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), released 1995.]]Pinball is a type of coin-operated Arcade Game where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more Metal balls on a playfield inside a Glass covered case called a '''pinball machine'''. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible. Secondary objectives are to maximize the time spent playing (by earning ''extra balls'' and keeping balls in play as long as possible) and to earn free games (known as ''replays''). HISTORY OF PINBALL Evolution from outdoor games The origins of pinball are intertwined with the history of many other games. Games played outdoors by rolling balls or stones on a grass course, such as Bocce or Bowls , eventually evolved into games played by hitting the balls with sticks and propelling them at targets. Croquet and Shuffleboard are examples of these games. Eventually the games led to indoor versions that could be played on a table, such as Billiards or Carrom , or on the floor of a pub like Bowling . The tabletop versions of these games eventually became the ancestor of the modern pinball machine. Bagatelle History records the existence of table-based games back to the 15th Century. While some games took the wickets and balls of Croquet and turned them into the pockets of modern billiards, some tables became smaller and had the holes placed in strategic areas in the middle of the table. In France , during the reign of King Louis XIV , someone took a billiard table and narrowed it, placing the pins at one end of the table while making the player shoot balls with a stick or cue from the other end. Pins took too long to reset when knocked down, so the pins eventually became fixed to the table and holes took the place of targets. Players could ricochet the ball off the pins to achieve the harder scoring holes. In 1777 a party was thrown in honor of the King and his wife at the Chateau D'Bagatelle, owned by the brother of the king. The highlight of the party was a new table game featuring the slender table and cue sticks, which players used to shoot ivory balls up an inclined playfield. The table game was dubbed Bagatelle by the King's brother and shortly after swept through France. Some French soldiers carried their favorite bagatelle tables with them to America while helping to fight the British in the American Revolutionary War . Bagatelle spread and became so popular in America as well that a political cartoon from 1863 even depicts President Abraham Lincoln playing a tabletop bagatelle game. The birth of pinball In 1869, a British inventor named Montague Redgrave settled in America and manufactured bagatelle tables out of his factory in Cincinnati, Ohio . In 1871 Redgrave was granted US Patent #115,357 for his "Improvements in Bagatelle" {Link without Title} , which replaced the cue at the player's end of the table with a coiled spring and a plunger. The player shot balls up the inclined playfield using this plunger, a device that remains in pinball to this day. This innovation made the game friendlier to players. The game also shrunk in size and began to fit on top of a bar or counter. The balls became marbles and the wickets became small "pins". Redgrave's innovations in game design are acknowledged as the birth of pinball in its modern form. Modern day pinball Pinball and gambling Pinball machines, like many other mechanical games, were sometimes used as Gambling devices. Some pinball machines, such as Bally's "bingos", featured a grid on the backglass scoring area. Free games could be won if the player was skillful enough to get three balls in a row. However, doing this was nearly Random , and the real use for such machines was for gambling (similar to the way many places now use Video Poker ). Other machines allowed a player to accumulate large numbers of free "games" which could then be redeemed for money. This type of feature was later discontinued, in an effort to legitimize the machines. Some games did away with the free game feature, giving players an extra ball to play in an attempt to legitimize them further (Add-A-Ball games), a feature which was carried over to newer pinball machines which give extra balls in addition to free games. Nevertheless, on occasion pinball games have been regulated or banned, notably in New York City beginning in the 1940s and continuing until 1976, when Roger Sharpe (a star witness for the Music and Amusement Association and known by many to be a superb player), after testifying in April 1976 before a committee in a Manhattan courtroom that pinball games had become games of skill and were no longer games of chance (gambling), began to play one of two games set up in the courtroom, and — in a move he compares to Babe Ruth 's home run in the 1932 World Series — called out