The Pinball Arcade

 PC
User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 35 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 35
  3. Negative: 9 out of 35

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  1. Schwimmwagen
    Nov 14, 2013
    9
    I personally don't understand the negative reviews here from the users. If you want a comparison, compare it to Pinball FX 2. For whatever reason, that game's user score is much much higher even though it also includes one free table (like Pinball Arcade) and only lets you try tables for a very short amount of time regardless of score (whereas here, you get to play until you hit a highI personally don't understand the negative reviews here from the users. If you want a comparison, compare it to Pinball FX 2. For whatever reason, that game's user score is much much higher even though it also includes one free table (like Pinball Arcade) and only lets you try tables for a very short amount of time regardless of score (whereas here, you get to play until you hit a high score with no time limit whatsoever). I personally think Arcade does the trial tables better since even if you might suck the first couple of tries, you can actually get a feel for the tables without being rushed.

    The tables are all authentically recreated versions of real tables, a handful of which I remember playing in arcades years ago. The flipper response seemed a bit more responsive than it was in Pinball FX 2, though maybe it's just me. And nearly all are a blast to play. The ones that aren't quite as exciting are faults with the original, real-world design of the table, not the game itself.

    Here's one more thing to keep in mind. You're getting a much *much* better value out of the purchased tables here than you do in Pinball FX. Case in point: Three Star Wars tables: $10. Here: 21 tables: $30.

    Technically, yes, the game is free to play, but your choices are very limited. This, again, is no different than Pinball FX 2. In my opinion though, dropping money on the Season Packs is entirely worth it and will give you more pinball than you'll ever need again.    … Expand
  2. rman
    Dec 23, 2013
    3
    Fun game to play minus bugs and ugly textures. not worth full price. Best wait for a fix or huge discount. Let someone else beta test this game, feels very rushed.
  3. GameLord
    Jan 1, 2017
    6
    This game is a mixed bag... the ball phisics isn't great but acceptable for a video-pinball. Table-graphics good in general but the environment is dull and low-res. The table pricing critical, you get 50-75% off on old season - which are the best - but new tables are too expensive.
  4. notyourbuddy
    Nov 14, 2013
    9
    There are a lot of positives to The Pinball Arcade:
    - Detailed instructions for each table breaking down its rule set while simultaneously illustrating these rules on the table itself. Great great great for learning a table and makes playing it much more fun and engaging!
    - Beautifully recreated pinball tables that you remember from the arcade (models, textures, and lighting are    There are a lot of positives to The Pinball Arcade:
    - Detailed instructions for each table breaking down its rule set while simultaneously illustrating these rules on the table itself. Great great great for learning a table and makes playing it much more fun and engaging!
    - Beautifully recreated pinball tables that you remember from the arcade (models, textures, and lighting are fantastic.)
    - Available on lots of platforms.
    - New tables/features always being added.
    - Optional online leaderboard/tournaments.
    - Access to the internal settings of each table (if you want to access them)
    - Great sound/scoreboard emulation.
    - Pretty solid physics. (though without owning the actual table its hard to tell if they are perfect or not)
    - Multiple camera angles (a traditional static fixed camera or a dynamic one that zooms in and out).

    Cons:
    - Purchased tables do not transfer to different platforms (iPad PC) [wow big bummer]
    - I guess its not technically free-to-play as people are used to that implying a way to grind to unlock things. Instead they give you one free-to-play forever table and the rest are just limited trials. The one free table they do give you however is a well-known and famous table called Arabian Nights.

    Final Thoughts:
    Its a top notch pinball simulator (there are not many) where the developers seek to recreate the classics and a lot of care has clearly gone into each table. Any true pinball enthusiast would be crazy not to give it a try. At the time of this review there are about 40 tables and purchasing ~20 of them in a pack will run you about $29.99-$39.99 which honestly ain't a bad price at all. If they ever go on a Steam Sale *crosses fingers* then they are worth an instant buy.

