Justin Posted January 2, 2021 Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 Video Pinball Atari 2600 Controller: JOYSTICK / KEYBOARD / PLAYER'S CHOICE Difficulty Level: Game 3, Difficulty A Play on: Real Hardware / Dedicated Console / Emulation OK! ✔ Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST January 14, 2021 Objective Play for the highest possible score using the difficulty settings defined in the challenge. Post a photo or YouTube video of your score in this thread. Scores must be achieved between January 1st through January 14th, 2021. Screen captures are not allowed as they are more easily manipulated for falsified scores. Multiple submissions are permitted. The player with the highest score at the end of the competition is the victor! Eligibility Anyone can join in. All players are welcome! Play Rules Games may be played on real hardware, Flashback / Mini console, or emulation, using any controller or keyboard, following all rules and game settings defined in the challenge. Choosing between real hardware or emulation, and choosing which controller to play on is part of formulating your strategy. Enhancements, rewinds and hacked versions of this game are not allowed. Difficulty Level Game 3, Difficulty A. This is the most challenging configuration. These settings allow for nudging and applying body English on the ball, TILT, bumper values are reset with each new ball, and two extra drain holes are added at the bottom of the playfield. Fair Play Your integrity is everything. Players should play fairly, be honest, and have fun! Falsified scores will result in your immediate removal from the site. It goes without saying that we will not allow cheats, hacks, cartridge frying, enhancements, rewinds, deceitful photo manipulation, subterfuge, or any other unfair advantage. Everybody hates a cheater. More To review detailed rules on how to play, please visit the High Score Squad page here: Message HAPPY NEW YEAR SQUAD! Welcome to our 95th Squad Challenge! We're ringing in the new year right, starting back at the beginning with an early game for the Atari 2600. What more can you say about Video Pinball? It's a fun pinball game that brought a lot of fun to early Atari Video Computer System players. Although it's more rudimentary than later games such as Midnight Magic on the 2600, and Pinball on the NES, Video Pinball is one of my favorite early VCS games and it has a lot of that early Atari charm. The bumpers, the sounds, the artwork, it's all there. It's a great game for a Squad Challenge. As @nosweargamer says, Video Pinball is very simple with square bumpers and a square ball and targets that look like they were poured out of a box of Chex cereal! This game is widely available as loose original cartridges on the 2600, the ROM is available, and you can go out today and buy this game on a Flashback console at almost any Walmart, Sam's Club, Costco or Target, so everybody should be able to join in. Do you love Pinball games? ROM and Instructions are provided below. Good luck to everybody participating! NOTE: We have TONS of great exciting Squad Challenges coming for the 2021 season! Don't miss a thing! Video_Pinball.bin Video_Pinball.pdf Rocker67, Sabertooth, nosweargamer and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted January 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 @nosweargamer has an excellent review of Video Pinball. It's a great place to start if you're new to the game! AtariSphinx, nosweargamer, Sabertooth and 4 others 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted January 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 One to three four five, six seven eight nine ten, ELEVEN TWELVE! HDN, socrates63, RickR and 1 other 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabertooth Posted January 2, 2021 Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 @Justin Sesame Street's Pinball Number Count will be in my head for the rest of the day! Thanks... 😐 Seriously though, I always loved that one as a kid! Apparently the Pointer Sisters did the vocals. Atari Creep, HDN and Justin 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted January 2, 2021 Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 Aw, yeah! Good ol' Vidpin.BIN (as I grew up playing it)! I suggested this one! Love this game to death. I'm not sure what is considered a "good score" on this one, but I can keep the ball in play for quite a while in most cases. According to my ever-so-handy High Score Notebook, my top score was 129,366 on difficulty 1 B/B. I don't think I've ever tried 3 A/A. I'll consult my manual to see what that setting does. I know that A on the switches adds those gaps. Rocker67 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted January 2, 2021 Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 This is where I first learned about the Sesame Street song: Sabertooth and socrates63 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nosweargamer Posted January 2, 2021 Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 THIS IS NOT AN ENTRY FYI - The scores rolls over at a million and there is no on screen indicators that you rolled the score. So if you get close, you'll need video recording of some sorts to document your high score. Good luck everyone! Rocker67, Justin, Atari Creep and 1 other 1 2 1 The No Swear Gamer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg Host of The Atari 7800 Game by Game Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted January 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 1 hour ago, Sabertooth said: Seriously though, I always loved that one as a kid! Apparently the Pointer Sisters did the vocals. I never knew that! Great info @Sabertooth‼️ 9 minutes ago, nosweargamer said: FYI - The scores rolls over at a million and there is no on screen indicators that you rolled the score. So if you get close, you'll need video recording of some sorts to document your high score. Good luck everyone! Good looking out @nosweargamer, everybody take note. We're on the honor system. HDN and nosweargamer 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted January 2, 2021 Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 I’ll start. 