3D Pinball

The 3D Pinball is a pinball video game application developed by Cinematronics and published by Microsoft Windows in 1996. This video game was based on the Space Cadet table, which is one of the game tables featured on Cinematronic’s Full Tilt! Pinball video game. The game is included with earlier versions of Microsoft products. It was initially released with Microsoft Plus! 95 and it was later bundled with Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows XP and Windows 2000.

The goal of the game is to reach the highest cadet ranking by accomplishing missions for each rank. There are 9 rankings in the game. The lowest rank is Cadet and the highest rank is Fleet Admiral. The player’s goal is to light the 9 yellow lights in a circle found in the in mid-center of the table. The number of lights corresponds to the present ranking of the player.  

The 3D Pinball game application is composed of different game controls namely Flipper, Plunger, and Nudge. These game controls are used in manipulating the Ball in playing the game. There are also several menu options available, such as Full Screen, Music, Number of Players, Sounds/Music and Player Controls. A set of function keys are also available to help control the menus and options of the game.

A number of table elements are also found in the 3D Pinball game program. These elements interact with the ball to score points. Each element has a corresponding score point. These table elements are also used in accomplishing the mission to attain a higher ranking. Some of the major elements found in the 3D Pinball game application are Bumpers, Chutes & Ramps, Flags, and Kickers.

The 3D Pinball application has been discontinued after the launch of the Microsoft Vista operating system.