    If, however, you are a cheap jobless hobo living with your parents who expects everything to be given to you for free well then just keep review bombing the heII out of this if it makes you feel better then go download VisualPinball+VPinMame, which is a truly free-to-play opensource pinball simulation that recreates the exact same tables (and more) with top notch physics and sound emulation. Its only drawback is it now suffers from an outdated graphical engine.    … Expand
  5. JuiceRabbit
    Nov 19, 2013
    9
    Great game and the Arabian Nights table is completely free to play (all the other tables have demo's).
    The actual roms from the real tables are being emulated inside the game. The physics, sounds and graphics are great. It doesn't get any better than this!
  6. Darkin20
    Nov 7, 2013
    6
    This is not a free to play but more of a try and buy game. It does give you one pinball game free and you can play all the others until you hit a score cap (which is rather low) and then you have to pay to "unlock" them permanently.

    The gameplay itself it superb. Very faithful recreations of old pinball games. Makes me a bit nostalgic for the old arcades. Though I was never very good at    This is not a free to play but more of a try and buy game. It does give you one pinball game free and you can play all the others until you hit a score cap (which is rather low) and then you have to pay to "unlock" them permanently.

    The gameplay itself it superb. Very faithful recreations of old pinball games. Makes me a bit nostalgic for the old arcades. Though I was never very good at pinball games and for some reason only did well on the last ball. But that is just me.

    If you love pinball games, this is for you. You will have to pay for it though. If you are not into pinball games, then give this a pass.    … Expand
  7. squeax
    Nov 6, 2013
    3
    A demo version that's labelled as a 'free to play' game. Once you hit the high scores you will be barred from playing and forced to buy. Of course I was expecting to have to buy additional tables but this is just false advertisement. It is also a poor excuse to charge people outrageous amounts of money per table instead of selling the entire game for say $30. Don't fall for it, just findA demo version that's labelled as a 'free to play' game. Once you hit the high scores you will be barred from playing and forced to buy. Of course I was expecting to have to buy additional tables but this is just false advertisement. It is also a poor excuse to charge people outrageous amounts of money per table instead of selling the entire game for say $30. Don't fall for it, just find an actual buy-to-play or just play pinball for free on some website.… Expand
  8. Retron
    Nov 7, 2013
    10
    There have been several attempts by others over the years but this is by far the most comprehensive commercial collection of simulated pinball machines on the PC. There are still several rough edges in the UI (such as the menus not working with the escape key) but the main focus the tables play well and look great, at least they do on my nVidia card. The purchasing method (via in-appThere have been several attempts by others over the years but this is by far the most comprehensive commercial collection of simulated pinball machines on the PC. There are still several rough edges in the UI (such as the menus not working with the escape key) but the main focus the tables play well and look great, at least they do on my nVidia card. The purchasing method (via in-app purchases) is odd, but it worked well enough for me.

    Gameplay wise the tables seem harder than say Pinball FX2, but that'd be because they're based on real tables designed to suck away quarters! The only glaring ommission compared to Pinball FX2 would be the lack of portait mode support, although that'll be coming in a future update. A fun featrure is the online leaderboard support which allows you to compare your scores with other players.

    The price is very reasonable compared to traditional PC pinball games the classics (Pinball Dreams, Tilt, Psycho Pinball etc) were all around £30 for 4 tables, whereas you get 38 tables for around £50 ie the same in today's money as the 4 tables of Pinball Dreams cost 20 years ago. You can pick-and-mix which tables you want to buy as well if you don't want to buy them all, but buying them en masse is the cheaper option in the long run.

    Yes, you could use one of the free pinball construction kit type programs but even it its somewhat rough UI state the Pinball Arcade is more polished than they are.    … Expand
  9. knowledge1987
    Nov 29, 2013
    10
    The game is great! Tails of the Arabian Nights is free to play. That is a whole pinball table for free. Gotta buy others, but can you imagine how much you would spend if you were playing at the arcade? Totally worth it!
  10. ViciousViper
    Oct 23, 2014
    0
    Game breaking bugs at many tables, low res textures, pathetic lightning, inconsistent physics. They promised to implement dx11 and fix bugs but only thing they do is kickstartering new tables while preavious are still broken. Stay away. Want great pinball for pc go with Pinball FX2.
  11. malcolmm
    Aug 13, 2015
    8
    I previously played Williams Pinball Hall of Fame by the same developer on the Wii, so I had some idea what to expect.

    My initial impression of PA wasn't that positive. The graphics are of course a huge improvement over the Wii tables, but somehow the tables didn't seem to be as enjoyable. My initial reaction was to blame PA, thinking that the physics of the PC version weren't as good,    I previously played Williams Pinball Hall of Fame by the same developer on the Wii, so I had some idea what to expect.

