# The Pinball Music Video Leaderboard

**Source:** Kineticist  
**Type:** article  
**Published:** 2026-03-13  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.kineticist.com/news/pinball-music-videos

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## Analysis

Kineticist published a lighthearted ranked analysis of music videos featuring pinball machines, scoring each on production quality, pinball authenticity, and creative execution. The leaderboard ranks seven music videos from artists including Megan Thee Stallion, Blackstreet, ROBB, Yello, Ricky Martin, Plastilina Mosh, and Barenaked Ladies, with ROBB's 'Goldmind' (featuring actual pinball players and classic machines) and Plastilina Mosh's video (about machine restoration) as top contenders.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Blackstreet's pinball music video cost 3x as much as Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' and ranks tied for 29th most expensive music video of all time — _Kineticist article, Blackstreet section_
- [HIGH] ROBB connected with Gábor Varga from Pinball Sports Club Austria and featured actual ranked pinball players Markus Stix and Roland Schwarz in their 'Goldmind' video — _Kineticist article, ROBB section_
- [HIGH] Barenaked Ladies' Ed Robertson is a devout pinball fanatic who owns Star Trek and The Walking Dead pinball machines — _Kineticist article, Barenaked Ladies section_
- [HIGH] ROBB's 'Goldmind' video features a lineup of classic pinball machines including Xenon, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Bram Stoker's Dracula, World Cup, Black Hole, and The Addams Family — _Kineticist article, ROBB section_
- [HIGH] Yello's video features a 1968 Hayburners II pinball machine by Williams, which was the first to use 3" flippers, but the glass is shattered in the video — _Kineticist article, Yello section_
- [HIGH] Barenaked Ladies' song references Stern's Lord of the Rings pinball machine with the lyrics 'there and back again/I destroyed the ring on the attack again' — _Kineticist article, Barenaked Ladies section_
- [HIGH] The Ten Stars pinball machine featured in one video was produced by Zaccaria in 1976 — _Kineticist article, discussing Ten Stars appearance_

### Notable Quotes

> "This music video also gets props for creating a game that would be a blast to play in real life."
> — **Kineticist author (Brian)**, Blackstreet section
> _Highlights criteria for evaluating pinball music videos—creative appeal of the fictional game design_

> "In this video we saw Xenon, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Bram Stoker's Dracula, World Cup, Black Hole, The Addams Family…the list goes on and on. This is a Murderers' Row of pinball machines."
> — **Kineticist author (Brian)**, ROBB section
> _Emphasizes authenticity and machine diversity in ROBB's 'Goldmind' video as a major strength_

> "Here's where things take a turn for the worst: the machine's glass is shattered! They ruined a machine! LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO OUR BOY!"
> — **Kineticist author (Brian)**, Yello section
> _Comic critique of machine destruction in video; reveals community values around preservation_

> "Not gonna lie, this is gonna be a hard one to top."
> — **Kineticist author (Brian)**, ROBB section
> _Indicates ROBB's 'Goldmind' as strong contender for top ranking due to authenticity and research_

> "This music video perfectly captures the attachment a player can get to their favorite pinball machine: they daydream about it, draw it, and even get a tattoo of it."
> — **Kineticist author (Brian)**, Plastilina Mosh section
> _Identifies emotional resonance and collector psychology as key evaluation criteria_

> "Unfortunately, the video misses a lot of bonus points opportunities by being pretty minimalist and focused more on band members than a compelling story, engaging visuals, or actual pinball gameplay."
> — **Kineticist author (Brian)**, Barenaked Ladies section
> _Critique of Barenaked Ladies video despite strong song lyrics—reveals tension between music quality and visual execution_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Kineticist | organization | Content publication/blog platform featuring pinball analysis and news |
| Megan Thee Stallion | person | Rapper featured in 'Neva Play' music video with arcade/pinball machine theme |
| RM | person | K-pop artist (BTS leader) featured in verse on 'Neva Play' music video |
| Blackstreet | person | R&B group whose 'No Diggity' pinball music video cost 3x Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' to produce |
| Janet Jackson | person | Appeared on playfield in Blackstreet pinball music video |
| Ja Rule | person | Cameo appearance in Blackstreet pinball music video |
| Eve | person | Cameo appearance in Blackstreet pinball music video (riding TRON motorcycles) |
| ROBB | person | Austrian band whose 'Goldmind' pinball music video features actual ranked pinball players and classic machines; collaborated with Pinball Sports Club Austria |
| Gábor Varga | person | Representative from Pinball Sports Club Austria who advised ROBB on pinball authenticity |
| Markus Stix | person | Ranked pinball player featured in ROBB's 'Goldmind' music video |
| Roland Schwarz | person | Ranked pinball player featured in ROBB's 'Goldmind' music video |
| Yello | person | Swiss electronic band whose pinball music video features stop-motion animation and a damaged 1968 Hayburners II Williams machine |
| Ricky Martin | person | Singer whose 'Livin' La Vida Loca' music video features Robby Rosa in dusty attic with Fun-Fest pinball machine |
| Plastilina Mosh | person | Mexican electronic group whose music video features machine restoration narrative and Lost World: Jurassic Park arcade game |
| Barenaked Ladies | person | Canadian band whose music video showcases Ed Robertson's pinball collection and includes Lord of the Rings reference |
| Ed Robertson | person | Barenaked Ladies member and devout pinball fanatic who owns Star Trek and The Walking Dead pinball machines |
| Pinball Sports Club Austria | organization | Organization that provided consultation to ROBB for 'Goldmind' music video authenticity |
| Williams | company | Historic pinball manufacturer; produced Hayburners II (1968) and Fun-Fest machines featured in music videos |
| Zaccaria | company | Pinball manufacturer that produced Ten Stars machine (1976) featured in one music video |
| Stern Pinball | company | Modern pinball manufacturer; produced Lord of the Rings machine referenced in Barenaked Ladies song |
| Brian | person | Kineticist author who wrote and ranked the pinball music videos; grew up in New Jersey, now in Los Angeles |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Pinball in popular media and music videos, Music video production quality and creative execution, Pinball machine authenticity and research in media
- **Secondary:** Collector culture and machine attachment, Historic pinball machines and manufacturers, Pinball community engagement with pop culture
- **Mentioned:** Music video production costs and prestige

