As much as I hate to admit it, I remember pinball games. No, not those for the iPad or iPhone, though they’re great for what they are. Cheap fun. No, I remember real pinball games with real pinballs, real bumpers, and the penalty for a bit too much tilt.
Pinball is in the Mincey gene pool, but I’m afraid it won’t get passed along to our children and their children. When was the last time you see a real red, white, and American blue pinball game? Here’s a way to satisfy your bad boy urge to to become the next Pinball Wizard. It’s a pinball game for the Mac appropriately entitled Pinball Arcade.
In a Mac game app you get options to use faithful recreations of pinball tables from yesteryear– Williams, Stern, Bally, Gottlieb– with flippers, bumpers, sounds and heart thumping action.
Here’s a quick look.
The way Pinball Arcade works is simple enough. Just play. The Mac app comes with four great pinball tables to give you some variety, but other tables are available using the Mac App Store’s in-app purchase option.
Behold!
Of course, if you’re anywhere near my age you’ll find Pinball Arcade to be a blast from the past, but it’s a 21st century game, too. How so? There are Pinball Arcade versions for iPhone, iPad, Android devices, Windows, Playstation, and Xbox.
Play the pinball game of your choice a few times, then check out the online Leaderboards to see what the next generation of players can do. Compared to those scores, I suck, and I know what it’s like to play a real pinball machine with real balls.