Have you looked at or played any cocktail pinball machines before? Those might give you some ideas of what you could do with a smaller playfield.

What would happen if there are less than 4 players playing? Will there be a gate or post that pops up to prevent the ball from draining on a side where there is no player playing?

One interesting idea might be to have a magnet in the center (which is activated by something else), and can fling or redirect the ball at random.

One gameplay mechanic found on War is that when a player hits a certain target, it disables their opponent's flippers for a few seconds.

Have you considered multiball? I'm kind of getting a "hungy hungy hippos" vibe with 4 player spots.

There's without doubt those on here that would like this idea but, I didn't even care for Joust so I would not be a fan.

Needing 3 other people that want to play.

Flipper button placement.

Sharing the plunger.

https://m.facebook.com/craig.hassell.169/posts/pcb.1517192801767967/?photo_id=10217032496304136&mds=%2Fphotos%2Fviewer%2F%3Fphotoset_token%3Dpcb.1517192801767967%26photo%3D10217032496304136%26profileid%3D100000164260227%26source%3D48%26refid%3D18%26ref%3Dm_notif%26notif_t%3Dgroup_highlights%26__tn__%3DEH-R%26cached_data%3Dfalse%26ftid%3D&mdp=1&mdf=1

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There's a 4 sided pinball but only 1 player at a time.

Finding 4 to play would be the biggest issue

Or you could have a 3 way!

This looks like a good candidate for timed play rather than trying to count how many balls drained where.

For unoccupied sides, look at what Alvin G. & Co. did with their switch-flippers. They were addressing the same issue.

Instead of plungers, how about lifting the ball to the apex and putting some randomness/spin in its movement? That idea came from Chicago Coin hockey arcade games.

I think each side needs a projecting part of the cabinet that is the normal pinball width, with flipper buttons on it. The playfield does not need to extend into the projecting part, it's just to give the player a normal feel when operating the game. (Unlike Rotation VIII, where the flipper buttons are placed at an uncomfortable 135-degree angle, and shared.)

In Rotation VIII, the players took turns. In Alvin G. head-to-head games and that triple Jungle Lord, players play simultaneously. Your idea about the rules seems to be simultaneous, and in a hockey mentality. Has anyone tried a 4-sided air hockey game? How do those play?
.................David Marston

I used to own a Spectra IV for a number of years. Four players but only one played at a time then you hand rotated it to the next player without getting up from your seat. It was cool for a while but it took up a lot of real estate.

John

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I played a few games on a 4-player air hockey table on location last weekend (great fun!), which used solenoid-actuated metal flaps to block the unused goals during 2 or 3 player games, so I am sure something along these lines could be implemented fairly easily.

I REALLY like this idea! 4-player air hockey is a blast, but the footprint required for the table + space for players is COLOSSAL. A 4-player pin would offer a similar (likely even better) experience, but with square-footage demands more in line with a home or crowded bar environment.

How does the scoring work?
.................David Marston

Pictures please

John, is there a single cool pinball item that you haven’t owned? I’m almost expecting you to show photos of a pin that raises up from the floor!

If a pool table can be done, a pinball for surely could be done.

I've not had one that raises up from the floor (not yet anyways but tomorrow is another day) but I did have one that raised a lot of stink.
John

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Wow, that photo belongs in the pinball horror pics thread! Or maybe a Gottlieb Zombie Pin Attack thread!

I thought of something similar, and have some ideas:

Have the players sit at the corners, rather than along the flat side. This will make placement of flipper buttons easier to operate.

When the ball drains have it run down a tube/subway to the centre of the table, and then lifted by an Archimedes screw to come out of the top centre.
Each tube from the drain has a switch which is triggered as the ball rolls to the centre - thus keeping a track of each no. of balls lost by each player. Thus reducing the number of mechs required to get the ball back into play.

Alternatively, rather than 4 subways, have them loop under the playfield in a spiral configuration, with a switch as soon as the ball joins the subway. By the number of switches triggered you can work out which flippers the ball drained past.

Hmm

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