Pinball
Pinball is a type of arcade game. In pinball, the player tries to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine.[1] The main objective of the game is to score as many points as the player can. Other objectives are to play as long as possible (by earning extra balls and keeping the ball in play as long as possible) and to earn free games (known as replays).
From the 1940s through the 1970s pinball was banned in many American cities because it was thought to be a game of chance and therefore was considered gambling.[2] The ban stopped in New York City in 1976, when Roger Sharpe, a player renowned for his talent, played so well in front of the City Council that he convinced them that pinball was indeed a game of skill, not just of luck.[3]
Pinball Media
- A rebuilt Terminator 2 pinball machine by Wayne Patrick Finn Melbourne Australia. 38.jpg
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, 1991 pinball machine designed by Steve Ritchie
- Niger, Filingué (44), local pinball game.jpg
A self-made pinball game being played in Niger
- Early Pinball.jpg
Billard japonais, Alsace, France c. 1750–70. It already has a spring mechanism to propel the ball, 100 years before Montague Redgrave's patent.
- Patent model for the Montague Redgrave's bagatelle.jpg
Patent model for U.S. Patent #115,357
- Flipper1948.jpg
An early pinball game without flippers, c. 1932
- Visible Pinball III - Pacific Pinball Museum cropped.jpg
A clear-walled electromechanical pinball machine created by the Pacific Pinball Museum to illustrate the inner workings of a typical pinball machine
- Pinball 3web.jpg
Pinball machines at the Pacific Pinball Museum
- Pinball Flippers - Demolition Man.JPG
Flippers allow the player to redirect the ball.
- Pinball Slingshot - The Machine.JPG
Slingshots have rubber bands around them. Switches behind the rubber detect the ball's impact and a solenoid-driven lever kicks it away.
References
- ↑ "pinball machine (game) - Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2011-11-01.
- ↑ Porges, Seth. "11 Things You Didn't Know About Pinball History." Popular Mechanics: n. pag. Popular Mechanics. Web. 18 Dec. 2012. <http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/toys/4328211-new#slide-5>.
- ↑ Haack, Warren. "Vintage Pinball History: Museum Newsletter." Pacific Pinball Museum. Pacific Pinball Museum, 2012. Web. 18 Dec. 2012. <http://pacificpinball.org/component/content/article/72 Archived 2012-12-30 at the Wayback Machine>.
Other websites
- Internet Pinball Database
- Clips from Pinball Basics DVD
- #pinball on AfterNET (IRC channel all about Pinball)