### Sentiment

**Neutral** (0)

### Signals

- **[content_signal]** Kineticist publishes ranked analysis of pinball-centric music videos, demonstrating growing media interest in pinball's presence in pop culture and content creation about pinball beyond traditional gameplay/tournament coverage (confidence: high) — Full article dedicated to pinball music videos with structured ranking system and detailed analysis
- **[community_signal]** Article highlights emotional attachment players develop to pinball machines, including daydreaming, drawing, tattoos, and personalization—reflects deep collector psychology in the community (confidence: high) — Plastilina Mosh section: 'This music video perfectly captures the attachment a player can get to their favorite pinball machine: they daydream about it, draw it, and even get a tattoo of it.'
- **[community_signal]** Community expresses strong negative reaction to machine destruction/damage in Yello video—preservation and respect for machines is valued in pinball culture (confidence: high) — Yello section: 'Here's where things take a turn for the worst: the machine's glass is shattered! They ruined a machine! LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO OUR BOY!'
- **[historical_signal]** Article references Williams Hayburners II (1968, first 3" flippers) and Zaccaria Ten Stars (1976), showing pinball machine heritage being documented and valued in contemporary media (confidence: high) — Yello and unnamed video sections detailing specific machine history
- **[content_signal]** Barenaked Ladies' Ed Robertson and ROBB band demonstrate public passion for pinball as fans/players, increasing visibility of pinball enthusiasm among non-industry artists and celebrities (confidence: high) — Barenaked Ladies section on Robertson's collection; ROBB's collaboration with Pinball Sports Club Austria
- **[design_philosophy]** ROBB's 'Goldmind' video demonstrates philosophy of researching and including authentic pinball elements (real players, actual machines, club collaboration) rather than generic arcade aesthetics (confidence: high) — ROBB section: 'The group even connected with Gábor Varga from Pinball Sports Club Austria to learn more about pinball' and featured ranked players
- **[collector_signal]** Ed Robertson (Barenaked Ladies) owns Star Trek and The Walking Dead pinball machines, indicating active collector in celebrity/musician circles (confidence: high) — Barenaked Ladies section: 'With a collection including Star Trek and The Walking Dead machines'
- **[market_signal]** Music videos feature licensed IP pinball games (Star Trek, The Walking Dead, Lost World: Jurassic Park, Lord of the Rings), signaling ongoing relevance and recognizability of licensed pinball machines in pop culture (confidence: high) — Multiple sections reference licensed machines including Robertson's Star Trek/Walking Dead, Plastilina Mosh's Lost World, and Barenaked Ladies' Lord of the Rings reference

