The Angry Birds Movie Pinball

This article attempts to describe a possible way to design a pinball adaptation of The Angry Birds Movie, drawing upon its characters and plot elements.

The upper half of the table
The upper half of the table is framed by a large orbit that represents Chuck and his speedy nature, but the right side of the orbit is dedicated to Terence, as he is the only Bird who rivals his speed. The ball can completely traverse the orbit in a clockwise manner, but not in the other direction, as there is a tension spring gate that instead diverts the ball down an alternate, slanted lane that represents the Pigs. At the bottom of this lane would be a mini-flipper, positioned between the left ends of that lane and the Chuck orbit. To the right of the Terrence lane, there is a magnetic saucer representing Matilda and the Infinity Acceptance Center. To the right of that saucer is a short, straight ramp that leads up into a T-shaped junction, with either path leading down a habitrail to an inlane at the bottom of the table. A diverter is installed to ensure that balls do not travel down the same ramp consecutively. This special junction represents Mighty Eagle, with the beginning of the two branching ramps resembling his wings. The corners of the ramp's entrance each have a target representing his talons. Next to the Mighty Eagle T-shaped ramp, there is a ramp that curves left towards a separate bumper area with Pig-shaped bumpers, with three rollover lanes above them. This bumper area represents Red, and the three rollovers spell out his name. A figure of Leonard stands behind the ramp leading to that bumper area, while a figure of Red stands off to the left side of the table, in front of his bumper area. To the right of that ramp is a vertical upkicker (VUK) that represents Bomb. It jumps the ball into the right exit ramp of the Mighty Eagle T-shaped diverter. In front of the upkicker is a sinkhole with a Pig sticking out of it, although there is a collapsible barrier in front of the hole, making it difficult to hit him using the main flippers. An extra ball target is installed on this barrier. At the upper-right corner of the table is a raised fan-shaped mini-playfield dedicated to Stella, containing its own pair of flippers and targets at its curved back wall, with the playfield's outhole leading to a short ramp that rejoins Mighty Eagle's right exit ramp, at roughly around the same point where Bomb's vertical upkicker launches the ball into. The mini-playfield represents the amphitheater where Stella and her friends danced for the Pigs in the welcome celebration. A magna-save system is installed near the mini-playfield's outhole that magnetizes the ball above the right flipper at times.

The bottom half of the table
Halfway down the table, there are three rows of Pig drop targets that may pop up during certain game modes. (There are three types of drop targets, each with a different amount of health: 1) Minion pigs that can be knocked down in one hit, 2) Corporal pigs that require 2 hits to defeat and 3) Boss pigs, like the Foreman Pig or Chef Pig that require 3 hits to defeat.) There are also two sinkholes at each side of the table slightly below the drop targets, with one dedicated to the Blues and the other being the entrance to the Stella mini-playfield. A ball launched from the plunger would enter the playfield by dropping from a ramp near the right sinkhole to begin play.  At the bottom of the table, there are two outlanes, one for each side, two flippers and three inlanes.  Two inlanes are positioned to the left, and one inlane is positioned to the right, for a total of five return lanes with rollovers that spell out the word "anger".  There are also two rebounds, themed after Hal and Bubbles. Each outlane also has a kickback that can be activated to save the ball from draining there once.

The plunger
The plunger is a slingshot that launches the ball into play. In front of the slingshot is a slanted ramp that leads down to a larger inclined area that drops the ball into the playfield's right side. At the start of each ball, the player must shoot the ball through a slingshot to hit a pop-up target of the pig Earl that emerges from the table's right wall, above the large, inclined area, for a skill shot. This requires careful aiming and judgment, as well as trial and error.

The player will also be given a chance to perform a skill shot after a ball is locked for a multiball mode, or when Bomb's Explosive Action hurry up is completed successfully. The first successful skill shot is worth 500,000 points, and the value of the next one increases by 500,000.

Aesthetic details
The table is played inside the Hall of Heroism in Mighty Eagle's cave. A fake store-modeled trophy, a pair of binoculars and a can of sardines are placed on the stony ground of the hall and cave in the area surrounding the table. Mighty Eagle, who is very lazy during the events of the movie, would theoretically play the table here while leaving the Angry Birds to put up with the visiting Bad Piggies.

Rules
The goal of the pinball table is to start up all main missions that advance the film's plot, then beat the wizard mode to help the Birds defeat the Pigs, all with a traditional supply of three balls. The player is not obligated to beat every mission, but can earn a lot of points from completing missions successfully. Draining the ball will skip the mission.

