces can determine the success or failure of a brilliant product.

If you are a pinball fan you will probably find this even more interesting that I did as there are many references to other classic pinballs and a bit of pinball history.  I give this DVD set my rating of 4 .5 BYOAC tokens out of 5

2 dvd set $29.95 and 5.95 shipping worldwide.

http://www.tilt-movie.com/

[Jeff AMN]

Right now I'm getting into pinball very heavily so this definitely interests me. Any idea on the total running time?

[ChadTower]

It's about an hour but there are roughly 7 hours of extras in the set.  I have it, if you're really a pinball fan, it's worth the cost.  I should say that I didn't pay the shipping charge for mine, though, and at nearly $40... that's pushing the envelope on worth.

[BobA]

I just reran the dvd with the directors commentary.  It adds some interesting info to the movie but probably should not be run until you are familiar with the actual movie.  I find that there is more here to discover as you run the various extras that came with the set.

[ahofle]

I just got my discs yesterday and watched the documentary today.  It's excellent and depressing at the same time.  I find that I am getting very interested in pinball lately.  I never really played it much in the arcades due to the simple fact that I sucked so badly at it.  But the local arcade has a ton of really old pins from the 60s, 70s, and 80s (and even a Revenge From Mars!) and I've been playing quite a bit.  Why do I always have to become interested in things after it's too late!    Anyway, I highly recommend the DVD too (and I haven't even gotten to the 7 hours of bonus features yet).

[ChadTower]

The documentary made me happy I have an Asteroids Deluxe.

[RayB]

The documentary made me happy I have an Asteroids Deluxe.

I haven't seen the movie. Is that what inspired them [the relection on art effect] ?

[ahofle]

Yep.  I thought that was pretty cool too.

[ChadTower]

The documentary made me happy I have an Asteroids Deluxe.

I haven't seen the movie. Is that what inspired them [the relection on art effect] ?

Yes... the designers say that initially the company was committed to making a babypac type game even after they were inspired by an AD cab and explained the concept to everyone... they had to actually design and build a crude video overlaid game at home, bring it in, and show everyone to convince them.

[Level42]

I am battling to save Pinball every single time I come acros one. I ALWAYS give it a play (or two, or three) in the hope that my coin is just making it worth to keep it in operation......

AND I'm teaching my 5 year old son to play....If they die, he should remember them

LONG LIVE STERN !!!!!

I LOVE the Family Guy pin 

[RayB]

Pin2k was a gimmick and both of the games are awful.  The same concept was tried in the 80s and failed miserably.

Care to supply an example of this claim? (If you mean Baby Pac, CaveMan, or Granny & the Gators, they are not even close to the same concept).

[ChadTower]

I agree that SWEP1 is a terrible game.  It's just not fun and even strips out most of the coolness of the license by jamming Jar Jar down your throat.  The documentary goes to a good amount of length in detailing the dev process of that game and all of the drawbacks of the Lucasfilms contract requirements that likely hurt the dev process.

And the funny thing is, the documentary also directly addresses pinballjim's statement from pinballjim's point of view... that they had to address the op's "they did that before and it didn't make me money, why will it now" questions.

[ChadTower]

The first round wasn't integrated, it was alternating with a small amount of data carryover.  You'd play pinball... and then you'd play a video game... pin2k obviously actually integrates the two.