The Blog of the Pinball History and Design Class at RIT
At the strong I had a version that fixed many issues. I had a few kids play it and many of them were even able to increment the song. theedd highest score that day was 950k+. What I learned is that kids like the music on my machine more.
Shoot the drop targets down for a multiplier increase 2,3,4… on all point values. Shoot the U loop to increase the flat point value of everything before multiplier. I got rid of a kicker feedback loop up top in favor of the more classic bumper layout and an open shot on the drop targets. This should lead to higher scores and more fun games.
I tried to keep the shots interesting by putting a bumper between you and the drop targets. Sometimes you will need to bounce it off of a bumper to make the shot on the target. Additionally, you can make the right ramp to clear them. Additionally, you can score by hitting the right wall and the u-loop. The teleporter can only be made off the wall.
The Yeti pinball machine was a true labor of love. Overall, I probably should have made the ramp out of cardboard and it would have taken less time.the buttons I used ended up hard to push with the ball but still very doable. If I were to do it again I’d buy some more sensitive switches.
As far as layout goes I am very happy with how this plays. The spring was inconsistently responsive at some points during tests, but no one said anything in testing.(Yay!) I wish I could have put some electronics on the second floor.
The scoring system was flashy and cool, but it could have communicated better with the player given more time. Overall though, I am very happy with what I came up with.
Mountaineer Madness has a 4 lane design that slowly ramps intensity as the game goes on. The goal of the game is to lock your balls in the opponents gutter. when you send it over the ramp at the top right it comes out of your opponents top left lane and bounces around obstacles putting the ball in a pretty bad spot. in the left middle lane there is a “boulder zone” where you can free a ball and bounce your shot around. There is a ball lock mechanism on the right side of the table. when releasing a ball it bounces out off of the rubber band to its right and comes to the center. The last element is the campfire ball. You want to try your best to avoid this ball because it is enemy colored. when you re shoot you must re-fill the campfire.
The Pocket-Bocce playtest showed me a lot about the machine. I tested in class with everyone and I got a chance to show it at a party of non-game majors at a bar. As a bar-side game Pocket Bocce is absolutely fantastic. It holds up to four players and makes a great conversation piece. The greatest criticism I got of Pocket Bocce was the lack of theming. This became irrelevant at the bar because the black-lights made the book covers glow in the dark and super cool.
The Overall feedback on the machine was that it needed to be prettier. A few other noteworthy complaints were that the rules weren’t written on the machine. The sand trap wasn’t really super fun. It was a welcome necessary evil at best. We eventually decided on a rule that if no one liked the position of the white ball the shooter may shoot again. we eventually did implement a plum-bob on the left side of the table using the extra golf tee. when you knocked it off you lost that ball. If you knocked it off while shooting the white ball you could no longer shoot it for the rest of the round.
The last and trickiest bit of feedback was that 5 points was too many. In the play-test in class a few people told me that they felt that way. When trying 4 or 3 at the party everyone complained of games going too short. I then decided to leave the score to win at 5 because that got the least complaints.
Pocket Bocce was a simple attempt to bring bocce to bagatelle. I used hills to facilitate a more granular playfield and give it a more natural feeling when it goes down the ramp.
the goal is to get close to a given white ball in the same format as bocce. Draining means shooting again although it isn’t too common.
the aesthetics have become a mish-mosh of vacation and golf. I plan on adding some more color to the ground with some construction paper.
I’ve since added a pin row to the top and changed up the bottom for space reasons. Lastly I’ve included a toggle-able wall near the top of the launcher to facilitate agency at the begging of the match. Using a wall seems more skill based as opposed to the pin.
Cirqus Voltaire(1997)
ipdb:https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=4059
Manufacturer: Midway
the first thing you notice about cirqus voltaire is the simultaniusly pleasing and obnoxiously bright color pallet. Pink on green everywhere.
it reminds me of a versus game(MvC etc.)
the first notable feature I found was this ringmaster
Truly brilliant. He will magnetize and catch your ball, then emerge from the ground and toss it randomly. It landed on a rail and flew down to my flipper. I was as giddy as a boy again to whack that ringmasters face for points.
the second feature i noticed was this ball
As far as I can tell, it gives you no points. That’s fine because it was a great pace setter. The ball would hit the circus ball and drip down the left of the machine. The point of this ball is to seemingly highlight that not everything needs to give points to be fun. Sometimes just adding a bit of luck or challenge is enough.
oh and here are the rules