Main modes
To start a main mode, the player must hit the sinkhole with the Pig sticking out of it at the right side of the table enough times (which is most effectively done by using a well-timed mini-flipper shot, as a collapsible barrier is positioned in front of the hole that makes it very difficult, if not impossible to hit the Pig with the main flippers), so that the Pig will catch it and drag the ball inside. The number of hits needed begins at 2, but increases for each mission successfully completed, although it will reset if the ball is drained. After the pig captures the ball, the player selects a mission with the flippers and presses the launch button to confirm.

The following five missions, each representing a key scene from the film, must be started to unlock the wizard mode:
 * Horrible Hatchday: Based on the movie's first scene where Red is running late trying to deliver a Hatchday cake to Edward and Eva's house on a remote side of Bird Island, this mode turns the ball into an egg-shaped Hatchday cake and the player must quickly shoot it through lit lanes to get Red to his destination, within a time limit. However, if the player hits walls or posts too hard, the cake may break, requiring caution and precise shots.  If the cake sustains too much damage, or if time runs out, the mission ends in failure.  (The ball saver will remain on for the duration of the mission, due to the difficult physics of the egg-shaped ball.)
 * Anger Management: After Red is sentenced to anger management with Matilda at the Infinity Acceptance Center, Matilda then teaches anger management through movement. Bomb has particular trouble doing so, as his emotional instability can cause him to unleash destructive blasts.  After locking the ball briefly into the Matilda saucer, the player must then shoot lit lanes within a time limit to perform the correct moves to keep Bomb's anger down.  However, the player needs to be careful not to shoot his VUK, run out of time or light up the ANGER rollovers at the bottom lanes, or Bomb would get upset and blow up the Center, resulting in mission failure.
 * Welcome Celebration: After Bomb damages the Infinity Acceptance Center, the Pigs arrive and a welcome celebration is in order. Stella and her friends are commissioned to dance and sing in front of the Pigs.  The player must guide the ball into the Stella sinkhole to access her playfield, then must hit a sequence of five lit targets there, one after the other, to complete the performance.  If the player drops the ball past the flippers 3 times, the mode will end in failure, with the first 2 drains causing the magna-save in the mini-playfield to haul the ball back behind its right flipper.  Following Stella's performance, Leonard demonstrates the slingshot to the Birds and offers Red to be the first to demonstrate it.  The player must then shoot the ball into any sinkhole to launch Red near the Pigs' ship and a 3-ball multiball will start as he, Chuck and Bomb begin to search the ship.  Several lit lanes must be shot while at least 2 balls are in play to help them complete their search, and after that, all remaining balls must be locked into any sinkhole to finish the mission as the birds leave.
 * Mighty Mountain: Red knows the Pigs are up to something, so he convinces Chuck and Bomb to come with him to find Mighty Eagle. Unfortunately, the journey is very difficult, as his cave is in the mountains at the center of the island.  To help the Birds get there, the player starts out shooting the Mighty Eagle diverter ramp once, which then gets cut off.  The player then shoots three lit lanes that flash within a time limit to reopen access to the Mighty Eagle diverter and shoots it again.  Once more, it is cut off and the player must then repeat a sequence of five lit lanes to complete the second leg of the journey, again with a time limit, before finishing the mission by shooting the diverter one more time.  (The first part of the mission has the Birds traveling to what appears to the wrong mountain, and the second part has them finding the correct one.)
 * Egg Raid: The Pigs are raiding the Birds' eggs, and Chuck needs to get to the Birds being distracted at a rave party and warn them before it's too late. To complete his mission, the player must make a total of ten full shots through his orbit, as well as hit Red's bumpers 50 times.  Each time either of the two tasks are halfway done, a wave of Pigs will appear as drop targets, and the player must knock them all down to continue.  The player must finish this mission within a time limit that replenishes every time one half of each task is completed.

