Hi Thomas,
That was a great description of a classic pinball table. However almost all of
the pinball tables that I played in the sixties, seventies and eighties did
also have shoots on the far left and right hand sides. Actually twin shoots.
The far left and right shoots the ball if it went down them would end up going
down the same hole as if it had come down between your flippers. The shoots
just inside those shoots the ball would roll down and roll onto your flippers.
If you didn't press the button to flip your flipper the ball would roll off of
the flipper and go down the hole. You could also hold your flipper in the up
position and the ball might instead of bouncing off of the flipper roll up it
and up the shoot. The far right shoot was just inside of the launcher shoot.
I'm pretty sure that way back then we would get 5 balls for a quarter. And
then there were tables with two or more sets of flippers. And into the
eighties there were multi level tables and there could be more than one ball in
play at a time. There were also round bumpers and flat sided bumpers with
bells as well as targets to hit that would retract when your ball hit them for
points. I also liked this one game that had upper shoots. They had spinner
gates and buttons up them. So if you used your flipper and sent the ball up
them real fast, the spinner gate would spin and spin racking up points and the
further the ball went up the shoot the more buttons it would hit and give you
more points. You could send the ball up so hard that it would come out of the
shoot at the top of the table and be as if you had sent it up the launcher
shoot. There were also little holes that your ball could land in, get spun and
shoot out in any direction. This one table just had a rubber pad in the center
of the table that would change the direction of your ball. There was just an
endless variety of different pinball table configurations.
----- Original Message -----
Hi Lelia,
Actually, pinball is all about trying to position the ball so you can
hit various bumpers with scores marked on them. Every bumper you hit has
a specific score that adds to your total score. I'm assuming here you
have been blind from birth so have never actually seen a pinball table.
So i'll try to describe it in detail below.
A classic pinball table is a long retangle two maybe three feet long
with a glass top on it which you can look into the machine. On the far
right hand side is a long narrow chamber with a pully thingy on it where
you launch the balls from. In the center of the table is various bumbers
standing up with all kinds of scores on them. The harder a bumper is to
hit with the ball the higher the score marked on it. Similarly the
easiest ones to hit with the ball have low scores marked on them. At the
bottom of the table where you are sitting are two buttons on the table
top that move the flippers. There are two flippers that guard a hole
into wich your ball can get bounced causing you to lose a ball. These
flippers serve two purposes. Besides defending the hole where your ball
can get bounced into you can use them to direct the ball towards the
bumpers thus racking up your score.
How you play the game is you start by launching the ball from the
launcher on the right-hand side of the pinball table. At the beginning
of every pinball game you are given atotal of three balls to start with.
Though, only one ball at a tme can be in play at any given time. You use
the flippers to guard the hole as well as bounce the ball into the
bumpers on the table. Depending on the angle and how hard the flipper
hits the ball you will hopefully send the ball towards one of the
bumpers on the table. When you miss a ball and it falls into the hole at
the end of the table you lose a ball. The object of the game is to get
the highest score possible.
Now, like classic pinball machines games like PBC allows you to play at
various specially themed pinball tables. You can pick tables like
Pacman, Haunted House, the Wild West, etc.
Jim
Once you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.
[email protected]
http://www.kitchensinc.net
(440) 286-6920
Chardon Ohio USA
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