About this game
Pinball Drop is the hardest of the 13 games to predict. Name-tagged marbles fall together and bounce off pins, slanted walls and spinning bars. Every marble follows simulated physics, so each round plays out differently.
How to play
- Enter 2 to 20 players and choose how many get caught.
- Press Go! and the marbles begin to fall.
- The view follows the trailing marble, and the arrival count appears at the top right.
- When the marbles remaining match the number to be caught, the race ends and their owners are it.
When it works best
- Larger groups
- Watching and cheering all the way to the result
- When you want an outcome from a physics calculation, not an animation
Is it fair?
Unlike most games here, nothing is decided in advance and the outcome of the physics simulation is used as it is. Starting positions are shuffled every round and initial speeds vary slightly, so no position or name keeps an edge. Any marble that gets stuck is nudged free so the race keeps moving.
Frequently asked questions
What if a marble gets stuck?
A stalled marble is automatically bumped loose. If a race still runs for about 75 seconds, it ends based on the marbles furthest behind.
How long does a round take?
It varies with the group and the bounces, but a round usually ends within a minute.
Names are hard to read on the marbles.
Only part of a long name fits above a marble. Short nicknames are the easiest to follow.