Williams

Firepower

Pinside Rating

This game received 263 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 7.848 _/10

7.848

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks #111 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.

Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 7.972

Artwork: 7.6

Sounds/Music: 7.09

Other Aspects: 8.015

Pinside staff rating

This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 5 of us have rated this game.

7.29

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Found 152 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 152 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
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8.202/10

11 years ago

ZUL

Caucasian2Step

Evil McBooty

12y 163K 1,455 51 1011

Firepower is what pinball is about in the early 80's. Fast , furious and when not given proper respect... will eat you alive.

The Pros:
Steve Richie's personality shines through on this table. You better be ready for this game or you're out of quarters very quickly.

The Cons:
No PF Bonus for multiball? The price we pay for lane change I guess...

The Takeaway:
Steve and Eugene did a kickass job on this deck. Some people may say it is too basic and outdated. I say it's pure pinball satisfaction from a simpler time and technology. GitSum!

Update:
Dan Gutchess put a SCHWEEEEET copy of this game into the 1up here in Denver, CO. Damn this game is blazingly fast. Like, lose sight of the ball fast. Where did it go? Oh yeah... out the unlit left outlane... HA!. The pinball wall at the 1 up is super solid. The entire lineup of about 15 other pins are all newer Stern and later model B/ W games. This game holds it own as far as skills required to play this thing well. After sessioning it for an afternoon or three it becomes incredibly apparent that the big points are scored on the spinner with this deck. Survive your standups (backhand shots are an absolute necessity on this strategy if you are going to keep your ball in play) and tear that spinner up. Control the ball when it comes back you to you, get the ball to the right flipper and do it again! The more I play this game, the less I go for the locks. I really enjoy the countdown to the start of the multiball sequence with the animated score displays and light show, but points is points is points when the game is on the line. It's all about the spinner (Williams Space Shuttle y'all!). With all the good and the bad... The more I play this game the more I enjoy it. This is the "magic" of a great pinball game (or any other game for that matter). This game was Steve Ritchie's highest production design and it is easy to see why when you get your hands on a copy that plays as it should. Firepower draws you in and keeps you coming back. Enjoy the addiction y'all!

Update v2:
Cross yer' fingers while the you shoot for the standups and rip the spinner. That's about it. Not that this is a bad thing, it's just a matter of really finding the standup angles and then hitting the spinner in the sweet spot. Multiball has no scoring benefit to it other than the safety of multiple balls on the table. The center standup "may" be worth shooting for once maxed out, but the spinner is the safer shot. Let the ball hit the standup as it bounces around the pop-garden I say. Still a great game, but not the most complex one, this deck can be broken down to a very simple strategy. This game is almost EM like in that sense.

Caucasian2Step edited previous rating on May 26, 2015.

2 Pinsiders starred this!

7.282/10

11 years ago

LP

Launchpad

Inactive member

Unknown

11y 14,250 2 1 6

Firepower is a great all around early 80s machine. I am more of a pin-noob so I really enjoy the easy rules and multi-ball that Firepower has. It is quick and painless to light your left outlane guard and the game features simple and easy shots to lock your multi-balls. There's red arrows that flash but then stay solidly lit once you've hit the correct targets. This makes it easy to identify which targets you need to hit next.

The game has a great rhythm and beat that plays as you progress towards getting the bonus and what not. This adds a spicy intensity as you play - and makes it really fun. It's fun to see how much bonus you can get too.

For the price, this is a great pin to own, is easy to pick up, and has great replayability.

6.932/10

11 years ago

JJ

Hoopjohn

Inactive member

Eagle River, WI

12y 52,400 495 4 32

OK game for its time

8.004/10

11 years ago

RPG

RussG

Pinside member

11y 43,900 186 13 19

An early Steve Ritchie masterpiece. Like Gorgar, a trailblazer into the pinball world and still holds major value with me today. Awesome light display for that time period especially with the count down to multi-ball. Just a really cool space themed game.

