This pinball game is quite ok. The game is called extreme pinball. Try yourself:

http://www.funnygames.nl/spelletjes/2406.html

Space Invaders was the first block buster Video Game. The first of the videogames that took over some space in the Flipperhalls. But there was also some competition between versions of Space Invaders. Space Invaders was designed and programmed by Toshihiro Nishikado for Taito, Japan in 1978 and remains one of the most popular arcade games ever made. Nowadays you can play it on your mobile phone. Mister Nishikado probably never imagined that in 1978.



Space Invaders was the first pinball machine to be based on a video game. Bally's video game division, Midway, had licensed Space Invaders from Taito in Japan, and decided to capitalize on the machine's incredible success by using it as a theme for a pinball.

It was a wide-body game, with the cabinet being as wide as the backbox. The artwork on the machine was highly inspired by H.R. Giger's design for the "Alien" from the movie with the same name. In fact, they ended up stopping production of the game early due to pending lawsuits, the artwork was so similar, though 11,400 machines were produced.

The backglass was actually two seperate pieces. The back piece had the game's name, a very large alien (as stated, looking incredibly similar to Giger's alien), and was mirrored. Around the edge was a set of 32 lights that would light in sequential patterns around the edge of the backbox. In front of the lights was another backglass, designed to reflect the image back upon itself while still being seen from the outside. The end result was that the moving lights would seem to head off into infinity.

The sound effects also attempt to recreate the feeling of the Space Invaders video game. A repetetive "thump-thump" plays, speeding up as you hit more targets. It can get annoying after a while...

The plunger lane heads to the top, where the ball is trapped by two gates in a section with three rollover lanes below it. The rollovers lead to a set of three pop bumpers. A path to the right leads back into the rollovers from down below. To the upper left is the 'clone chamber', where a captive ball is stored, and when hit, rolls up to a target.

In the center, directly below the bumpers, is a small horseshoe, and the center of the horseshoe has a single target at the bottom. On the middle left side is a set of three drop targets, with more drop targets on the right side.

There are four flippers at the bottom. A regular set of two flippers, with a set of two mini-flippers above them, and toward the sides. There is one outlane on each side, and two inlanes, with the inner inlanes going to the small flippers.



If the Taito Machine and the Bally Pinball Machine were together to choose in a game room? What would you Choose to play?

To play Space Invaders i woud do the following:

	Insert a coin in the Pinball Machine
	Insert a coin in the Videogame
	Just play it on my mobile phone
view results

Or play (or download) Space Invaders now here online:

space invaders (swf, 16 KB)

Atari produced a few pinball machines during the 1970's. The games featured exciting artwork, and innovative playfield designs, but were plagued with technical problems which have made several of the games fairly rare over the years as they were often either dismantled or thrown out by their operators.

But even Atari did some testing on the machines before they designed the artwork. During testing they used this backscreen on the machines:



All these pinball machines were made before Atari started with Space Invaders, Asteroids and last but not least: Pac Man!

Stern Pinball

Gary Stern is a second generation pinball manufacturer. His father, the legendary Sam Stern, owned and was the moving force behind Williams Electronics beginning in 1947. Gary worked at Williams during his school summer vacations, and after a period of practicing law joined Williams full-time in 1973. From 1976 until 1984 Gary and his father ran Stern Electronics, a pinball, video game, and jukebox manufacturer formed out of the purchase of Chicago Coin.

Sega sold its pinball division to Gary in the fall of 1999, and Stern Pinball segued into its current incarnation. Since then, Gary and his team have built Harley Davidson, Striker Xtreme, South Park, Sharkey's Shootout, High Roller Casino, and Austin Powers; South Park was voted Best Pinball of the Year by Play Meter Magazine in 1999. Said Gary, "I have spent my business life learning the pinball manufacturing business and making pinballs. I intend to continue."



The Rollercoaster Tycoon pinball machine is designed by PatLawlor Design. Pat has been responsible for many of the most famous titles in the history of pinball, including The Addams Family, Twilight Zone, Funhouse, and his most recent hit, Stern’s MONOPOLY.

The poll for the best pinball machine of this month is moved to the left column. So the poll will be visible all month. Next month there will be five other pinball machines on the list. You can nominate them now!

You have to register to vote and to nominate a pinball machine for next month. You can leave your nominations under comments.

1930

First pinball machines appeared in America. They were countertop machines, without legs.

The most popular games were "Baffle Ball", "Bingo" and "Bally Hoo".

The first coin-operated pinball game was "Bally Hoo".
It was invented by Raymond Maloney,who became the founder of the Bally Corporation.



1933

Battery operated machines were designed.

1947

The important part of the pinball machines, flipper, was invented in 1947. It appeared in a pinball game "Humpty Dumpty" made by Gottlieb & Co.



The flippers were not a the same locations as nowadays. But it was the beginning.

1951

The first "slingshot" kickers were introduced.

