In some respects this is a distant cousin of table football ("foosball").

The stubs of two or more pinball machines are connected to a common hub.

Defensively, you try to flip the ball away from your own end, as in normal pinball. But offensively, you try to surprise or overwhelm the defense of other players.

This is possible because the hub is covered with bumpers and other pinball-machine obstacles, which can be moved during the game.

The motive power is provided by treadles, on which the players must hop up and down while also controlling their flippers.

The hub thereby becomes a seething, many-mouthed chrome shoggoth, swallowing a ball bearing on one side and spitting it out on another side.

I'm surprised we haven't half-baked this before, but I can't see it.
-- pertinax, Apr 29 2024

Nice! Another way to do this would be to have apparently normal-looking pinball machines, each of which has secret tunnels to neighbouring machines. This would permit the skilled player to flip a ball into one of these tunnels whereupon it would pop out onto another machine's playing area.
-- hippo, Apr 29 2024



random, halfbakery