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website/content/software/pin-pong.md
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Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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2026-10-12 07:55:22 +02:00

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Markdown

---
title: Pin Pong
tags:
- pinball
years:
- '1974'
params:
specs:
- label: year of release
value: '1974'
- label: companies
value: Atari
- label: type
value: game
- label: media
value: arcade cabinet
- label: systems
value: Arcade
- label: number of players
value: 1 player
screenshots:
- title: ''
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
- title: arcade cabinet
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
- title: cab (left)
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
machines:
- /museum/misc-arcade-video-games
company: /companies/misc
oc_id: 703
source:
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230607051015/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/software_detail.asp?id=703
date: '2023-06-07'
---
Pin Ball from Atari is the very first pinball videogame! As often with Atari, and particularly in the early years, each of their release was synonym with innovation.
The promotional text reads:
Pin-Pong is so unique, it's in a class by itself. In facts, it's the only video game on the market that simulates the play of the classic pin-ball machine. Realistic video motion and sound is generated by a specialized computer designed specifically to make the game attractive and reliable. And because the game is stimulating. Pin-Pong is irresistible to players of all ages. It litteraly invites players to "try their skill" time after time. The Pin-Pong ball is generated by a patented motion circuit, and each target is surrounded by one or more zones that determine the direction of the bounce.
In Pin Pong, a gravity algorythm accelerates the ball downward to give realistic pin-ball play on the screen. The ball flipper is genuinely unique to video games and in the normal position, they angle downward toward the center of the screen. When the flipper buttons are pressed, the lower flipper image is blanked and a short time later another image appears, the time as a straight vertical line. The timing used in the flippers gives the illusion of continuous motion.
Looking at the [official flyer](http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=thumbs&db=videodb&id=786) it's amusing to notice that it's a ping-pong player which is graphically represented even though the game itself has nothing to do with ping-pong... An incomprehension from the marketing guys or just worth the wordplay (or too much weed?)