    My initial impression of PA wasn't that positive. The graphics are of course a huge improvement over the Wii tables, but somehow the tables didn't seem to be as enjoyable. My initial reaction was to blame PA, thinking that the physics of the PC version weren't as good, which would have been really unexpected given the power of modern PC. I think my issue with PA is that recently I have been playing a lot of Pinball FX2 on my PC, and enjoying the FX2 tables a lot.

    PA tables are real pinball tables, which is good and bad. Some of the better pinball tables in PA are great. My major problem with most of them, and it is no fault of PA, is that they are almost always designed for short gameplay in arcades. This isn't a problem for pinball experts, but for at best average players like me it can result in frustratingly short games with low scores - the ball frequently drains. Obviously there is no way around this, and now that I realize what was bothering me, I'm starting to really appreciate the many fine qualities of the tables in PA.    … Expand
  12. Tower
    Mar 5, 2014
    10
    The closest thing to owning a real pinball table. Farsight Studios have made a game that captures the essence of classic pinball tables from the manufacturers Williams, Gottlieb, Bally, and Stern. They've got the physics right, they've emulated the computer chips from the tables and the graphics and sound are great. This is one of my favourite games of all time.
  13. Rabid_Shark
    Mar 26, 2014
    8
    what can i say i love pinball the game does the best job of recreating real tables out there but farsight studios do fail at how the game development business runs they rush tables out the door resulting in a lot of bugs and don't seem to want to fix the major ones as a priority over other fixes that they have done that could have waited but i still i really like the game and own season 1what can i say i love pinball the game does the best job of recreating real tables out there but farsight studios do fail at how the game development business runs they rush tables out the door resulting in a lot of bugs and don't seem to want to fix the major ones as a priority over other fixes that they have done that could have waited but i still i really like the game and own season 1 2&3, DO NOT GET PRO VERSIONS they dont give much of anything for the extra cost they are asking.. DX11 lighting should be coming to steam soon and look forward to really playing the s*** out of the game when it comes. allround it's a great game i just wish they were more dedicated to their product like they say they are ;/… Expand
  14. thepatient613
    Feb 16, 2016
    5
    At first I felt like I was part of a truly amazing community of hardcore pinball fanatics and wizards that would continually grow and expand based on customer demand. Instead we got this extremely overpriced game which I stopped supporting altogether. It seems like they have no intention of fixing this. As a person who's been following the franchise since before Pinball Arcade, I canAt first I felt like I was part of a truly amazing community of hardcore pinball fanatics and wizards that would continually grow and expand based on customer demand. Instead we got this extremely overpriced game which I stopped supporting altogether. It seems like they have no intention of fixing this. As a person who's been following the franchise since before Pinball Arcade, I can honestly say this is one of my biggest disapointments as a gamer in my life. Do not buy this game unless you enjoy getting ripped off.… Expand
  15. soilwork595
    Jan 4, 2014
    9
    The free table, "Tales of the Arabian Knights", is well worth the download alone. You can get lost hours on hours with just that table. You can test out every pinball they have, until you reach the high score of course. Still this gives you a feel for all the tables, and what ones you would like to purchase.

    The game offers real pinball tables, from classic 70's tables, to more    The free table, "Tales of the Arabian Knights", is well worth the download alone. You can get lost hours on hours with just that table. You can test out every pinball they have, until you reach the high score of course. Still this gives you a feel for all the tables, and what ones you would like to purchase.

    The game offers real pinball tables, from classic 70's tables, to more modern 90's(and probably 00' in the future) tables. I grew up playing the more modern 'interactive' tables like, Adams Family, Star Trek, Terminator 2, and Medieval Madness. Those 'interactive' tables are more appealing to me and they have a good amount of them, and counting. They have plenty of classics as well for old school players, but those are not my style, and I find the older versions boring.

    I have had no problems running the game or have had any glitches of that kind. Graphics look great and table detail is spot on. I feel like I'm actually playing the game, it feels so real. The sounds are spot on from when I remembered them, making Immersion that much more powerful. Physics are really good as well. I have a hard time telling the difference between a real pinball machine to this one.

