For fans of Brian "Box" Brown's Tetris and the cult-hit documentary King of Kong, Jon Chad illustrates the little-known story of pinball--how it works and why it all matters in an age of special effects and on-screen gaming.
In 1976, champion player Roger Sharpe stepped up to a pinball machine in a Manhattan courtroom. He was there to challenge the citywide ban on pinball by proving this was a game of skill, not chance. Sharpe pulled back the plunger and released, and the fate of this industry and artform hung in the balance.
Thus opens Jon Chad's comprehensive graphic guide to the history of the captivating, capricious--and at times infuriating!--game of pinball. Tracing pinball's roots back to the Court of King Louis XIV and right up to the present day, Chad captures not just the history of the game but also the artistry, cultural significance, and even the physics.
Publisher: Macmillan
Original Binding: Hardcover with dust jacket
Pages: 208 pages
ISBN-10: 125024921X
Item Weight: 1.2 lbs
Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.7 x 8.8 inches
Customer Reviews: 4 out of 5 stars 101 to 500 ratings
""In this nonfiction work, Chad tells the improbably exciting story of the development of the pinball machine, including the fact the game was outlawed for nearly 30 years for its connection to gambling and the mob." --New York Times
"Beautifully drawn color graphics loaded with informed historical text, here's the story of why pinball is popular and a focus of today's video-game arcade rooms." --New York Public Library, from their Best Books of 2022 list
"The author successfully packages the minutiae of pinball's existence with dynamic art and vivid coloring assisted by Luke Healy. Cracking this one open evokes the delight of snapping back the launcher in the arcade." --Publisher's Weekly, starred review
Jon Chad is the author of the Leo Geo series and Science Comics: Volcanoes, the illustrator of Science Comics: Solar System, and the creator of the multi-format immersion narrative BAD MASK. He also drew the art package for The Jetsons pinball machine for The Pinball Company and Spooky Pinball.
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