A recent article published by ESPN tells the story of young pinball prodigy Robert Gagno. The wonderfully written piece dives into Gagno’s complicated story, and how he found pinball at a young age and sees it in a unique way. Gagno won the U.S. Nationals in 2015, and made it to Pinburgh’s final group of four at the young age of 22.
Below is an excerpt from the article that gives you a good idea of how Gagno sees the world and pinball:
“When Robert looks at a pinball machine, one part of his brain that lights up is the fusiform gyrus. It’s the part that glows when the rest of us see a face. Not the individual components — eyes, mouth, nose — but the sum that is someone we know. When Robert sees the playing field on a pinball machine, to him it has a familiar face. It’s the difference between seeing something and recognizing something…”
To read the story, click here.