By Bernard Boulevard
Picture this: It’s Saturday night, and you’re out at your favorite pub with 4 of your friends, itching to play a few games of pinball. You grab a couple of pitchers and head to the pinball area. There are three games, and no one is playing them yet. You and your buddies do the math: There are five of you, and three pinball machines. Since most pinball games have a 4 player limit, there’s no way you can all play the same game, unless you shuck the whole idea of playing traditional 3 ball games, and play the new Skill Shot game (patent pending), “Round and Round”!
Here’s how it works: As in the above scenario, you’ve got three open pinball machines and five pinball-hungry friends. Drop enough quarters or singles into one or more of the machines until each machine has enough credits for a 4 player game. Press Start four times, and the game is on. Whoever wants to take a turn goes next. There is no typical “game” other than the ball you are playing, because, as is Skill Shot’s motto, “It Only Takes One Ball”! Hop from game to game, ask one of your buddies if he’s played game So-And-So yet and let him go next, or play one ball for a half hour while your friends cheer you on. It’s all about one ball, so don’t worry about high scores, getting your initials in, or trying to outplay your friends. And setting up shots is great, because it can be fun to watch a newbie get the ball that you were the last to play and see him get multiball or extra ball or even Stewie Pinball (if you’re playing Family Guy).
Round and Round works with many combinations of machines and players. Eight people can buy into one or more machines, while three people can play it on two machines. The only time it won’t work is if two of you are playing one machine in a two player game (no matter what, it’s still a two player game, right?). Playing Round and Round with people that are uncomfortable playing pinball (“I suck at it!” Yeah, right.) can be awesome because each ball is like a clean slate, and it can be seen by novices as a practice session or a learning experience without the outcome of an embarrassingly low score. Or it can be a way to include all of your friends in America’s Favorite Pastime: PINBALL! With Round and Round, it only takes one ball, literally.
Coming up next, another new Skill Shot game: “Half and Half”! (patent pending)