Sometimes the smallest of events can alter the course of a person’s life in ways that are nothing less than fantastical. Take the case of Robert Gagno, who, at the age of five, walked into the former East Van hamburger joint Wally’s on Kingsway with his dad to find a pinball machine in the corner. Gagno, who has autism, was instantly transfixed by the machine, thus beginning a lifelong passion for pinball.

The feelgood Wizard Mode traces his rise through the pinball ranks as he not only becomes one of the top 10 players in North America, but also finds independence away from the blinking lights and flashing fippers of classic machines like The Addams Family and Funhouse. By the end, the kid from East Van is hanging out with Mac DeMarco on the streets of New York, which, in more ways that one, is about as far away as one might get from the now long-gone Wally’s.