Bumpers - any use?

[dendoc]

I was just playing Avengers again, watching endless animations of Capt America whacking shields into peoples heads as the ball bounce around the 3 bumpers up the top, and wondered why they are still put on machines? There's no skill in them, tends to slow the game down, can be very annoying resulting in lost balls (see TZ) and don't do much to the score. Maybe they were novel originally, but are they really needed in every game? Are there games around without them?

[pinnies4me]

No Fear doesn't have any, and seems to be missing something. There'll be some other games like that too.

Thinking about my games, the bumpers really add something, eg -

Firepower, four - ball gets to great speeds between them, and often helps get the "Fire" rollovers completed.
Timewarp - five - provides a level of difficulty to get back to the top of the playfield.
Joker Poker - helps with getting the special and also the rollovers.
AFM - three - awards the Super jets mode.
BBB - three - used in several modes for scoring.

I find the pops on FH (another Lawler design, but his best IMO) are fun -  they are used to progress the clock and make the right orbit a challenge.

[MartyJ]

Yet to play a good game without them.

I think its a bit like a pizza without toppings!

From simple games through to complex games, if anything just gives you a second to rest your hands or wipe sweat off.

Unfortunately many times they are not rebuilt properly (or even removed when completely when I mean fully stripping the playfield) so they are sloppy, have broken yokes, broken ring/rod assemblies etc.

When done properly and they are adjusted correctly, makes all the difference.

[GORGAR 1]

It's funny I'll have a go at fixing most things and not always that successful lol but pop bumpers always scare me not sure why, I do enjoy the ball between them crashing around.

Peter

[Caveoftreasures]

Interesting question for sure.

To me, playing a game without pop bumpers just doesnt feel right.

I love the pop bumper noise and randomness, the fact that it is so random and can be belted between them for 2 or 3 seconds or 10 seconds etc....

Everytime i play a game without pop bumpers, it just seems the game is lacking, it just seems pop bumpers really add excitement n extra action.

[Cursed]

My Shadow does not have any bumpers and i don't miss them on it to be honest.

There are games around without them, just few and far between.

[Freiherr]

When you compare Jungle Lord with no pop bumpers and Black Knight with one pop bumper from the same era, you can tell which is a better player. BK by a mile.

[ddstoys]

The thing I love about Pinball is no two plays on any machine are the same bumpers at one of those in predictable parts of most Pinballs

[4_amusement_only]

Yes, unpredictability is the main purpose of a pop bumper. Infinite possibilities of randomness which helps make a machine enjoyable to play.

Along with the aforementioned, I like the strategically placed pop bumper blocking a section of high scoring elements of a game. 

[dendoc]

Yes, unpredictability is the main purpose of a pop bumper. Infinite possibilities of randomness which helps make a machine enjoyable to play.

Along with the aforementioned, I like the strategically placed pop bumper blocking a section of high scoring elements of a game. 

masochist! I was interested as I note even the new WOZ has 3 of them. Avengers has 3 and it just slows evey thing down. Odd things, but I understand their use.

[Caveoftreasures]

most machines do have 3 pop bumpers.

does anyone know of any machines that have 4 pops or more. ?? 

[MartyJ]

Star Wars

[pinball god]

Embryon

[Strangeways]

Future Spa - 5

Junkyard - none

[GORGAR 1]

Time warp 5 bumpers

Peter