Shooter lane. Why bother?

Hi all,

 

Do we really need the shooter lane anymore?

 

With most modern machines having the ability to launch the ball with a solenoid, surely the shooter lane is redundant. It's a hangover from the old days when plungers were required - and who really likes those plunge skill shots anyway!?!!?

 

Think of the extra real estate or ideas that could be used in the freed up area. T2 is a good example with almost no shooter lane and a great loop. It only uses half of the right hand side of the machine.

 

Centaur - the ball can launch from under the play field and appear near the top, so, this sort of thing can be done.

 

So, there you go. Some innovation in pinball.

 

Haggis, how about it? No shooter lane.

 

Cheers,

Heighway Shyster

Shooter lane. Why bother?

 

Hi all,

 

Do we really need the shooter lane anymore?

 

With most modern machines having the ability to launch the ball with a solenoid, surely the shooter lane is redundant. It's a hangover from the old days when plungers were required - and who really likes those plunge skill shots anyway!?!!?

 

Think of the extra real estate or ideas that could be used in the freed up area. T2 is a good example with almost no shooter land and great loop. It only uses half of the right hand side of the machine.

 

Centaur - the ball can launch from under the play field and appear near the top, so, this sort of thing can be done.

 

So, there you go. Some innovation in pinball.

 

Haggis, how about it? No shooter lane.

 

Cheers,

Heighway Shyster

 

You make some valid points and if I remember correctly Gotlieb actually tried this back in their EMs where you press the flipper buttons and the ball was launched from between the flippers, why the practice wasn’t continued I’m not sure?

Pro football for example

 

 

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Capcom's Flipper Football never had a shooter lane

if it aint got a plunger, it aint pinball

 

games that only have launch buttons suck

gottlieb started this in the 1950's

i'm a 90's DMD kid, and I still enjoy games that incorporate a physical plunger. I don't see why a fun aspect of a game should be taken out by default.

Pressing a button to launch the ball is boooooring to me.

 

I do take your point that minimising it can help an awesome pinball design, but personally don't want to see it become the default

That would kill the famous shooter lane pic in for sale threads:)

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

gottlieb started this in the 1950's

Isn't it funny, you see all these innovations in pinball but they are not new at all.

Another one was the lift up glass.

Another, printing on the back of playfields.

If the ball is launching into the open playfield directly it's nice to give the player some sense of control when starting the game. I prefer that. If the ball is just launched to the rear of the playfield with no real skill shot on offer then yeah, there's no real benefit to a traditional shooter.

Zaccaria (once again) was ahead of the game on this particular topic... check out their plunger-to-elevated-skyrail which hugely freed up the RHSides of their PFs.

Best example would probably be Pinball Champ (82)

Where there would usually be blank wood they managed to fit a Spinner lane, a double Drop target bank, a rollover, a saucer/captive ball kicker, some more posts, lighting and art, large fries..

Who Dunnit? is only a partial lane. It's pretty cool.

Maybe the ball can go up into the backbox and slide down onto the playfield via some sort of skill tester thing?...

 

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I hate games where a button launches the ball in a game of pinball....hate is a strong word, but it's just not the same as plunging the ball. I need my shooter rod and flipper buttons for pinball.

 

Since owning AC/DC, the single fire button in the middle of the apron has been a nice addition and I like the option to use that to launch the ball, but I still need a physical shooter rod on my pinball machine.

 

My two cents!

Elevated or under playfield shooter lane yes. I was thinking of removing it or a short cross playfield shot like Flash to gain playfield space but then you get bad wear marks right across the center.

 

In my attempt to try something different, I am now looking at a multi use shooter lane where the shooter lane in how you get to the upper playfields in play as well as a means to start the ball.

You are required to shoot the ball at the right time or the shot is wasted and that mistimed shot could cost you the ball.

 

I am a big believer in bad, misplaced or mistimed shots having consequences rather than outlanes working on just bad luck as a means of loosing the ball.

I think the width of the current playfield is perfect, anything wider slows the game down with more side to side action. I don’t like the JJP wide bodies, nor the Williams Superpins (except TZ).

Shooter lanes are as integral to pinball as flippers. Before flippers were invented, the plunger was the only mechanical interface the player had with the game. It adds skill to the plunge which is otherwise irrelevant in solenoid-based plungers.

You're mixing 2 concepts here:

 

1) Being able to manually plunge

2) the realestate occupied by the shooter lane

 

They are completely unrelated.

 

Manual plunge is very important when available for various reasons: skillshots, soft plunge to use late playfield validation, etc.

 

The shooter lane is part of the design of the game. Where do you want the ball to come into play? Bottom of the playfield? Top? Right flipper?

 

Many games have a very short one because the ball comes to the flipper or the lower playfield by design.

Just to name a few: Congo, World Cup Soccer, Dr Who, Theater of Magic, Stern Star Wars, Iron Maiden, ...

 

These games use the extra real-estate on the top of the playfield.

 

Some games still use the estate because the shooter lane is higher (Bram Stoker Dracula, for example).

 

If you wanted to launch the ball from the top of the playfield, with a solenoid, without a shooter lane, it's fine, but how would you route the ball from the apron to there? You'd need a giant subway (both very long and deep as you'd have to go against the slope of the PF). It's just impractical.

When I have my Pinball meets here, I delight in watching players vary their launch pressure to make the bonus. You can't do this with a solenoid launch. So future concepts without this control is wrong IMO.

I say go the other way. Have a proper plunged skill shot that has a big impact on score or gameplay, even if it takes up more space (see Fireball).

Personally prefer the plunger, it feels like you get a different coming down

I prefer manual plunge it allows some control

keep the shooter lane. i like skill shots with an old fashioned plunger... and the odd slam plunge just to bring back my teens.

 

T2 is a solenoid launch but still has a very cool and progressively harder skillshot.

Geez, Funhouse is definitely a relic then

 

Yea, it's a good question and I've um'd and ar'd over it for a while. I have four pins at home, and only one has a physical plunger (all 90's era)...

 

I think for our first pin (Celts), I'll use a physical plunger just because I'm planning on having two skills shot's tied to it - future pins.. not sure.

The Zaccaria machines also had the shooter lane raised above the Playfield for many of the machines so you still had Playfield real estate under the balls path.

Plunging a ball to start with skill is part of what makes pinball pinball.

 

Machines such as grid iron that have the ball launch from between the flippers is cool, but a novelty.

 

 

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I love me a good skill shot :D