Pinball was invented nearly a century ago, yet the number one player in the world today is a teenager in northern Colorado. Escher Lefkoff, 19, obtained the rank of number one pinball player in the ...

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Columbia is known for a lot of things: The Gamecocks, the State Fair, famously hot temperatures, and now pinball can be added to that list. One of the largest pinball groups in the ...

If you pull back the plunger of a pinball machine ever so slowly, your wrist can feel the delicious tension building in each coil of the metal spring, one after the next, as the kinesis of ...

In the series premiere of VICE's American Obsessions, we take a look at the beloved game of pinball, its controversial ...

September 25, 2020 update: This story first ran shortly before the coronivirus pandemic gripped San Antonio, putting Steve Bowden's plans to help launch Deeproot Pinball on hold. In March, just before ...

Keri Wing is the reigning Kansas pinball champion. She also recently won the women's world championship. Every Wednesday night, 20 or so pinball enthusiasts gather at The 403 Club in the Strawberry ...

The world's top competitive pinball player is a 19-year-old from Longmont, Colo. How did Escher Lefkoff become No. 1? Colorado Public Radio's Matt Bloom wanted to know. (SOUNDBITE OF PINBALL MACHINE ...

Raymond Davidson is a pinball-playing machine. The 24-year-old from Mukilteo won the World Pinball Championship held June 3 in Copenhagen, Denmark. With that win, he is currently the No. 3 ranked ...

Walk into Helena Walter Higgins’s home in Thornton and it’s like walking into an arcade. There are about a dozen full-size pinball machines lining the walls of the living room, and just as many in the ...

The rules of the Ice Cream Challenge are simple: Adam Lefkoff challenges his son, Escher, to a goal. If Escher meets it, Adam buys him an ice cream cone. Over the past couple of weeks, the arrangement ...

Editor's note: This feature was originally produced back in 2015, and has since been updated. Before mobile phones, home consoles, and arcade cabinets, there was pinball. With flashing lights metallic ...

Escher Lefkoff grew up playing pinball at his world pinball champion dad's knee. Now, the son is world champion. Dad is proud — if a little miffed he can't still beat his protege. Right now the ...