Play Meter

'Fathom , I gather, is the first -time effort of a new designer
at Bally . . . and he should be around for quite awhile.'
hit us w1th a variety of machines that
in essence show off the diversity of
its corporate thinking regarding
pinball and what individual games
can provide, given the existing
technology. This issue brings yet
another, with m ulti-ball play and
some added touches that have
resulted in a very solid machine with
a great deal to o ffer.
B ally's FATHOM
This most recent effort from
Bally hits the depth, figuratively
speaking, and the result is a game
with some interesting nuances in
terms of playfield design as well as
programming functions.
PLAYFIELD: The entry for the ball
off the plunger leads to a top three
lane set-up (A-B -C) that's controlled
by a right flipper lane change . Just to
the left is the beginning of a metal
arch lane with rollovers that leads
up to an upper right kick-out hole,
for locking up a ball for potential
multi-ball play.
Once the ball is rested in the hole,
there's an in-line configuration of
three target s an d a beautiful touch
for the ball to gain entry back down:
what I w o uld call a lon g metal "gate"
that t he ball pushes against and is
able to roll down th rough .
M ove back to the m ain part o f the
field and just below the upper lanes
ar e three thumper bumpers with a
three-drop-target bank, as a sligh t
angle, in front o f the lower bumper.
At the right of th is is a yellow target
that means an extra ball when lit,
while further over to the right we see
a similar set-up to the top: a fairly
deep and steep k ick-out hole for
locking up a ball and three more in-
line targets, all "guarded" by a
flipper.
Meanwhile over at the left is a n ice
long drop target bank with six green
and blue targets. The bottom is a
d ifferent approach with o u tside
"scoops" that lead into the flippers as
well as straight down roll-over lanes
that do provide some nudging or
instant death and two kickers inside
this.
ANA L YS IS : From what I 've
gathered , this is the first time effort of
a new Bally designer and if this is any
ind ication of what he can do, he
sho uld be around for awhile.
There's good balance from top to
bottom and an integration of
features that more often than not are
doing double-entry. T he three lanes
on top can mean an increase to those
lower "scoops" of 50,000 points
when lit, while the three bank (1-2-3)
in the middle are sequence-bound,
meaning that the player has to get
them in order to light that right side
target, which is on a timer, for
possible extra ball. They also can
mean advancing bonus multiplier
and bonus for what is two games in
one, with a green and blue bonus
build-up.
H it the in-lines when there's a ball
trapped, or get down the left side
targets at the appropriate time and
multi-ball play can begin-either
two-ball or th ree-ball with compli-
mentary point values increased on
the playfield cor responding to how
TOKENSeTOKENSeTOKENS
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PLAY METER, November 1, 1981
49