Tables are great; UI is awful
Thu Apr 26 2018 jbondoI love the fact that these are all REAL tables you can play in real life. It’s great to be able to learn all of the intricacies of each table and then actually play one in an arcade. I can only imagine the amount of time and work that must go into producing one table, let alone dozens.
That said, the UI is just... terrible. I hate to say it like that, because surely there are people who worked hard to develop this, and I mean no disrespect to them. But it looks and acts like a port from an old PC game or something—it feels nothing like a modern iOS app. The design is very dated, and the interface is often unresponsive or difficult to navigate. When the last UI update was announced, I was thrilled that it would finally be improved. Unfortunately, after many months of waiting, I can honestly say it’s been a letdown.
I’d open and recommend this app far more if it got the complete UI overhaul it truly deserves. It doesn’t need to be fancy—the tables are the star of the show here. In fact, I’d personally prefer if the UI was on the simple and clean side. It just needs to work. Intuitive navigation, responsive controls, simple configuration.
Thank you, Farsight, for the wonderful work you’ve done to preserve these great tables. Please don’t let an otherwise great app (and service to the pinball community) be ruined by a poor UI.
Owned titles now gone?
Wed Jul 03 2019 MrjombiToday I opened up the app to play the AC/DC game which I purchased quite a while ago. It would not complete downloading. I understand removing free games when a license expires but I paid for this! I really would like to hear the response of Pinball Arcade as to how they justify this when what instead on the website indicates that if we paid for a table it is ours permanently. Answer please.
I love the graphics and the feel of the games. I appreciate the history given about each game including the creation dates. However I can’t give it five stars because a feature I paid extra for now no longer works. There is a set of special balls that were introduced years ago for an additional cost. These include an eight ball, smiley face, two star trek deigns, an eyeball and several brightly colored ones. Since deleting then reinstalling the app the balls are still there but their graphics have all but vanished. They are simply chrome pinball with a faint design available. They stink. If they were free I couldn’t complain but since I did purchase them I would really like them returned in full detail as they exist on my other versions of the game. Please fix and update!
Incredible!
Wed Dec 07 2022 Kim1966.The tables available in this app are exact replicas of actual tables found in arcades everywhere! And the instructions for each game are provided in a format that is just like having a professional player point out the various features and scoring. I have found this to be extremely helpful for my real world play! At the time of this review, 20 of the available 99 games in this app are actually in the arcade that I frequent. Having access to the detailed instructions definitely gives me an advantage in competitive play. The instructions are organized in such a way that it is easy to get to specific instructions in short order during actual tournament or league play. customer service is extremely responsive to concerns. I highly recommend this app whether you are only going to play on your device or, and especially if you play real world pinball!
Practically unplayable
Mon Feb 12 2018 TheGreatPaulGI thought it was just me, but turns out I’m not the only person who has these issues. And I’ve had this game since it came out and only had three tables. I have tried uninstalling it and reinstalling it and it made no difference. First, this game crashes a lot. It could be me but it seems to occur more often when you select certain tables. But it’s the other random and odd glitches that literally make this game near impossible to play well. Guaranteed you’ll tap the screen and one of the flippers won’t respond occasionally. That alone makes this game virtually unplayable. The left arrow to scroll through the various balls doesn’t seem to work most of the time. I thought there was something wrong with the touchscreen on my phone. I have a weird line that always displays through some of the text. The tables under your favorites disappear and reappear. A lot of the glitches are annoying. But the flippers flat out not responding at times is just unforgivable and needs to be addressed. This used to be my favorite game to play on my phone, but no more.
First it was the little things...
Tue Nov 21 2017 firebirdfrank...that were always frustrating about this app: occasional glitches in gameplay, menu items and text that wouldn’t display properly, unresponsive/inconsistently responding controls when reading through game instructions. Now with iPhone X, the resolution/display issues are exacerbated so drastically that the games are unplayable. And if the length of time they have allowed those “little things” I mentioned to linger without the attention required in order for this to be a really solid app, polished through and through, I won’t hold my breath for the resolution fixes needed for it to work properly on iPhone X. Can’t give this app one star, only because the game selection and attention to detail in modeling them is second to none, and I’m sure it took many, many hours to achieve. But it sure is tempting to do so, given that an update is required for this app to even be usable again. I’ve heard excellent things about Pinball Arcade on other platforms, but on iOS, it’s always seems that this app wasn’t getting the same level of care.
All good. Got my tables back. Changed to 5 stars
Mon Feb 12 2024 CounterSniperAll my tables are back & work fine. Sadly though it seems like they aren’t putting out tables like they were before.
Original review:
So I go to play today after being away for awhile to discover that around 20 tables I paid good money for have been removed. I paid for them. That’s absurd. You should be refunding the money. You might have lost licensing to sell more but that shouldn’t mean I get ripped off. No matter how many times I try to restore purchases they don’t come back. I bought individual tables and season passes to support this game and now the tables I like the most aren’t there. This is unacceptable.
Own 57 tables and this app is still the best!
Sat Jun 28 2025 tpromixI hope the developers keep this app rolling forever, it really should be tied to a world pinball museum with benefactors donating the cost of licenses so we can play every table ever created. They do an amazing job of getting the tables authentically reproduced for iPad and phone… on my iPad Pro it’s surreal and fun playing so many of my favorite tables. It is sad that they lost the licenses for many tables and new customers can’t buy as many as we did when this started… but for everyone who loves pinball, the developer continues to make sure the app and tables work great...I’m sure their excellence will be rewarded in what ever comes next!
Where Are The Classics?
Sat Oct 02 2021 RootAdminI bought the basic app expecting to have the option to buy the classics such as: Eight Ball Deluxe, Playboy, F-14 Tomcat, Silverball Mania, and Gorgar. Not one of these are available anywhere to buy.
Even some of the post year-2000 classics such as Elvis, which I had won a live tournament on in 2002 are unavailable.
This is too bad as the play action on the demo games is impressive on my iPhone 12 Max Pro and feels almost like the real deal with the exception of being able to nudge and bump the pinballs and apply “body English.”
There’s stuff all over the Internet about Eight Ball Deluxe being available on Pinball Arcade for iOS in 2016. I thought for sure I’d be able to buy it after purchasing and loading the base app, but it is no where to be found. What gives? Licensing issues?
It’s been well over 35 years since Eight Ball Deluxe made its debut. It’s nuts that it is still easier today to find the live pinball on this theme than to find an app version of it for iOS — after all these decades.
The ad for the Pinball Arcade app needs to upfront and state what pinballs are available to purchase or have a link to a website listing.
Without any of the classics from my hey-day in competition pinball, I will sadly be archiving this Pinball Arcade app. So much potential for vintage greatness not realized!
