World Cup Soccer
First Released February, 1994
Zen Build Released October 20, 2022
Main Platform: Pinball FX
Switch Platform: Pinball FX
Designed by John Popadiuk
Conversion by Zoltan ’Pazo’ Pataki
Stand Alone Release ($9.99)
Link to Strategy Guide
UPDATE: The Nintendo Switch has been patched and tables are working the way they’re supposed to. Well, except this one. Read below.
World Cup’s inclusion in Pinball FX was a revelation for me. No filing the serial numbers off and calling it “World Champion Soccer” for Zen Studios. They went out and got the World Cup deal signed. It’s a sign that no license is out of bounds. At this point, there’s only one Williams/Bally pin I’d be stunned for Zen to actually get a deal made for, and that’s for 1997’s NBA Fastbreak. I don’t even necessarily think you NEED the license for a table like World Cup. Farsight turned it into a generic soccer theme and it was fine, and Zen already outdid them in the way that matters a lot more: their conversion is just plain better. Pinball Arcade’s take on this classic had an especially brutal left ramp. As a late-stage release, they never got around to fixing it. Zen got it right from the start. A slapshot that enters the ramp cleanly will not result in a rejection, which could happen in Pinball Arcade. When a rejection does happen, it feels intuitive. Like “yep, that one wasn’t good.” That by itself makes a BIG difference and turns a middling digital pin into a very fun one.
The big news is my father, who is NOT a fan of John Popadiuk, has awarded World Cup Soccer MASTERPIECE status. Most of us don’t agree. Dad’s argument is the following four points. (1) World Cup is focused on ball control that rewards carefully setting up your shots and (2) instead of the entire scoresheet offering strategic flexibility, World Cup offers shot selection flexibility. In other words, modes and goals come out in a specific order, but most of the modes can be done via different shots. Take multiball for example. While making a goal is the jackpot, you can shoot either ramp or the saucer in front of the goal to re-light the jackpot. (3) This is the most balanced-scoring Popadiuk table. (4) Every shot is fun.
On point #1, while I agree that “ball control” is the primary gameplay theme of World Cup, I don’t think you necessarily need to slow down the pace to play World Cup well. I think that this is a table where converting rebounds to quick shots matters a great deal. There’s plenty of time-sensitive scoring opportunities where you can’t always just grab a trap and wait for the perfect shot. Oscar had a chance to prove his way was right and he only won 2 out of 14 match-ups against us. The shooting area between the flippers and the goal is tight, which makes it hard to juggle a multiball. I think quick, efficient shots matter, or in my case, just shooting for volume and hoping for the best. He’s probably right on his other three points, depending on how you feel about Cirqus Voltaire’s scoring. While World Cup heavily back-ends points via end of ball bonuses, you do actually have to work for those bonuses. Hell, you have to activate them by scoring goals, which is AWESOME. This might be my favorite way of doing end-of-ball scoring. More importantly, the four bonuses require you to tour the table since one is tied to the ramps, one to the spinner, one to the bumpers, and one to the goalie.
World Cup Soccer IS a ton of fun, but it’s not perfect. This is where my lack of familiarity with real life World Cup Soccer pins comes into play, because I’m not entirely sure how powerful the magna-save is in real life. On Pinball FX, it isn’t strong enough to stop any ball you know is going to go straight down the drain. In fact, I don’t think I ever once used it to affect. On the other hand, the outlanes were well handled. I don’t think the right one was particularly lethal, as I was able to use a slight nudge to defend it. My biggest problem is so nit-picky I feel guilty for saying it: it takes too long for World Cup to spit out the third ball during multiball. I’ve had instances where I made a jackpot, relit the jackpot, and was shooting the second jackpot before the third ball came out. Usually, it released at the least opportune time. For a table that leans so heavily into multiball, this sure ain’t a very good multiball table. I didn’t REALLY start to do well until I stole my father’s “use only two balls during the wizard” tactic. Which eventually led to me hitting the buzzer beater to end all buzzer beaters and claiming the distance challenge record on Xbox (and #3 overall). Otherwise, this is a table where the #1 challenge is trying to prevent the frequent multiballs from clearing each-other out.
