Rick and Morty is a pinball machine created by Spooky Pinball (designed by Scott Danesi, creator of Total Nuclear Annihilation, and sporting rules by Bowen Kerins). Announced in December of 2019, it sold out its entire 750-unit run in mere hours and began to see release in early 2020.
An adaptation of the Adult Swim cartoon of the same name, the player is cast as one of many alternate versions of Morty. You're tasked with accompanying Rick on various adventures (all taken from episodes of the show), which steadily fills out your "Morty Adventure Card". You'll also be entrusted with collecting megaseeds, which are critical for increasing end-of-ball scoring. The only way to obtain them is by charging up Rick's portal gun and visiting alternate dimensions, all of which change the lighting and rules in some fashion (ranging from increasing the value of a Slam Save to disabling ramp scoring to playing a Wilhelm scream whenever the ball hits anything). The "Flooble Crank" further adds some complexity to the game, being a horseshoe-shaped area of the playfield featuring an unusual method of locking ballsnote that opens up the possibility of stealing a multiball mode from another player when two or more are playing.
Spooky debuted a new business model with this game: in addition to the standard version, they made a "Blood Sucker Edition" available to members of their "Fang Club" (which also allowed them early access to purchase the game). It features a number of cosmetic upgrades, including purple armor for the cabinet itself and anti-glare glass. As a celebration of how quickly the game sold out, the company also gave every purchaser a topper (featuring Rick and Morty themselves, along with a portal that can rotate and flash when the game triggers it) for no additional cost.
This game contains examples of:
- Adjustable Censorship: In addition to being able to set the percentage of uncensored cursing, there's also an option to keep it entirely censored between a specific period of time (presumably intended for bars and other locations that start filtering out minors after hours).
- Anti-Frustration Features: The Slam Save (when lit) will send the ball back into play if it drains because it hit the game's only pop bumper (which tends to send it rocketing around the playfield).
- Attract Mode: The game occasionally plays an Interdimensional Cable segment during attract mode (including "Ants in my Eyes" Johnson and the creation of a plumbus).
- Cluster F-Bomb: Rick does not take kindly to people who tilt."Yup, you really fucked that up. Right in the ass. I hope you're happy, fuckface. Stupid bitch-ass, fuckin'... bitch."
- Company Cross References: One dimension is in its entirety a reference to Total Nuclear Annihilation (also by Spooky and Scott Danesi), playing the same music, using the same lighting, and barring the ramps from scoring.
- Developer's Foresight:
- During "Roy – A Life Well Lived", the flavor text accompanying each choice made takes previous choices into consideration. For example, starting with a negative choice before making a positive shot leads to Roy being an Enfant Terrible before channeling his need for attention into a career as he gets older.
- If the game recognizes a death savenote , it plays a special animation
for the occasion (taken from "Rest and Ricklaxation").
- Dynamic Difficulty: During "Pirates of the Pancreas", going about 20 seconds without progressing causes the game to light several more shots (along with an irritated comment from Rick).
- Early-Bird Cameo: The game's artwork has a few allusions to episodes that premiered after its release, like Rick holding a ladle◊ from "The Vat of Acid Episode".
- False Reassurance: Morty sometimes notes that he and Rick "don't usually die" on adventures when one is lit.
- Have a Nice Death: The mode based on Roy concludes by giving the title character's date and method of death (usually comically undignified).
- Interface Screw: Several dimensions cause this, including making the left flipper button control the upper right flipper, causing either button to control all three flippers simultaneously, and turning every light on the playfield white (and thus removing the color-coding that helps indicate what exactly they award).
- Match Sequence: The game plays a scene from "Rick Potion #9" where alternate versions of Rick and Morty die in a lab accident; the match number pops up immediately after their demise.
- The Multiverse: Traveling to alternate dimensions is an important part of the game, with each one changing the rules for a period of time.
- Mythology Gag: There are several references to the original series.
