20 tables of pinball simulation from the 90s.

Release Date

1996.

Pros

It is simple pinball which makes it very easy to learn.

A great variety with 20 tables to choose from.

Pinball Fantasies! This set of four tables was the reason I bought this pack. It was amazingly fun years ago when it was first released, and it is still amazingly fun now. The table designs are very well balanced. All ramps and targets can be reached and yet it is not too easy.

The music for Pinball Fantasies is one of the best game music ever produced. They are very well suited to their corresponding table themes.

Cons

The sound is slightly delayed. This may be a DosBox compatibility issue, but then again this is the only game on DosBox that I noticed this delay.

Apart from Pinball Fantasies, which is excellent and Pinball Illusions which is OK, all the other tables including the Mania tables are a bit frustrating. There are some targets or ramps that are almost impossible to reach.

The GOG version of the game does not come with any manuals. Luckily the games are very easy to play with only the shift(or ctrl depending on mapperfile setting) keys, space bar, enter and the down arrow key being used.

Other Points

Pinball Illusions is the only game in the pack that has multiball.

Pinball Illusions can be set to 800×600 resolution where most of the table is visible. There is still a little bit of scrolling, but it is much easier to see than with standard resolution view.

Biases

Reviewed GOG version.

I really like pinball in real life, although I have not touched a pinball table in over 20 years.

On computer I really liked Raster Blaster, Night Mission and Pinball Construction Set on the Apple II.

On the PC I liked Epic Pinball before Pinball Fantasies came along and blew me away.

I also really liked Space Cadet, the pinball game that came with Windows XP.

DRM

The Pinball Gold Pack is DRM free from GOG.com.

Minimum Requirements (as stated on GOG.com)

Windows XP or Windows Vista
1.8 GHz Processor
512MB RAM (1 GB recommended)
3D graphics card compatible with DirectX 7 (compatible with DirectX 9 recommended)
2GB HDD – I am not sure why GOG has 2GB for the requirements when it only takes up around 30Mb on my hard disk.
Mouse, Keyboard

Computer Played On

Windows 7 64 bit.
Intel Core i5 2.3GHz
4Gb RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M 1Gb RAM
Conexant SmartAudio with egg speakers or earphones. Or Logitech G35.
Graphics settings are set to whatever I feel comfortable with playing on this PC. They are usually not set to the highest settings. All screenshots are taken with my settings.

Handy Tips

The GOG version of the game has the shift and ctrl keys swapped for some reason. To change them back to normal, edit the files dosboxDREAMS1.conf, dosboxDREAMS2.conf, dosboxPFD.conf and dosboxILLUSIONS.conf and remove the line mapperfile=mapper.txt.