Movies Similar to Pleasure Machines: The History of Pinball

Nintendo Quest(2015)

Homer's Odyssey meets King of Kong as two über geeks try to collect all 678 officially licensed Nintendo Entertainment System game cartridges in 30 days, WITHOUT the aid of online purchasing.

5.8

Finding Satoshi(2022)

With only a photograph and a name, a group of passionate puzzle players have been trying without success to answer the question: "Who is this man?" Finding Satoshi is a playful documentary that finally solves the 14 year mystery.

8.0

Minecraft: Through the Nether Portal(2017)

Minecraft: Through the Nether Portal takes you on a journey through the ever-evolving, epic game of Minecraft. Its popularity is opening up a whole new world for this generation, with millions of new players signing up each week. With exclusive interviews from industry experts and Minecraft’s biggest YouTube players, Dan TDM and Ali-A, we look at how the game is now being used as a tool for education and teaching while digging deeper into the creativity behind the game.

4.0

Arcadia National Bar: From One Year to the Next(2019)

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.

0.0

Ancient Olympics: Let the Games Begin(2004)

Come back with us to Ancient Greece, 2,500 Years ago to the original Olympic Games. The ancient Games, like our modern Olympics, included champions and cheaters, glory and scandals, bitter rivalries and contests of strength, speed and savage combat. Set in 448 BC when the pounding of horse's hooves and the brutal hand-to-hand combat could be heard and seen by the crowds that filled the Olympic stadium. This one-hour special event follows the glory and corruption of the arc of a single, five-day Olympiad. The competitions include chariot racing, running, jumping, discus, javelin and two man-to-man combat finals-boxing and pankration, a form of extreme fighting in which death was not uncommon. With the help of sports historians and great athletes such as George Chuvalo and Olympic medallists Donovan Bailey and Angela Schneider, viewers travel back to a very different life-in a very different world.

0.0

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters(2007)

In this hilarious arcade showdown, a humble novice goes head-to-head against the reigning Donkey Kong champ in a confrontation that rocks the gaming world to its processors! For over 20 years, Billy Mitchell has owned the throne of the Donkey Kong world. No one could beat his top score until now. Newcomer Steve Wiebe claims to have beaten the unbeatable, but Mitchell isn't ready to relinquish his crown without a fight. Go behind the barrels as the two battle it out in a vicious war to earn the title of the true King of Kong.

7.7

Indie Game: The Movie(2012)

Follows the dramatic journeys of video game developers as they create and release their games to the world. It's about making video games, but at its core, it's about the creative process, and exposing yourself through your work.

7.5

FPS: First Person Shooter(2023)

This documentary takes a game-by-game deep dive into the history and evolution of a genre that has grown from the simple wireframe graphics of Maze War and Spasim to become a staple of popular culture that is enjoyed by millions of gamers worldwide. Explore the creation and legacy of the most popular and significant FPS titles from the last 48 years, including favorites such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, GoldenEye, Half-Life, Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex, Halo… and many more.

8.0

Insert Coin(2020)

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.

6.9

Special When Lit(2009)

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.

6.6

Gamechangers: Dreams of BlizzCon(2018)

GAMECHANGERS: Dreams of Blizzcon enters the unexplored realm of professional esports through the eyes of two of the world’s top StarCraft II players.

6.2

Man vs. Snake(2015)

1984. One shiny quarter. 44.5 hours of continuous play. The race to be the first gamer in history to score one BILLION points. Until recently, Timothy McVey (not the terrorist) thought he had — for all these years — held the world record on Nibbler.

6.6

The Man vs. The Machine(2014)

On May 2,1997, Garry Kasparov, arguably the greatest human chess player ever, sat down in New York City to do battle with IBM's chess-playing computer, Deep Blue. While the much hyped match of man versus machine consisted of six chess games over nine days, there are many who would claim the entire contest was decided in just one move. This short documentary tells the epic tale of how mankind lost to the machine and highlighting what may have been man's ultimate downfall…having emotions.

0.0

Still Standing(2023)

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.

9.0

The Lost Arcade(2015)

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.

7.0

High Score(2006)

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.

7.7

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The Sarkeesian Effect: Inside the World of Social Justice Warriors(2015)

The Sarkeesian Effect focuses on the controversy surrounding feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian, Social Justice advocates, and the GamerGate movement; the title is a play on "The Streisand Effect."

2.3

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We Out Here Gaming – Good Art, Well Played(2023)

‘Are games art or not? Or something else?’ The question is answered in a fresh and humorous way under the theme of real-time internet broadcasting. One of the famous Youtube creators with 2.16 million subscribers, Calm-Down Man, hosts the documentary. The program interviews different experts in the game industry and shows comments from real-time viewers, which offers us something worth thinking about. It is the last episode titled We Out Here Gaming of the EBS Docuprime trilogy.

0.0

Official Film of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Side A(2022)

Follows Japanese director Naomi Kawase as she directs the official film of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, giving a message that goes beyond the physical exploit to mark souls, with her style and all her subtlety.

6.0

The Space Invaders: In Search of Lost Time(2012)

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.

6.2