Editing Pinball (section)

==Scoring points==
[[File:Pinball Dot Matrix Display - Demolition Man.JPG|thumb|Dot-matrix display]]
Contact with or manipulation of scoring elements (such as targets or ramps) scores points for the player. Electrical switches embedded in the scoring elements detect contact and relay this information to the scoring mechanism. Older pinball machines used an [[electromechanics|electromechanical]] system for scoring wherein a pulse from a switch would cause a complex mechanism composed of [[relay]]s to ratchet up the score. In later games these tasks have been taken over by [[semiconductor]] chips and displays are made on electronic segmented or [[dot-matrix display]]s (DMD). The first DMD on a pinball machine was used by ''[[Checkpoint (pinball)|Checkpoint]]'' and features also video mode [[minigame]]s.<ref name=TPC>{{cite book |last=Shalhoub |first=Michael |title=The Pinball Compendium: 1982 to Present |year=2012 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing, Limited |page=132 |isbn=9780764341076 }}</ref><ref name=CPB>{{cite book |last=Rossignoli |first=Marco |title=The Complete Pinball Book: Collecting the Game and Its History |year=2011 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing, Limited |page=225 |isbn=9780764337857 }}</ref><ref name=hld>{{cite web |url=http://www.homeleisuredirect.com/pinball-machines/buying-advice/what-are-dot-matrix-display-pinball-machines.html |title=What are Dot Matrix Display (DMD) Pinball Machines? |last1=Beresford |first1=Andy |access-date=May 21, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bmigaming.com/pinballhistory.htm |title=The History Of Pinball Machines |publisher=Home Leisure Direct Website |access-date=May 21, 2014}}</ref>

MarsaPlay in Spain manufactured a remake of [[Inder (company)|Inder's]] original ''Canasta'' titled ''New Canasta'', with an [[LCD]] screen in the backbox in 2010.<ref name="ipdb.org"/><ref name="vendingtimes.com"/>'' [[The Wizard of Oz (pinball)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' is the first US pinball machine that used a [[LCD]] in the back box. It is used for scoring and mini-games and to display full color videos.<ref name=huff /> Other display innovations on pinball machines include pinball video game hybrids like ''[[Baby Pac-Man]]'' in 1982<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=125|title=Internet Pinball Machine Database: Bally 'Baby Pac-Man'|website=www.ipdb.org}}</ref> and ''Granny and the Gators'' in 1984<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1083|title=Internet Pinball Machine Database: Bally Midway 'Granny and the Gators'|website=www.ipdb.org}}</ref> and the use of a small color video monitor for scoring and minigames in the backbox of the pinball machine ''Dakar'' from manufacturer [[Zaccaria (company)#Company Mr. Game|Mr. Game]] in 1988<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=3629|title=Internet Pinball Machine Database: Mr. Game 'Dakar'|work=ipdb.org|access-date=August 9, 2015}}</ref> and [[Color Graphics Adapter|CGA]] color monitors in [[Pinball 2000]] in 1999 that uses a [[Pepper's ghost]] technique to reflect the monitor in the head of the as well as modifications by the use of ColorDMD<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.performancepinball.com/news/color-dmd-new-and-improved|title=Pinball and car news, tech and resources - Performance Pinball|work=performancepinball.com|access-date=August 9, 2015}}</ref> that is used to replace the standard mono color DMDs.

Pinball scoring can be peculiar and varies greatly from machine to machine. During the 1930s and the 1940s, lights mounted behind the painted backglasses were used for scoring purposes, making the scoring somewhat arbitrary. Frequently the lights represented scores in the hundreds of thousands. During the 1950s and 1960s when the scoring mechanism was limited to mechanical wheels, high scores were frequently only in the hundreds ''or'' thousands. In an effort to keep with the traditional high scores attained with the painted backglass games, the first pinball machines to use mechanical wheels for scoring, such as ''Army Navy'', allowed the score to reach into the millions by adding a number of permanent zeros to the end of the score.

The average score changed again in the 1970s with the advent of electronic displays. Average scores soon began to commonly increase back into tens or hundreds of thousands. Since then, there has been a trend of scoring inflation, with modern machines often requiring scores of over a billion points to win a free game. At the peak of this trend, Williams [[No Fear: Dangerous Sports]] and [[Jack-Bot]] have been played into ten billions and Williams ''[[Johnny Mnemonic (pinball)|Johnny Mnemonic]]'' and Bally/Midway ''[[Attack from Mars]]'', have been played into one hundred billion.

The 1997 Bally game ''[[NBA Fastbreak (pinball)|NBA Fastbreak]]'' which, true to its theme, awards points in terms of a real basketball score: Each successful shot can give from one to three points. Getting a hundred points by the end of a game is considered respectable, which makes it one of the ''lowest'' scoring pinball machines of all time. The inflated scores are the source of one of the Spanish-language names of pinball machines, {{Lang|es|máquina del millón}} ("million machine").

===Special scores===
* [[High score]] lists: If a player attains one of the highest scores ever (or the highest score on a given day), they are invited to add their initials to a displayed list of high-scorers on that particular machine. "Bragging rights" associated with being on the high-score list are a powerful incentive for experienced players to master a new machine.
Pinball designers also entice players with the chance to win a free game or credit. Ways to get a free game might include the following:
* ''Replay'': A free game is awarded if the player exceeds a specified score. Some machines allow the operator to set this score to increase with each consecutive game in which the replay score is achieved, in order to prevent a skilled player from gaining virtually unlimited play on one credit by simply achieving the same replay score in every game.
* ''Special'': A mechanism to get a free game during play is usually called a "special". Typically, some hard-to-reach feature of the game will light the outlanes (the areas to the extreme left and right of the flippers) for special. Since the outlanes always lose the ball, having "special" there makes it worth shooting for them (and is usually the only time, if this is the case).
* ''Match'': At the end of the game, if a set digit of the player's score matches a random digit, a free game is awarded.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=The Next Generation 1996 Lexicon A to Z: Match|magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]|issue=15 |publisher=[[Imagine Media]]|date=March 1996|page=36}}</ref> In earlier machines, the set digit was usually the [[ones place]]; after a phenomenon often referred to as ''score inflation'' had happened (causing almost all scores to end in 0), the set digit was usually the tens place. The chances of a match appear to be 1 in 10, but the operator can alter this probability – the default is usually 7% in all modern Williams and Bally games for example. Other non-numeric methods are sometimes used to award a match.
* ''High Score'': Bally/Midway, Williams and Stern Pinball machines award 1–3 free games if a player gets on the high score list. Typically, one or two credits are awarded for a 1st–4th place listing, and three for the Grand Champion.

When a free game is won, Williams and Bally/Midway machines typically makes a single loud bang, most often with a [[solenoid]] that strikes a piece of metal, or the side of the cabinet, with a rod, known as a ''knocker'', or less commonly with [[loudspeaker]]s. "Knocking" is the act of winning a free game when the knocker makes the loud and distinctive noise.