1953

The first two-player pinball machine is released (pinball machines before this were strictly one player affairs).

1954

The first multiple player pinball machine, "Super Jumbo", is released by D.Gottlieb.



1956

The first "multiball" feature is featured on Bally's "Balls-A-Poppin" pinball machine.



1957

The first use of a "match" bonus feature (a number in your final score is matched at random to a number the machine picks, resulting in a free game, or "credit") in pinball is introduced.

1960

The first "add-a-ball" (extra ball) game called "Flipper" is developed by D. Gottlieb. The add-a-ball award was developed to counter various laws in effect during this period that made it illegal for a game to award replays in certain parts of the country because it was consider a "gambling" activity.



1962

The first drop target was introduced by Williams Manufacturing in the "Vagabond" pinball machine.



1963

The first "spinners" were introduced.

1964

The first "mushroom" bumper (common in all of today's modern games) was introduced by Bally

1966

The first digital scoring pinball machine is produced by a French company called Rally.

1968

The first modern flippers (three inches) are introduced on Hayburners II by Williams



1975

The first solid-state, or electronic pinball machine, "Spirit of 76", was first introduced by Micro. It marks the beginning of the switch from electromechanical (EM) machines to "solid-state", or electronics-based pinball machines.

1976

The first widely available solid state pinball machine was introduced by Bally and is called "Freedom". Many of the games from the mid 70's were produced in two versions (both electronic and electromechanical), and the first "wide-body" pinball, "The Atarians" is introduced by Atari.



Also in this year, the long-time pinball machine manufacturer, Chicago Coin, makes it last game - The company is taken over by Sam Stern and renamed "Stern Electronics". Gottlieb is sold to Colombia Pictures.

1977

The first electronically produced sounds in a pinball machine were introduced. Also the first photographic backglass display is introduced by Bally on "Lost World"



1979

The first "talking" or electronic speech game was introduced by Williams and was called "Gorgar", along with the first machines to have a continuous electronic background "soundtracks".



This was also the year in which the very last electro- mechanical pinball machine is made by Gottlieb

1980

The first "multi-level" pinball machine is produced by Williams as "Black Knight".



1984

Colombia Pictures, owner of Gottlieb, decides to close. Company is taken over by Premier Technology.

1985

The first "alphanumeric" game display is introduced

1986

The first automatic replay percentage feature is introduced. Also the first pinball machine that uses a actual photo on the glass is introduced by Gottlieb on "Raven"

1987

The first pinball machine with stereo sound "Laser War" is produced by Data-East.



1988

Bally Manufacturing is taken over by Williams Electronics, but the two companies continue to produce separate lines of pinball machines under both names.

1990

The first solid-state (electronic) flippers are introduced by Data-East.

1991

The first "dot-matrix" game display is introduced by Data-East in "Checkpoint" along with video "modes" that animate certain parts of the game part on screen.



Also in the year, electronic plungers become common and the "ball-saver" feature is introduced, in part due to laws in the UK (England) governing games of chance.

1996

Gottlieb goes out of business for good.

199?

Sega buys out Data-East

1998

The first pinball machine with a video screen integrated into the design is introduced by Williams in their new "Pinball 2000" series machines.



1999

After just two Pinball 2000 releases, Williams Manufacturing (WMS) exits the pinball machine business for good, but continues on as a maker of gaming devices for the global gambling industry. Also in this year, Gary Stern buys Sega Pinball , renames the combined firms Stern Pinball and continues on as the only pinball producer in the world today.

2005

Newest pinball machine, the Sopranos:

As we have no ratings yet we chose to set up a monthly poll to figure out what pinball machine is favorite. We have set up a poll of five pinball machines for this month. You can choose your favorite. At the end of the month we will make a top 5 and after two months a top 10. After the first months a pinball machine need to get more votes than the number 10 to get into the list. You can also nominate machines under comments for the next months...

But first the five machines for the first month:

Choose your favorite Pinball Machine for this month

33.33% (1 vote) Twiglight Zone

33.33% (1 vote) Addams Family

0% (0 votes) Indiana Jones

33.33% (1 vote) Tales of the Crypt

0% (0 votes) Pinbot

Total: 100% (3 votes)

Lock two balls into the Jailhouse and Rock will start with a three ball multiball...

When playing with more than one pinball, things tend to get a little stressful. These are some of the skills you can use to make multiball a little more manageable:

Detaining

Send balls around long time consuming ramps such or into jet bumpers, so that the ball is out of the way for the time being and you can pay attention to the others.

Deliberate Drain

Most modern multiballs now start with a ball saver, so take advantage of that by just keeping one or two in play and collecting unobstructed jackpots while the trough and the auto kicker take a few seconds to send the balls back onto the playfield.

Trap and Play

Trap a ball with the flipper which is not required for the next Jackpot and attempt to score the Jackpot while holding the trap. This is a good way of getting shots at the Jackpot while unobstructed by the other balls.

