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Back in 1981 when I was at the cinema to see Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time they played a short doco beforehand that was about pinball collecting in Britain. I found it totally fascinating but since then have never heard anything about it again. And no luck tracking it down online as yet. Anybody know the name or have any info on it please? I'm currently working my way chronologically through a collection of Pinball Player & Penny Slot Collector mags but as of late 1979 no mention of it yet.

Gameswat,
I fear your memory is going, going...almost gone. That "short doco" you referred to was the early part of the film where Harrison Ford runs out of the cave chased by the giant rock. Giant rolling rock = "pinball doco" in memory, 36 years later.

You're welcome.

J Peterson
Memory Master in…..uh...where am I?

Maybe this one...? British and from around the '80s:
Arcade Attack: Silverball Heroes vs Video Invaders

Awesome that's the one, thanks PM! I'd forgotten about the video games being in it because that was all well known to me having operators for parents, but I'd never seen any of the pre 1970 pins at that time which intrigued me no end. It's dated 1982 and looking up the release date in Aust of Raiders of the Lost Ark that was August 1981, so I must've mixed it up with another film. I think they stopped playing shorts before a major film by the early to mid 80's here.

Amazingly just now I've just come the Pinball Player magazine issue Aug 1981 that has a story about the making of the film. Sadly for one collector who loaned his prized Bally Fireball the film makers managed to accidentally smash the backglass!

That was Mint! I think I have one of the pins featured "Williams Kick off" 1950s.

Gameswat wrote: ↑Sun Jul 09, 2017 3:49 pm the film makers managed to accidentally smash the backglass!

I seem to recall around the same time a TV crew filming a Coronation Street special in Birmingham cathedral put a boom through one of the stained glass windows. I can find no record of this, so maybe I dreamt it.
That must be Clive Baker and John Hayward's original arcade on Brighton Pier at the start of the film.

pennymachines wrote: ↑Tue Jul 11, 2017 10:28 am That must be Clive Baker and John Hayward's original arcade on Brighton Pier at the start of the film.

Yes, it is - sadly I never got to see it. My first visit to Brighton was in 1986, the year after Clive and John were evicted from the pier. They then went their separate ways, with John staying in Brighton and relocating on the seafront - renaming the arcade 'The Old Penny Palace'.
Anyway, so what's the wall machine at 0:36? It's a Stevenson & Lovett machine, in a similar case to the Fireworks and peep show machines, and indeed does appear to be a peep show (you can just about make out the keyhole at the top of the door) - but the picture on the front of the machine doesn't look very saucy. Does it perhaps display pictures of cartoon characters for children?

JC, hard to see the artwork clearly but looks like someone on the left is paying to view a stereoviewer or peep show on a stand, while on the right someone is literally looking through a keyhole for a free view. I've had a couple of these both with handpainted artwork and only one had a sexy lady but both used the same risque toy viewers.

Sadly their arcade had already gone before I heard about it, but this is what it looked like.

JC wrote: ↑Tue Jul 11, 2017 12:03 pm picture on the front of the machine doesn't look very saucy.

Every one of these seems to have a different hand-painted image, probably by the same artist, and they're all cartoon-style.