Friday 29 April 2011

Classic of the Month - White Water

Manufacturer:Williams Electronic Games
Genre:Pinball
Board:Williams WPC (Fliptronics II)
Year:1993

For the first quarter of this year I've talked about shoot 'em ups and while I could talk about them all year, I realise that would be a bit boring for everyone else. So I've decided to completely shift tact and do a classic pinball machine for this month's CotM.

I've not played nearly as many real pinball tables as I would like, but of the dozen or so tables I have played, the one that sticks in my mind the most is White Water by Williams. As the name suggests, this table is about white water rafting, specifically the antic of one crazy old geezer called Wet Willy. As such the tables objectives and goals all have names like Insanity Falls, Disaster Drop and Boulder Garden, as well as a whirlpool that will claim the ball. The main objective is of course to get down the river, which is represented by some of the most insane ramps I've ever seen in a pinball table, to get to Wet Willy's River Ranch. Along the way you'll go through Big Foot's cave, complete with a tiny mechanical sasquatch who will claw at the ball as it passes. The table has several ways of achieving multi-ball, so combined with the wild ramps things can soon get pretty hectic. It was a blast.

And it isn't just me who remembers White Water fondly.  It has a user score of 8.2 on the Internet Pinball Database, so even those that know what's what with pinball like it - which is reassuring, but I had wondered if only stuck out because of how flashy it was.

Here's a video of it in action:


MTW

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