Sources
Contributors to this record: Flipcommons AI Descriptions (GameplayFeature), Flipcommons Catalog.
- description
- Flipcommons AI Descriptions (GameplayFeature)A vertical playfield is a playing surface that stands upright behind the glass instead of sloping away from the player. The ball is fired to the top and falls back down through pins, gates and pockets under gravity, so where it finishes owes more to the arrangement of the pin field than to anything the player does after the shot. Turning a [[gameplay-feature:playfields]] on its end changes what skill can reach. On an inclined surface the ball rolls its length and a flipper at the bottom gets a moment to meet it; on a vertical one it drops the face and arrives fast. Many of these machines are [[tag:flipperless]] for that reason, and those that answer the problem often answer it with something other than a flipper — [[manufacturer:melchers-automatenbau-kg]]'s *[[title:flik-flak]]* has "no flippers in the traditional sense, but each of the two springs that form the bottom edge of the playfield has a kicker post below it",[1] so the player times a kick at a resting ball rather than swinging a bat at a rolling one. ## On machines of every size Standing the surface up says nothing about how big the machine is or where it sits. [[manufacturer:gottlieb]]'s *[[title:chuck-o-luck]]* (1932) is fourteen inches tall and lives on a bar, small enough that some references leave it out because "it's small and vertical, resembling a pachinko game more than a traditional pinball machine".[2] [[manufacturer:williams]] put the same idea on a full-sized floor machine with *[[title:still-crazy]]* half a century later. [[manufacturer:american-amusement-company]] sold both at once: *[[title:bat-a-ball]]* was "a floor-standing upright game" whose "counter game version is American Amusement's 1946 'Junior League Bat-A-Ball'",[3] the surface vertical in each. Nor does a tall machine imply one. [[manufacturer:aisch-melchers-kg]]'s *[[title:euromat]]* hangs on a wall in an [[cabinet:upright]] body, and "the playfield is sloped towards the player"[4] exactly as it would be on legs. ## Pachinko is the format at scale The vertical pin field found its mass audience in [[location:japan]] rather than in the West. A pachinko machine "resembles a vertical pinball machine, but is different from Western pinball in several ways",[5] and plays much the way these games do: "the balls fall vertically through an array of pins, levers, cups, traps and obstacles until they enter a payoff target or reach the bottom of the playfield".[6] Western makers reached the same layout repeatedly and independently, from the coin-operated [[game-format:bagatelle]] of *[[title:pickwick]]* onwards, without ever building an industry on it.
- gameplay_feature_parent
- PlayfieldsFlipcommons Catalog
- name
- Vertical PlayfieldsFlipcommons Catalog
- status
- activeFlipcommons Catalog
- slug
- vertical-playfieldsFlipcommons Catalog
Citations
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #5613
No flippers in the traditional sense, but each of the two springs that form the bottom edge of the playfield has a kicker post below it
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #511
it's small and vertical, resembling a pachinko game more than a traditional pinball machine
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #6022
This is a floor-standing upright game. The counter game version is American Amusement's 1946 'Junior League Bat-A-Ball'.
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #5171
This is a wall-mounted game. The playfield is sloped towards the player.
- Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachinko
A pachinko machine resembles a vertical pinball machine, but is different from Western pinball in several ways.
- Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachinko
The balls fall vertically through an array of pins, levers, cups, traps and obstacles until they enter a payoff target or reach the bottom of the playfield.