My Rick and Morty Pinball Adventure
Traveled from NE PA to Williamsburg Brooklyn to play Rick and Morty on Saturday.
Stopped half way into work for the Pinburgh F5 championships. Victory!
Hit the gas hard (100mph-oops) to catch the 12:23 train out of Morristown NJ.
One diner burger and subway ride later, i arrived at Jackbar NYC.
Jackbar has amassed a pinball collection to rival almost any available alternative (move over sunshine!) and has quickly become my preferred place to play in the area. Great beer and drink selection and playing pinball is comfortable. The freshly shopped Rollergames plays fantastic. The owner is the day bartender and pinball tech.
"Hi Jon , hit me up with a Sweetwater 420 and a pile of ONES, it’s time to jump dimensions and get into some RICK AND MORTY PINBALL MUTHA-F*CKERS! "
THE REVIEW
DISCLAIMER -this is a review of one game on location, I assume set up to play tough (steep) , providing fun in conjunction with great challenge to the best players in NYC who play in tournaments (at jackbar) or frequent this establishment. This review is specific to one machine, played multiple times (20+) over the course of the day and night.
I played games mostly in 4 player groups and a couple solo.
Rick and Morty Bloodsucker #26
Plunge :
Plunge is important on this game. Specifically because of the current value of the Super Skill shot (400k) . For the first couple of games that i played , anybody who got 3 super-skill shots would have easily won the game. Seemingly, a score imbalance ; unless players were able to get a mode or multi-ball started. Some plunges, including auto-plunges, go around into the “turnaround shot” (next to right ramp) and SDTM. “F*ck” . The rare “plunge into a SDTM , followed by auto-plunge SDTM” is possible. With a tight tilt, you could carefully nudge your way out , but you learn the hard way and beginners aren’t going to know any better.
I hit plenty of of super skill shots and they didn’t seem all that difficult if you could get enough power on the shot. I don’t remember hitting the target on the left ramp (cant remember the name of target) or intentionally going for it on the plunge. When super-skill was not active , i was going for the spinner loop , which appeared rejecty (it’s word now!) at first ; but proved to be a nice quick flow shot when shot correctly. Repeating spinner loops , eh, not much of that.
Now that the excitement of the plunge has been exhausted lets move onto …
GENERAL GAMEPLAY
The plunge basically forces initial gameplay into a situation which puts your chances of survival into immediate peril. The dreaded side-to-side ball action … friend only to hungry drains, a hyper-sling, and the maniacally placed, “in-your-face” pop bumper . At least you have SLAM SAVE. Getting a ball under control was a chore in itself. Everything was functioning properly on the game. A lot of flailing to start, followed by some quick drains, was not all that uncommon to see. This is a game where you have to learn your shots and also learn how to deal with where the game is sending the ball when you are out of control. Focusing on magna-save (and the mere existence of it) early is advised .
Light shows are awesome as usual.
The ship toy is fairly impressive in person . The shaking is cool and the 2 shadows of Rick and Morty are awesome.
Topper is really cool too. It spins and lights when portal is ready. Can’t really see the front when the back lights are going off is the only complaint.
Okay , so you finally get control …what do you shoot?
Left Flipper - it’s the place you want to be. Oh , lets see , one could shoot …
- Backhand to left drop target or u-turn or lock - triple threat
- Center Scoop- (can be lit for a mode or multiball or mystery) for some reason i kept screaming for ROBOCOP! (it’s in there)
- Right drop target or u-turn or lock (mode shot or meeseeks / mega seed)
- The often-ignored FLOOBLE CRANK (lights locks and cranks the magna save battery)
- Right Ramp - feeds right flipper(lights modes)
- Right u-turn loop (mode shot or meeseeks / mega seed)
- Right loop, u-turn / back door garage shot (mode shot or meeseeks / mega seed)
- Megaseeds - add meeseeks
9-13. Backhand the pop bumper, shatz right inlane (slam letter, future mode shots?), roll up the flipper backhand hit Jerry , Summer or Beth targets.