Firepower is one of those games that you get into a zone with and once you start hitting your multipliers the game can run up nicely. Many complain it either drains or when aiming for your center targets can run down the center, but when you get the sweet spot the game literally sings. The multi-ball can come at a wonderful time when you have a 4X or higher multiplier going. keep the balls in play and it's a great feeling. F-I-R-E-P-O-W-E-R!

RussG edited previous rating on August 09, 2013.
RussG currently owns this game.

7.245/10

11 years ago

ATE

AdamTheGamer

Pinside member

11y 56,150 270 2 133

Firepower is a great game for it's time, but unless you're emotionally attached to it, it's really got nothing special for today's standards. Great pin, but I believe it's failed the test of time.

9.063/10

11 years ago

NIK

vegemite_nick

Pinside member

Melbourne

12y 51,400 274 16

Don't know how Firepower isn't in the top 100 - maybe just too old for enough people to have played - a classic from 1980's and the King of Flow!

7.915/10

11 years ago

MDM

papazit1963

Pinside member

Merced, CA

11y 62,900 1,076 9 12

Great classic Williams. Great PF layout, simple but fast...really fast. Sometimes seems to drain more easily than other pins. But that just makes you a better player right? This was my first pin and I won't be getting rid of it anytime in the near future! Always fun to play!

papazit1963 edited previous rating on September 29, 2012.
papazit1963 has owned this game in the past.

7.974/10

11 years ago

???

finance1

Inactive member

Longwood, FL

11y 3,000 1 9

This game was fast moving and of course had multi-ball! In a lot of ways, this machine really changed what pinball was. It incorporated a classic skill/speed layout with the opportunity to play multi-ball, which was really cool. Of course, that is now a standard reward in today's games, but back in the day, it was something to get really excited about.

2.768/10

12 years ago

TSM

darkfaith

Inactive member

Iaeger, WV

12y 56,400 360 1 130

i just dont like this game or really anything about it

7.490/10

12 years ago

MLV

Pinball-is-great

Pinside member

Lafayette, LA

12y 147K 5,016 3 102

Good gameplay speed & ball action. I like playing this game. Lighting good. Artwork ok. Sounds fit the theme. A classic pinball machine from one of the greatest years for pinball -- 1980.

7.778/10

12 years ago

STU

stuartr7

Pinside member

Roseneath, ON

12y 22,650 311 2 8

great game set it up fast and it's a blast, will test your reactions!

stuartr7 has owned this game in the past.

7.722/10

12 years ago

RAI

Raikus

Pinside member

Tallahassee, FL

13y 41,400 100 27 17

A true Williams classic. It's one thing to look at a Firepower and another to actually play it. Without playing it may look campy and uninteresting, but when you pull back that plunger for the first time everything just *works*. The gameplay is fast, the rules are simple but challenging, the sound and speech put you in the game, the lights and playfield layout are a pleasure to see and play, and multiball is fun to get to. Ritchie did a great job on this one.

Raikus currently owns this game.

6.620/10

12 years ago

BUK

pinballslave

Pinside member

Litvinov

12y 138K 6,384 133 149

A nice early Williams with great sound and multiball... Not a big fan of the artwork though, so don't rate it too highly, but if you like the art, then this is a great game!

pinballslave has owned this game in the past.

6.784/10

12 years ago

RWH

Pinside member

Norwood, OH

13y 132K 9,927 2 10

Slow scoring game to me, I like the theme but I wouldn't own this one, wouldn't hold my interest

7.504/10

12 years ago

GEM

Silverballer

Pinside member

14y 88,300 3,238 51

This was "The" machine of 1980. With all the new features introduced it could be considered the mother of modern pinball. Still a blast to play after all these years.

8.833/10

12 years ago

SK

SunKing

Pinside member

Houston, TX

13y 130K 3,983 5 21

Firepower was the machine I played the most 'back in the day'.

SunKing edited previous rating on April 11, 2024.
SunKing currently owns this game.

