Well, the "Planet" game is almost done…probably 95%. Too much going on in my life…hard to find time to work on my games. (Tax time…gotta love it!). Anyway, from what I see the game is "basicaly" done… just need more stuff for intructions, one more planet interaction, and a few loose ends that need work.

Otherwise I paid my brother a visit yesterday. I had this idea already but I will have to play around with it to see if it is realisticaly posible. (Speed is an issue). He owns a couple of "old" games and a pool table. A pinball machine from the early 70's and something else that cathes my eye….a Puck Bowler!

Some may ask…"What is a "Puck Bowler"? It's a bowling machine but instead of using a ball to knock actual pins down it had fake pins that flip up when the puck crosses over certain switches on the playfield. I tried finding a picture of the actual machine he has but no luck. I am awaiting posible pictures he will e-mail to me to work with to try this out. Puck bowlers are much the same in concept…here is a picture of one if you have never seen one…

<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/3754/puckbowlrd7.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>

Basically you slide a puck down the playfield, and depending what switches it hits, certain pins flip up leading to all sorts of combinations. There are more "settings" for styles of play than regualr bowling… there is Beer Frame (Basically the same but lights up on a frame it is set for to triger "Beer Frame", Keep Striking, where as long as you get a strike your turn continues, Flash-O-Matic (My favorite) where lites move across the playfield, and depending where the stop when your puck hits the first switch your score can increase if it is near the center…etc…

I took measurements from the actual table of the position of the switches and tried to map out what switch did what (may effect one pin going up or more than one, etc…)

There are supposedly 3 settings on the machine (easy, medium, and hard). It is on easy right now when I maped out most everything. There are a row of switches (5th row?…gotta check my notes) that seem to do nothing…or at least untill switches in front are hit.

I am suspecting those switches are used mainly for the "hard" setting as your puck would have to slide "dead on" to get a strike as compared to easy.

The 7-10 split is the most interesting. There are 2 switches on both sides that have to be hit at the same time. Sounds easy but quite hard to pull off. Hit one and its a "gutter ball". Hit the other, one pin goes up. Hit both and you make the split…probably as easy as real life! My brother pulled it off "once" last night as we bowled the night away. I lost every game =( Worst game was where I lost by "1" point!!! That kinda rubs it in. Well…when you OWN the machine what can you expect.

I think the name of the actaull game is "Pro Bowl" or "Pro Bowler." (Should look closer). But the pin payout for reactions, dimentions, colors, board layout, etc… will be based on it. It was made by Chicago Coin like in the 60's I believe.

The new chalange will be to make it "3-D". I want the camera view to follow the puck down the alley to a given point and watch pins flip up. Like I said… If it is feasible… Got to experiment first. Would be nice to be in 3-D though!