How to play Pinball — Neon Table

Launch the ball, work the flippers and keep it off the drain. Three balls, four bumpers and a drop-target bank that raises your multiplier.

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Pinball is a game about a steel ball, a sloped table and two levers, and almost everything interesting about it comes from the fact that the ball is genuinely simulated rather than following a script.

The table

The ball starts in the lane down the right-hand side. The plunger sits at the bottom of it, and charging and releasing sends the ball up the lane, around the top, and into the playfield.

Every launch clears the lane. That is deliberate: a plunger setting that leaves the ball rattling halfway up is not a weak shot, it is a shot you cannot tell apart from a broken game. Power changes how fast the ball enters the table and therefore where it ends up first, never whether it gets there.

A one-way gate at the top of the lane lets the ball out and does not let it back in, so a ball loose on the playfield stays on the playfield.

The flippers

Two flippers sit at the bottom, angled inward, with a gap between their tips a little wider than the ball. That gap is the main drain.

A flipper transfers energy only while it is actually moving. Holding the button down does not hold the ball up — a flipper at the top of its swing is a stationary wall, and a ball arriving at one bounces off it limply. Pressing just before the ball arrives is what launches it back up the table, and learning that timing is most of the game.

Where on the flipper the ball lands matters too. A hit near the tip travels much faster than one near the pivot, because the tip is moving faster.

The outlanes

Down each side of the lower table, outside the flippers, there is a narrow lane that leads straight to the drain. No flipper reaches it. A ball that goes down an outlane is gone, and there is nothing you could have done about it once it was in there.

That is not unfair, it is the shape of the game: the skill is in keeping the ball away from the sides, not in rescuing it once it is there.

Scoring

Four bumpers sit in the upper table. Each one scores on contact and throws the ball hard, which usually sends it into another one. Hits in quick succession build a combo, and the combo is worth more than the individual hits — a ball that gets caught in the cluster and rattles between three bumpers is the best thing that can happen to a run.

The two slingshots above the flippers score a small amount and kick the ball back up the table, so they help you as well as paying you.

Down the left there is a bank of three drop targets. Each one scores on the way down, and knocking all three down clears the bank: five thousand points and a permanent increase to your multiplier, up to five times. The bank then resets, so it stays worth shooting for all game.

The multiplier applies to everything, which means the drop targets are worth more than their face value — clearing the bank early makes every bumper hit for the rest of the game worth more.

Balls and the saver

You get three. After each launch a ball saver runs for a few seconds: if the ball drains inside that window it comes straight back to the plunger and costs you nothing.

The saver arms once per ball, not once per launch. A ball that is saved and then drains again is gone.

Ending

The game ends when the third ball drains. Your score is kept on your own device, and beating it is the whole point.

Controls

Hold to charge the plunger, release to launch. Then work the flippers.

Keyboard

Left or A swings the left flipper, Right or D the right one.
Space charges the plunger. Release it to launch.
N starts a new game.

Touch

Tap anywhere to charge the plunger while the ball is in the lane.
Once the ball is in play, tap the left half of the table for the left flipper and the right half for the right. The buttons under the table do the same thing.

Strategy tips

Press the flipper just before the ball arrives, not while you wait for it. A flipper held at the top of its swing is a stationary wall that returns nothing — the energy comes from the swing itself.
Aim for the drop target bank early. The multiplier applies to everything afterwards, so three targets in the first ball are worth far more than the same three on the last one.
A ball caught in the bumper cluster is scoring on its own. Do not panic about getting it out; the combo is worth more than anything you can do with it down at the flippers.
Hit near the tip for power and near the base for control. A tip shot goes up the table fast; a base shot dribbles and gives you another go at it.
Watch the outlanes rather than the drain. Most balls are lost down the sides, and once one is in an outlane no flipper can reach it — the time to act was several bounces earlier.
Use the ball saver. It runs for the first few seconds after each launch, so the start of a ball is the cheapest time to take a risky shot at the targets.
A slow ball is more dangerous than a fast one. Fast balls bounce off the slingshots and come back up; slow ones roll down the middle where nothing can help you.
Let a ball settle on a raised flipper if you can. It is the only moment in the game where you get to choose your shot rather than react to one.