Video Pinball

Name:	Video Pinball
Company:	Atari
Model #:	CX-2648
Programmer:	Bob Smith
Year:	1981
Released?	Yes
Notes:	One of the first titles to be released as a picture label cart

Being a pinball game, the controls are fairly simple.  The player can push either left or right to move an individual flipper or up to move the flippers in tandem.  While players may be tempted to simply move both flippers all the time, experienced pinball players know that it's often advantageous to only move one flipper in order to fine tune their shot.  To launch the ball the player must pull down on the joystick to lower the plunger and then press the fire button to launch it.  After the ball has been launched the fire button can be used to nudge the ball by holding it down and pushing left or right.  This will cause the ball to move slightly in the direction that was pushed.  Be careful however that you don't nudge the ball too much or the machine will tilt and you'll lose your ball (the score area will turn red to indicate a tilt). 

Of course it wouldn't be a real pinball machine if there weren't some way to lose your ball and Video Pinball is no exception.  Video Pinball features a several 'drains' which allow your ball to fall beneath the screen and out of play (where it goes nobody knows!).  On easy mode there is only the drain on the left side of the screen and the large one beneath your flippers, but if the player moves the difficulty switch to the A position then two extra drains are created to the left and right of the flippers. Interestingly the difficulty switch can be changed any time without having to restart the game so if you feel the game is too easy or hard, feel free to change it up between balls.  There are only two real variations in Video Pinball with each one having a one and two player mode.  In variations 1 and 2 the bonus multiplier on the bumpers are accumulated throughout the entire game while in variations 3 and 4 they are reset with each ball.

Scoring in Video Pinball works like this: spinners are worth 1 point, bumpers are worth 100 points times the number displayed in the box (the number inside the bumper can be increased by hitting all the drop targets), and drop targets are worth 100 points each.  The rollovers are worth 100 points per hit, but the left rollover increases in value each time it's hit.  When the ball goes down a drain you'll receive 1,000 points for ach time you hit the rollover (up to 4,000 points).  There's also a 'Special lit target' that appears for 4 seconds above the flippers.  Each time you hit this target the screen will flash and you'll get 1,000 points.  You start out with three balls but can earn an extra ball by hitting the Atari rollover four times.  This extra ball is indicated by a large X at the bottom of the screen and you can only have one extra ball at a time.

While Video Pinball may not win any awards for realism, it's truely one of the best 'zone out' games on the 2600.  Not only is it easy to pick up, it has a fair bit of challenge that keeps the player coming back for more.  Video Pinball is also notiable for being one of two games (along with Missile Command) that were originally released with the title in lowercase letters and small manuals despite them only being released as picture labels (normally only text labels were released with lowercase titles and small manuals).  The reason for this is that both games were the first titles to be released in the new picture label style and it Atari was still working out how they would look.

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