    For those giving this a negative rating because you have to pay for it, should not be rating this game at all. The costs to license these tables are high (especially the popular ones), and they can only make more if they have funds. After playing the free table, I had no problems paying $30 bucks for the season 1 pack, which is roughly 21 tables or so. Season 2 pack has a lot more 'older' tables and is something I wouldn't pay $30 for. Luckily they sell "table packs" which usually include 2 tables (sometimes 1 if its a more popular/expensive game) for 5 bucks. I decided to go that route, getting T2 and another table pack, since most of the season 2 tables were not my style. They do have a "pro pack" for $40 a season or you can also buy individual table pro packs. I find it a bit steep for what it offers though. It allows you to control the "Operations" menu, in which you can adjust settings such as, how many balls you can have, tilt sensitivity, difficulty of table, and other options. These are mainly for hardcore pinball enthusiasts. There is also an option to manually look around the table up close in order to get a better view of what things say, but that is in the pro pack only. This is my only gripe about the game and only reason it doesn't get a 10. You should be able to view the table up close in standard mode, instead of charging people more money for it. That being said, you can still get a close view of the table when looking at the table instructions. The instructions will show you exactly how the game works, and what you need to do, showing you up close views of the objectives. Still when playing a game, I would like to freely look close up at will in order to see what something says. It is easy to forget where things are since there are an abundant of things.

    That being said, I think this is the most realistic pinball game on the market right now. I have played others and this blows them away. If you want to relive some good pinball games, or even if you are a casual player looking for fun, it doesn't hurt to try the free table and judge for yourself, it's worth it    … Expand
  16. Andurian
    Feb 28, 2014
    8
    This game is excellent, but flawed. As some of the reviews below already state, the graphics are a bit jaggy and the camera controls are terribly limited, though there *are* cameras that only scroll when you're launching. I have never encountered a bug, despite other's comments, in dozens of hours of play.

    I find the red reviews here sad. Zeros and Threes, seriously? This is    This game is excellent, but flawed. As some of the reviews below already state, the graphics are a bit jaggy and the camera controls are terribly limited, though there *are* cameras that only scroll when you're launching. I have never encountered a bug, despite other's comments, in dozens of hours of play.

    I find the red reviews here sad. Zeros and Threes, seriously? This is definitely not Battlecruiser 3000. As for the "outrageous amounts of money per table", the first two season packs are twenty games each, for $40 (or $50 with premium features that most people don't care about, mainly operator menus for the games). That's $2 (or $2.50) per table. That's a great deal, not an outrageous charge. Season three is, sadly, more expensive - the same price, but only ten tables. But $4 (or $5) per table isn't unreasonable. Unless you compare it to the free tables out there for emulators, but Farsight Studios has licenses to pay for and staff to pay.

    The physics model is very good. Better than the emulators. The ball feels like it has weight, and tables play like real life tables.

    As for the jaggy graphics, the come from the game's origin on cellphones. *But*, Farsight Studios has announced that they will be significantly improved in the near future, which is easy enough for them to do with the release on the PS4.

    As for not getting anything free, that's just wrong. Tales of the Arabian nights is available in it's entirety for free, with all the high scores you want. How sad it is that people here whine, complain and give inappropriately low scores because they didn't get *enough* for free.    … Expand
  17. sjett
    Jan 12, 2015
    9
    I'm having a great time with Pinball Arcade. I used to spend a ton of time playing pinball in arcades, and playing the tables on the PC is just as fun (even better, I don't have to keep asking for change). There is a good variety of tables. Pinball fans should definitely check this one out.
  18. davidpole23
    Feb 25, 2019
    9
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
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No score yet - based on 3 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. IGN Italia
    Jan 31, 2014
    88
    A great service that gives you the opportunity to play with almost perfect reproductions of many classic tables. Any flipper fan should at least try the free part and then decide if he needs to buy more of it.
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  2. Multiplayer.it
    Dec 5, 2013
    88
    Playing The Pinball Arcade is as funny as it was in real life during the last century. With lots of tables really existed, it's definitely a must-have for pinball lovers. But they will need to spend some money to enjoy the game.
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  3. IGN
    Nov 19, 2013
    90
    For pinball fanatics or just those curious about gaming’s relatively low-tech past, Pinball Arcade is an excellent starting point for re-experiencing the golden days of quarter-munchers.
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