Putin Vodka Mania

Love it! thankyou! Need to get an adidas tracksuit to play it properly though..

I love this table, it's amusing and the creator clearly spent a lot of time making this!

This table has landed a score of 67/100 (50 is average) in my "Arelyel Plays" series, which equates to 4 stars.

Strengths:

• This is a comedic and enjoyable table for those who like seeing humor in foreign affairs.
• I greatly enjoyed the voice-overs in the stereotypical Russian accent with some funny one-liners.
• I like that the table varies the music up between each ball and as you start different features. This adds a nice variety to the game atmosphere, although the choice of music tracks can get a little... interesting.
• The choice of attract mode music was brilliant. It's a fun, upbeat, and energetic remix track that gets your adrenaline pumping for the game.
• This table has several creative elements and toys to it, from the animated Putin at the podium to the spinning Stalin tank, the bear, the farmhouse, and more.
• While the artwork is not sublime, it is better than most originals (and Stern's James Bond *cough*). I especially enjoyed the "flaccid Putin tank" picture.
• This table scores high on originality; I haven't really ever seen a table quite like it before that puts a fun spin on Russian / Soviet affairs.
• The rules are simple enough to catch on, yet still follow a path to an overall objective (defeating Putin).
• I think the hybrid EM feel of the table suits the simple rule set of the game.
• The playfield layout is well-balanced (although I do have a couple unrelated critiques about it). And there are plenty of things to shoot.
• The theme ties together nicely with the player having to battle various leaders of the Soviet Union, Communist Party, and other allies of Russia, before finally battling Putin himself. I enjoyed all the little nods towards Russia put in the table, such as the vodka, the bear, and the dolls.
• I like that it does not carry a serious tone to it like a lot of pinball games today do; it's very light-hearted in nature.

Critiques:

• While I enjoy the uniqueness of the flippers, especially given each set operates differently, there are IMO too many flippers to track. It was very tricky for me to keep switching my brain and remembering what buttons I needed to press for which sets of flippers.
• The spinning disk above the right orbit may not have been placed at a good spot. I had several balls shoot quickly out of that orbit and down the middle with almost no chance of saving them. I probably would have preferred that the spinning disk was either slower or further up on the playfield, such as above the inlanes (and move the pop bumpers below the upper inlanes) or around where Stalin is located.
• A few shots, such as Stalin, are so tight to hit that they are almost impossible. I think I only ever managed to hit Stalin once in the stream.
• The way the left portion of the playfield is set up often caused my ball to bounce off the left side of the castle, hit the top of the left slingshot, and drain down the left outlane. Sure, I probably could avoid that if I learned to nudge, haha. But it was a small peeve.
• The ball save does not save balls that roll down an outlane unless they hit the drain before it expires. This is not typical pinball behavior; usually the ball will be saved even if ballsave expired so long as it hit the outlane trigger before it expired.
• The flashers on the slingshots are a bit too bright and made it hard for me to see my ball when I was trying to gain control of it.
• The rules of the game were not clear to me until after I read the documentation on the website. Perhaps add some flashing arrows to indicate where the player should be shooting (even before they start the modes, to guide them on how to start the modes). I was also still unclear as to how exactly AK shots work despite reading the documentation. Other than those minor issues and a few grammar errors though, the documentation was good.
• The lower portion of the playfield can get a little cramped / busy with all the sprites / toys when you have multiple features going at the same time.
• It is sometimes difficult for me to tell when my ball is on the main playfield in the pop bumper area versus when it is on the ramp behind Putin.
• The Tetris theme and sprites in ball 3, while comedic and representative of its origin (Moscow), is otherwise out of place in the game. Perhaps it should serve some sort of game play function, even if a minor one. The sprites are distracting otherwise.

All-in-all, this is a fun and enjoyable original table with comedic charm to it. I think it is best suited for beginner and intermediate pinball players, whereas advanced and expert players may not find it to be that challenging for them (although I think they would still enjoy it for casual play).

This looks like a fun game to play.  Given all the craziness of this crazy war, it's refreshing to see a crazy take on this crazy autocrat!

I played for a little while on my test machine and later, I'll put it on my full cab for a full play.  The Tetris shower in the middle and Vlad at the podium are really funny!

Thanks!

Most likely most of you did not know anything about Putin or Ukraine, until the last moment. Next you can make a table about hypocritical NATO politics or about US military interventions  and bombing of civilians on an ongoing basis. Doing political pinball is a bad idea, especially since the author doesn't know anything about Russia other than bunch of cliches.

vary entertaining fun play 

thx a lot for this nice table! And the topic is also funny. I like the posters in the backround

Just tried this and it is zany and cooky and wonderful! The soundtrack is amazing and fits the table perfectly!