Eight Ball Deluxe

The game is the successor of the popular Eight Ball pinball machine from 1977. In Eight Ball Deluxe, Bally added more rules, complicated shot combinations, and speech synthesis. The pinball machine is still very popular today[2] and was followed by the pinball machine Eight Ball Champ in 1985.[3]

Eight Ball Deluxe has two sets of drop targets, one set for the billiard balls 1-7 and 9-15, and four in line drop targets for bonus multiplier. Behind the 1-7 drop targets are stand up targets that spells out 'Deluxe'. Completing these will light one letter in a different 'Deluxe' spelled out on the backglass. If the player spells the last letter of 'Deluxe' on the backglass, the game gives three free games. This feature stays in memory even when the machine is turned off.[4]

Eight Ball Deluxe was released as digital version in 1993 for MS-DOS and Macintosh, co-developed by Amtex and LittleWing (ja) and published by the former.[5] The game was a best seller in Macintosh gaming world and was a 1993 Best Simulation Game Finalist of the Software Publishers Association (USA) awards.[6] Computer Gaming World in 1993 stated that Eight Ball Deluxe "accurately recreates the art, sounds and digitized speech of the original ... gorgeous, playable and realistic", and was the "connoisseur's choice" among four reviewed games.[5]

Eight Ball Deluxe was also available as a licensed table of The Pinball Arcade for PC, iOS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Android from August 2016 to June 30, 2018. After this date, this table for any platform was removed due to WMS license expiration.

• This is a bonus game: Advance your bonus as much as possible. Each pool ball you sink (i.e., knock down) is worth 7,000 points in bonus. Collecting all seven lights the 8-ball in the top right; knock it down to complete the rack.
• All bonus advances carry over for the entire game. Build up your bonus early.
• Your rack progress is saved from ball to ball - the bank won’t reset for you until you’ve cleared it and hit the 8-ball. This is bad since it means fewer bonus advances are available. Try to clear the bank, and ignore everything else if the 8-ball is ready.
• Completing A-B-C-D gives you two balls for free (except for the 8-ball) and is a safer way of clearing the bank, although the C-D lanes are usually tough to hit intentionally.
• After clearing the bank, or if you are struggling with it, you have a few options:
  • Shoot the inline drops for bonus multipliers, which are worth your entire bonus
  • Shoot the saucer behind the 8-ball to collect your un-multiplied bonus, which is also worth your entire bonus
  • Spell D-E-L-U-X-E on the standup targets behind the seven drops, which usually resets the bank of drops (remember, bonus advances are better earlier on)
  • Shoot the far left lane for increasing value, capping at 70,000 points
  • Hit the “Bank Shot” target behind the inline drops, worth 50,000 points and possibly a special (an additional 50,000)[7]

• Big Shot - a pool themed pinball machine by Gottlieb
• Cue Ball Wizard - a cue sports themed pinball machine by Gottlieb

• Eight Ball Deluxe at the Internet Pinball Database
• Eight Ball Deluxe at MobyGames