Systems and methods for deploying components within pinball machines. In some embodiments, a device may include a physical object coupled to an actuator via a flexible link, the physical object configured to interact with a pinball within a playfield of a pinball machine under control of the actuator. In other embodiments, a pinball machine may include a physical object configured to directly or indirectly interact with a pinball during a pinball game, the physical object coupled to an area within a playfield of the pinball machine other than a playable surface accessible to the pinball during a pinball game, the physical object suspended above the playable surface. In yet other embodiments, a pinball machine may include a plastic playfield cover configured to cover a playfield of the pinball machine, the plastic playfield cover configured to provide a player with access to one or more physical objects within the playfield.

A display device of an amusement game is caused to present in a main screen information associated with a first one of a plurality of active game play modes of the amusement game and to present in a secondary screen information associated with a second one of the plurality of active game play modes of the amusement game. A plurality of lighted features and at least one sound generating device are controlled using instructions that are associated only with the first one of the plurality of active game play modes while input received by a plurality of game play devices, resulting from an interaction between the plurality of game play features and an object that is moving relative to a playfield of the amusement game, is used to affect play of and/or scoring of play of the amusement game using instructions that are associated with each of the plurality of active game play modes.

A strategy system is described that generates a strategy guide for a gameplay session at an arcade machine. To do so, the strategy system leverages a game-specific hash generated by a hashing system, which includes data describing a log of events that occurred during the gameplay session. The strategy guide includes a summary of the gameplay session curated based on a combination of a particular user associated with the gameplay session, a rulebook describing gameplay event scoring, and the specific event sequence described in the game-specific hash. The game-specific hash and the strategy guide are configured for output based on various considerations, such as display capabilities and network connections of the computing devices implementing the strategy system and/or the hashing system as well as characteristics of a computing device at which the strategy guide is output.

A pinball machine includes a pinball, a tabletop surface, and a play area on the tabletop surface. The play area includes a ramp including a raised surface rotatable about a rotational axis, an upward pass, and a downward pass. The upward pass extends between the tabletop surface and the raised surface and allows the pinball to move from the tabletop surface to the raised surface. The downward pass extends between the raised surface and the tabletop surface and allows the pinball to move from the raised surface to the tabletop surface.

A presentation control device includes: a first display unit which is a transmissive display unit; a transparent backlight formed of transparent material, provided relative to the first display unit opposite the viewing surface of the first display unit, and configured to emit light toward the first display unit; a light source configured to output object light to the transparent backlight where light from an object provided opposite the light emission plane of the transparent backlight is output toward the transparent backlight and the first display unit; and a display device including a controller configured to control the first display unit, the transparent backlight, and the light source so that light emitted from the transparent backlight shows an image on the first display unit, and so that the object light can pass through the transparent backlight and the first display unit and be output.

Disclosed is the game apparatus using a train device constituted by cars of different sizes. The play ball lowered along the lane assembly may enter any one of the cars. Depending on the car into which the play ball enters, a predetermined reward may be provided to the player. The play ball entering the car deviates through the opening and rises through the elevating device. The raised play ball may be waited to descend again through the lane assembly.

A light guide plate, produced from material transparent to visible light, includes a plurality of prisms provided on one surface (a diffusion surface) thereof in a predetermined pattern. The plurality of prisms include a reflection surface that reflects visible light emitted from a light source and entering the light guide plate from an input surface toward another surface (an output surface). Each prism in the plurality of prisms is distributed so that the reflection surfaces of two prisms separated by a predetermined pitch are oriented in the same direction, and the reflections surfaces of two prisms that are closer than the predetermined pitch are oriented in mutually different directions.

A display device includes: a first display unit which is a transmissive display unit; a transparent backlight formed of transparent material, provided relative to the first display unit opposite the viewing surface of the first display unit, and configured to emit light toward the first display unit; a light source configured to output object light to the transparent backlight where light from an object provided opposite the light emission plane of the transparent backlight is output toward the transparent backlight and the first display unit; and a controller configured to control the first display unit, the transparent backlight, and the light source so that light emitted from the transparent backlight shows an image on the first display unit, and so that the object light can pass through the transparent backlight and the first display unit and be output.

A game machine includes a first game processing portion performing game processing in a first mode; a second game processing portion performing game processing in a second mode; and a return processing portion performing return processing of a virtual game ball remaining on a virtual board face in a case of satisfying a predetermined condition. The first game processing portion displays at least a virtual board face and a first virtual winning port, and after the virtual game ball launched onto the virtual board face enters the first virtual winning port, the first virtual winning port is deleted from the virtual board face, and the second game processing portion displays a second virtual winning port capable of acquiring a winning ball on the virtual board face. In case the virtual game ball enters the first virtual winning port or second virtual winning port, the return processing portion operates.

A light guide plate for presenting a stereoscopic image via parallax includes: a plurality of deflectors arranged in rows parallel to an incidence surface through which light from a light source enters the light guide plate, the light totally reflecting inside the light guide plate while being guided therethrough, the plurality of deflectors including a reflection surface for reflecting and causing an emission surface to emit said light; and the reflection surfaces in a row of the plurality of deflectors are all oriented in the same direction with the orientation of the reflection surfaces changing for each row in accordance with distance from the incidence surface.