Portable pinball crams a big-table feel into an iPhone

Light glinting off silver pinballs always pulls us in like crows to a piece of foil. Zen Pinball Rollercoaster taps our flipper lust with an authentic-feeling iPhone and iPod touch game. On an original table, balls cascade off bumpers, up ramps, and otherwise replicate the real-world pinball feel. While some consolations are made—we miss the physical buttons of a real table—iPhone enhancements include an optional, changing camera angle based on your phone position. Because of the great table and physics, Zen Pinball Rollercoaster is a must-have for any pinballer.

A pinball game is only as good as its table, and this rollercoaster-themed arrangement packs enough variety and challenge to keep players engaged. A handful of ramps are always open, and the game walks players through short sequences, such as spelling “R-I-D-E” on four targets. At any given time, gamers can shoot for about 10 different targets, staving off repetition.

The camera perspective moderately changes with your phone tilt; we were impressed by the sense of depth, with ramps snaking up and around the table. You can also jostle the table by shaking the phone, although it’ll never tilt. And if the changing camera becomes a nuisance, you can lock it down in any of its angles.

In our games, the table almost always felt like an authentic, physical game. We could trap the ball in the flippers and usually bounce it to the other side. The ball even curved with spin on certain hits. While we couldn’t quite pass the ball directly between the flippers—admittedly, a difficult move in real life—the ball behavior otherwise felt real.

Our only problem came from the phone’s lack of buttons. Players tap any of the four corners to activate either the left- or right-flippers. We never got fully comfortable, ultimately a thumb in the lower-left and upper-right so that the rest of our fingers could cradle the phone.