Flipper Zipper Foughts (& Poll)

[astyy]

Until recently I'd kinda heard of Zipper Flippers but didn't know what they were or had played them. Now I've got them I'm interested in the communities views as imo they change gameplay.

What I like
- they snap shut super fast (and surprise guests), this is understandable based on the industrial sized coil pulling them in
- you can catch the ball once closed (and leave the machine to take a break, go to the bar etc) and then do a double flipper shot at varying angles from stationary
- when they close the outlane features (kicker, free ball gate) are disabled to keep play balanced
- the mech itself is uber cool

Here are some pics for other noobs not yet initiated in the art of Zipper.

Flippers open look like normal small bats right


Wooahh, they've snapped closed and I can trap the ball to get a beer (on this machine red mushroom bumpers close them)


Mech flippers open - big coil at bottom of pic pulls them in and latches them


Mech flippers closed - small coil on top releases the latch

 

[Sam C]

I liked them on Medusa, but honestly they got old pretty fast due to how they 'zipped' to keep the ball up there, it just became on that game the only goal is to get to the upper portion of the playfield, zip the flippers and endlessly knock down drops and collect the score from the eject hole. I never tried on purpose to play the lower playfield of the game because it was all about the upper one and keeping the flippers zipped. They work much better and are cooler on games like Fireball.

 

[ronsplooter]

Big part of the gameplay on Fireball as it sets up the backhand to Wotan

 

[astyy]

I liked them on Medusa,

If I played Medusa I never noticed them. That's the only SS game with them apparently and only game where they're not at the usual bottom of the pf. I wonder what possessed Bally to reintroduce them in 1981 after they were last seen in 1973 Nip-It EM.

 

[stoptap]

Ok for upper playfields (like Medusa). Too 'loose' for the business end. As good as the mechs are there is still too much play in them for me.

 

[JWG9999]

Had them on my ancient Bally 'The Wiggler' and thought they were fun.

 

[Jay Walker]

Maybe the designer of Medusa wanted to include them, and as the mechanicals already existed the cost wouldn't have been as high as if they'd had to be developed from scratch.

It was really Bally's introduction of a modular flipper that allowed the further development of the zipper unit. Williams tried them too, but without being able to copy the Bally unit their set-up wasn't as refined or durable. It was only used on 4 games, one of them being the only zipper with 3" flipper paddles (though on that game, 'Hayburners II', the zipper unit opened the flippers wider to make use of a central launcher).

The use of a zipper unit must make for complication in the wiring of an electro-mechanical game. If it's closed when the game is tilted, it has to open to prevent a hang-up situation. Or if the machine's turned off with a ball or balls on the closed flippers, I suppose it would have to open when power was restored or the game wouldn't start.