(Topic ID: 307598)

MULTIBALL: Gift or gimmick?

By LORDDREK

2 years ago

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Multiball like flippers was added as a new catchy gimmick to separate from the rest of the pack. And what a huge hit it was. So much that virtually every game I can think of in the last 30 years has it. I’m probably mistaken being at this only a year in my adult life but for the most part it rings true.

It is an exciting element of pinball to be sure. Newer players are overwhelmed by the chaos. As skill levels progress shot placement and control become possible. Rule sets are built around achieving multiball and its access to incredible scores. So much that it becomes a main focus of play.

But is it necessary for a pinball game to be enjoyable? Would a game lose appeal just because it was not included to a similar degree as if it had no flippers? I would say no. Even though my personal skill can manage it proficiently I would not miss multiball if it was not included.

My curiosity over this stems from an idea for a game that has a hard time including multiball effectively. A couple of my mechanical gimmicks would choke on more than one ball and my rule set would not benefit from chaotic ball movement.

So what are the thoughts behind that? Would a game be appealing without multiball if the game had a unique ruleset and mechanics that rewarded shot placement over chaos control and struck targets? Let me know what you think…

There are plenty of older games w/o mb that are still great. So, no, mb isn't completely necessary.

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Quoted from LORDDREK:
Multiball like flippers was added as a new catchy gimmick to separate from the rest of the pack. And what a huge hit it was. So much that virtually every game I can think of in the last 30 years has it. I’m probably mistaken being at this only a year in my adult life but for the most part it rings true.
It is an exciting element of pinball to be sure. Newer players are overwhelmed by the chaos. As skill levels progress shot placement and control become possible. Rule sets are built around achieving multiball and its access to incredible scores. So much that it becomes a main focus of play.
But is it necessary for a pinball game to be enjoyable? Would a game lose appeal just because it was not included to a similar degree as if it had no flippers? I would say no. Even though my personal skill can manage it proficiently I would not miss multiball if it was not included.
My curiosity over this stems from an idea for a game that has a hard time including multiball effectively. A couple of my mechanical gimmicks would choke on more than one ball and my rule set would not benefit from chaotic ball movement.
So what are the thoughts behind that? Would a game be appealing without multiball if the game had a unique ruleset and mechanics that rewarded shot placement over chaos control and struck targets? Let me know what you think…

Back in the early SS days, no, multiball wasn’t needed. Look at most Classic Sterns, only a few had multiball and those without are still considered some of the greatest games ever made.
However once Solid States picked up, if you game didn’t have it, it was a dud.
Cybernaut is a very cool game, with great artwork, but no multiball in the mid 80s and thus it failed.

There are some Homebrews that probably don’t have multiball, but any production game that doesn’t include multiball would be a hard sell

The ruleset has to do something for it to make sense IMO. For example, the Alien Poker multiball mod is interesting.... but the chaos ruins the drop bank sequence challenge. The earliest multiballs of course in the EM era and firepower were just flail multiballs with the regular scoring in place. I think achieving the multiball in firepower is so difficult and ends so quickly that there's little point in going for it. (Yes, I am aware of the various mod roms that change the multiball goal).

I think that's why Black Knight as the real followup to Firepower made multiball so easy - and gave you a reward for flailing well in the 2x/3x scoring element. I really like this element of multiball (so much that I added it to a couple games).

Of course, later games experimented with the jackpot concept during multiball only. That seems to have become the standard of what multiball is meant to achieve. But it does seem to have become the needed gimmick... if nothing else, if you can start a multiball, you feel like you did something for your dollar, even if the rest of your game sucked.

Most new players have no idea what to do of course during a multiball and it's a complete fail. Dunno if it was fun for them or not I'll have to ask the next group of newbies if they like it or not. I know last party no one passed the purposely low set hstd on black knight of 599k - and the game started with 99 credits, and ended with 91. Not a lot of play for what's a major multiball game... but of course, BK is a brutally hard game for new players.

Again just to be clear games from the last 30 years going forward all seem to have multiball. That is the focus of the question. Starting with modern DMD games and going forward. My envisioned ruleset will not really jive with multiball because you will be punished by errant shots…

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MULTIBALL: Gift or gimmick?

By LORDDREK

2 years ago

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