Video Pinball, 1979 Atari

Channel:

crazyclimber80

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Published on September 9, 2018 10:25:39 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWICT0nTLL0

Game:

Video Pinball (1980)

Duration: 8:40

118 views

7

Kind of cool game for its time-- a video/pinball hybrid, though not the first. This has very cool beeps and boops (and a discoey 70s motif) but a fairly difficult to comprehend scoring system. The playfield is rather small and losing a ball through the bottom is easier than it looks. The arcade cabinet's control panel is interesting in that pressing down on it activates a "bump" much like on a real pinball machine-- just don't do it too much or you TILT and the flippers are useless. As with many pinball games the playfield is divided into 2 sections, with flippers at both the top and bottom halves. Lights can appear on occasion in certain places and give you bigger bonuses if your ball goes across them. It seems hard to score much at times (and the score needed for a free ball is 210,000!) so hitting the lights at the right time is very helpful, as is running the ball down the shaft near the bottom that doesn't make you lose a ball (5,000 points and possibly a free ball if the light is on), and also by hitting the white bumpers on the bottom half which builds up a bonus meter for 2,000 each bumper hit. There are lots of scoring aspects I can't grasp in this game but it's still fun and there's a terrific (though very different) Atari 2600 port. Also, a neat glass mirror is installed in the cabinet that the action reflects off of! To top of the cool features, a bonus game is played after your last ball falls through-- if the 2 spinning digits stop and match the last 2 digits of your score, you earn a free credit!