Wizard mode
Once all five missions are started, the player gains access to the Wizard Mode, a sixth and final mission called the Battle of Pig City, which starts when the player shoots the ball into Red's bumper area instead of hitting the pigs in the mission hole. Based on the movie's climatic battle scene, this mode is split into multiple phases: The wizard mode ends in failure if the player takes too long to complete a phase, or drains the ball, but the player can try it again until it is beaten, or all balls are lost. Completion of the wizard mode results in a victory multiball involving four balls representing the rescued hatchlings. The player can shoot them through lit lanes to earn jackpots, while hitting the Pig in the sinkhole to raise the jackpot amount. This continues until all but one ball remains in play.
 * Phase 1 - Attack the City: Birds begin their assault on Pig City as revenge for stealing their eggs. The player must shoot all unique lanes once to inflict maximum destruction.  If any Pig drop targets pop out to block the way, the player can knock them down for extra points.
 * Phase 2 - Find the Eggs: Red, Chuck and Bomb infiltrate the castle to find the eggs. The player helps them find them by shooting different lanes until the eggs are found, but must be careful not to hit any Corporal Pig drop targets that randomly pop up and move across the table, as doing so would arouse suspicion.  Hitting the Corporal Pig drop targets a total of 5 times will force the Birds to retreat, ending the wizard mode in failure, but the player can shoot Chuck's orbit 5 times to trigger Chuck Time and subdue the guards, hiding them for an extended period of time and undoing one mistake.
 * Phase 3 - Save the Eggs: With the eggs found, the Birds must now secure them and defeat Leonard as payback for stealing them. The player first calls on Mighty Eagle to rescue the Eggs by shooting his diverter, which then seals off for the rest of the wizard mode.  All of the eggs are saved except for the Blues' egg, and Red must now pull of a surprise move to beat Leonard, take back that egg and set off a mound of TNT in the castle's munitions cellar.  The player must wait for a lane to be lit, then quickly shoot it before it goes out to take the egg from Leonard.  Once that happens, the player must get Red to safety from the impending explosion by locking the ball inside the Blues' sinkhole within a brief time limit to win!

Once the wizard mode is beaten, the table will reset and the player must start up all missions to get to the wizard mode again.

Side modes
There are several side modes that can be activated for an opportunity to earn extra points:
 * Chuck Time: A hurry-up mode that's activated by shooting the Chuck orbit five times. A countdown starts at 1 million points begins to count down rapidly, and the player must hit the pig at the mission hole as many times as possible to earn points.  The collapsible barrier blocking the mission hole up front will collapse, making it easier to hit it.  The amount of points earned per hit depends on how much of that 1 million remains at the time the pig is struck.
 * Pig Attack: Shooting the Pig lane four times will spawn three waves of Pigs to defeat as drop targets, providing the opportunity to relive the action of the classic Angry Birds mobile game. The player eliminates the Pigs within a time limit, with the time limit being renewed after the first wave is defeated. The value of each Pig defeated increases every time the Pig lane is shot, and players are also given the opportunity to instantly destroy all Pigs if they can make a clear shot through Mighty Eagle's diverter, just like how a player can call on him to do all the work for a difficult level.
 * Terence vs. Chuck: Based on the gag first seen in an Angry Birds Toons episode where Terence is shown to beat Chuck to a race despite his incredible speed abilities, this is a semi-video hurry up mode that pits Terence against Chuck in a race, which starts if the player shoots the right orbit 7 times to spell his name. The score display shows the original sprites of Terence and Chuck racing from the left side of the screen to the right, and the player must move Terence to the other side by shooting lit lanes, with each lit lane shot moving him 25% to the right.  Chuck moves 1% to the right per second, but will advance 20% if the player incorrectly shoots the left orbit.  If the player can get Terence to the other side of the screen, he wins and the player is awarded a sum of points depending on how far Chuck was to finishing.
 * Explosive Action: Shooting Bomb's VUK four times starts this side mode, giving the player a chance to help Bomb finally master his explosive abilities in a hurry-up mode. Within a time limit, the player must hit the bumpers to raise a special score and charge up his power, then hit the VUK one more time to redeem the amount raised.
 * Stella's POP Dance: Shooting the Stella sinkhole five times grants the player access to Stella's mini playfield, where the player earns bonus points hitting the targets at the top of the playfield. Hitting all the targets in the playfield will award a large score bonus.

Multiball
There are also two multiball modes that can be activated. Once started, a multiball mode triggers a 30-second ball saver and the mode will continue until only one ball remains.
 * Blues Multiball: Every time the player shoots the Blues sinkhole, a letter for one of the Blues' names (Jay, Jake and Jim) is spelled out. When one name is fully spelled out, the ball is immediately locked for that particular brother.  Locking three balls into the sinkhole by spelling all of the Blues' names (requiring a total of 10 sinkhole hits) will start the Blues multiball, where the player juggles three balls representing the Blues and shoots them into lit lanes for jackpot awards.  If a ball enters the sinkhole again during this mode, the jackpot will increase.
 * Anger Multiball: Every time the player lights all ANGER rollovers (with the positions of the lit rollovers cycling every time the flippers are operated), a time-limited opportunity to lock a ball into one of three places in the table will begin, each representing Red, Chuck and Bomb. (The rollovers will reset if the ball is drained.)  Within the next 30 seconds, the player must lock the ball into any of the three areas of the table, although each lock can only be used once: 1) The exit of Red's bumper area can go in two directions: one normally brings the ball to the mini-flipper, while the other leads into a hole where the ball is locked for Red.  Spelling ANGER will cause a gate that blocks the latter and allows the former to reverse, so that the player can lock the ball.  2) The left side of the large orbit can collapse to reveal a trap area where Chuck can be locked in when ANGER is spelled.  3) Bomb's VUK can also function as a sinkhole trap that locks a ball when ANGER is spelled.  Once a ball is locked into each of the three areas, the table will glow orange and waves of Pigs will appear.  Then the three locked balls are shot back into play and the player must then use them to hit the pigs and aim for lit jackpot lanes.  Each wave of pigs defeated, whether by knocking down all targets or instantly destroying all Pigs by spelling ANGER on the rollovers, raises the jackpot.

