The High Scores on "Big Shot"

[leannaray]

There is only room for five figures on the backglass, so I'm guessing that when Gottlieb made this table in 1973, they severely underestimated the ability of players to get a much higher score than 99,990.

http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=271&picno=9092

It seems easy to get higher scores, even on 5 balls. (As most of you know, when you're playing with 5 balls, the bumper when lit gives you only 100 points, and when you play on 3 balls the bumper when lit gives you 1000 points.)

So, I'm thinking that maybe they should have made room for 6 figures (or maybe even 7) on this table?

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

There is only room for five figures on the backglass, so I'm guessing that when Gottlieb made this table in 1973, they severely underestimated the ability of players to get a much higher score than 99,990.

http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=271&picno=9092

It seems easy to get higher scores, even on 5 balls. (As most of you know, when you're playing with 5 balls, the bumper when lit gives you only 100 points, and when you play on 3 balls the bumper when lit gives you 1000 points.)

So, I'm thinking that maybe they should have made room for 6 figures (or maybe even 7) on this table?

This would go against the normal artwork and design of Big Shot's 5-reel display on the backglass. The game does properly track rollovers, though.

 

[soundwave106]

So, I'm thinking that maybe they should have made room for 6 figures (or maybe even 7) on this table?

Most TPA simulations play rather easier than the actual table, and I imagine that Big Shot is no exception.

The only EM I've played (Gottlieb Spirit of 76), I do remember *very* occasionally rolling the score, but it was pretty rare (maybe once or twice over a lot of plays). In contrast, rolling TPA's Big Shot seems rather easy to do.

 

[Reagan Dow]

Most TPA simulations play rather easier than the actual table, and I imagine that Big Shot is no exception.

The only EM I've played (Gottlieb Spirit of 76), I do remember *very* occasionally rolling the score, but it was pretty rare (maybe once or twice over a lot of plays). In contrast, rolling TPA's Big Shot seems rather easy to do.

Much easier then getting 3,000,000 on Genie damnit!!!

 

[Espy]

I've rolled over a number of EMs in real life. I'm not particularly skilled, on some it's incredibly easy. I remember Zaccs being like that at the UK Pinball Party.

Mind you, you can roll over quite a few SS machines in TPA. Black Hole and High Speed spring to mind. I suppose theoretically you can roll over any pre-DMD machine, but it will be difficult on most. Unless it maxes out.

On a similar note, I like how some EMs have a static zero added to the end of the score reel to pretend scores are ten times greater than they are. To artificially inflate the score. It's really easy to spot as it's a fixed plastic mould that has been screwed on, really stands out!

 

[vikingerik]

The games were meant to be rolled over by good players. That's a feeling of accomplishment, an extra final "I beat the game" threshold beyond the replay score. You can keep track of your rollover count and final score mentally. It doesn't really matter if the machine does, if the machine doesn't record high scores anyway. Remember the very first pinballs going back to Baffle Ball just left counting the score up to the player too.

Check out Black Hole for a stark example of rolling over intentionally being encouraged. The tech existed for 7-figure displays in 1980, Flight 2000 had it. But Black Hole lets you run the bonus up to 999k x 5 on a game that only supports 999k in the first place!