PvP pinball is such a good idea I can't believe I haven't played it before

One of the great things about videogame conventions is there are always people up for playing a local multiplayer game, just waiting to be handed controls and thrown into a new experience. Which is how, at PAX Australia over the weekend, I found myself playing a game called Bumper Bout. It immediately impressed me with its concept, and then as I played a few rounds of it, with how it executed that concept.

Bumper Bout is two-player competitive pinball. If you know Puyo Puyo Tetris it's like that, but if you don't then imagine you're playing pinball on one half of the screen while someone else beside you is doing the same, only with the ability to flick balls across the divide. While you're trying to land a skill shot or just frantically deal with the balls already pinging between your flippers, the neighbor casually lobs another problem over the fence and says, "Deal with this. Good luck!"

Bumper Bout had the honor of being chosen as the final game of the Omegathon, the main stage tournament that plays out over the course of PAX, where it was introduced as a game made by someone who thought, "I love pinball, but no one ever dies."

Every time a ball goes down the ballhole you lose a heart, and the first player to lose five hearts loses the round. But scoring points by hitting bumpers and targets earns attack balls that you can zip over to harass your opponent, or store until you get four of them, unlocking your character's ultimate ability—which might let you create a gravity well or, if you're playing the pirate, throw bombs around the already hectic playfield.

Those playfields include a space level where satellites and moons bounce into each other to make even more chaos, and a foosball table where the flippers also activate half the player standees so you can use them to flick balls around as well. It takes a lot to overcome the noise and overwhelm of a busy show floor, but while I was playing Bumper Bout I was fully locked in.

I've seen plenty of demos that are popular at conventions fail to translate that popularity to the final release, but I hope that Bumper Bout can manage it. It's got singleplayer, with arcade and survival modes planned, and the final version will have online multiplayer too. You can try the demo for yourself on Steam, and the full game will be out on October 29.

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