C'mon, you knew it had to happen sooner or later -- a thread dedicated to your high scores from the brilliant Saira in-game pinball machine. Mine is 155310. I play this pinball game nearly every day, and have spent more time on it than the actual Saira game. It's better than other virtual pinball games for five main reasons:
1. You have only one ball. Playing for the high score is like riding a giant wave, dude -- any minute you could wipe out and it'd all be over. This makes for a more fluid experience, heightens the tension, and eliminates that icky feeling of pinballer's remorse: "If only I hadn't flinched on ball 2!" Instead of multiple balls...
2. Fate or fortune turns with the table. The background color changes from one screen to the next like a bipolar person wearing a mood ring. Clearly a lot of thought was put into the layout, the midway point being a giant player-operated rotator stick which will send your ball to either a safe cozy place or a treacherous pit that's hard to climb out from. The last screen is the most twitchy and nerve-wracking.
3. Unlike this sentence, it's original. The paddles are suspended in midair, and you can roll the ball off them left or right. Also, the game cannot be replicated on a real physical pinball machine, as the ball drops from the bottom of one screen to appear in place at the top of the next. There's no gimmicky TILT button. Also, you're in space, can listen listen to virtual radio stations, blah blah blah.
4. It takes a lifetime to master but two minutes to learn. There isn't an array of flashing lights and complex missions like Space Cadet Pinball. Here is a nice pinball game that won't scare your friends off. All you need to know is that you build your score up by racking up multipliers and then tackling the bumpers and spinners.
5. My friend called me one night to say:
Paul: Hey Jamal, you know that mini-game within Saira?
Me: Yeah Paul, the pinball game, what about it...
Paul: Well, you know those little spinning things.. the things that spin and give you points when you hit them..
Me: The spinners, yeah...
Paul: Yeah.
Me: ....
Paul: ....
Me: ....
Paul: ....
Me: Yeah Paul, what about them?
Paul: That's very satisfying.
C)p So what are you all's top scores? And what do you love or hate about Saira pinball?
Edit: Thank you for merging my post J. Somehow I didn't see the pinball thread, even after doing a search.