8.462/10

12 years ago

JWM

sanantoniopinhea

Pinside member

Austin, TX

12y 42,900 21 4 61

I restored one of these before I sold it. That was a mistake and I would buy another if the right game came around. Problem is: there are very few left in good condition. This pinball has incredible flow and in my opinion it has the best multi-ball (and hardest when set on 3 balls) of any pinball. The multi-ball and lane change are the "toys". The sound effects are exceptional (especially the spinner!) and the countdown to multi-ball is out of this world. Only faults in my opinion are the artwork (not a Kirby fan) on the playfield and backglass. The other factor is that most Firepower's are beaten up (especially the backglass!). There is a reason they are cheap. The displays, CPU/driver board and interconnect can be troublesome and expensive to replace. Fixing them can be a lesson in frustration. Despite that, this pinball deserves a much higher rating. A true pioneer in it's day.

sanantoniopinhea edited previous rating on January 28, 2012.
sanantoniopinhea has owned this game in the past.

7.337/10

13 years ago

GSL

glilly-BOA

Pinside member

Port Orange, FL

13y 44,900 465 10 60

I remember playing this game back in the 80's. The layout was deceivingly simple, but a pretty fun game for the era. The lane change feature was awsome to see. I liked the inset blue and red "Fire" "Power" lights.

7.724/10

13 years ago

XOT

Outlane-Avoider

Pinside member

14y 77,300 570 268

Another game that rekindles memories of my teenage years. I always found this one brutal back in those days. Love playing this game now.

Outlane-Avoider edited previous rating on May 25, 2013.

8.358/10

13 years ago

DER

Der_Meister

Pinside member

Putten

14y 49,400 120 2 106

I love this game. I had two myself, one with the famous droptargets, I was working on a improved version with 7-digit display and expanded multiball but did't succeed.

Years ago I contacted a guy from Switzerland who improved the software so it would work with seven digits and he also rewrote the rules so that you had to do some work to get a jackpot!

If anyone like to improve his game and has some questions, send me an i-mail and I will help you out there!

Der_Meister has owned this game in the past.

5.754/10

14 years ago

???

tehcox

Inactive member

Voluntown, CT

14y 11,750 25 19

Challenging to the point of being annoying. The droning escalating pitch sound as you play can make one slightly nuts. And the shots tend to be fairly repetitive. Keep in mind that I prefer dot-matrix pins. But then again, as far as older tables go, this one is not one of my favorites.

8.716/10

14 years ago

DEL

SealClubber

Pinside Moderator

14y 127K 11,060 246

Very fast game. One of the best from that time period. Fun.

SealClubber edited previous rating on February 22, 2011.

7.529/10

14 years ago

K

Letter_K

Inactive member

Stockton, CA

14y 36,900 523 5 63

A deceptively simple game, I've always found Firepower very challenging and engaging. You've got some hard balls coming at you and the playfield has some hard shots on it.

Letter_K has this game on the wishlist.

8.043/10

15 years ago

UFO

zep77

Pinside member

Malibu, CA

15y 31,750 9 44

Good but frustrating game.It's all about the multi ball which is good and bad. There isn't really anything else to do except try and lock all 3 balls for multi-ball which is difficult to achieve. When you finally do activate multi ball the moment is great but it seems 1 or 2 balls drain immediately and you are left trying to get multi ball again.Plays fast,looks nice,sounds good but is a 1 trick pony. 7.5/10
Zep

zep77 has owned this game in the past.

8.665/10

15 years ago

JAC

xenonexe2558

Inactive member

15y 24,000 5 7 40

After a stint on more modern tables I appreciate purity of Firepower. It's simple sure, but also immediate and responsive, especially the snappy flippers and all the more satisfying for it. Learning not to blunder into the targets and side drain is all part of the fun.

So the ruleset isn't that deep and there's no goal to multi-ball but it is from 1980. The sounds are retro nirvana, and nailing that spinner shot when lit for a lock is ace. Great stuff. As a single pin a little limited, but as a part of a collection solid stuff and a welcome change to modes and ramps.

xenonexe2558 edited previous rating on July 10, 2011.
xenonexe2558 currently owns this game.

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