Back in the 80′s, playing video games at home was kind of alright with the Atari, but the true gaming experience relied solely on the arcade. Being able to go into an arcade and drop a token in a machine as you do your best to get the highest score was quite something. The classic pinball machine wasn’t even a video game to begin with, but it was quite the gaming experience. Now in this current era of advanced gaming systems, developers are trying to adapt old school games into new platforms. Zen Pinball for the iOS is one of those valiant efforts to bring old school to a new generation.

In this game, the visuals do well with the sound, making it replicate the authentic arcade experience in its own little way. You get one table for free, which is already more than enough to have fun with. If you wish to get more, you can buy two more in IAP, so it’s basically a freemium game. There are also settings that you can adjust in order to fine-tune your playing experience, especially since pinball can get pretty serious for some people.

With each table, there are different unique features that are characteristic of each different version, just like with their real life counterparts. There are various achievements of different levels to accomplish with each table, so there are a different set of challenges with each. If you are the type who gets into completing everything in the game, then this should definitely keep you occupied with the various things you can try to gun for.

This game does get pretty competitive with how accurate it gets the physics of classic pinball, so it’s quite a throwback to the old days when arcades were the only true portals to the full gaming experience. However, it’s still what it is — a mobile game. Therefore, it lacks the real feel and heft of a real pinball machine. Also, the game bends more towards speed and drastic movements rather than smooth technique, so some people may not like it as much. With that said, it still simulates pinball quite well.

One thing that this game may suffer from is when it’s being played in the smaller iOS devices, which may take away from the intended experience. You may get the arcade experience more from the iPad, but not from the iPhone or iPod Touch. There’s just something good about being able to follow the pinball as it gets flung around the various bumps of the machine. Despite that, it’s still quite a fun experience to play Zen Pinball, even though it’s not a totally perfect pinball game.

As far as arcade games go, pinball has always been the mainstay, even when its popularity has waned. Zen Pinball lives up to its name as something that stands for the proverb “Less is more”. If you can spare the time, get this game into your iOS device and perhaps you’ll get to appreciate classic arcade now if you haven’t yet.