Perks
The player can also earn the following perks while playing:
 * Red's Rage Score Multiplier: The score multiplier can be raised by hitting the bumpers 30 times (1x → 2x → 4x → 6x → 8x → 10x). Raising the multiplier past the maximum of 10x for the first time will award an extra ball.  Multiplier increases are only good for the current ball, unless a multiplier hold is obtained from Matilda's Meditation award saucer, or when it is earned while Super Jets are active.
 * Rage Combos and Super Jets: If the player executes a 5-way combo or longer and the bumpers are at a normal state, Red's bumpers will be temporarily boosted as Super Jets, awarding double points. The duration of Super Jets depends on how long the combo was, starting at 30 seconds and increasing by 5 seconds for each combo extension, and begins once the combo expires.  If a 6-way combo or longer is executed while Super Jets are active, a 5-second extension is granted to the Super Jets, which grows by 5 seconds whenever that combo is extended. Hitting the Super Jets a total of 30 times will award a multiplier hold for the rest of the current ball.
 * Red's Rage Kickbacks: Inspired by the title sequence where Red kicks a soccer boy bird into the water, kickbacks save the ball from falling into an outlane and can each be enabled by spelling RED on the rollovers above the bumpers, with the lit rollover positions cycling every time the flippers are operated. (Draining the ball will reset the rollovers, and hitting a previously lit rollover will darken it again.) Kickbacks are only good for the current ball, although if the player spells RED again with both kickbacks turned on, the left kickback will be held for the next ball.  Spelling RED once more will hold the right kickback, and if RED is spelled one last time with both kickbacks held for the first time, an extra ball will be awarded, with a score bonus awarded instead on subsequent occurrences.  Kickbacks and kickback holds cannot be stacked, so if a held kickback is used, the player must spell RED to reactivate it (which then becomes unheld), and if the ball is drained with any held kickbacks, those kickbacks will become unheld for the next ball and must be held again by spelling RED.
 * Matilda's Meditation Award: Matilda is willing to reward those who can control their anger. Locking the ball into the Matilda saucer seven times grants the player a random award, which may be extra points, a ball saver, a multiball lock, a multiplier increase, instant Rage Super Jets activation, the ability to carry multiplier levels over to the next ball (multiplier hold), a kickback, a kickback hold or an extra ball.
 * Mighty Eagle Ball Saver: Shooting the Mighty Eagle diverter ramp up to 11 times to spell MIGHTY EAGLE activates a 30-second ball saver, which also activates at the start of each ball. If the ball is drained while the saver is active, it is brought back into play by Mighty Eagle himself.  (Hitting both of his talon targets will activate double-spelling for a limited time in which each shot up his ramp will light 2 letters instead of one.  The ball saver will also remain permanently on during the Horrible Hatchday mission.)
 * Extra Balls: Extra balls can be claimed by hitting the extra ball target at the collapsible barrier. Extra balls can be awarded as random prizes from the Meditation Award, defeating 30 pigs, maxing out the score multiplier for the first time, executing a long combo or starting 3 missions.

Ballout bonuses
When the ball is lost, the following bonuses will be awarded, provided that the tilt alarm was not triggered:
 * Anger bonus - 500,000 points
 * Missions started - 200,000 points per mission
 * Number of side modes started - 100,000 points per mode
 * Number of Pigs defeated - 50,000 per Pig defeated
 * Longest combo - 100,000 times length of longest combo
 * Number of combos - 100,000 times number of combos executed during the current ball
 * Total balls locked for Multiball - 100,000 points per lock
 * Maximum score multiplier level reached - 100,000 times current multiplier level
 * Number of Meditation Awards collected - 500,000 points per award

Status report
If either flipper button is held, the following information will be displayed:
 * Current ball
 * Extra balls claimed
 * Extra balls remaining
 * Current score multiplier
 * Main missions started
 * Lock progress for Anger Multiball
 * Lock progress for Blues Multiball
 * Kickback status