by Susan, HSM team writer

“Ever since I was a young boy,
I’ve played the silver ball.
From Soho down to Brighton
I must have played them all.
But I ain’t seen nothing like him
In any amusement hall…
That deaf dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball!”

-Pete Townshend, Pinball Wizard

Growing up in the 1960’s and early 70’s, there were no such things as mass-produced gaming consoles and watching television for hours at a time.  We did, however, have arcade games — and one of the games that became popular is what today we call the pinball machine. History shows that distant relatives of the current version of the game go far back as the mid 1600’s, with the basic concept still prevalent today. A game that was inspired by billiards and bowling, the original “beta test” used a cue stick to knock down wooden pins and eventually became to be known as bagatelle.  Additions such as a spring loaded launch mechanism, coin operation, active bumpers, flippers, solid state electronics and digital displays give us the game we play today.

You’re a pinball wizard, Harry.

In May of 2009, Zen Studios released Zen Pinball on the PlayStation Network. It became a cult classic and hasn’t had a tilt yet. Zen Pinball was the top seller in May of that year, a top seller in June ’09 and continued to be a top seller in September of 2010. The game was well-received by game pundits and with a desire for more than just the four tables, but with something this good it was just a matter of time before more downloadable content became available.

Zen Pinball was one of the first games I purchased at the PlayStation Store. It featured some nifty things, such as Score Speed, Best One Minute and multi-player ranking scoreboards. In cooperation with Flashman Studios, this game has evolved into 26 different pinball games that now have features such as Team Score, Hot Seat multi-player, local split-screen and online worldwide tournaments. Zen 2 supports cross-platform on PlayStation devices: by that I mean any PSN purchase is downloadable to the PS3 and to the Vita at no extra charge.  With intellectual properties such as Marvel Comics and Star Wars and being playable on mobile devices, this has easily become the only virtual pinball game that I ever play.

Zen Studios is releasing a another themed pinball game based on the Marvel comic book Doctor Strange-The Sorcerer Supreme.  As with the rest of the games in the library, the new Doctor Strange themed table will have advanced ball dynamics, deeper social experiences and stereoscopic 3D all for free. You can transfer your games from the PS3 to the PS4 at no charge and continue to post your scores on your Facebook page. Doctor Strange will be available for download in North America on December 17th with Europe following on the 18th and on the 19th you can get it for IOS, Google Play and the Amazon Kindle Fire HD. Don’t own Zen 2?  The platform is free as are the demos but you will have to drop a little coinage at the PlayStation Store for the games which typically cost about $2.99. Next time PlayStation Home is down for maintenance, or if your just wanting to see if your a pinball wizard, try out Zen Studios’ Zen Pinball 2.

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