precisely what he was going to shoot for, and then proceeded to do exactly so. Astonished committee members reportedly then voted to remove the ban, a result which was then followed in many other cities. Even so, some towns in America still have these bans on the law books over fifty years later. (Sharpe reportedly acknowledges his courtroom shot was ironically lucky.) Most recent games are clearly labeled "''FOR AMUSEMENT ONLY''" so that the manufacturer can emphasize their legitimate, legal nature. Another close relative to pinball is Pachinko , a gambling game played in Japan . Although they share a common ancestry, the games are very different, in that pachinko simply involves shooting many small balls one after the other into a nearly-vertical playfield while pinball is about the manipulation of the small number of balls currently in play. Depression era By the 1930s, manufacturers were producing coin-operated versions of bagatelles, now known as "marble games" or "pin games". The table was under glass and used Redgrave's plunger device to propel the ball into the upper playfield. In 1931 David Gottlieb's ''Baffle Ball'' became the first overnight hit of the coin-operated era. Selling for $17.50, the game dispensed five balls for a penny. The game struck a chord with a public eager for cheap entertainment in a depression-era economy. Most drugstores and taverns in America operated pinball machines, with many locations making back the cost of the game in a matter of days. Baffle Ball sold over 50,000 units and established Gottlieb as the first major manufacturer of pinball machines. In 1932, Gottlieb distributor Ray Moloney found it hard to obtain more Baffle Ball units to sell. In his frustration he founded Lion Manufacturing to produce a game of his own design, ''Ballyhoo'', named after a popular magazine of the day. The game became a smash hit as well, its larger playfield and ten pockets making it more of a challenge than ''Baffle Ball'', selling 50,000 units in 7 months {Link without Title} . Moloney eventually changed the name of his company to Bally to reflect the success of this game. These early machines were relatively small, mechanically simple and originally designed to sit on a counter or bar top. The 1930s saw a leap forward in innovation in pinball design and devices with the introduction of electrification. A company called Pacific Amusements in Los Angeles, California , USA produced a game called ''Contact'' in 1933. ''Contact'' had an electrically powered Solenoid to propel the ball out of a bonus hole in the middle of the playfield. Another solenoid rang a bell to reward the player. The designer of ''Contact'', Harry Williams, would eventually form his own company, Williams Manufacturing , in 1944. Other manufacturers quickly followed suit with similar features. In addition, electric lights soon became a standard feature of all subsequent pinball games, designed to attract people to the game. By the end of 1932 there were approximately 150 companies manufacturing pinball machines, most of them in the city of Chicago . Chicago has been the center of pinball manufacturing ever since. Competition between the companies was brutal, however, and by 1934 there were only 14 companies left. Post-war boom During World War II all of the major manufacturing companies in coin-operated games were put into use manufacturing equipment for the American war effort. Some companies like Williams bought old games from operators and refurbished them, adding new artwork with a patriotic theme. By the end of the war, a generation of Americans looked for amusement in their bars and malt shops. Pinball saw another golden age of growth. Innovations such as the tilt mechanism and free games (known as replays) appeared. The post-war era was dominated by Gottlieb . Game designer Wayne Neyens along with artist Leroy Parker turned out game after game that collectors consider some of the most classic pinball machines ever designed. The most famous were designed by James Rider, the man behind the epitomous catchphrase "I've got it", amongst others. Gottlieb's ''Humpty Dumpty'', introduced in 1947, was the first game to add player-controlled flippers to keep the ball in play longer and added a skill factor to the game. The low power of the ''Humpty Dumpty'' flippers necessitated that three pairs be placed around the playfield in order to get the ball to the top. But the addition of a DC power supply enabled the flippers on ''Humpty Dumpty'' to become only two, more powerful ones at the bottom of the ''Triple Action'' playfield -- one of many innovations by designer Steve Kordek , who is also credited with introducing the very first "drop target" (1962 on ''Vagabond'') and "multiball" (1963 on ''Beat the Clock'') concepts to the game. Solid-state