Does anyone really like waiting for the ball to come out of a cluster of bumpers? They look great - although less so on modern Sterns than in the past - but what are they there for?
Some ideas here: http://pavlovpinball.com/whats-the-point-of-pop-bumbers/
Increase speed and add random action. It enhances the unpredictability of the game. The fact that so many games have them speaks to their popularity. Great items!
Pops in a triangle of three seem to do well in randomizing where and how the ball will emerge. Four is overkill, and less, or pops not in a triangle don't give as much of that randomizing effect.
Quoted from DCFAN:It is sad how most game designers have three ganged pop bumpers in a triangle configuration in every game they make. Why not come up with some different locations, configurations, and uses for the pops?
Spooky has on Zombies
some have slingshot mechs combo with the popbumpers like demo man and bride of pinbot. very cool.
There is a reason why the experts place them how they do...Best action and fast paced fun. In development they have tried just about everything over the years to make the best 'action'
Best use of P/F Real Estate is another reason for limiting it at 3 and not just using 2.
I would much rather wait for the ball to finish in a Pop Bumper Corral than to wait for a flying monkey to pick up the ball and drop it. But that's just me......
Pop bumpers evolved from the static bumpers of early pins (incl. flipperless games) that scored points and/or lit objectives. They are great for adding ball action/velocity/randomness.
I think what you're questioning is the relatively recent trend (by Stern) of almost always placing the pops (generally 3) in an enclosed area (the "pop corral") with one or 2 entrances and exits. (I know this was done in earlier games too, but now it seems to be their only pop config.) I'm not a fan of this because it is a pretty lame configuration. Ball bounces around the enclosed area (oooh, loud and fast thunks!), scoring little and having negligible effect on the game, annd then dribbles out a corral exit. Pop bumpers are much more fun when they are exposed to the main playfield and flippers. Compare the pop bumper config of pretty much any recent Stern game to games like CV, TZ and many other Pat Lawlor games, WOZ, almost any EM game and many many SS games. When the pops are exposed on the pf, it really adds to the action. When they are confined to a corral, not so much.
Quoted from MinusWorlds:That's about all Stern Mustang has...
touché 
Quoted from DCFAN:It is sad how most game designers have three ganged pop bumpers in a triangle configuration in every game they make. Why not come up with some different locations, configurations, and uses for the pops?
Older games had much more variety, and even 5 pops:
time warp playfield.jpgQuoted from StevenP:Pop bumpers evolved from the static bumpers of early pins (incl. flipperless games) that scored points and/or lit objectives. They are great for adding ball action/velocity/randomness.
I think what you're questioning is the relatively recent trend (by Stern) of almost always placing the pops (generally 3) in an enclosed area (the "pop corral") with one or 2 entrances and exits. (I know this was done in earlier games too, but now it seems to be their only pop config.) I'm not a fan of this because it is a pretty lame configuration. Ball bounces around the enclosed area (oooh, loud and fast thunks!), scoring little and having negligible effect on the game, annd then dribbles out a corral exit. Pop bumpers are much more fun when they are exposed to the main playfield and flippers. Compare the pop bumper config of pretty much any recent Stern game to games like CV, TZ and many other Pat Lawlor games, WOZ, almost any EM game and many many SS games. When the pops are exposed on the pf, it really adds to the action. When they are confined to a corral, not so much.
Yes, it is the corral effect that has become the standard that has made them so darn boring/monotonous.
Plus, as someone else mentioned in another thread, there used to be goals to achieve on the playfield to make the pops light up and be worth bigger points. I know that the pops increase in value in some modern games, but the lighting up of the pop when it is more valuable would add something extra that is missing.
I still remember playing old EM games when i started playing games, circa 1960, lighting the pop bumper or "jets' to get higher points. Plus the feel of the game shaking, the chimes going off and the energy transmitted through the game to my hands is always a great part of Pinball that I will never forget.
Pop bumpers add action to the ball, and do a great job of it. That's kind of why I'm glad to see the return of drop targets, which do the same thing. Spinning disks, slings...anything that provides momentum to the ball helps the game.
With later Bally/Williams pins and pretty much all Stern pins, it's like they felt they had to have some pop bumpers but didn't have a good reason to include them in the design or the rules. Super jets modes are better than nothing but don't do enough to make pops interesting.
Spider-man gets it right by having pop hits build a value elsewhere on the playfield. I wonder why other sterns don't do this; it's a shame for a pin to have mostly good rules like Transformers and then have this useless section of the playfield that doesn't do anything.
On WOZ the disable the flippers for haunted collect rule is incredibly fun. Letting the player control when the pops pop adds a lot of challenge and strategy and justifies the bumpers being there in the first place.
Quoted from jiffy:Stern's pops ARE boring after awhile.
Check out Interflip's "Dragon" for some wild ball action!
^^^This.
Quoted from vid1900:Or The Shadow that only has....(gulp)....none.
Lots of pins with no pops. Shadow, Junkyard, Swords of Fury, Grand Lizard & Jungle Lord, Judge Dredd... games that make a good case that you're not really losing anything by not having them there
Quoted from generica:Lots of pins with no pops. Shadow, junkyard, Swords of Fury, Grand Lizard & Jungle Lord, Judge Dredd... games that make a good case that you're not really losing anything by not having them there
That's the variety that makes pins fun.
Some games need them (Comet, BSD) some don't (Shadow, Junkyard) so it's all fun.
Yeah BSD with no pops would be really weird. On some games they play the role of, 'miss a shot and the ball will go all over the place' which adds a lot of the challenge.
They have a place, it just seems to have been lost along the way from 90s manufactures to the self-contained Stern style.
Quoted from vid1900:Older games had much more variety, and even 5 pops:
time warp playfield.jpg 112 KB
And newer games, like Lost In Space, also has 5 PoP BuMpErS!!!
Does any pin have 6 pop bumpers out there?
Quoted from CUJO:And newer games, like Lost In Space, also has 5 PoP BuMpErS!!!
Does any pin have 6 pop bumpers out there?
1963 Gottlieb Slick Chick
x9
EDIT: I guess the other 4 are not technically bumpers.
Quoted from DCFAN:It is sad how most game designers have three ganged pop bumpers in a triangle configuration in every game they make. Why not come up with some different locations, configurations, and uses for the pops?
careful what you wish for! play a well-waxed Black Hole and you will be cursing the decendants of what sociopathic demon placed some of the pops on that game! the pop on the upper playfield near the absurdly shallow left return/out lanes ... innovative ... silly ... awesome.
i could not be a bigger fan of 'em, by the way.
Quoted from Jean-Luc-Picard:I guess the other 4 are not technically bumpers.
They technically are bumpers, but not pop bumpers.
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