Billiard Block

Another advantage of the trap and play is the ability to perform a Billiard Block. If you see that the free ball is heading to leave the playfield, use the trapped ball to knock it out of the way, preferably hitting it on either side, so that neither one of the balls go down the middle.

Escaping a Multitrap

If you have two or more balls trapped on the same flipper, and you need to only free one, you should attempt to escape the Multitrap by hitting the trapping flipper very quickly. This will hopefully cause the outermost ball (the one closest to the tip of the flipper) to do a little slingshot pass while the other balls remain trapped at the base of the flipper.

Of course you need to practise these tricks, But hey, isn't that what it is all about?

The PinGame Journal is America's ONLY Pinball Publication! It covers pinball like no other publication can. Whether you’re looking for new games or the classics, reports on industry shows or collector expos, insight on a game you want or features to help you fix the game you’ve got, the PinGame Journal is for you!

Check yourself:
http://www.pingamejournal.com

Pinbot is one of the most famous pinball machines around. A real classic first made in 1986. Later two other pinball machines came and computer games based on the original Pinbot machine were made and became very populair on the Nintendo's.


bigger picture: pinbot flyer (jpg, 325 KB)

1986 was a good year for pinball. Building on the success of games like Space Shuttle and Comet,
High Speed had taken the amusement world by storm, sending the message that after the lean video
game years, pinball was back! However, this was no time for resting on laurels, as a few dogs
might see this renaissance come juddering to a halt. So at the tail end of 1986 Williams' release of Pinbot was possibly more important than might at first be thought - so was it any good?



Pinbot sports a conventional flipper arrangement,
with return and out lanes on either side. Above the
left slingshot lies a bank of three drop targets,
above which is the ramp entrance. Knock down one drop target and you have a timed period to get the rest to advance the planet value. Feature lights in the centre of the playfield map the solar system from Pluto to the Sun. Each lit planet scores a 20k bonus, while reaching a pre-selected planet, usually Jupiter, scores Special, as does reaching the Sun. If the three targets are not made in time they will reset. With all three standing, a light strobes between them, hitting the lit target first raises the ramp for a timed period. Shooting under the ramp scores the energy value, this is raised by the jet bumpers.



A ramp shot brings the ball around the top of the playfield to the transparent mini-playfield,
which is situated above the jet bumpers. The ball travels bagatelle style through the mini-post
maze that makes up the mini-playfield. The path of the ball through this part of the machine can
only be influenced by nudging. The ball can drop through a hole into the bumper area, enter the
main playfield, drop into the right return lane or proceed to the plunger lane. (Here it will
benefit from the vortex multiplier.) The ramp also increases the solar value (Jackpot) as well
as the bonus multiplier, up to 5X.



At the top of the main playfield is Pinbot's visor, in front of which is a bank of five spot targets. Between the two exits from the bumper area, almost at 90 degrees to the flippers, are another five targets. These correspond with a 5x5 grid of lamps that make up the chest panel of Pinbot. Making all these 25 lights or hitting the flashing line first, causes the visor to rise and the top target bank drops flush with the playfield. This reveals two eject holes, Pinbot's eyes. Locking a ball in each eye causes the game to announce, 'Now I see you' and multiball begins. The idea is to relock one eye and then make the ramp shot to collect the solar value,
which can be anything from 100k to 5M. This sequence can be repeated any number of times but
the solar value will reset to 100k once collected.

Other features of note on the playfield include a spot target above the right slingshot that advances the planet value when lit. In the top left corner is a saucer which scores from 25k through to lighting extra ball. The extra ball can be gained by making the lit return or outlane, and the lit lane may be rotated via the flipper lane change. Finally, located between the flippers is a mini-post which, of course, bounces the ball back into play half as often as
you think it should!



In conclusion, I think Pinbot is a great game. It has powerful looks, even today the light bar atop the backbox draws attention. The raising visor was unique at the time, even if we are now blase
about features like T-Rex eating the balls, or whatever. Williams have seen fit to make two sequels; The Machine, Bride of Pinbot and Jackbot The former was inspired by the success of the original, features mini-playfield, enclosed bumpers and benefits from a few more body parts. The
latter, released in 1995, uses exactly the same playfield as Pinbot, features dot matrix display and has significant changes to the artwork and rules.
Jackbot also utilises the 'Casino Run' feature which has the ability to either significantly benefit your score or take away without warning what you thought you had earned. Which is good when it's
the former option....!

Whatever, these two siblings highlight the quality and innovation of Barry Oursler's original design and there are still many original Pinbot games around - if you are keen on an alpha-numeric game it is defintely rated it as a good machine to own.



Please post locations where to play Pin Bot and of course your personal high scores under comments.

More info on pinbot:
Pinball Database

Sources: Andy's Pinball Page, Pinball Zone