American Pinball’s Oktoberfest, released in 2018 and designed by Joe Balcer, is a joyously over-the-top celebration of the world’s biggest beer festival — and one of the most charming, feature-packed tables of its era. The playfield overflows with personality: twenty-two standup targets, four magnets, a captive ball, a long left ramp that elevates the ball into a winding “corkscrew” habitrail, and even a recessed backglass with a topper, all soaked in Bavarian festival color.
The clever core mechanic is the Stein collection. Each Bar skill shot awards a Stein, so the move is to attempt it on every single ball lock and quickly build your collection — because each Stein makes a feature easier or more valuable and bumps a mode’s worth up a full multiplier, collectible up to three times each. Around that swirl a carnival of modes: a juggling multiball, the Tap It video mode, the Rockin’ Express spinner mode, the Looper corkscrew-ramp mode, and more. Ducks boost mode values while Calories fatten your multiball jackpots.
There’s smart layering for the dedicated, too — spelling TENT via the in/outlanes during multiball qualifies your Tent mode for when single-ball play resumes, and collecting the right Steins before a Corkscrew or Beer Barrel multiball pumps up those jackpots. Whimsical, deep, and bursting with festival cheer, Oktoberfest is American Pinball at its most delightful — prost!