Play Meter

AMERICAN
ARCADE
SCHOOL
A DIVISION OF
AMERICAN
GAME EXCHANGE
•
In depth instructions on
solid state game
equipment.
•
Guest lecturers from
major game factories.
•
Lecture sessions and in
shop training directed b)
Don Wright, formerly
chief technician at
Cinematronics.
*
Sessions held the second
Monday of each month
through the following
Saturday
4607 Mission Gorge Place
San Diego, California 92120
Call now for information
714/287-4263
(Credit cards)
.. ... . FROM JAPAN·· ····
···· ··TO JAPAN
Kay A. Chiba
The best all-round coin man in Japan
World wide services since 1959
You saw it in
PLAY METER
84
accomplish this.
It's just very disspiriting to have a
reachable maximum point on any
coin-machine game. Much of the
allure is .beating that phantom
player's score and the fact that it's
missing on Gottlieb machines tends
to overwhelmingly diminish their
draw on location, which is something
I've heard time and time again when
I've talked with players. It's really the
primary reason Gottlieb machines
have been less than record-breakers
in the recent past and also weighs
heavily from this writer as well.
RATING: ##lf2
FREE FAll/Stem
For a company that's been
experiencing such incredible results
from its video games, it's nice to
know that it wasn't idle with pinball
machines as witnessed by Stern's
long awaited follow-up to Nine Ball,
which shows that the legendary
Harry Williams can still turn them
out, with some novel touches thrown
in.
PLA YFIELD: This ''big game" size
effort offers three yellow square
targets at the middle top of the board
along with two lanes on the left, two
on the right and a thumper bumper
in between. At the left is a top
spinner along with another thumper
bumper, while the right has a
stationary target and also a thumper
bumper. In the middle is a kicker set
up that propels a ball up to a wire
loop and an elevated track over to
the right side that can keep up to
three balls ready to be sent up and
ou t fo r mu lti -b a ll p lay when
activated. A long lane just next to the
shooter offers letters to spell out as
well as a kicker to send the balls back
to the field, while a gate is opened if
the player hasn't accomplished the
multi-play, sending the ball back to
the plunger. Meanwhile, back to the
major part of the playfield, there are
three stationary targets (S-K-Y) on
the right and a five-drop-target bank
on the left as w,ell as a long shot up to
a target next to this for values that
can reach into six figures as well as
specials when lit. The bottom takes
the short double lanes down to the
flippers approach, and that's the
board.
ANALYSIS: For a multi-ball, multi-
level game, Free Fall has some
interesting touches, not the least of
which is the utilization of a ramp to
not take away any actual playfield
space to get the heightened action.
The game is basically a spell out of S-
K-Y-D-I-V-E-R-S from the top lanes,
side targets, and bottom lanes, in
order to activate the possible m -
ball play, but the game doesn't st
there nor is the multiple ball p
integral to the game. It's an extra
The left side five bank offers a game
within a game since getting all the
targets down increases bonus
multiplier (up to a max of 14X). But if
a player can get the targets down in
sequence a special is possible in tha
left side deep set target and, if tha
weren't enough, if the targets are all
hit except for the 3, an extra ball can
be gotten by hitting that last target.
And then there's the center three-
drop-target bank which features a
small grid in front of it, for filling out
the card and making lines for extra
bonus points and an increase in the
value of that deeply set left side
target. For this Stern and Harry
Williams have come up with a line
selector change that's activated by
the flipper buttons, making this a
very active feature and a way to have
the player really get more control
over what he wants to hit and when
he should hit it. And making the Jines
adds onto the multiplier and builds
up to a reserve bonus of over 100,000
points. ·
""''· -..
It's a well thought-out and
balanced machine that offers a
pretty good array of shots, such as a
top left spinner that, when lit, is
worth 5,000 points per revolution
and can really add up to points.
There's good play on the sides and,
as was the case with Flight 2000, the
multiple balls are sent up rather than
straight down to the flippers, so a
player has a chance to get ready for
the onslaught.
GRAPHICS: With lots of blues,
yellows, and oranges, Free Fall
offers a striking visual package
complete with a winged woman on
the back glass and some interestingly
stylized lettering, which is a
refreshing change of pace from most
of Stern's very dark games of late.
PLAY: Once again the seventh digit
is a godsend, allowing the operator
to play around with the right limits
and giving the player something to
shoot for. On extra ball play you
might want to start with 600,000
points and follow it with 1,100,000
and 1,700,000 points. For free play
you should be in the ball park with an
increase of 200,000 to 400,000 points
for each of these levels.
PROS & CONS: It's nice when
added elevation to a pingame doesn't
take away from the total board as is
the case here and even with Xenon.
Splitting the game, such as Black
Knight and Flash Gordon is a big
adjustment not only for the
PLAY METER, May 15,1981