Play Meter

~ ~-,.-- ____ C_r_i_ti_C_' s_C
_o_ rn_e_,_
By Roger C. Sharpe
A few favorites
from afar
The summer season Is winding
down , and for many the woes of the
gasoline shortage have helped rede-
fine peak times for certain locations.
June to September was always
considered a rather soft time for
pinball machines; most companies
even going on vacation , shutting
down in order to get the energy back
for the big fall push .
This year , however , although
attitudes may not have changed, the
fact remains that many of the inner
city locations have enjoyed a rebirth
thanks to the gas shortage and the
less mobile nature of most people.
No one is going too far away from
home , depending on what area of
the country they are living In and the
accessibility ot gasoline . What this
portends for the future , when fuel
shortages become a more consistent
occurrence , remains to be seen , but
the summer trend toward growth
outside the city may now have to be
re-evaluated to allow people the
chance to get to the games, let alone
to play them .
What was normally the case was
that this time of year was an
opportunity for all manufacturers to
move some filler equipment so you
were sure to come across some
unknown company and one of their
products- usually a foreign manu-
facturer (though not this year as the
majors have firmed up their market
shares) .
If anything , this is the summer
which will be remembered for the
Incredible success of Flash and the
re-establishment of Williams in the
marketplace . Other standout
achievements will be the acceptance ,
if not need, for the Wide-body pinball
machine , with this year. supplying the
chance for all of the majors, except
Stern (as of this writing), to establish
at least one Wide-body for their
arsenals. Beyond this is the aware-
ness that this year less foreign games
found a home on these shores .
But since foreign equipment is still
a viable alternative , the pieces can't
and won't be ignored in this column
as time goes on . In fact , due to the
theme of this month 's Issue , the
majority of games reviewed will be
from across the Atlantic .
Zaccaria 's FUTURE WORLD
Not to be confused with Strange ,
Lost, New , or Third , or any of the
other World games (even World
Cup) , comes this four-player , solid
state effort from a fairly fertile Italian
man ufacturer .
PLA YFIELD: The action starts out
with a two post and saucer kick-out
hole at the top of the field . Move
down and there are three thumper
bumpers flanked on the right side by
three targets and the left side by a
long kicking rubber that is part of a
left side drop target bank featuring
five obvious drop targets and a sixth
target netted behind the center drop
target. On the right side across from
this is a short rollover button lane that
tops an area that also has a saucer
kick-out hole just below the access
point . The left side is a long six
rollover button arc for shots back to
the top , or those that roll down this
way . The bottom is a Zaccaria
variation on the standard Gottlieb
Roger's Ratings At·A·Glance
Zaccaria's FUTURE WORLD ........... . .... . ..
#II
Zaccaria's QUEEN'S CASTLE ............ . ...
1/4 Gottlieb's TOTEM ..... . .......... . ...... . ....
PLAY METER , August, 1979
#II
Inder's SCREECH ....... . ...................
#111/4
NNN
63