Big Game (Rock-ola 1935)

Some history of the table: Released in July 1935 by Rock-Ola. It’s claimed in “Encyclopedia of Pinball Vol. 2” that this is the first pinball table with synthesized sounds. In this table, hitting the skill shot (AKA the trigger hole) activates a gunshot sound. (I pulled the actual audio of a table from a YouTube video, so you’ll hear approximately what people experiencing the first pinball sounds heard over 80 years ago).

Some background on the project: I’ve worked on this table on and off (mostly off) for ~2 years. Like basically all of my tables, I saw a video of one on YouTube and I decided to take a crack at recreating it. The real thing is pretty basic by modern standards, and that’s also heightened by my very rudimentary VP skills. Sure, I wish the table lighting was better and I wish the backglass was more realistic looking (or at least also had better lighting) and the gates above the cannon have a very basic animation that would be improved and on and on. But the game should function more or less as intended and it’s better than having no table at all, so I think it’s time to just go ahead and share it.

If you notice any unreported issues, go ahead and mention them in the support thread. If you have any potential improvements you’re ready to offer or solutions to issues that pop up in the thread, please get in touch. Otherwise, I hope you all enjoy the table!

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Some notes about controls and such:

1 – Start Game

Right Flipper or Right Magna Save – Lift a ball into the shooter lane

Plunger – Shoot the ball

The game was mostly built in VPX 10.6, but when I tested it on a cabinet I made a couple of final tweaks in 10.7, so that’s what I’d recommend using.

Included in the download:

-        The table

-        Backglass [NOTE: There is an intentional black space above the image. The backglass might appear to not fill up your screen, but that is intentional. This was my way of preventing the backglass from being stretched out of its original proportions.]

-        A Tarcisio style wheel

-        A Non-Tarcisio style wheel