"King Pin" is a 1973 pinball machine by Gottlieb with a bowling theme, featuring 10 drop targets designed as bowling pins. Players score by knocking down the lit target, which changes through rollovers on the playfield. Designed by Ed Krynski and with artwork by Gordon Morison, the machine is a classic electro-mechanical game with four flippers, emphasizing skillful aiming and target strategy.
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King Pin
Quickie Version:
Shoot lit drop targets all day. If you have a ball cradled and no lit drop targets in the line of fire, go up top [in front of the face of the upper slingshots].
Go-to Flipper:
Balanced
Risk Index:
Very High; watch where rebounds off each drop target go, which varies depending on what flipper you shoot with, including backhands
Full Rules:
How about a straight row of 10 drop targets? Ten bowling pins, ten drops. How About a game where making bank shots is important? Here, it’s all about hitting the lit pin, worth 5000 instead of the base 500 points. The star rollover in the center of the game moves the lit pin. The Skill Shot is to drop the ball into the lit saucer at the top for 5000; that’s big points on this machine. The unlit one is worth just 500 and missing both is common if you’re careless. Line up your Skill Shot mark and prepare to nudge a bit to make sure you get it. Once the ball falls down to the top of the playfield, try to hit the lit pin for 5000. Hitting unlit ones is okay, too, since completing them will score 5000 and reset them, guaranteeing some points and that one Is again lit. When the ball exits the top, it usually rolls smoothly down the face of one of the top slingshots without triggering it. Timing your shots when the ball gets to the flippers is critical on this game. You’ll be banking your shots off of the opposite slingshot, so think about the angles when you shoot. You’ll find that shots to the drop targets often rebound towards the other flipper due to the angle you’re shooting from, allowing you to do some back-and-forth target shooting. Some hits will rebound more down the center, where you can try to catch them on the lower flippers and take straight-up shots from there. If you have the ball cradled on a lower flipper when there is no lit pin on the opposite side of the playfield up top to shoot at, try shooting the ball just in front of the upper slingshot all the way to the top of the game to score a 5000 saucer there. The side outlane angles here are a bit different from other machines; balls going in fast that don’t touch the top curve have a decent chance to bounce off the side wall into the return lanes. When the ball goes in slowly or hits that curve, you’re likely toast. Key feeds - - balls through the top side lanes; ideally, you want the ball to come to the opposite flipper and get to a cradle.
via Bob's Guide
Pin-up
Quickie Version:
Shoot lit drop targets all day. If you have a ball cradled and no lit drop targets in the line of fire, go up top [in front of the face of the upper slingshots].
Go-to Flipper:
Balanced
Risk Index:
Very High
Full Rules:
This is the add-a-ball version of King Pin with different scoring. Unlike King Pin (the replay version), Pin Up suffers from point flatness. All ten drop targets are always worth the same 1000 points, removing the skill premium for hitting the lit target as on King Pin. Since the lit saucer up top and the lit return and lit outlane at the bottom are worth 5K, getting drop targets at all becomes less important unless extra balls are on. If they are, when you complete the 10 drop targets, for the remainder of that ball in play hitting the lit pin will add a ball, as will the lit standup target undeath the upper flippers. Since you can move the lit drop target by hitting the center star rollover, you can get multiple extra balls. If extra balls are off, your best strategy is just UTAD to the very top, trying to score the lit top saucer for 5000. Shoot targets only when you can’t shoot up top. The Skill Shot is to drop the ball into the lit saucer at the top for 5000; that’s big points on this machine. The unlit one is worth just 500 and missing both is common if you’re careless. Line up your Skill Shot mark and prepare to nudge a bit to make sure you get it. The side outlane angles here are a bit different from other machines; balls going in fast that don’t touch the top curve have a decent chance to bounce off the side wall into the return lanes. When the ball goes in slowly or hits that curve, you’re likely toast. Key feeds - - balls through the top side lanes; ideally, you want the ball to come to the opposite flipper and get to a cradle.
via Bob's Guide
