Chicago, IL
Quoted from GibGirl:How about adding a mechanism that would self-level and adjust the playfield? First, it prevents having to level the playfield every time it's moved - so there's the convenience. But more importantly, game modes could adjust the incline during play. Perhaps a skiing-themed game where different run difficulties increase the incline more and more to make shots harder - the double-diamond run multiball makes the incline very steep and the shots have to be perfect to hit them!
Or another - add WiFi and NFC to machines, and release a free app. You can walk up to any machine, use your app as your first ball sits in the shooter lane, and now the game knows your profile. Your score is uploaded to your phone afterwards, perhaps available on a web site, and initials are auto-entered. Now you can track your scores over time on a specific machine and compare to friends. Operators can keep track remotely of machine use and earnings, and get instant alerts if there's a problem.
Excellent ideas! The combination of these two opens up something pretty interesting: comparable score tracking across machines / locations. If you had a self-leveling mechanism that worked precisely the same for each machine, it wouldn't matter where the game was set up or on what surface. The game would hypothetically play the same, and global score tracking might actually mean something - you wouldn't have to worry about the nuance of how a game is leveled, or what components were functioning or weren't. A wifi connection could upload scores along with a report of the state of the machine at time of play, including whether or not a coil worked, lights were out, angle of playfield, etc. Players could have profiles across machines using NFC and track game progress and achievements (LOTR: You've achieved "There And Back Again"). Could add a whole new level of interest if there was a way to do apples to apples score and achievement comparisons.
