A resurgence in the popular arcade game of pinball has seen world rankings taken over by under-21-year-olds. In Queensland, 20-year-old Emily Cosson has become the top female player in Australia.
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00:00 Pinball was invented more than a century before Emily Cosson was born, but that hasn't stopped
00:07 her becoming the top female player in Australia. The 20-year-old is showing baby boomers how
00:13 it's done, coming third at an international competition in the United States in January.
00:19 I first started when I was three, that's when I could reach the flippers and then I started
00:22 playing tournaments when I was ten.
00:24 The love of pinball comes from her dad.
00:27 Off and on I've owned over 60, at the current collection it's about 80.
00:31 Pinball has seen a massive resurgence in recent years, with young people the most interested.
00:38 Four of the top five players in the world are under 21.
00:44 James Anglis has spent a decade organising competitions.
00:48 In the early days it's probably what you would assume, it was a lot of middle aged men competing.
00:54 But now it's Gen Z's chance to shine.
00:57 So when you go to an event, whenever you're paired up with a young person you know you're
01:00 in trouble.
01:01 Some of the best players in the world are teenagers at the minute, and just that enthusiasm
01:06 that they bring, their ability to learn rule sets really quickly, their reflexes are incredible.
01:13 Researcher Daniel Johnson found out pinballers want diversity.
01:19 We need more Emilies in the sport, like it's the young people, people that are not necessarily
01:24 middle aged men, coming in and shaking things up and yeah they're doing amazing things.
01:29 Yeah but if it wasn't for them, the games would die off.
01:32 The next generation keeping an arcade classic alive.
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