era The advent of the Microprocessor in the early 1970s brought another new age for pinball. The electromechanical Relays and scoring reels that drove games in the 50s and 60s were now replaced with Circuit Board s and digital displays. Companies like Bally thrived in this era, selling large amounts of games with fancy sound effects, speech, and game features that only a computer could make possible. The Video Game fad of the 1980s, however, signaled the end of the boom for pinball. Arcades quickly replaced rows of pinball machines with games like '' Asteroids '' and '' Pac-Man '', which earned incredible amounts of money compared to the pinballs of the day and required much less mechanical maintenance. Bally, Williams, and Gottlieb continued to quietly make pinballs while they also manufactured video games in much higher numbers. Many of the larger companies were acquired by corporations or merged with other companies. Chicago Coin was purchased by the Stern family who brought the company into the digital era as Stern Enterprises, which closed its doors in the mid-1980s. Bally exited the pinball business in 1988 and sold their assets to Williams, who subsequently used the Bally trademark on about half of their pinball releases from then on. Pinball in the digital age After the collapse of the coin-operated video game industry, pinball saw another comeback in the 1990s. Some new manufacturers entered the field such as Capcom Pinball and Alvin G. and Company, founded by Alvin Gottlieb, son of David Gottlieb. Gary Stern, the son of Williams co-founder Sam Stern, founded Data East Pinball with funding from Data East Japan. The games from Williams now dominated the industry, with complicated mechanical devices and more elaborate display and sound systems attracting new players to the game. Licensing popular movies and icons of the day became a staple for pinball, with Bally/Williams' ''''. Expanding markets in Europe and Asia helped fuel the boom. Pat Lawlor was a designer, working for Williams up until their closure in 1999. About a year after, Lawlor announced a return to the industry, starting his own company (Pat Lawlor Design) working in conjunction with Stern Pinball to produce new games into the new millennium. The end of the 1990s saw another downturn in the industry, with Gottlieb, Capcom, and Alvin G. all closing their doors by the end of 1996. Data East was acquired by . By this time, Williams had shrunk its production runs significantly and reduced the manufacturing cost of their machines by incorporating fewer playfield toys than in earlier games. In 1999 Williams attempted to revive sales with the Pinball 2000 line of games, merging a video display into the pinball playfield. The reception was lukewarm and Williams exited the pinball business to focus on making gaming equipment for casinos, licensing the rights to Bally/Williams parts to Illinois Pinball and names to The Pinball Factory. Stern Pinball is the only current manufacturer of pinball machines. Almost all members of the design teams for Stern Pinball are former employees of Williams. Rebirth In November 2005 The Pinball Factory (TPF), based in and Cactus Canyon. Pinball News article on The Pinball Factory's rereleases To date the Pinball Factory has produced no machines. Illinois pinball company PinBall Manufacturing Inc. has produced several reproductions of Capcom's Big Bang Bar for the European market and continues to build machines for the U.S. Pinball News article on Big Bang Bar Pinball News article on Big Bang Bar update Competitive pinball has become increasingly popular with the creation of the International Flipper Pinball Assosciation (IFPA) and the World Pinball Player Rankings (WPPR) . The IFPA is run by Roger Sharpe and Steve Epstein, while the WPPR is run by Roger's son, Josh. Together, their goal is to promote competitive and non-competitive pinball throughout the world. The current #1 player, according to the WPPR, is Keith Elwin, from California. He is trailed by #2 from Stockholm, Sweden, Mats Runsten. The current PAPA (Professional-Amateur Pinball Assosciation) World Champion is Lyman Sheats. Current Junior (16 and under) and Senior (50 and over) World Champions are Ethan Blonder and Rick Prince, respectively. Several competitive pinball leagues have been formed in recent years to encourage friendly competition and to keep pinball in the public eye. These leagues exist everywhere from the Free State Pinball Association (FSPA) in the Washington, DC area to the Tokyo Pinball Organization (TPO) in Japan. MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR Regular maintenance of a pinball machine can keep it running smoothly and maintain its resale value. Many maintenance tasks are relatively simple. Maintenance includes cleaning