For me, I think World Cup is the definitive “amazing, but something just doesn’t work for me” pin. I might not be super familiar with real life World Cup pins, but I do remember the ball reacting more violently to the giant spinning ball. In this adaptation, it rarely factors into the gameplay in a meaningful way, except maybe preventing the occasional straight-down-the-middle plunge. Maybe. Angela doesn’t think it spins fast enough. Either way, I think it’s just a big waste of real estate that shrinks the playfield in a way that doesn’t feel true to the sport. Soccer fields are big and wide. This sucker is downright cramped. Because it’s a defensive-oriented pin that puts a high premium on rebounding, World Cup feels more sporty than most pins. It just doesn’t necessarily feel like the right sport. (Sasha made a good point: while a soccer field is wide and vast, the ACTION itself is usually packed into a tiny space and the main defensive strategy of soccer is to give your opponent as little room to maneuver as possible, thus making World Cup Soccer true to the sport. I admit, she has a point!) Oh, I still enjoy it. The goal is an all-timer in the annals of pinball. It’s NEVER not a joy to hit that shot, but World Cup has a few other great shots. Both ramps are satisfying to shoot, and it has one of the better uses of a spinner out there. This is a GREAT table. I just wish it didn’t feel so suffocating with its narrowness.
UPDATE – Nintendo Switch: Following the big update, we’re now ready to say that World Cup on Nintendo Switch is probably Zen’s worst translation of a real life pin, well, ever. The angles are all wrong. Compare shooting the goal on any of Zen’s other versions of World Cup Soccer to their Nintendo Switch version and you can immediately feel the difference. It’s just all wrong. You actually can’t really aim at the goal. Popping a straight-up shot is not THAT difficult of a shot, but it’s nearly impossible to make it on Switch, and that’s just the start of the problems. The saucer above the left flipper constantly throws the ball straight down the drain. We really hoped these things would be fixed following the update. Honestly, I think the saucer is more lethal now than ever. It shouldn’t be lethal at all. Meanwhile, the flippers feel like they don’t have enough strength. There’s no punch off of them. This is a really horrible effort. Honestly, a rating of BAD is being VERY generous.
Cathy: GREAT (4/5) – BAD on SWITCH (2/5)
Angela: GREAT – BAD on SWITCH
Oscar: MASTERPIECE – BAD on SWITCH
Jordi: GREAT (4/5)
Dash: GREAT (4/5)
Sasha: MASTERPIECE (5/5) – GOOD on SWITCH (3/5)
Dave: GOOD on SWITCH
Scoring Average: 4.14 – GREAT
Nintendo Switch Scoring Average: 2.4 – BAD
📜Awarded a Certificate of Excellence📜
N00b Factor: Even though it has fewer shots than some pins, what shots are here use simple, easy to learn angles. World Cup can be a pretty difficult pin to get used to, but it’s excellent for training rebounding and ball control skills. When you miss the goalie, the ball is going to come back down at an unpredictable angle, and learning to catch a ball and bring it under your control is just about the most valuable skill you can have in pinball. This is also a game that’s VERY generous with extra ball opportunities.
Verdict: An excellent “difficult shooter” starter pin.
VICE VERSUS
You know, for a table themed around sports, World Cup Soccer sure isn’t very good as a versus table. The #1 requirement of such a table is that it’s fun to watch someone else play, and World Cup really isn’t outside of multiball or the wizard. The way the wizard is handled is pretty much tailor-made for excitement and cheers. Only one time did any of us “blowout” Germany during the wizard, and that was when Oscar won 7 to 4. Otherwise, it’s always fun to see someone get hot during a multiball, so having a particularly exciting-to-play multiball doesn’t help World Cup much. You’ll note that, for most games, three of us had similar scores and one player broke out for the win. That’s just not fun to watch. World Cup is a strong table, but it doesn’t make for a good competitive table. My family has been really sick for the last couple weeks, so our World Cup gameplay was spread over multiple days. It didn’t matter. It was me versus Angela, with Dad taking two games (and one world record). Sasha’s lone victory gave her the arcade world record on Switch, her first main-mode world record for a Williams pin.
