Way of the Puck

THE SITUATION facing the pinball designers at Williams Electronic Games in 1998: come up with something new, or see the world's largest pinball manufacturer be shut down forever. And Williams' designers did come up with something amazing: a brand new kind of pinball machine—"Pinball 2000"—that fused video with classic pinball gameplay, preserving what was great about pinball yet opening up all-ne

Although technology continues to evolve, a group of die-hard gamers refuses to abandon the classic arcade games of yesteryear. The 80's live on for these enthusiasts, who compete against each other and history to record the world's highest scores. Portland gamer Bill Carlton is one of the most brazen, fearlessly taking on some of the toughest records on the books. HIGH SCORE follows Bill as he attempts to take down the Atari classic Missile Command and its twenty year-old record. To get the 80 million points he'll have to play the game on one quarter for over two days straight. There is no pause button. There will be no sleep. There can only be one victor in this classic story of Man versus Missile Command.

Arcadia opened in 2014 serving local southern Maine brews, classic pinball, arcade games, game consoles and tabletop gaming. As the owners renovate to offer more games with expanded space for the community to come together and play, Arcadia is also preserving and saving the person-to-person social element of gameplay.

Pinball historian Richard Bueschel hosts an hour-long look at the arcade favorite's illustrious history, including interviews with flipper devotees Slash (from Guns & Roses), Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, baseball great Frank Thomas, and others.

What made more money than the entire American movie industry through the 50s and 60s? Pinball. Special When Lit rediscovers the lure of a lost pop icon. A product of the mechanical and electrical age, the American invention swept the world and defined cool. Now it is relegated to a nostalgic footnote deserving a better fate. Joining the fans, collectors, designers and champion players from across the globe who share a world many of us didn't know still existed.

The oral history of a team of geeks and misfits in the back of a Chicago factory creating the biggest video games of all time. Midway Games pioneered the concept of live-action gaming, kick-starting a new arcade boom and grossing billions of dollars with hits like Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam. The documentary covers much of Mortal Kombats history, including the creation of fatalities and characters such as Liu Kang, Kitana, Johnny Cage and Scorpion.

Classic arcade champion Dwayne Richard pulls back the curtain on the King of Kong film, including how the filmmakers changed the facts of the story, how Billy Mitchell received payoffs from them and how the man who really defeated Mitchell's 1982 Donkey Kong record was left out of the film. You'll never look at the King of Kong the same way after you've learned the truth.

Discover the untold story of Pinball and Arcade in Australia in this heart-warming, and at times heart-breaking, nostalgic journey through the golden era of gaming.

In 1999, Konami Corp. introduced a Japanese-influenced coin-operated arcade stand-up to the U.S. Its draw was unheard of for a video game: the combination of music, competition, and interactive video-gameplay along with actual physical activity. Four years later, Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) has become one of the most popular game crazes stateside and found easily in video game stores and in nationwide retail markets. This story explores the youth culture surrounding the game and follows a group of devoted players and documents their interactions at various arcades and tournaments.

A documentary on classic video arcade collectors across North America. Those who were the first to look into the neon haze of a vector/raster screen and fall in love. The first quarter poppers, the "vidiots" who never grew up.

Chinatown Fair opened as a penny arcade on Mott Street in 1944. Over the decades, the dimly lit gathering place, known for its tic-tac-toe playing chicken, became an institution, surviving turf wars between rival gangs, changing tastes and the explosive growth of home gaming systems like Xbox and Playstation that shuttered most other arcades in the city. But as the neighborhood gentrified, this haven for a diverse, unlikely community faced its strongest challenge, inspiring its biggest devotees to next-level greatness.

Inside The Dragon's Lair takes a journey into the ongoing history of one of the most popular video games of all time - Dragon's Lair. The film will give the audience an in-depth view of the extensive production process that created this revolutionary game. Utilizing the laserdisc medium, this technologically advanced game was a marvel during its release in 1983 and has changed the video gaming world forever. The documentary will revisit the game from its initial conception to its most current release, showing the many different variants and iterations of the game. Also featured will be interviews of the original creators Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, John Pomeroy, and Rick Dyer. Additional interviews will feature artists and programmers involved in the game's production, collectors, technical gurus and die-hard fans.

Beginning with Space Invaders in 1978, arcade games began to appear everywhere. By 1982, there were 13,000 dedicated arcade locations across North America. It was the Golden Age of Arcade Games, generating $3.2 billion dollars in 1983. By 1985, revenue had fallen 97%. Atari declared bankruptcy. Arcades closed. Most of the old games were converted or destroyed. A few were packed into warehouses where they remained, largely forgotten, for at least another decade. This is the story of arcade video games, and the generation who grew up in the arcades attempting to collect and preserve their fondest memories.

At the 1991 USAA (United States Air-Table-Hockey Association) Nationals, Tim "Young Wolf" Weissman faces a serious challenge as he attempts to continue his dominance in competitive air hockey.

Video game expert Alex Rogan finds himself transported to another planet after conquering the video game The Last Starfighter, only to find out it was just a test. He was recruited to join the team of best Starfighters to defend their world from the attack.