and waxing of the playfield, cleaning switches and replacing the pinball(s) and batteries. For those wishing to maintain or repair their machine, there are many sources of information on the Internet. PINBALL IN POPULAR CULTURE Pinball games have frequently been featured in Popular Culture , often as a symbol of rebellion or toughness. Perhaps the most famous instance is the Rock Opera album '' Tommy '' (1969) by British band The Who , which centers on the title character, a "deaf, dumb, and blind kid", who nevertheless becomes a " Pinball Wizard " and who later uses pinball as a symbol and tool for his messianic mission. (The album was subsequently made into a movie and stage play.) ''Wizard'' has since moved into popular usage as a term for an expert pinball player. Things came full circle when Bally created the Wizard pinball game featuring Ann-Margret and The Who's Roger Daltrey on the backglass. In the movie version, Tommy plays a Gottlieb '' Kings and Queens '' machine, while The Champ plays a Gottlieb '' Buckaroo '' machine. In 1974, students at Jersey City State College wanted to make pinball playing a varsity school sport, like Football was, so they started a Pinball Club Team to compete against clubs at other schools. Of the two schools that were asked to participate, only St. Peter's College took up the challenge. Article about the Jersey City State College pinball club Other examples of pinball in pop culture include:
FEATURES OF A PINBALL GAME See Also: Glossary of pinball terms Playfield The ''playfield'' is a -loaded rod that strikes the ball as it rests in an entry lane, or as in some newer games, by a button that signals the game logic to fire a Solenoid that strikes the ball. With both devices the result is the same: The ball is propelled upwards onto the playfield. Once a ball is in play, it tends to move downward towards the player, although the ball can move in any direction, sometimes unpredictably, as the result of contact with objects on the playfield or by the player's own actions. To return the ball to the upper part of the playfield, the player makes use of one or more ''flippers''. Manipulation of the ball may also be accomplished by nudging (physically pushing the cabinet). However, excessive nudging is generally penalized by the loss of the current player's turn (known as ''tilting'') or ending of the entire game when the nudging is particularly violent (known as ''slam tilting''). Many games also have a slam tilt in the bottom of the lower cabinet to end the game if the cabinet is raised and dropped to the floor in an attempt to falsely trigger the coin counting switch. Plunger The ''plunger'' is a Spring -loaded rod with a small handle, used to propel the ball into the playfield. The player can control the amount of Force used for launching by pulling the plunger a certain distance (thus changing the spring Compression ). This is often used for a "skill shot", in which a player attempts to launch a ball so that it exactly hits a specified target. Once the ball is in motion in the main area of the playfield, the plunger is not used again until another ball must be brought onto the playfield. In modern machines, an Electronically-controlled launcher is sometimes substituted for the plunger. Flippers The ''flippers'' are one or more small mechanically or electromechanically-controlled levers, roughly 3 to 7 cm in length, used for redirecting the ball up the playfield. They are the main control that the player has over the ball. Careful timing and positional control allows the player to intentionally direct the ball in a range of directions with various levels of velocity. With the flippers, the player attempts to move the ball to hit various types of scoring targets, and to keep the ball from disappearing off the bottom of the playfield. The very first pinball games appeared in the early 1930s and did not have flippers; after launch the ball simply proceeded down the playfield, directed by static nails (or "pins") to one of several scoring areas. (These pins gave the game its name). In 1947, the first mechanical flippers appeared on Gottlieb's Humpty Dumpty and by the early 1950s, the familiar two-flipper configuration, with the flippers at the bottom of the playfield above the center drain, had become standard. The new flipper ushered in the "golden age" of pinball, where the fierce competition between the various pinball manufacturers led to constant innovation in the field. Various types of stationary and moving targets were added, spinning scoring reels replaced games featuring static scores lit from behind. Multiplayer scores were added soon after, and then bells and other noise-makers, all of which began to make pinball less a game and more of an experience. The flippers have loaned pinball