Pinball is an electromechanical game involving a steel ball and usually two or more flippers which are actuated by buttons on either side of the machine. You launch the ball using a button or plunger on the right side, and the object is to use the flippers to keep the ball from going down the middle or the outlanes. There will be a number of colorful targets on the table that score points whenever they are hit; often, if you hit the targets in a specific order, you'll get a large bonus of points. Most tables will start you off with 3 balls, but if you score enough points, the table will make an alarmingly loud knocking sound (using a device called a "knocker") and you'll be awarded an extra ball. The knocker also goes off if you get a high score. Simple enough!
Well, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Not to discredit earlier electromechanical tables, because a lot of them are pretty fun, but they were limited in complexity. You were basically hitting targets sequentially and racking up points. Solid-state (computerized) tables completely transformed the medium. Now, you could have objectives and modes. Hitting some targets in the right order would change how the whole table worked. For instance, in Black Hole, you need to hit the BLACK and HOLE drop targets in the right order to enable the G-Accelerators that greatly increase your score in multiball mode. Solid state tables also started getting really interesting - the aforementioned Black Hole had a whole second table embedded underneath the main one, and you played it upside down! Black Knight 2000 has a unique two-tiered table setup. TX-Sector has a trick system that simulates teleporting balls across the table.
The 90s saw pinball tables get dot-matrix screens in the backglass, so you had graphics to go with the game. Sometimes this was just informational, like telling you which target to hit next, but sometimes you basically used the flippers to play a little video game. The tables were starting to get a lot more like video games overall, with discrete levels and progression.
The next evolution of pinball was a bit of a miss. Williams created the "Pinball 2000" concept which used a CRT display and a mirror to overlay 3D graphics onto the table. They made two tables - Revenge from Mars, which was fairly successful, and Star Wars Episode 1, which was poorly marketed and ultimately made Williams leave the pinball market altogether.
Pinball is still alive, though it's hard to find outside of barcades and museums. The latest tables have large LCD screens in the backglass. They're fine. A lot of them are based on bands for some reason. Iron Maiden is fun.
Some of the best pinball tables of all time:
Black Hole: An extra wide table, and the first table that cost $0.50 to play. The embedded, upside down sub-table is incredibly fun to mess with.
Cue Ball Wizard: Quit talkin' and start chalkin'! Has a giant captive cue ball you have to hit into a pool cue that launches an eight ball at the back targets.
FunHouse: See the amazing mechanical man, Rudy! Definitely don't hit him in the face.
Black Knight 2000: The Black Knight demands your money in a futuristic wasteland. Bash down the drawbridge and set up the multiball to defeat him.
Banzai Run: An offroad racing challenge that has an entire second table up in the backglass!
The Twilight Zone: One of the most complicated and difficult tables out there.
Theater of Magic: A stage magic themed table with a rotating magic box. Lots of different modes based on magic tricks.
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PINBALL FX
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Made by Zen Studios, Pinball FX is a highly realistic pinball simulation. It really accurately models ball spin, elasticity and grip of the rubber on the bumpers, and etc. It's a really good way to play if you don't have any pinball nearby.
Pinball FX has some good original tables, and a lot of licensed tables. There are 23 Marvel tables, from the Avengers to the X-Men. I've honestly not played these very much. Maybe we can explore them in later posts.
The real winner is that Pinball FX has a license agreement with Stern, so they have 32 classic pinball tables, all by Williams. Including FunHouse, Black Knight 2000, White Water, Road Show, Fish Tales, Medieval Madness, Indiana Jones, and Attack from Mars. They're still adding more! (PIN-BOT was announced last week).
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PINBALL ARCADE
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Another title with lots of classic pinball tables. Pick this one up to play the likes of Black Hole, TX-Sector, Cue Ball Wizard and others. The physics are not nearly as realistic as Pinball FX, but the recreations are faithful and still fun to play.
There's sort of some lost media here. Pinball Arcade used to have a large library of Williams tables. When Zen bought the license, they were all delisted. Pinball FX still doesn't have all the delisted tables, only about 2/3 so far.
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In conclusion, pinball is fun and you can play it on the computer! Let's look at some tables in depth in the coming weeks.