17,880 points on... wait a minute... Atari Creep, socrates63, nosweargamer and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socrates63 Posted January 2, 2021 Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 Bob Smith the most generic programmer name ever 😆 LOL I suppose John Smith the programmer would agree Atari Creep, Justin, HDN and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socrates63 Posted January 3, 2021 Report Share Posted January 3, 2021 (edited) 10,932 Man, this game is tough. It took me three or four tries to break 10k. I don't think I need to worry about rolling the score anytime soon 🤣 Just like in real life, I suck at pinball although I love them. Video Pinball feels a bit like I'm playing a pachinko machine just watching the ball bounce around on its own most of the time. I'm trying to learn when to use nudge the table. Neat game! It's another 2600 game that I've never played before. Edited January 3, 2021 by socrates63 HDN, Justin, Gianna and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted January 3, 2021 Report Share Posted January 3, 2021 (edited) 145,846. @nosweargamer is right...rolling the score is going to be a problem on this one. I'm going to fiddle with setting up a tripod with my camera (in video mode). This was my first try. Read the manual -- pay attention to the scoring. PS - I'm playing on my "PlusCart" because I'm too lazy to go into the attic and find a loose copy. And PlusCart has a "Recently Played ROMS" choice that makes it a lot easier than Harmony. Edited January 3, 2021 by RickR Justin, Atari Creep, HDN and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nosweargamer Posted January 3, 2021 Report Share Posted January 3, 2021 12 hours ago, socrates63 said: 10,932 Man, this game is tough. It took me three or four tries to break 10k. I don't think I need to worry about rolling the score anytime soon 🤣 Just like in real life, I suck at pinball although I love them. Video Pinball feels a bit like I'm playing a pachinko machine just watching the ball bounce around on its own most of the time. I'm trying to learn when to use nudge the table. Neat game! It's another 2600 game that I've never played before. Practice makes perfect! The key to this game is mastering the nudge to get extra balls and multipliers. HDN, Rocker67, RickR and 1 other 4 The No Swear Gamer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg Host of The Atari 7800 Game by Game Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas10e Posted January 3, 2021 Report Share Posted January 3, 2021 14,029 14 hours ago, socrates63 said: 10,932 Man, this game is tough. It took me three or four tries to break 10k. I don't think I need to worry about rolling the score anytime soon 🤣 Just like in real life, I suck at pinball although I love them. Video Pinball feels a bit like I'm playing a pachinko machine just watching the ball bounce around on its own most of the time. I'm trying to learn when to use nudge the table. Neat game! It's another 2600 game that I've never played before. There are many skills in physical pinball to develop, nudging skills is one of them, in many cases you're trying to transfer energy to the ball to manipulate it's trajectory. timing the "bump" on the machine with your hand when the ball is in contact with a post or a rail is key. you can "bump" the lockdown bar forward on either side or even downward (helps with ball rattle I think), you can even nudge the side of the cabinet halfway up the side to make the ball move out slightly towards the center of the table to miss the top of a sling-shot so you can catch it on the flipper. nudging works not just to keep your ball from danger of the outlanes, you can what I call "work the top lanes" to get the ball in the desired top lane if not controlled by the flipper. It is best to learn these skills on a machine properly setup with a relatively tight (but fair) tilt-bob also best if the machine is on "free-play" I never tried to play "Video Pinball" on difficulty "a". those open holes are death !!!! Reminds me of Bally's "Future Spa" We call that hole to the lower right "the spa hole" RickR, Atari Creep, Rocker67 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted January 3, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2021 Man oh man this game is challenging. Even though it doesn't match up to Midnight Magic on the 2600 in terms of graphics, I enjoy it just as much. Here's my first score: My High Score: 51,727 RickR, Atari Creep, AtariSphinx and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted January 3, 2021 Report Share Posted January 3, 2021 14 minutes ago, Justin said: Man oh man this game is challenging. Even though it doesn't match up to Midnight Magic on the 2600 in terms of graphics, I enjoy it just as much. Here's my first score: My High Score: 51,727 I think I actually like it more. MM just seems a little... barren to me. Just my opinion, though. 23,433. Wow! I had no idea that those holes would make the game this much harder. Those little guys are from satan. socrates63, Atari Creep, RickR and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socrates63 Posted January 3, 2021 Report Share Posted January 3, 2021 4 hours ago, RickR said: PS - I'm playing on my "PlusCart" because I'm too lazy to go into the attic and find a loose copy. And PlusCart has a "Recently Played ROMS" choice that makes it a lot easier than Harmony. Recently played? Oooh, that's a neat feature. I signed up to be notified when it's back in stock. Hopefully, it won't take too long. RickR and Atari Creep 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Creep Posted January 4, 2021 Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 Only have 1 word for this challenge...... YES Gianna, Rocker67, socrates63 and 5 others 7 1 Don't just watch TV, PLAY IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Creep Posted January 4, 2021 Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 30,024 Played live on IG using Retron77, Hyperkin Ranger controller and original cart Dinobot711, Sabertooth, Rocker67 and 3 others 6 Don't just watch TV, PLAY IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted January 4, 2021 Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 360,061 Atari Creep, Sabertooth, socrates63 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas10e Posted January 4, 2021 Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 204,180 Don't tilt ! You'll lose your extra ball as well as ball in play :'( Justin, RickR, socrates63 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted January 4, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 @RickR @chas10e Do you guys have tips on how to get such high scores? socrates63, Atari Creep and HDN 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted January 4, 2021 Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 10 hours ago, Justin said: @RickR @chas10e Do you guys have tips on how to get such high scores? Yes. It's all about the nudge. For an early Atari release, this game has amazing physics on that nudge. Master it and focus on those two bonus channels on the top of the board. I will set up a camera and video a play session before this is over, and you'll see... Rocker67, socrates63, Justin and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted January 4, 2021 Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 19 minutes ago, RickR said: For an early Atari release, this game has amazing physics on that nudge. Funny how a game from nearly a half-decade after the system launched is considered an “early release”. It really is a testament to how long the VCS lasted and how successful it was. Rocker67 and socrates63 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted January 4, 2021 Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 Video Pinball was available in 1980. It's one of the first games my family purchased. socrates63, Justin and Rocker67 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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