Pinball may seem like your grandparents’ game, but the “Urban Flipper” may make you take a new look at an old favorite. French lighting company CT Light Concept put together an interesting presentation in which pinball bumpers and flippers were projected with colored lights onto the side of the Celestine Theater in Lyon, France.
This display is for more than just looking at, however; it’s fully playable as well, and uses windows, balconies and relief sculpting along the exterior as bumpers. They even pumped authentic pinball sounds through speakers to complete the effect.
Check out this amazing video of the Urban Flipper in action:
The project was part of Lyon’s Festival of Lights, held December 8 every year as a tribute to Mary, mother of Jesus. Normally the festival is known best for the Lyon residents placing lit candles in their windows, creating a haunting and illuminated atmosphere on the streets. Certainly a gigantic pinball game adds a spin of modern, geeky fun to the traditional theme and giving something a little unusual for the 4 million tourists who usually attend.
And, just in case you’re a young whipper snapper asking yourself “what’s pinball?”, gather around and let us old fogeys fill you in: Pinball was a table-top arcade game that pre-dates video games, daring back as far as the 1700’s. It consists of a little silver ball rolling around, bumping into “bumpers” and kept in play by the player who triggers “flippers” on the low end of the table to keep it from rolling off the edge and ending the game. No headshots were possible, but at least you always had somewhere to rest your drink.
[Ufunk via Laughing Squid]
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