Pinball Arcade

Fantastic pinbal sim. The latest has Dr Who !!

I've been having problems with this program under Yosemite. I can't buy new tables. A protracted email exchange with their "technical support" left me even more frustrated as it became clear they weren't reading the information I provided. Their responses were random questions which may have come from a different person each time. The last reply was they didn't think I owned my copy (which was bought through the App store, something very easy to look up). Too bad. I liked this app, but I have a negative association with it now which makes me not even want to think about it, let alone use it.

Best pin sim for any device. I have every pinball table on my iOS. Pity I cannot use them on OS X too. If you are a pinball fan, you need this. nuff said.

The Adams Family pin is the best ever made. Thank you for adding this!!

THE pinball emulation !!! Awesome physics, awesome classic tables like Gorgar, Star Trek NG, Dracula, Junkyard and many many more. It can be a bit expensive if you want to play all available tables though. I suggest trying all pinball simulators and I bet you always come back to Arcade Pinball. Highly recommended for all pinball fanatics !!!!

I used to work at an arcade in college, and now I volunteer at a non-profit that preserves old arcade games, including some of the machines simulated here. I have purchased other pinball games that wee based on fantasy tables from other companies (Fantastic Voyage being a stellar simulation notably) and have been pretty impressed with the quality of some of these pinball simulations. The good apps capture the feel of actual pinball machines very well, and some don’t. I was looking forward to being able to play these games without having to do the maintenance on those I clean and fix (like Elivira, Bride of Pinbot, etc.), but was solely disappointed that this game falls into the latter category of pinball simulations. The first noticeable disappointment is the sounds: they sound like they were either recorded at 8-bits, compressed until they noticably distorted or run through some sort of filter that made them muddy and echoey (I’m a trained audio engineer). The jet and flipper sounds — which should be very easy to record at high fidelity, sound nothing like real pinball machines. The second major problem is the default of a camera tracking the ball vs. seeing the entire table is horrid. After changing this default to a fixed camera, the 4 preset angles all lack the right 3D geometry needed to judge the more difficult ramp shots properly. After setting this to a move realistic setting (your head doesn’t zoom around the play field after all) this, the balls do not move like they do on the real playfields: they move more like they would on run down tables, set at lower angles and worn flippers, which makes the whole game feel slower and actually pretty boring. A new or recently cleaned and waxed table the balls can spinning faster than its rolling thanks to a very low coefficient of friction on waxed tables. Some flipper hits can actaully make the ball hit the backglass, and at their best, they can even behave like pool balls with backspin zipping around the playfield. The flipper physics are also pretty inaccurate: the ball seems to lack the acceleration of an actual flipper hit, nor does it lose momentum the same way they do bouncing off the real rubber parts. It is like the range of speed is fixed at within a limited range with larger steps between velocities than needed for accurate modeling. About the only somewhat realistic modeling is when the balls are between jets and are bouncing back and forth faster than the eye can track. So, other than looking like the tables, and having the same layouts and bonus/multi-ball criteria, this simulation fails miserably to accurately simulate these games. For the Price of buying all of these tables, you could attend CAExteme or other pinball expos and play most if not all of actual pinball machines. If you are unfamiliar with pinball, do not let this application tarnish your first impression of what pinball machines are really like to play.

Some of the more recent tables are really great (like Junk Yard) but most season 1 and 2 tables have horrible (!) textures and low polygon ramps and toys. And that's bad because season 1 and 2 tables are the most popular ones (like Medieval Madness or Circus Voltaire). The bad textures and low polygons belittle the game experience a lot for me! For a commercial product that's not the cheapest one (if you buy all tables) these tables do not meet the high quality standard of modern games. And the second big problem is that the games are way too easy compared to the real machines. For a good player it's possible to break the world records very easy. Moreover I think the ball is floating too much, sometimes I do not have the feeling that it's a steel ball. But that's a personal impression. I also wonder why the perspective can not be freely set (only 4 choices). My advice: Test the game before you buy anything.

I'm using Pinball Arcade on my iOS devices a lot. Its a great virtual pinball experience. The first two seasons are great ! Many fantastic pinball classics. That said, the last season is worse. Not one good pinball has been released and you only get one table instead two per month. Price is same or higher compared to the first two seasons.