its common name in many languages, where the game is known mainly as "flipper". Backglass The ''backglass'' is a vertical graphic panel mounted on the front of the backbox, which is the upright box at the top back of the machine. The backglass contains the name of the machine, eye-catching or character and the backglass art reflects this theme to attempt the attention of players. Recent machines are typically "tied-in" to other enterprises such as a popular Film Series , Toy , or Brand Name . The entire machine is designed to be as eye-catching as possible to attract players and their quarters; every possible space is filled with colorful graphics, blinking lights, and themed objects, and the backglass is usually the first artwork the players see from a distance. Since the artistic value of the backglass may be quite impressive, it is not uncommon for enthusiasts to use a deep frame around a backglass (with a light behind it) and hang it on a wall after the rest of the game is discarded. Scoring Points Contact with or manipulation of scoring elements (such as targets or ramps) scores points for the player. Electrical switches embedded in the scoring elements detect contact and relay this information to the scoring mechanism. Older pinball machines used an Electromechanical system for scoring wherein a pulse from a switch would cause a complex mechanism composed of Relays to ratchet up the score. In later games these tasks have been taken over by Semiconductor chips and displays are made on electronic segmented or Dot Matrix Display s. Pinball scoring can be peculiar and varies greatly from machine to machine. During the 1930s and the 1940s, lights mounted behind the painted backglasses were used for scoring purposes, making the scoring somewhat arbitrary. (Frequently the lights represented scores in the hundreds of thousands.) Then later, during the 1950s and 1960s when the scoring mechanism was limited to mechanical wheels, high scores were frequently only in the hundreds ''or'' thousands. (Although, in an effort to keep with the traditional high scores attained with the painted backglass games, the first pinball machines to use mechanical wheels for scoring, such as Army Navy , allowed the score to reach into the millions by adding a number of permanent zeros to the end of the score.) The average score changed again in the 1970s with the advent of electronic displays. Average scores soon began to commonly increase back into tens or hundreds of thousands. Since then, there has been a trend of scoring inflation, with modern machines often requiring scores of over a billion points to win a free game. At the peak of this trend, two machines, Johnny Mnenomic and Attack From Mars, have been played into the trillions. In 1990, the Bally pinball machine Dr. Dude made fun of this trend, offering the player a chance to score a "Gazillion" point jackpot. Another recent curiosity is the 1997 Bally game NBA Fastbreak which, true to its theme, awards points in terms of a real Basketball score: Each successful shot can give from one to three points. Getting a hundred points by the end of a game is considered respectable, which makes it one of the ''lowest'' scoring pinball machines of all time. The "scoring inflation" trend continued until the 1996 release of ''Tales of the Arabian Nights'', where all points would shrink over 100-fold. For example, replay scores that used to be in the billions have now shrunk to usually no more than 30 million. The inflated scores are the source of one of the Spanish-language names of pinball machines, ''máquina del millón'' ("million machine"). MACHINE LAYOUT The key attribute of a successful pinball game is an interesting and challenging layout of scoring opportunities. Many types of targets and features have been developed over the years. Common scoring targets and other playfield features include: Bumpers
Slingshots
Ramps
Targets
Holes and Saucers
Spinners and Rollovers
Switches and One Way Doors
Toys, Magnets and Captive Balls
Features There are other idiosyncratic features on many pinball playfields. Pinball games have become increasingly complex and multiple play modes, multi-level playfields, and even progression through a rudimentary "plot" have become common features on recent games. Pinball scoring objectives can be quite complex and require a series of targets to be hit in a particular order. Recent pinball games are distinguished by increasingly complex rule sets that require a measure of strategy and planning by the player for maximum scoring. Common features in modern pinball games include the following:
::When a machine says "SHOOT AGAIN" on the scoreboard, it means that you have an extra ball to shoot. In a multiplayer game, the player who just lost his ball is the same one to shoot again.