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## Transcript

Like what you're reading?
Get pinball news, analysis, and deep dives delivered to your inbox.
Get pinball news, analysis, and deep dives delivered to your inbox.
Insert your quarters and let’s rank these suckers.
Ready to play? We’ve compiled a list of music videos that heavily feature pinball and are pitting them against each other. Not everyone can make the final leaderboard, and there can only be one grand champion.
I hope you’re a Whose Line is it Anyway fan, because much like that show, the points don’t matter.
Each video gets the full arcade treatment: a review, a verdict, and a bonus tally. At the end, we'll plug in the scores and see who lands on the leaderboard. And yes, every contender gets to enter their initials.
Directors: Warren Fu (Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More”) & Carl Jones (The Boondocks)
Rapper Megan Thee Stallion embraces her inner gamer in the music video for “Neva Play.” Set in an arcade, Megan saddles up to a pinball machine appropriately titled Neva Play and starts counting as she hits the corresponding bumpers.
The stylish video combines live-action and anime elements, while also including a verse from RM, the leader of the K-pop supergroup BTS.
Did you have your money on Megan Thee Stallion bent over a pinball machine, twerking on bumpers, and defeating anime bad guys with butterflies from her booty? If so, you win!
Don’t know what the game Stallion Joust is next to the Neva Play pinball machine, but if it’s a sequel video with her riding ostriches from the classic arcade game, we are HERE FOR IT.
Time to hit the bonus screen. Here's how Megan scored:
Bonus Count
Score: 199,690,000
ENTER INITIALS: ASS
Director: Joseph Kahn (Janet Jackson’s “Doesn’t Really Matter,” Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood)
The “No Diggity” singers must have gotten carte blanche for this video. As of this writing, it’s tied for the 29th most expensive music video of all time, ahead of more well-known videos “Livin’ La Vida Loca” by Ricky Martin, “Stronger” by Kanye West, “Toxic” by Britney Spears, and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” THRILLER. That’s right—Blackstreet pinball cost 3x as much as what is arguably the most influential music video ever.
It pushed the envelope at the time, heavily relying on CG… though the results now look closer to a boxy early Pixar short.
A moving Janet Jackson on the playfield is not something I knew I needed, but hello.
Along with the Blackstreet members popping up on various parts throughout the game, we get cameos by Ja Rule and Eve getting their TRON on, riding futuristic motorcycles.
While time forgives all, no one can forgive what they did to Eve.
While the graphics are largely dated, I remember it being impressive and cool at the time. It largely takes place within a pinball machine and has plenty of motion, action, and never feels stale. This music video also gets props for creating a game that would be a blast to play in real life.
Bonus Count
Score: 199,900,000
ENTER INITIALS: BLK
Director: Anna Hawliczek, Marie-Thérèse Zumtobel
The Austrian band ROBB makes a big statement with their pinball-centric music video for “Goldmind.” The group even connected with Gábor Varga from Pinball Sports Club Austria to learn more about pinball. If there were a Video Music Award for Most Research, they would surely win.
For this video, ROBB featured actual pinball players including the ranked Markus Stix and Roland Schwarz. The story follows the two facing off in a pinball tournament. The winner? To quote Highlander, “There can only be one…”
In this video we saw Xenon, Judge Dredd, High-Speed, Royal Rumble, Space Invaders, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, World Cup, Black Hole, The Addams Family…the list goes on and on. This is a Murderers' Row of pinball machines.
From using actual players to capturing the feel of a pinball hall, this video has a lot going for it. Not gonna lie, this is gonna be a hard one to top.
Bonus Count
Score: 209,600,000
ENTER INITIALS: ROB
Director: Dieter Mieter (Lead singer & director of many Yello music videos)
We didn’t say these were all normal videos…
The Swiss electronic band Yello is best known to us all as the guys behind “Oh Yeah,” the deep-voiced track that is an essential part of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. (“Bomp, bomp…chicka-chickaaa”). This quirky video takes place in a stop-motion pinball bar named… wait for it… Pinball Bar.
This music video is very ’80s. The song is… it’s a song, I suppose. If you understand all of the lyrics, you have better ears than I. By far the most experimental of the bunch, this music video combines live-action segments, miniature sets, and stop-motion animation. The singer in the video plays a 1968 Hayburners II pinball machine by Williams, which was the first to use 3” flippers. Here’s where things take a turn for the worst: the machine’s glass is shattered! They ruined a machine! LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO OUR BOY!
And that’s why you never break the glass.
Playing pinball in a music video: Good!
Ruining the pinball machine: Nein! (That’s “no” German, one of the main languages in Yello’s home country of Switzerland.)
They get a big ol’ Annie Lennox penalty, so-called because this video is “Walking on Broken Glass.”
Yello tries to save the day with some stop-motion dancing by several Wimpys from Popeye. This works the first time. It does not work the many, many times they revisit this.
Bonus Count
Score: DISQUALIFIED
ENTER INITIALS: Sorry, you lose.
Director: Unknown (If anyone finds out who it is, please let us know!)
