Video Pinball

Ok Atari fanatics, it is time to put on The Who, and play some pinball. With Video Pinball for the Atari 2600.

This was the first of several pinball games released for the 2600. It is fun, and has great replay value, but it cannot hold a candle to Midnight Magic (which is the definitive Atari pinball game). Gameplay is simple, as can be expected from a pinball title. Use the joystick to control the flippers. The red button can be used to "nudge" the machine (be careful not to tilt the machine).

This game does have a couple problems. The first one is that the playfield is a lot wider than it is tall (that is just plain wrong). The second is that the ball will often bounce around for minutes before it will come down towards the flippers (a better physics model could have fixed that).

____________________________________________________
|    1          1                          002901  |
|__________________________________________________|
|                                                  |
|                        _____                     |
| |    |     |          |     |       |     |    | |
| |    |  1  |          |  1  |       |  $  |    | |
| |    |     |          |     |       |     |    | |
| |                     -------                  | |
| |                                              | |
| |              *       _______                 | |
| |     _____           _______        _____     | |
| |    |     |                        |     |    | |
| |    |  1  |                        |  1  |    | |
| |    |     |                        |     |    |+|
| |    -------         /              -------    |+|
| |___________________/         _________________|+|
|                              /                  +|
|_____________________________/___________________+|

How many of you out there have always longed to be a pinball wizard? It's a good bet that some of the places you had to go to play a game of pinball weren't the most comfortable for you. Well, relax. Since you were wise enough to invest in this ATARI VIDEO PINBALL Game Program, you'll never have to worry about being at places with that kind of unsavoury atmosphere again.

VIDEO PINBALL has the challenge and the excitement of standard pinball games, and it doesn't have any idea what a quarter is. So not only are you spared the unpleasant task of stuffing quarters into hungry machines, you have the comfort and the well-being of your home. What more could a pinball enthusiast ask for? And as for you pinball wizards, don't think you can master this one lickety-split. It'll be a while before your wiz rating is restored and in full swing.

Just in case you're a pinball rookie, there's only one thing you need to know. You're going to love it. You may have stayed away from the more traditional places of pinball habitation in the past, but now you're going to see why so many other people have gone goofy with "pinball madness". As a matter of fact, you'll probably catch the fever yourself within about 20 minutes.

So take a deep breath, turn up the stereo, and jump right into VIDEO PINBALL. One more thing. Better get yourself a piggy bank for all those quarters you're going to save.

There were 2 different label variations on this title (2 different pictures, with a different font on the edn label also). Sears also produced a clone of this game entitled Arcade Pinball. This game is valued at around $2 USD. As always, games with boxes and manuals are worth more.