mmmagnetic
New member
- May 29, 2012
- 601
- 0
Hey everybody,
I was wondering if anybody knows of a list of pinball "firsts" in a chronologic order? Things like "first multiball" and "first lane changing feature" are pretty easy (both Firepower... right?), but there are a ton of other things that really make me wonder when they got introduced.
Was Space Shuttle really the first game with ramps? And what was the first game with a status report when you trap a ball long enough? First table with a ball saver? First table with a spinner? First machine with a habitrail that send the ball from a ramp to one of the inlanes?
One thing I absolutely love about pinball is the more I play it, the more I start wondering about the history about these things, where certain design quirks come from. For instance, at first it took me ages to notice that there are actually bonus lanes on ToM and MM (both rather hidden behind ramps), and in retrospect I find it funny how MM only has two lanes plus lane changing, which makes it a whole different affair than on Gorgar with 3 lanes and no lane changing.
I find it particularly interesting to go on ipdb and look at these absolutely weird tables from the 60s and 70s, tables with two sets of flippers next to each other (Time 2000), tables with just a ton of flippers and drop targets (Goin Nuts), or even a table that breaks with the most basic of all pinball conventions - having a plane playfield surface: Orbitor
It´s interesting to see what survived the "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks"-phase. It´s so easy to take many design conventions on modern machines for granted, and much like in the world of videogames or technology it´s stunning to go back and see how the "natural selection" of design has shaped what we ended up with today.
I was wondering if anybody knows of a list of pinball "firsts" in a chronologic order? Things like "first multiball" and "first lane changing feature" are pretty easy (both Firepower... right?), but there are a ton of other things that really make me wonder when they got introduced.
Was Space Shuttle really the first game with ramps? And what was the first game with a status report when you trap a ball long enough? First table with a ball saver? First table with a spinner? First machine with a habitrail that send the ball from a ramp to one of the inlanes?
One thing I absolutely love about pinball is the more I play it, the more I start wondering about the history about these things, where certain design quirks come from. For instance, at first it took me ages to notice that there are actually bonus lanes on ToM and MM (both rather hidden behind ramps), and in retrospect I find it funny how MM only has two lanes plus lane changing, which makes it a whole different affair than on Gorgar with 3 lanes and no lane changing.
I find it particularly interesting to go on ipdb and look at these absolutely weird tables from the 60s and 70s, tables with two sets of flippers next to each other (Time 2000), tables with just a ton of flippers and drop targets (Goin Nuts), or even a table that breaks with the most basic of all pinball conventions - having a plane playfield surface: Orbitor
It´s interesting to see what survived the "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks"-phase. It´s so easy to take many design conventions on modern machines for granted, and much like in the world of videogames or technology it´s stunning to go back and see how the "natural selection" of design has shaped what we ended up with today.