Special Scores
Pinball designers also entice players with the chance to win an extra game or ''replay''. Ways to get a replay might include:
When an extra game is won, the machine typically makes a single loud bang, most often with a Solenoid that strikes a piece of metal, or the side of the cabinet, with a rod, known as a ''knocker'', or less commonly with Loudspeaker s. Solenoids (or coils as they're sometimes called) are found in every modern pinball machine since the flipper age. These are usually hidden under the playfield, or covered by playfield components. By applying power to the coil, the magnetic field created by electromagnetism causes a metal object (usually called a plunger) to move. The plunger is then connected to a feature or accessory on the playfield. The most common example of where solenoids are used are the flippers, which actually contain two coil windings in one package; a power-winding to give the flipper it's initial thrust up, and a hold winding that uses lower power and essentially just holds the flipper up allowing the player to capture the ball in the inlane for more precise aiming. In older machines this is mechanically controlled using switches mounted next to the flipper hardware. Modern machines use computers to control this, making the switch almost unnecessary as the computer can change the power based on timing; however, machines still include these. Solenoids also control such things as pop-bumpers, kickbacks, droptargets, and many other features on the machine. PLAYING TECHNIQUES The primary skill of pinball involves application of the proper timing and technique to the operation of the flippers, nudging the playfield when appropriate without tilting, and choosing targets for scores or features. A skilled player can quickly "learn the angles" and gain a high level of control of ball motion, even on a table they've never played. A placard is usually placed in a lower corner of the playfield. It may simply show pricing information, but should also show critical details about special scoring techniques. This information is vital to achieving higher scores; it typically describes a series of events that must take place (e.g., shoot right ramp and left drop targets to light 'extra ball' rollover). Learning these details makes the game more fun and challenging. With practice -- and a table in good operating condition -- a player can often achieve specific targets and higher scores as well as trigger exciting events. If you discover a faulty playfield feature (a saucer that ejects the ball right between the flippers, weak flipper, dead bumper, etc.), report it. Features are adjustable, and the operator likely doesn't know why this game is earning poorly. Contact information in the form of a phone number should be available on the machine. Nudging Skillful players can influence the movement of the ball by nudging or bumping the pinball machine, a technique known as "nudging." There are tilt mechanisms which guard against excessive manipulation of this sort. The mechanisms generally include; a grounded plumb bob centered in an electrified Steel ring - when the machine is jostled too far or too hard, the bob bumps up against the ring, completing a circuit; an electrified ball on a slight ramp with a grounded post at the top of the ramp - when the front of the machine is lifted (literally, tilted) too high, the ball rolls to the top of the ramp and completes the circuit; and an impact sensor – usually located on the coin door, the playfield and/or the cabinet itself. When one of these sensors is activated, the game registers a "tilt" and locks out, disabling solenoids for the flippers and other playfield systems so that the ball can do nothing other than roll all the way down the playfield to the drain. A tilt will usually also result in the loss of any bonus points earned by the player during that ball. Older games would immediately end the ball in play on a tilt. Modern games give tilt warnings before sacrificing the ball in play. The number of tilt warnings can be adjusted by the operator/owner of the machine. Until recently most games also had a "slam tilt" switch which guarded against kicking or slamming the Coin Mechanism , which could give a false indication that a coin had been inserted, thereby giving a "free" game or credit. Apparently, this feature was recently taken out by default in new Stern S.A.M System games. However, it can be added as an option. A slam tilt will typically end the current game for all players. Trapping Skilled players can also hold a ball in place with the flipper, giving them more control over where they want to place the ball when they shoot it forward. This is known as "trapping". This technique involves catching the ball in the corner between the base of the flipper and the wall to its side, just as the ball falls towards the flipper; the flipper is then released, which allows the ball to roll slowly downward against the flipper. The player then chooses the moment to hit the flipper again, timing the shot as the ball slides slowly against the flipper. Multi-ball games, in particular, reward trapping techniques. Usually this is done by trapping one or more balls out of play with one flipper, then using the other flipper to score points with the remaining ball or balls. Once a player has successfully trapped a ball, they may then attempt to "juggle" the ball to the other flipper. This is done by tapping the flipper button quickly enough so that the trapped ball is knocked back at an angle of less than 90 degrees into the bottom of the nearest slingshot. The ball will then often bounce