Penny Parlor Successfully Brings the History of Gaming to the Modern Day

Penny Arcade Parlor-1
[rating: 4.5/5]

Penny Arcade Parlor-1Penny Parlor Review: I’ve been into gaming ever since playing Chuckie Egg and Jetpack on my 48k Spectrum and even before then I had a range of the Game & Watch series to while away my formative years. However, until playing Penny Parlor {$1.99}, a new universal app from Games Lab Pty Limited I was unaware of any other types of games other than pinball prior to the electronic age.

Apparently there was though and Penny Parlor introduces 4 of these such games in the form of American Football, Baseball, Golf and Cricket.

After the obligatory splash screen you get to scroll between the four ‘tables’ that look great on both the screens of the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2 and this is all accompanied with what I would call Victorian Parlor Music playing in the background.

Penny Arcade Parlor-2Select the game you wish to play takes a single tap and you are brought to the front of the game unit as if you were standing in front of it. Bearing in mind that these games came from another era where the only electricity was to power a few sparkly lights the controls are very simple indeed.

From swiping down the field to score a touchdown past football players sliding left and right on a stick, tapping a button to swing a baseball or cricket bat to pushing down on a button to pull back your club to swing it the controls are both simple and effective.

Each of the units provide almost perfect representations of the real life fields that they represent and are beautifully detailed and each of them have their own sound effects relative to the sport in question.

Penny Arcade Parlor-3The simplicity of the controls ensure that the game is all about timing with a split second making the difference between a 4 or a 6, a Grand Slam or Strike and a hole in one or a bogey. Get the timing right though and you’ll be racking up a huge score in next to know time.

Each of the individual games have achievements that are unlock-able via the the games GameCenter integration and there are leader-boards for each of the games too. At present there is no multi-player option.

This game is so much fun I’ve added finding one of these machines in real life to my Bucket List, for the time though I’m heading back to score a touchdown, hit a six, score a home-run or sink a put.

What we like:

  • 4 great looking games
  • Retro-retro fun
  • Simple and addictive

What to know:

  • Multi-player please!

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