My (current) final thoughts on Paper Pinball

 One of my relatively early explorations of Print and Play Roll and Writes was Metal Snail Studio’s Paper Pinball series. Although, by the time I did find the series, I had already learned how Roll and Writes could be stretched far beyond Yahtzee and Yahtzee clones.

With that said, the core mechanic of the Paper Pinball series is actually simpler than Yahtzee. You use only two to three dice and I’d argue that the dice manipulation can be more limited than Yahtzee’s rerolls. (Honestly, that last one is a debatable point and some of the boards do give you the ability to make granular adjustments)

Earlier this year, I finished playing all of the boards in the second season, meaning I’d learned all the boards I was planning on trying. (There is a Paper Pinball Advent calendar but I’m not planning on trying that because there’s no individual theming And the theming is 1/3 of the fun) I’m not done playing the series, mind you.

I am not entirely sure where I even found the first three boards in the series. And Gibson has revised all those boards at least twice since then. My initial impression was not a great one. The earliest boards are brutally simple. Roll dice and fill in numbers.

However, between seeing more boards on PnP Arcade and becoming more interested in Gibson’s designs through the Legends of Dsyx series, I kept going back to Paper Pinball. And it grew on me.

A major part of it was that it was a quick simple game I could reliably fit in when I was tired and short on time. However, what really made it click is that it is a series. I found I could pull out two or three of the boards and finish them in the time it takes to have a coffee and enjoy myself.

A single game of Paper Pinball is okay. However, I find changing it up in one sitting makes them more interesting. A simple dice game becomes a greater pattern.

Paper Pinball also benefits from its theming. Each sheet is decorated like a pinball table, giving you the idea that there is some bigger story behind the name and art, using tropes to let you fill in details for yourself. It’s paper thin theming but so are a lot of actual pinball tables.

Make no mistake, Paper Pinball is a guilty pleasure for me. It’s only okay as far as the mechanics go, even with the second season tightening up the system. And if I were to find the series now, it probably wouldn’t click for me. However, I keep on having fun with it.

[And, as I always say, if you want a Roll and Wrire that actually feels like pinball, get Whizkids SuperSkill Pinball]