GAME ONE: CLASSIC MODE
Sasha: 2,398,058,450
Cathy: 4,704,063,120
Angela: 2,389,597,280
Oscar: 2,283,687,410
WINNER: Cathy (1)
GAME TWO: PRO MODE
Cathy: 646,447,130
Angela: 1,095,591,660
Oscar: 609,625,580
Sasha: 621,804,730
WINNER: Angela (1)
GAME THREE: PRO MODE
Angela: 1,869,338,460 (#35 All-Time)
Oscar: 487,949,280
Sasha: 801,889,260
Cathy: 1,674,369,260
WINNER: Angela (2)
GAME FOUR: ARCADE MODE
Oscar: 2,787,785,170
Sasha: 2,218,490,620
Cathy: 4,210,034,930
Angela: 1,595,508,400
WINNER: Cathy (2)
GAME FIVE: ARCADE MODE
Sasha: 3,552,765,950
Cathy: 6,009,072,250 (#12 All-Time)
Angela: 2,437,830,920
Oscar: 5,400,252,030
WINNER: Cathy (3)
GAME SIX: FLIPS CHALLENGE
Cathy: 1,970,496,940 (#8 All-Time, game stole last 8 flips)
Angela: 1,885,123,480
Oscar: 1,600,925,100
Sasha: 1,180,951,000
WINNER: Cathy (4)
GAME SEVEN: SWITCH ARCADE
Angela: 1,988,882,800
Oscar: 2,609,084,890
Sasha: 7,163,464,260 (World Record)
Cathy: 4,588,797,400
WINNER – NEW SWITCH WORLD CHAMPION: Sasha (1)
GAME EIGHT: SWITCH CLASSIC MODE
Oscar: 2,903,327,210
Sasha: 2,232,952,510
Cathy: 1,296,957,600
Angela: 2,996,921,760 (#30 All-Time)
WINNER: Angela (3)
GAME NINE: SWITCH PRO MODE
Sasha: 713,466,110
Cathy: 606,795,950
Angela: 1,019,079,600
Oscar: 3,007,901,030 (World Record)
WINNER – NEW SWITCH WORLD CHAMPION: Oscar (1)
GAME TEN: PRO MODE
Cathy: 1,364,682,400
Angela: 1,790,686,930
Oscar: 1,230,330,210
Sasha: 782,564,250
WINNER: Angela (4)
GAME ELEVEN: ARCADE MODE
Angela: 4,245,250,630
Oscar: 4,149,940,900
Sasha: 1,402,822,350
Cathy: 4,500,962,340
WINNER: Cathy (5)
GAME TWELVE: ONE BALL CHALLENGE – BEST BALL OF THREE
Oscar: 623,092,420, 407,435,420, 3,508,341,570 (#7 All-Time)
Sasha: 48,519,030, 237,049,790, 609,014,890
Cathy: 377,549,280, 293,339,700, 38,386,550
Angela: 303,125,040, 359,189,210, 950,877,070
WINNER: Oscar (2)
GAME THIRTEEN: FIVE MINUTE CHALLENGE
Sasha: 727,707,100
Cathy: 527,355,070
Angela: 764,002,200
Oscar: 522,742,150
WINNER: Angela (5)
GAME FOURTEEN DISTANCE CHALLENGE
Cathy: 2,045,656,630 (#3 All-Time, Xbox Record)
Angela: 753,172,320
Oscar: 792,318,610
Sasha: 1,048,502,620
WINNER – NEW XBOX WORLD CHAMPION: Cathy (6)
FINALLY TALLY
Cathy: 6 wins *WINNER*
Angela: 5 wins
Oscar: 2 wins
Sasha: 1 win
The Pinball Chick 