Roger Sharpe is a professional

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

player, game designer, activist, and author. Sharpe gained notoriety following a 1976 New York hearing where he provided a demonstration to members of the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

City Council, that pinball was a

game of skill A game of skill or game of wits is a game where the outcome is determined mainly by mental or physical skill, rather than chance. Alternatively, a game of chance is one where its outcome is strongly influenced by some randomizing device, such ...

rather than a

game of chance A game of chance is in contrast with a game of skill. It is a game whose outcome is strongly influenced by some randomizing device. Common devices used include dice, spinning tops, playing cards, roulette wheels, or numbered balls drawn from a ...

, and therefore not subject to legal prohibitions on

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

. He was recruited by the Amusement and Music Operators Association to testify, and successfully predicted the position of the ball in a machine arrayed for the council and media in attendance. Speaking at the hearing, Sharpe said "Look, there’s skill, because if I pull the plunger back just right, the ball will, I hope, go down this particular lane." Following Sharpe's demonstration, the council voted unanimously to lift the existing ban on pinball. In 2021, MPI Original Films announced they were developing a film based on Sharpe entitled ''Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game''. After graduating the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

with a degree in marketing, Sharpe took a position as editor with

GQ Magazine ''GQ'' (formerly ''Gentlemen's Quarterly'' and ''Apparel Arts'') is an American international monthly men's magazine based in New York City and founded in 1931. The publication focuses on fashion, style, and culture for men, though articles o ...

. He has written for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' and authored a 1988 book entitled ''Pinball!''. He served as editor of 1980s publication Video Games Magazine. He continued working in the industry, including designing a number of pinball machines, such as Sharpshooter and Cyclopes, which both bear his likeness. He was co-founder of the Professional Amateur Pinball Association, and has been described as "among the greatest players in the world and one of the architects of competitive pinball." He serves as co-chair of the International Flipper Pinball Association. Sharpe has two sons, Josh and Zach, who have also participated in competitive pinball. Both sons work in the gaming and pinball industry, and the trio all remain active in advocacy and coordinating pinball competitions, all variously considered among the top players in the world.

References

External links

Audio interview
with Roger Sharpe via

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Pinball game designers Pinball players Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-bio-stub