Nobody Seems to Like My “Before Sunrise” Pinball Machine

We’ve all read about declining artistic standards within the pinball industry. I.P. licensing is partly to blame: “Star Trek,” the band Kiss, “Star Trek: The Next Generation”—these big names dominate the biz. But the problem is also deeply cultural. One would hope that there’d be room in the pinball world for a machine that allows fans to explore subtle themes of love, connection, and spontaneity—the things that pinball is all about. That’s why I’m surprised that there hasn’t been more appreciation for my “Before Sunrise” pinball machine.

Adapting the silver screen to the silver ball is tricky, but as soon as I saw this movie I knew that it had to be a pinball machine. The way the characters bounce off each other, electrically colliding—I’m certain that moviegoers in 1995 felt the same way. Hell, there’s even a scene where Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke play pinball.

When I designed my machine, I wanted it to feel intuitive, so I started with what we know: launch the ball up the “train” where they meet, and disembark in “Vienna” (an upper deck with an extra flipper). Players rack up “longing tokens” by hitting an Austrian café repeatedly, earning “poignant bon-mot points,” which lead to a “sexual-tension multiball.” There’s even a magnet, to symbolize the protagonists’ magnetic attraction.

In the course of the game, players discover more about the characters: their dreams, desires, and doubts. But I also wanted the game to teach players something about themselves, like all good pinball machines do. Hence the inclusion of a non-optional player sequence in which you log up to twenty-four romantic aspirations using the left and right flipper buttons. (This helps build a larger jackpot, during multiballs.)

Play testers, sadly, didn’t share my enthusiasm. My friend Dan’s review was that “it sucks,” and he questioned the need for an unskippable eleven-minute cutscene on the L.E.D. light board. Columbia Pictures even sent me a letter telling me to “cease” and to “desist.” I can’t help but feel that they’re just missing the vision.

I wanted players who’d never seen the movie to feel that they understood the plot, just like how I understand “The Lord of the Rings” from its pinball machine—there’s some scary-looking dudes and a giant golden ring, and at some point a huge metal ball rolls through. What’s important is that pinball machines are in dialogue with the work that they’re drawing from. But what did Richard Linklater say when I spent thousands of dollars freight-shipping him a machine? “You have the wrong person—this is Michael Bay.” Likely story!

I suppose that it’s not worth getting upset about—my previous forays into highbrow pinball weren’t successful, either. My “Tree of Life” machine famously made no goddam sense, owing to its lack of buttons, points, or pinball. My latest endeavor has revealed that audiences aren’t ready for a mature arcade game about clever conversations and self-discovery. If I had to guess, I’d say that the disconnect is because sometimes the ball goes down the exact center, and you can’t really hit it with either flipper. Luckily, that won’t be a problem on my next machine, based on “Before Sunset.” ♦