Idea: Pinball machine for little kids
Joshua Lehan
I had an idea for a pinball machine for little kids... Gottlieb and
Alvin G. tried it a few times, but never got it quite right...
Here's what I'd have. It's a game I thought up, called "Bumperball"!
I'd have the squarish, small size of the cabinet Gottlieb used for their
Super Mario Bros. kid game (not the full-size version) and a few other
games (Bell Ringer, etc.). The playfield would be not more than two
feet off the ground.
The game would be very simple. There'd be two flippers in the middle,
and the ball (there'd be only one) would rest in a saucer below them.
When the game's started, the ball is kicked out between the flippers,
like Baby Pac-Man. There'd be no plunger or plunger lane.
Where the lockdown bar is on a conventional machine, I'd have two large
flipper buttons just below the flippers. The buttons would be around 6
inches in diameter, each, and they'd have lights underneath them.
There'd also be side buttons on this game, for any junior pinball
purists.
When the child puts his quarter in, the game would *immediately* start.
No trying to find the start button, and wondering why the machine is
"broken" because it won't start. (Why did some machines in the 60's
automatically start, but they don't do it now?) The buttons would
immediately start flashing! A friendly voice would yell, "Let's play
Bumperball!". like that voice in Super Bank-It that yells to play
basketball. Then the machine would say "Hit the buttons!" as the
buttons start flashing.
The playfield would have NO outlanes. The slingshots would be angled 45
degrees or more, to really kick the ball back up the playfield. The
playfield would be nothing but bumpers!! Each bumper would light up
when hit, and stay lit. In addition, there'd be a strobe light on the
top of each bumper, like the UFO's in Attack From Mars.
It'd be a ticket redemption game. There'd be a scoreboard on the
backglass, 3 digits, and very large (6-inch high numbers, or more).
Each bumper would award exactly one point. During the game, the game
would spit out one ticket for each 5-or-so bumpers hit
(operator-adjustable), in addition to larger ticket payouts at various
point threshholds (accompanied by a loud *thwack*, of course). The
maximum number of tickets per game would be operator-adjustable, of
course.
When each bumper is hit, the game will go "Bing!". There would even be
a real bell in the machine. (The parents might remember this, if they
used to play pinball when they were young!)
Each bumper would light up and stay lit when hit, and it would flash off
then on if the bumper was already lit when it was hit. The strobe light
would flash when the bumper's hit! The game would give positive
comments like "Yeah!" and "Yahoo!" while the kid is playing. There'd be
other lights scattered about the backglass and sides of the playfield,
and they'd blink too, and stay flashing while the game is in progress,
so the kid has tons of fun with all the blinking lights!
There'd be 10 main bumpers that spell out B-U-M-P-E-R-B-A-L-L! This
would also light up the letters of the game name on the backglass. If
the player lights 'em all up, the player wins a fistful o' tickets, all
the lights and strobes start blinking, a siren goes off, and the game
makes tons of noise and flash! Then, the lights reset, and the player
can keep playing as long as the ball is kept in play, maybe even doing
it again.
When the ball's kicked out, it's immediately in play. If it drains
before X (operator-adjustable) seconds have elapsed, a friendly voice
says "Try again!" and the ball's kicked out again. Like a Gottlieb, the
game will have an auto-save that will ensure that the player gets a
minimum score, if the player keeps draining.
There would be only one ball per game. No sense confusing kids with a
ball count...
There'd be other bumpers on the playfield too, in fact it'd probably
look like one of those games from the mid-30's when bumpers had just
been invented. (Contact, Bumper, Carom, etc.?) The other bumpers would
have stars on them, and would give a minor award when they're all
completed.
At the end of the game, it would call out the score, like "You got
sixty-four points!". Then, it'd give another positive comment, like
"Great job!". Another ticket payout would occur at end of game, kind of
like a bonus count, where another bell would go Bing-Bing-Bing-Bing, and
the machine would say something like "Have some tickets!"
What do you think? Many kids are confused when they crawl up on the
stool to to play a pinball machine, 'cause it's too complicated. I
tried Punchy The Clown once, and it was so hard I couldn't even do well
at it, being an adult player!
Perhaps a game like this would bring new kids into pinball and help the
industry in the future, when the kids grow up and start to play "real"
games?
JoSH
______
\Josh/ Lehan
\ / mailto:kre...@netgate.net
\/ http://www.netgate.net/~krellan/
Scott Piehler
kre...@netgate.net (Joshua Lehan) wrote:
>I had an idea for a pinball machine for little kids...
>Here's what I'd have. It's a game I thought up, called "Bumperball"!
<Excellent description snipped>
Fantastic! Where can I buy one? :)
You really thought this out. It addresses so many issues:
1. Simplicity of play for the tykes
2. Operators current love of redemption
3. Nostalgic feel for parents.
4. Does actually develop hand-eye
5. Nice alternative to current gruesome vids.
It sounds like a winner in my book!
Scott
Scott Piehler- Atlanta, GA
A list of newer pins in the Atlanta area can be found at
http://www.mindspring.com/~rosco29/pinball.htm