With this design crew , i am not so sure these shots are as crazy as they sound .
Right Flipper - not the worst place to be
- Backhand right ramp - feeds right flipper (didn’t seem possible on this one - steep) (lite mode at scoop, mode shot or meeseeks / mega seed)
- Flooble! Crank it up! (wrong game) (lights locks and cranks the magna save battery)
- Right drop target, u-turn or lock (mode shot or meeseeks / mega seed)
- Center Scoop (can be lit for a mode or multiball or mystery)
- Left drop target, u-turn or lock (mode shot or meeseeks / mega seed)
- Left Ramp - feeds upper flipper (lite mode at scoop, mode shot or meeseeks / mega seed)
7-9. Jerry! Summer! Beth! Targets! (mode shots and??) - Shoot the pop bumper! - maybe there’s a pop bumper frenzy mode or dimension that will tempt you do do this. Make the pop bumper sound a fart and i’m in! (mode shots, i think)
- Shatz the left inlane into the scoop - i dare you to make me try this - left or right inlane hurry-up! (slam letter, future mode shots?)
Upper flipper
- Spinner loop - gotta hit t clean - repeatable , in the Bowen Elwin dimension only (extra ball , charge portal gun , mode shot or mseeks / mega seed)
- That target - forgot what it does
- Garage - Front - (portal ready - change dimensions , super jackpot, mode shot or meeseeks / mega seed)
- Other shots possible -drop targets , scoop , flooble , jerry , summer and beth targets
ACTION
The action was fast and furious on this game and getting control was a bit of an issue . some of the tried and true methods sent the ball into the dangerous pop bumper which would kick to an equally dangerous sling. Nothing beyond lighting a mode and getting the ball into the scoop, left any time to admire the amazing screen graphics featuring our heroes. Probably would have been a good idea to trap the ball and look up at the screen and get some guidance during the time of rest. When modes start , there are some general instructions as to what to shoot for in addition to the blinky lights.it was a but difficult to hear the rick taunting in the bar environment. I do remember a player saying “did he just call me a &*%$#^%” .
I was able to change dimension several times , but unless you already know the game , you have to look up to the screen to see where you have arrived. As much as i appreciate the utlra-fast scoop returns on this game, it would be nice to have time to read about what dimension you popped into or even look at the screen. Again , there may have been sound cues that weren’t audible. I enjoy a little stop and go if there are quality animations to watch. I never get sick of the TREX multi-ball intro, for instance. I don’t expect that to happen on this game (maybe as an option) . it seems speciofically designed to make the dimension change quick) Hope there is a “Shake it up” dimension , featuring the shaker and some Rick & Morty Callouts. Like a dance party with shaking?
There’s is no “flailing your way” to anything substantial on this game in it’s current form. There is not much to do in the start if you don’t hit a ramp or the flooble crank . None of those shots are easily hit by accident. What you will see from new players is a ton of shots to the scoop and the 2 targets or through the u-turn. The scoop was feeding to the spot on the right flipper that would naturally shoot back to the scoop or left drop target if you shot on the fly. Dead bouncing was lively and making for more problems. I hit many scoops by accident in a row or at times when it wasn’t lit for anything. I hope there’s some taunting for that! I like difficult games , but i do worry about non-competitive players having fun on this game.maybe one less adventure filled in at start and a mode lit without ramp at game start would help.
Ramps were smooth and fun to shoot . The left ramp was a bit steep and hard to get every time. Danesi lock 2.0 is a winner . The mech performs amazingly efficient and flawless. Be it a drop target or lock or u-turn , i found it fun to shoot for any condition. I’m not sure if there are rules for hitting the u-turn repeatedly , but it seems like a fun area to explore. Shots returning from the targets , u-turn scoop etc , seemed to naturally return there from on-the-fly flipping. Right u-turn loop was really fun to shoot . I love the way it flows to the upper flipper.
