They say you always remember your first time. For me it was Harlem Globetrotters. She wasn’t the most beautiful table on campus, nor was she a great play, but we had good times. We spent many evenings together in the Students’ Union building - and, of course, I always paid.

HG wasn’t strictly my first: I’d played around with other tables before university. However HG was the first table with which I was serious and went all the way. At first I was fumbling around a lot, not really knowing what to do. But over time I learned how to hit her sweet spots and score consistently. She reacted especially well to my Slam Dunk shot.

Then one day she was gone, her place taken by a younger table with more prominent features.

That was many years ago and there have been many other tables in my life since then. Most come and go, played with briefly then swiftly forgotten, but I’ll always remember HG.

I like to think she still remembers me and the feel of my fingers on her buttons.

One of the nice things about software pinball simulations on the PC is the ability with the right software to design your own table. This is something I’m really keen on and am currently learning the Future Pinball system. Partly for my own benefit I thought I’d make the occasional post about table design elements I particularly like - or dislike.

The first is definitely a “dislike”. It’s what I call “kamikaze shots” - if there’s a more generally accepted term, please let me know!

So what is a kamikaze shot? It’s a shot that’s very important if not essential to getting a good score, extra ball or special. However it’s positioned so that if you do make the shot there’s a very good chance of immediately losing the ball. A common example is a target bang in the centre of the playfield arranged in such a way that a ball hitting it will most probably drop straight down the central out hole. Other examples include specials that can only be obtained by losing the ball down an outlane and ramps that feed the ball straight into peril.

I’m not talking about difficult shots that penalise you for failure, I’m talking about shots that penalise you for success!

To me these all fall into the category of “unfair”. Making the player choose between giving up a goal or almost certainly losing the ball isn’t my idea of good pinball design.

I really don’t understand why Dream Pinball 3D on the Wii has received such poor reviews. Sure, it has its faults, but it’s far from the worst pinball simulation I’ve played. In fact the tables in Dream Pinball 3D are amongst the best original creations I’ve played. However the game does give a very bad first impression - perhaps that’s what has put off some reviewers?

Let’s begin with that first impression. When I started a table my first reaction was that it was a mess - the graphics were chaotic and I had no idea what was going on. Ironically the main issue is Dream Pinball’s main selling point, the 3d nature of the tables. All the tables in this game are deep to allow room for the multiple raised ball lanes that form the focus of much of the play. The extra space is also used for 3d ornamentation. All this would probably look superb on a real table but on a flat simulation it just becomes messy and confusing. Maybe it works on a large, HD screen but I’m not in a position to find out.

This is where many people might give up on the game - which is a shame as after time it all makes sense. It’s just a case of persevering and getting to know the tables.

The other criticism often aimed at Dream Pinball 3d is the camera. All pinball simulations have camera problems. When you’re simulating a portrait orientation table on a landscape orientation screen you either show the whole table - and lose half your screen space - or zoom the camera in to the ball and lose context.

Dream Pinball 3d provides six “follow” cameras and one fixed table view, these can be selected and switched at any time during the play. Unfortunately the follow cameras aren’t always fast enough and can sometimes lose track of the ball, clearly unacceptable. Whilst this is annoying I’ve found that using camera angle 4 seems to minimise it happening. In addition, once you know the table then it’s usually possible to react instinctively with the correct flipper.

Those two - admittedly rather large - negatives aside this is a pretty good game. Playing on the Wii helps. I strongly recommend using the nunchuck with the controller, the Wii buttons are just too close together for the controller only option to be viable. Using the nunchuck also allows you to hold your hands apart and gives a much more realistic tactile experience.

Now on to the most important part of any pinball game: the tables. The tables in Dream Pinball 3D are good. Very good. They’ve clearly been designed by real pinball players.

All the tables could be built in the real world - although Amber Moon with a ridiculous eight flippers is unlikely to be commercially feasible! Each flipper has at least one good shot to aim for and there are skill features such as using the flippers to cycle the lit lanes for bonus multiplier and ball save.

Flipper power is good, table speed is just right, the shots are all possible without being too easy. The tables also “feel” right as integrated designs rather than collections of random features. Although all tables are superficially similar (with combo ramps, ball change etc) once you get to know them they all have their own individual styles (for instance Dino Wars has a post in front of the central out hole).

One feature that doesn’t really work is “ball change”. During the game the usual metal ball can change to one made from different materials, including one that glows as if radioactive! It reminds me a bit of the gumball from the old Bally game Twilight Zone. Unfortunately the different types of ball appear to have a negligible effect on gameplay.

That aside, these are generally excellent tables. With one exception (Spinning Rotors) I’d be happy to play any of them in an arcade.

Overall Dream Pinball 3D on the Wii is a collection of excellently designed tables let down by a flawed implementation. If you’re a fan of real pinball and are prepared to get past the initial confusing impressions to spend time learning the game then it’s well worth a look.

Welcome to The Silver Ball, my pinball blog. To start things off I thought I’d introduce myself with a brief summary of my pinball experience.

I started playing occasionally as a very young kid - whenever I went to a fairground or seaside arcade with my parents my Dad played pinball and I soon picked it up. However I only really began playing properly at University.

The University of Warwick in the early ’80s was a great place for a pinball fan and the Games Room was my usual haunt. Half a dozen pinball machine, often including the latest models, and all kept in good nick by friendly engineers who would often leave credits on them. I became a competent player - never one of the best, but definitely competent. My speciality was saving the ball from a seemingly impossible situation. Which sounds impressive until you remember that a really good player wouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place!

After university I was still able to play pinball - back then almost every pub had a table. But shortly afterwards the Decline began. Tables became rarer in pubs, being replaced by cheaper and easier to maintain video games. Instead of choosing a pub based on which machine it had, I was choosing a pub based on whether it had a machine at all.

My opportunities to play continued to become fewer and fewer until today - living in Edinburgh - I don’t know a single pub with a playable machine.

So I’ve been forced to play simulations instead, on the PC and consoles such as the PS2 and Wii. They’re nowhere near as good as the real thing but for now they’ll have to do.