Where Spatial Visualization Meets Landscape Research and “Pinballology”: Examples of Landscape Construction in Pinball Games

Maps and map-like visualizations in digital games have been repeatedly addressed in research of cartography and related disciplines. For example, visualization techniques and tools used in video and computer games, including navigation and locomotion tools in VR gaming, have been analyzed and adopted to VR-based 3D cartographic modeling in recent time. A successful and diversified game which has only hardly been considered in the literature so far is pinball. Modern pinball machines are equipped with sophisticated map-like playfields (and other related components) that allow pinball players to immerse into a rapidly changing spatial story which is directed by the pinball movement. The (endless) game of skill is cognitively challenging and it sometimes even ‘plays with’ overloading the cognitive capacity of players by activating a multitude of multisensory (spatial) events. An overloaded communication of spatial information is apparently part of the success story of the game. The successful story of pinball also includes several characteristic themes that seem to fascinate the worldwide community of players (and retro fans). These themes, including their map-like visualizations, invite players to be involved into the rapid spatial story, and they include many ‘triggers’ for the individual and social construction of landscapes. These landscapes can fulfill desires for escapism. This article presents characteristic examples of successful and established modern pinball themes and discusses their potentials for landscape construction, from a social constructivist perspective.