Author: Brandon Korn

Frog and Toad Pinball

Audrey Fuller, Brandon Korn, Gabe Frahm

When creating our physical machine, we wanted to approach a challenge of making something pretty unconventional- a multiplayer game with two connected pinball machines. Initially, there was a lot of discussion about whether we wanted this to be a competitive or cooperative game. There were originally ideas of making a competitive wizard themed pinball game where players would send their opponent additional balls by hitting difficult shots, and if either of the players drained any of the balls on their playfield, they would lose. We discarded this idea for a couple reasons, one of which being the logistics of how we’d send balls to the other player’s side. Ideally, we wanted some way to “unlock” the shot to get a ball to the other side, but we wanted to stay away from moving parts relying on electronic components on our cardboard machine for logistical reasons. The other, and bigger reason, was that one day Audrey wore a Frog and Toad shirt into class and Professor Jacobs commented on it. The three of us discussed how much we liked Frog and Toad, how fun it would be to make a machine based on the IP, and it just felt right to make a cooperative game based on the cooperative spirit of the Frog and Toad brand.

In our discussion, we decided to steer away from a game based on points because, for one, it would be very difficult to track points in a game with no electrical components and may feel stressful, and two, it may cause players to get too focused on their own game and largely ignore the cooperative aspects we were trying to achieve. We decided that a game of “completing objectives” could be much more cooperative and so we decided to design our game around this idea. Each player has an identical playfield, which has multiple holes placed around with specific ways to sink a ball into them. The hole in the top right (visiting the sparrow) is achieved by launching your ball up the log ramp. The hole below it (jumping across lily pads) can be made with a skill-shot. The hole on the left side (picking flowers) can be filled by guiding your ball down a series of spinners (although we have seen players send it in by pure luck and avoiding the fields). The hole at the top (cleaning the house) is one of the most difficult shots to hit, since it requires a high amount of precision and power. The most difficult part of this shot is the hole in the backboard behind it which can send your ball to the other player’s side of the machine. This can prove to be an issue if done accidentally (can potentially overwhelm the other player and require them to send you a new ball), but if done purposefully can provide opportunities for cooperation, and you could also get your ball in your partner’s top hole. One of the most unique parts of our machine is our ball launching system. We subverted how balls are typically delivered to playfields, and modified it to foundationally encourage cooperation- you deliver balls to your partner’s playfield. If you drain a ball and need a new one, you need to communicate this to your opponent and they have to send you a new ball. We made the ramp much longer, and instead of following a curve to the back of your own playfield, it passes through a hole that delivers it to the back of your partner’s field- right above the flower field spinners.

We had multiple ideas for our ruleset, but eventually decided on our current rules of a “blackout” like game. The game is won when both players have put a ball into each of their holes, and they have two minutes and 30 seconds to do it. 2:30 was found to be a lenient enough amount of time to allow players to win without being too stressful, but still provide enough of a challenge to be fun. There are two balls on the playfield at any given time. The typical state of the field is one ball on each playfield, but this can be changed by one player launching a ball through the middle, or if a player drains a ball. If a player drains the ball, it is their responsibility to shout it out to their partner, and for their partner to send them a new ball while making sure they don’t drain the ball they have in play.

The most important part of making the machine come alive was the art and design. Audrey did a fantastic job designing the art on the playfield, and it really pulls the whole thing together. The art on the playfield gives the whole experience a feeling of whimsy, and really helps the players feel encouraged to work together. Many parts of the gameplay experience, such as the log, and flowers, were inspired by the art direction and it makes for a cohesive and fun experience 

The art, layout, ruleset, and cooperative style of our game proved to be highly successful in our playtests. Players were having fun, frequently communicating things they needed like additional balls, but also enthusiastically communicated their successes! We’re overall quite satisfied with this machine, and are excited to see people play it at Imagine RIT, and at the Strong Museum pinball event.

Basket-telle

When I was thinking about what I could design and theme my bagatelle around, I thought about how I would track score, and what seemed the most intuitive option was using buckets. This reminded me of a game I played a lot as a kid, which was a very bagatelle-like game, with buckets and a spring to try and line up the balls into all the buckets. Jungle Safari inspiration shown below:

But also the buckets made me think of basketball, and I decided to go with that theme for the bagatelle. I wanted to emulate the different types of shots in basketball, like bank shots, swish, free throw, and the pocket. The different variety of basketball shot types was my guiding point for the different types of point scoring. 

In my final design, I added to the basketball thematics by laying out the basketball key and labels. I made the swish bucket too short, so that if you just ride the rim it will overshoot and airball, simulating the precision needed for a swish in basketball. In my testing, Air ball is by far the most likely shot that players get, so I adjusted my rules to give players more balls. I initially had players have 3 balls, cause I only had 3 marbles, but too few players would make any baskets. Now, through my own testing, I found that the bagatelle is fairly consistent with practice on it. I was able to pretty consistently make some kind of basket for each shot, although the learning curve takes a good couple games. Most new players would get 5 out of 6 balls as Air balls, but with repeated practice they were able to get on average 3 balls in per play. 

In the final design, I was happy with how it felt super similaiar to playing Jungle Safari, with a lot of skill expression being in the force of the marble shooter. The bank shot acted as a good mechanism to weed out the too weak shots, and the air ball punished the too strong shots, so the game required a lot of precision. The pins were mostly left the same, with only minor placement adjustments for spacing. The pins were really bouncy and it added a lot of pachinko-like randomness when the ball went down the center. There also were more niche strategies that players found during playtesting, with trying to bounce the ball off the shooter mechanism to bunt it into the dunk, which was a fun low percentage shot.

Overall, I am happy with how Basket-telle turned out. Some adjustments I could still make on it would be to round out the shooting lane. The little bump at the top was too inconstant on your initial shot, and I saw other students use tape to smooth that out and have a more consistent and smooth curve to their shot.