Pinball Arcade is based on the Pinball Hall of Fame series and includes accurate simulations of pinball tables from Gottlieb, Williams, Stern Pinball (which also includes its previous incarnations: Stern Electronics, Data East Pinball, and Sega Pinball) and Bally. The latter two companies were not previously featured. It includes four tables, one from each company, with support for additional tables through commercial downloadable content. The included tables are, in the order they appear on the game:
Almost every version of the game is a free download, and they each come with Tales of the Arabian Nights included for no extra cost, alongside its Pro upgrade, while the PS3/Vita/360 versions, which are paid releases instead, come with the aforementioned four tables; these are referred to as the “core pack” on other versions.
The game also features a large amount of additional tables available for download, including tables that were already on previous Pinball Hall of Fame titles (such as Black Knight, Medieval Madness, Big Shot and Central Park) and other tables never seen on other games (such as Attack from Mars, Cirqus Voltaire and Bride of Pin-Bot), alongside some based on licensed properties (from tables like Creature from the Black Lagoon and Elvira and the Party Monsters to ones like Twilight Zone and Star Trek: The Next Generation), as well as Season Packs, which compile the tables from a respective “season” into one, although table availability varies from platform to platform. The method to purchase tables and season packs also varies depending on the platform, with most versions handling it inside the game, whereas on PlayStation and Xbox versions these are listed on and purchased/downloaded through their respective storefronts, although the Windows version also has the Season Packs listed on the Steam Store.
There is support for achievements/trophies and online leaderboards, and the game includes a few extras, such as a little history on the games and the original sales flyers, plus in-depth instructions on every element of each table. It also has support for online play in the form of various online tournaments held by FarSight.