Didn’t expect to see Ricky Martin on this list? Us either. But here we are, livin’ la vida loca.
The singer, only known to Gen Z as “Who’s That Guy in the Bad Bunny Super Bowl Halftime Show,” was originally part of a boy band named Menudo. And guess what: they had a pinball music video. And this song was made for the soundtrack of Burt Reynolds’ “Cannonball Run II.” Somewhere, an old lady in a pop culture retirement home just yelled “bingo!”
When his pals go off to have fun and be young social types, singer Robby Rosa heads to a dusty attic (why is it dusty? Has no one played this pinball machine since that Alan Parrish kid got sucked into Jumanji?) to play a Fun-Fest pinball machine by Williams. The girl of his dreams appears on the backbox, right before she’s kidnapped by an unseen figure.
Robby then passes out for…reasons, and wakes up inside the game. It’s actually a pretty cool set. Then there is an Arabian-inspired wrestling match? And then pinball again, and his bandmates are there? Then they all get Flash Gordon-style blonde hair? And the Alice Cooper-esque bad guy chases them? And then is easily defeated? Then Robby gets a concussion and starts seeing a shrink? Then his dream girl is actually the nurse? The story is all over the place on this one.
But hey, it does end with the best final shot/implied boner:
Bonus Count
Score: 177,000,000
ENTER INITIALS: MEN
Director: Jose Fernandez Eimbcke (Lake Tahoe, Club Sandwich)
The Mexican electronic group Plastilina Mosh are no strangers to gaming, having appeared on the soundtracks for Street Sk8er, True Crime: Streets of L.A., and the 2007 and 2009 editions of FIFA.
Gotta love a music video that features the The Lost World: Jurassic Park arcade game, plus a re-skinned Bride of Pinbot machine.
Unfortunately, the greedy arcade owner decides the machine’s not making enough money and sends the Human Disco Ball to the killing floor!
This music video perfectly captures the attachment a player can get to their favorite pinball machine: they daydream about it, draw it, and even get a tattoo of it.
The devoted machine takes the long journey back to its favorite player, braving traffic and confused motorists. It even embraces its inner Red Dead Redemption and camps out for the night. Finally, the two are reunited, and the gaming continues.
This music video was surprisingly cute and charming, making it a dark horse contender to become grand champion.
Bonus Count
Score: 210,000,000
ENTER INITIALS: PLA
Director: Kevin Hearn (Hey, he’s in the band!)
Not only do the Barenaked Ladies like vanilla (it’s the finest of the flavors), they like pinball! They even named their 11th album after the best game in the world.
Ed Ed Robertson, a devout pinball fanatic, basically shows off his collection in this music video. With a collection including Star Trek and The Walking Dead machines, he’s got a lot to brag about. The minimalist set is likely his game room, and he and his bandmates just play their instruments at the camera or play pinball. That’s pretty much it.
What the video lacks in style, the song makes up for in lyrics and storytelling. There are way too few musical odes to pinball, and this song really shows Ed Robertson’s love of the game. Props to the band for including the lyrics “there and back again/I destroyed the ring on the attack again,” referencing Stern’s The Lord of the Rings pinball machine, this author’s most-played machine (we have it at my day job).
Again, the song is a loving ode to pinball. Unfortunately, the video misses a lot of bonus points opportunities by being pretty minimalist and focused more on band members than a compelling story, engaging visuals, or actual pinball gameplay.
Bonus Count
Score: 141,000,000
ENTER INITIALS: BNL
Can this set be replicated nationwide? Like, can you imagine having your 6th birthday on that set? Jumping off the bumpers? And at night, repurpose the set for laser tag for them rowdy teens!
Actual pinball scenes in this video are from Ten Stars, produced by Zaccaria in 1976. There’s a few blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments where we see that the player has only scored in the 2 million range. Gotta get those numbers up, pal!
Things this music video likes:
For all the style in this video, the singers actually barely move from where they stand. It’s an odd choice, and they try to cut around that and offset it with camera movement, but it’s still very noticeable.
Regardless, this is by far the best song on this entire list, and one of the most quintessential dance tracks from the 1990s. That goes a long way.
Bonus Count
Score: 186,000,000
ENTER INITIALS: LMT
THE pinball song doesn’t have a proper pinball-centric music video. I’m sorry, but it doesn’t count (For this article. In general, it rocks and is very fun to play on guitar.)
But hey, as a bonus, here’s this ridiculous commercial from our friends across the pond:
Let’s take a look at our leaderboard…
Thank you all for playing. Here’s hoping more music videos incorporate pinball so we can update this list more often.
Brian is a writer here at Kineticist. He grew up playing arcade machines at the minigolf place near his home in New Jersey and considered Title Fight by SEGA a suitable replacement for the gym (spoiler alert: it was not). Brian enjoys gaming spots that have good craft beer, '90s songs, and Skee-Ball. Currently living in Los Angeles, Brian writes TV pilots, screenplays, and children's picture books—all while his puppy Pabu whines for attention. You can follow him on Twitter (@briansaa) and/or Instagram (@throughawineglass) where he takes pictures of movies & TV shows through, you guessed it, a wine glass.

_(Acquisition: web_scrape, Enrichment: v4)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: d2630f52-2b73-4f4a-9ad2-96e97cc72634*