across the table to the other flipper, where the ball may then be hit (or trapped) by the opposite flipper. Occasionally a pinball machine will have a pin or post placed directly between the two bottom flippers. When this feature is present, the advanced player may then attempt to perform a "chill maneuver" when the ball is heading directly toward the pin by opting ''not'' to hit a flipper. If successful, this will cause the ball to bounce up and back into play. A related move, the "dead flipper pass," is performed by ''not'' flipping when a ball is heading toward a flipper. If done properly, the ball will bounce off the "dead" flipper, across to the other flipper, where it may be trapped and controlled. One controversial technique for saving the ball is called a "death save" or "bangback". Very few pinball players can successfully perform this advanced technique. The death save may only be performed when a ball has dropped through an outlane and is heading down toward the drain. If the timing is exactly correct, a player may hold a flipper up and then nudge the machine hard enough (but not so hard as to tilt the machine) to pop the ball back up into play on to the opposite flipper. Usually the death save is performed by kicking one of the legs of the machine with great force, which is why the move is unpopular with many players, and is often strongly frowned upon by less experienced arcade operators. More recent machines have recognized this maneuver as a legitimate one though, even going so far as to grant the player a point reward for a successful death save. Skilled players can often play on a machine for long periods of time on a single coin. By earning extra balls, a single game can be stretched out for a long period, and if the player is playing well he or she can earn replays by points and possibly also free games, known as "specials". In such cases, a player may even walk away from a machine with several games left on it. Cheating Occasionally, a player may try to obtain free games by attaching a piece of string to a coin and lowering it to the counter switch, then raise and lower it to obtain free credits. This is actually quite difficult to do, since a coin acceptor mechanism is designed to reject anything other than a true coin, and uses thickness, diameter, weight and inertia as tests. A slow-moving coin on a string is simply treated as a Slug and rejected. Even if it works, a savvy operator will compare the coins to the credits counter and install an inexpensive 'string cutter' razor, so the cheater's victory is short-lived. If discovered in an attempt, the offender will likely be banned from the establishment. Slugs made from hammered metal pieces or foreign coins are sometimes tried. As soon as the operator finds them in the coin box, multiple adjustments on the acceptor mechanism will be fine-tuned to be less forgiving, stopping that activity. Electromechanical pinball machines manufactured by Williams (until approximately 1973) had a wiring anomaly which could be exploited with one or more credits remaining on the game reel. By depositing a single coin and pressing the reset button one-quarter to one-half second later, up to five games could be obtained. Some early (late '70's) computerized games could be fooled into giving free credits by switching the power off and on quickly, or applying a static shock to the coin door. These issues were quickly fixed, and today, may cause existing credits to be removed. Sometimes, a faulty playfield item will bounce or switch to rack up extra points that are not earned. While initially exciting to get something for nothing, the result is that a solenoid may be destroyed in the process of constant triggering, taking the game out of service. Besides, it takes a long time to make up a million points with a 100-point slingshot, and has nothing to do with luck or skill. If found, it should be reported so it can be repaired before causing damage. UNIQUE PINBALL FEATURES
COMPUTER PINBALL SIMULATION Pinball on a PC Simulating a pinball machine has also been a popular theme of Computer Game s, most famously when Bill Budge wrote '' Pinball Construction Set '' for the Apple II in 1983. While there had been earlier pinball video games, such as ''Pinball'' for the Atari 2600, ''Pinball Construction Set'' was the first program that allowed the user to create his own simulated pinball machine and then play it. Most early simulations were top-down 2D . As Processor and graphics capabilities have improved, more accurate ball physics and 3D pinball simulations have become possible (though a truly convincing model of pinball Physics and control has remained elusive). Tilting has also been simulated, which can be activated using one or more keys (sometimes the space bar) for "moving" the table. Flipper button computer peripherals were also released, allowing pinball fans to add an accurate feel to their game play instead of using the Keyboard or Mouse . Today, video game players and computer users can find pinball simulators for practically every platform and operating system. Notable pinball simulators There have been released for all major home video game and computer systems. While not every simulator made will be listed here, the following simulators are notable:
PINBALL FIRSTS ''Note: Be aware that some items in this list may be disputed by pinball collectors, based on various criteria, including design vs production dates in which games designed with a feature may have had their production delayed until after a later designed game with a similar feature.''
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