Pinball Jam

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Pinball Jam
Pinball Jam cover.jpg
Developer Atari Corporation
Publisher Atari Corporation
Programmer Joel Seider
Composer David Tumminaro
Platform Atari Lynx
Release1992
Genre Pinball

Pinball Jam is a 1992 video game for the Atari Lynx, developed and released by Atari Corporation. It features two pinball tables licensed from Williams, with playfield graphics and rules based on Elvira and the Party Monsters and Police Force , but with different music and sound effects.

Contents

Gameplay

The game uses an overhead view, which scrolls to track the ball. When multiple balls are in play, the game tracks the lower ball, with arrows pointing to other balls. The end of game match sequences from the physical machines are not used. The game has an easy mode where the player has five balls per game, and a hard mode where the player has the traditional three balls per game, and certain targets reset after a ball drains. [1] Players can nudge the tables. [2] The game manual summarizes the main rules of the original games. [3] Pinball Jam has a high score leaderboard which shows the top three scores on each table. Some digitized voices from the original versions are included, but are somewhat scratchy, and rearranged. [1]

Reception

Pinball Jam received mixed reviews from critics. [19]

IGN found the game closely resembles the original pinball tables, with game physics sufficiently convincing; but when the ball moves quickly the scrolling becomes "jumpy" to keep pace. It concluded that while it is a fun game, it wouldn't satisfy die-hards. [1]

VideoGames & Computer Entertainment found the physics were not always accurate. [12]

Go! Hand-Held Video Games magazine criticized the game for having "dodgy ball inertia" with the ball movement not sufficiently realistic. [16]

Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the game for including two tables, but found they lacked visual appeal. The music was called "typical annoying Lynx bleeps." [7]

GamePro recommended it to pinball fanatics, but noted that the flippers could be hard to see at times against the colorful playfields. [20]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Jung, Robert A. (July 6, 1999). "Pinball Jam Review". IGN . Snowball.com. Archived from the original on 2000-01-18. Retrieved 2026-02-08.
  2. ↑ Walnum, Clayton (November–December 1992). "The Lynx Line". Atari Explorer. Vol. 7, no. 6. pp. 51–52.
  3. ↑ Pinball Jam. Atari Corporation. 1992.
  4. ↑ Knight, Kyle (1998). "Pinball Jam - Review". AllGame . All Media Network. Archived from the original on 2014-11-14. Retrieved 2026-02-08.
  5. ↑ Amann, Hans-Joachim (September 1992). "Konsolen: Tilt ihn noch einmal, Sam". Aktueller Software Markt (in German). Vol. 7, no. 9. Tronic Verlag. p. 127.
  6. ↑ Morgan (December 1992). "Lynx Review: Pinball". Consoles +  [ fr ] (in French). No. 15. EM-Images SA. p. 156.
  7. 1 2 Harris, Steve; Semrad, Ed; Alessi, Martin; Sushi-X (October 1992). "Review Crew: Pinball Jam". Electronic Gaming Monthly . Vol. 5, no. 10. Sendai Publishing. p. 36.
  8. ↑ Nini, Nourdine (December 1992). "Lynx: Pinball Jam". Joypad  [ fr ] (in French). No. 15. Challenge SARL. p. 158.
  9. ↑ Nini, Nourdine (December 1992). "Consoles News: Pinball Jam". Joystick (in French). No. 33. Sipress. p. 174.
  10. ↑ Weidner, Martin (October 1992). "Spieletest: Pinball Jam". Mega Fun  [ de ] (in German). No. 5. Computec. p. 49.
  11. ↑ Barysch, Jan (September 1992). "Test: Pinball Jam". Video Games  [ de ] (in German). No. 10. Markt & Technik. p. 134.
  12. 1 2 Bieniek, Chris (October 1992). "Gaming on the Go: Pinball Jam". VideoGames & Computer Entertainment . No. 45. Larry Flynt Publications. p. 63.
  13. ↑ "Hand Jobs: Pinball Jam". Zero . No. 35. Dennis Publishing. September 1992. p. 79.
  14. ↑ "Atari Attack: Pinball Jam". Consolemania  [ it ] (in Italian). Vol. 2, no. 4. Xenia Edizioni. May 1993. pp. 28–29.
  15. ↑ Daldry, Jeremy (September 1992). "Handheld Review (Massive): Pinball Jam". Game Zone. No. 11. Dennis Publishing. p. 60.
  16. 1 2 Anglin, Paul; Boone, Tim (October 1992). "Review: Pinball Jam". Go! Hand-Held Video Games (supplement). No. 12. EMAP. pp. 26–27.
  17. ↑ Stoschek, Monika (1993). "Atari – Lynx: Pinball Jam". Megablast (in German). No. 2. Joker-Verlag. p. 105.
  18. ↑ Szameitat, Thorsten (February 1993). "Review: Pinball Jam". Play Time  [ de ] (in German). No. 20. Computec. p. 115.
  19. ↑ Kiwi (Spring 2003). "Test: Pinball Jam". Alternative Pocket (in French). No. 2. Abbadie Fabrice. (Transcription by Pockett Videogames  [ fr ]. Archived 2013-05-12 at the Wayback Machine ).
  20. ↑ Rampant Saxon (November 1992). "Lynx ProReview: Pinball Jam". GamePro . No. 40. IDG. p. 164.
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