Pinball Wizard
Chris Patmore

When I was a youth, all those years ago, and hair was starting to appear in places it never had before, there were no computer games to distract an adolescent’s fervid imagination. There was surfing to keep the body active, but it was at the mercy of the elements. So what did we do? Played pinball. Hours standing at those tables with the bells and lights, feeding them coin after coin.

Now I’m much older, and hair is disappearing from places it was  
before, I spend hours in front of a computer, working and creating. 
It is both my livelihood and my pastime (sad isn’t it?). Games never 
really interested me until I saw my first Pinball sim (Tristan). The 
memories came flooding back. It wasn’t particularly sophisticated 
but it was entertaining and I was completely amazed at how real it 
seemed. Of course pinball sims have grown in size and complexity over
the years, and the realism is astounding.

There are two major producers of pinball for the Mac - LittleWing, who produce the more traditional style games with an Arthurian theme (Tristan, Crystal Caliburn and Golden Logres amongst others) and Sierra who produce the Ultra 3D series. There are others as well and a complete list, with reviews, can be found at http://wwwpcpinball.com. This site covers all platforms with links to all the major producers. If you like pinball you will definitely find something here. 
 
If you’ve never played a pinball sim there is a wonderful freeware 
version of a 70’s Gottlieb Royal Flush table available from http://www.xs4all.nl/~gp/Royal%20Flush/RoyalFlush.Bin 
uncompressed it weighs in at 3Mb and has a full range of 
customisable playing options, you can even nudge it (and tilt it). 
The sounds are faithful to the original, and there is no annoying 
synthesiser music either.

Forget about games of death and destruction for a while, stop trying to save the universe and let it take care of itself while you pit your skills and reflexes against the silver ball. Or just indulge in a little nostalgia without blowing all your pocket money.

Chris Patmore