I get the most enjoyment playing pinball with others. While I can understand all the rule nuance in modern stern games, 99.9% of my friends can’t, or simply don’t want to.

My 90s (and 80s AND 70s) games though? Piece of cake.

“Yellow lights start a mode, red lights are jackpots, green lights are ball locks.” Shoot for blinking stuff.

Done.

I can explain the rules to literally anyone:

“You’re a storm chaser. Hit the flashing compass arrows to chase the storm away to win.”

“You’re not gonna believe this, but Dracula needs a ride in your taxi. Shoot him to pick him up, and while you’re at it, pick up others to win.”

“So get this, you’re trying to make your way down the River. Shoot the blinking orange arrows to advance your progress to the Wet Willie’s lodge.”

How in the world do I explain to someone how to play Stern’s Star Wars? I don’t even know what’s going on 70% of the time… it’s just so abstract, and I feel less like I’m part of the story, and more like someone just going along for the ride the game is presenting to me.

But that’s just me. I’m also a glutton for simple EMs, so maybe I’m not the best litmus test for game code understanding.

Seems like almost every WPC game had the budget for at least one unique/bespoke mech. There was always an element of “I wonder what the ball will do if I make that shot.”

BSD: Mist, FT: caster, TS: battlefield, WH2O: Bigfoot, TZ: clock, HS2: supercharger, Gilligan: Kona, ToM: Trunk, I mean, the list is forever long.