- The front of the machine has a message reading 'PEACE AMONG WORLDS", a reference to a joke from "The Ricks Must Be Crazy".
- The ball save is referred to as the "Immortality Field".
- Gromflomite Battle Multiball is based on a scene from the series' pilot. The instruction card (written in-character as Rick) further alludes to it by referring to the aliens you kill as "robots" – in the original episode, Rick tells this to Morty as a means of getting him to shoot them (which is almost immediately disproven).
- Getting a tilt warning leads to the game displaying a plumbus inside the cabinet being jostled.
- The megaseeds are taken straight from the pilot episode, as is the implication that they're being stored in an unsavory place – getting enough of them to get onto the high score board leads to the player being honored for their "Superfluous Butt Capacity".
- Several fake Mystery awards include references, like "Real Fake Door", "Heistcon Pass", "A date with one million ants", "Shoney's Gift Card", "17 Schmeckles", and "The recipe for dark matter".
- Painting the Medium:
- One Adventure can't be started at the scoop like the others; instead, it begins when the player shoots the garage (indicated by Rick repeatedly urging your Morty to come there). Fittingly enough, this Adventure is based on "Pickle Rick", which opens with Rick urging Morty to come to the garage to see him (having
turned himself into a pickle). - "The Blood Dome", which is based on an episode where Rick inadvertently causes Morty's left arm to start acting on its own, limits the player to 25 uses of the left flipper.
- One Adventure can't be started at the scoop like the others; instead, it begins when the player shoots the garage (indicated by Rick repeatedly urging your Morty to come there). Fittingly enough, this Adventure is based on "Pickle Rick", which opens with Rick urging Morty to come to the garage to see him (having
- Rearrange the Song: The main theme is a drumbeat-heavy arrangement of the original series' theme.
- Score Multiplier: The Meeseeks zig-zag this trope. Collecting one will cause a specific shot to be worth more (either twice, thrice, or four times its original value). However, waiting too long to shoot it causes the Meeseeks to age, which eventually causes the shot's value to divide by that same amount (up to one-quarter).
- Shout-Out:
- One of the fake Mystery options is "Deploy Robocop". Another, "13 Balls", alludes to Apollo 13's 13-ball multiball.
- The alternate dimension that turns every light on the playfield white is named "TW-z0n3".
- One of the random catch phrases Rick says after completing the left target bank pulls double duty, alluding to a callout from Swords Of Fury while also referencing its status as an in-joke at Spooky Pinball.note "Lionman! ...or, whatever."
- Skill Shot: Either hitting the Noob Noob target (worth 200,000 points and increasing by 100,000 every time afterwards) or the Garage (always worth double the target shot), as well as doubling or tripling the ramp values for the rest of the ball. Shooting the side loop will multiply the skill shot's value, too.
- Spelling Bonus:
- S-L-A-M lights the Slam Save.
- The "Pirates of the Pancreas" mode takes this to hilarious extremes, challenging you to spell out "PIRATES OF THE PANCREAS LOCATED IN ABDOMEN LAND" by shooting the ramps, with each shot awarding a single letter. Thankfully, you only have to spell "PIRATES" to count the mode as completed, though you can rack up additional letters for bonus points as long as you have time remaining."C'mon Morty, hit the shot, spell the thing. This is Pinball 101 stuff."
- Stock Scream: One dimension plays the Wilhelm scream every time the ball hits something.
- Story Branching: "Roy" uses this as its core premise, with each shot representing either positive or negative turns in Roy's life story.
- Take a Third Option: In addition to the positive and negative life choices available during "Roy – A Life Well Lived", there's also the hidden Rick choices (usually amoral and worth more points).
- Take That, Audience!: A good chunk of the custom voice clips are devoted to insulting the player in some form, be it Rick berating them for failing or Morty providing more backhanded comments:"Geez, that was one heck of a game, you know? Y-you just lost some money."
- Toilet Humor: The "13-UTT" dimension causes fart sounds to play whenever the ball hits anything.
