How to play Video Pinball online
- Pull back the plunger: hold the down arrow
- Launch the ball: Space bar
- Left flipper / right flipper: left arrow / right arrow
- Both flippers at once: up arrow
- Nudge the table: hold Space and press an arrow key
- Start a new game: F12 (the consoleās Reset switch)
- Choose a game variation: F11 (the consoleās Select switch)
- Expert or novice table: F4 toggles the Player 1 difficulty switch
Gameplay
Each player gets three balls. You keep the ball in play with the two flippers at the bottom and try to hit as many scoring targets as possible before it drains. Nudging lets you push the ball away from a drain, but nudge too often and the game tilts: the top of the screen turns red, the flippers freeze and nothing scores until the ball is lost. A tilt also cancels any extra ball you had earned.
| Target | Points |
|---|---|
| Spinner | 1 per hit |
| Drop target | 100 |
| Bumper | 100 Ć the number shown in the bumper |
| ATARI rollover | 100, raises the bonus multiplier; four hits earn an extra ball |
| Left rollover | 100, plus 1,000 bonus per pass (up to 4,000) when the ball drains |
| Flashing target between the lower bumpers | 1,000 |
The bumpers are the key to big scores. The number inside them goes up each time you knock down all the diamond-shaped drop targets, so clearing the diamonds makes every later bumper hit worth more. The flashing target between the lower bumpers stays lit for only four seconds at a time.
Variations and switches
- Games 1 and 3: one player
- Games 2 and 4: two players, taking turns
- Games 1 and 2: the bumper value you build up carries over from ball to ball
- Games 3 and 4: the bumper value goes back to the start with each new ball
The difficulty switch changes the table itself. Position B is meant for beginners. Position A, for experts, adds two extra drain holes at the bottom of the playfield.
Tips
- Clear the diamonds early. In games 1 and 2 the higher bumper value stays for the rest of the game, so every set of diamonds you clear pays off for longer.
- Chase the ATARI rollover. It raises your bonus multiplier and gives an extra ball after four hits, but only one extra ball per turn.
- Nudge in short taps. One nudge at the right moment can save a ball; several in a row will likely tilt the table and cost you the extra ball too.
- Start on B. The expert tableās extra drains make balls disappear much faster.
The story behind Video Pinball
Bob Smith joined Atari in the late 1970s and chose Video Pinball from a list of projects offered by his manager, Dennis Koble. Atari already had an arcade game called Video Pinball from 1979, which Smith played at the company, but his main model was a real table: Atariās own Superman pinball machine.
The game was a commercial hit, and Smith received a bonus of $6,000 for it. Critics were less sure it felt like real pinball. A 1982 guide compared it unfavourably with the arcade machine, and Retro Gamer later called it closer to āBreakout with bumpersā, while admitting it played well. The ball physics are simple, but as a fast score-chasing game it still works.