MAGNASAVE will, pull your ball out of the outlane! Don’t forget about it. Most players didn’t even use it or know about it. It’s a thing you have to keep focus on to use because there isn’t any time to think.
SUMMARY: didn’t intend to type so much above, but it is what it is. Destined to be forgotten in the short memory of internet game reviews.
Rick and Morty (as of early game launch and played on a brutal steep set up) is a unique and fun game to play . It has fast action that forces you to remain focused and attentive. How much fun you have relies on a knowledge of the game rules and the Rick and Morty universe. I’m not sure if they have a game tutorial in the works for attract mode (maybe they already have it) but i would appreciate it for sure. Even it only explained a couple of things, like video game load screens do. Explain one dimension every so often etc.
I had a lot of bad games trying to learn the shots and get familiar with the ball feeds. Some games were not fun at all . Some games were an adrenaline-pumping great time . I can see some players not wanting to put in the time to learn the game. There were many player tears to be harvested. Top score 7mil.
This game is perfect for the home collection, due to the unique layout and the many awesome rules of dimension changes and multiple modes . The combination of modes and dimensions stacked with a multiball should lead to an almost infinite combination of unique gameplay situations. Meanwhile Meeseek mutipliers are degrading into divisors and megaseeds are waiting to be harvested for a juicy bonus! Break out your thinking caps, this is no “shoot the same shot over and over to build towards a mode or hurry up” type of game. You are shooting all over the playfield , if you can last long enough to do so. A tight tilt is too brutal for this game.
Sorry, no traditional flow. One could argue left ramp to spinner loop to garage (fast feed to left flipper) to right ramp to scoop (maybe) would be an awesome combo; but not the traditional smooth flow some people tend to revere. The pop bumper can send the ball almost anywhere, which results in an exclusive manic gameplay experience that is perfect for the theme. One too many screw turns and you’re dead.
Cheers to Spooky pinball . You have assembled an awesome team of game designers , rules experts and support staff. This is a game to be proud of and I appreciate the level of detail you have committed to this game and the ones that preceded it. Keep that in mind when reading what follows .
DISCLAIMER -this is a review of one game on location, I assume set up to play tough (steep) , providing fun in conjunction with great challenge to the best players in NYC who play in tournaments (at jackbar) or frequent this establishment. This review is specific to one machine, played multiple times (20+) over the course of the day and night.
THE BAD:
Multiple instances of game-ending software / hardware events.
- Had a nice game of close to 6 million going, started my 2nd multiball and …RESET
- Started 3 player game, launched ball and … flippers died , ball drained . Gameplay stalled . Flippers returned , but no ball served.
- At least one instance of game not returning from a tilt (didn’t happen to me)
Previously mentioned ball launch to inner u-turn loop to SDTM
Ball stuck on upper switch on launch (happened only once that i know of ) switch too high
No easy achievements for beginners
Early gameplay scoop shots and target shots tend to return to same area with nothing rewarded or advanced.
Nothing tempts me to shoot the side targets . Maybe Jerry screams in pain if i shoot him . That i would love.
These were my observations and unfortunately i could not heart the sounds , so maybe there are some worthy taunts that accompany the situation of shooting the ball repeatedly to the same area and getting nothing . That would make it awesome instead of bad.
Probably the most impressive thing i did was leave at 8:40 pm , walk fast to subway , catch the train within a minute , transfer to another train , came within 3 minutes , run through Penn station (huffing and puffing) and ultimately catch the 9:11 pm train back. From Brooklyn streets to the train seat in 31 minutes. I almost perished. I did it all for …
Rick and Morty Pinball
The best pinball machine in earth dimension C-137.
TLDR: Rick and Morty review , too many words , likes it , has some criticisms and desires, kissed spooky ass , can’t run a few blocks without getting winded.