Black Knight: Sword Of Rage Pinball Tutorial - Pro Model (Flip N Out Pinball, 2024)

Flip n Out Pinball·video·10m 45s·analyzed·Jul 19, 2024

Analysis

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TL;DR

Detailed Black Knight: Sword of Rage tutorial highlighting accessible rules, brutal gameplay, and strategic mode stacking.

Summary

Joel Engelberth provides a comprehensive tutorial of Black Knight: Sword of Rage pinball, covering the playfield layout, skill shots, mode progression, super features, multiball mechanics, and power-up system. He emphasizes the game's appealing simplicity in rules design combined with brutal difficulty and high replayability, highlighting key shots like the ramp, orbits, and the vertical up-kick that feed the right flipper.

Key Claims

Black Knight: Sword of Rage has a very approachable layout but is a brutal game that keeps players coming back
high confidence · Joel's direct assessment after explaining the layout and discussing gameplay appeal
The left orbit shot qualifies super features which can be stacked and upgraded by hitting the left spinner shot, then cashed out via the Magna Save
high confidence · Joel demonstrates this mechanic in detail during gameplay
Modes are accessed by battling the Black Knight first, then qualifying via the ramp, with the ability to change modes using either spinner
high confidence · Joel shows this progression step-by-step during tutorial gameplay
The game has a power-up system (sword) that can be activated to freeze mode mechanics and make shots easier to hit
high confidence · Joel demonstrates how power stops moving shots during Burning Sands mode
There are retro callback modes (mini wizard modes) like 'War' and 'Night' that reference Black Knight 2000 with dedicated shot sequences
high confidence · Joel explains War mode and shows the Night mini wizard mode activation

Notable Quotes

“Great game. We're having a lot of fun with this game. There's the rules, there's the simplicity of the rules that we really enjoy, as well as the layout is very approachable, but it is a brutal game.”
Joel Engelberth@ 0:19 — Direct assessment of what makes Black Knight: Sword of Rage engaging—accessible rules design paired with challenging execution
“The one more game is constant. I really, really am having fun with this game.”
Joel Engelberth@ 0:32 — Expresses high replayability and personal enjoyment, indicating the game's success in keeping players engaged
“It's very important for increasing the value of your super features, as well as to start the Black Knight multi-balls.”
Joel Engelberth@ 0:54 — Identifies the left shot/vertical up-kick as a critical strategic element in the game's progression
“So it makes it way easier it's the same three shots they're not going to move away so that's the second one I've defeated”
Joel Engelberth@ 4:30 — Explains how the power-up mechanic simplifies mode execution by removing the moving target challenge
“I'm really enjoying the simplicity of this code because it keeps you focused it's very simple what am I trying to do because you gotta put all your energy into keeping the ball alive.”
Joel Engelberth@ 9:35 — Emphasizes the intentional design philosophy of clear, focused objectives that increase skill demand and engagement

Entities

Joel EngelberthpersonBlack Knight: Sword of RagegameFlippin' OutorganizationBlack Knight 2000gameMagna Saveproduct

Signals

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competitive_signal: The ability to stack modes with multiball and use power-ups strategically suggests depth for competitive play; emphasis on keeping ball alive indicates high execution demand suitable for tournament play
medium · Joel explains optimal stacking strategy ('I wouldn't want to start my multiball until I started my next mode') and notes the importance of ball control throughout
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design_philosophy: Black Knight: Sword of Rage emphasizes simplicity and clarity in rule progression despite brutal ball control difficulty, creating accessible entry point with high skill ceiling for experienced players
high · Joel: 'I'm really enjoying the simplicity of this code because it keeps you focused it's very simple what am I trying to do because you gotta put all your energy into keeping the ball alive'
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product_strategy: Game uses strategic mode selection (spinner-based mode change), power-up/sword system for mode simplification, multiball stacking opportunities, and retro callback mini wizard modes as engagement mechanics
high · Joel demonstrates mode changing via spinners, power-up freezing mechanic, War/Night callback modes, and multiball stacking strategy throughout tutorial

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.032

0:00

Hey my name is Joel Engelberth, I stream for the Flippin' Out YouTube channel. I stream with my brother every Wednesday night from 10 to midnight Eastern Standard Time, so feel free to check us out live. Hopefully this should be a relatively quick and easy tutorial on the game. We'll start with the layout. This is Black Knight Sword of Rage, by the way. Great game. We're having a lot of fun with this game. There's the rules, there's the simplicity of the rules that we really enjoy, as well as the layout is very approachable, but it is a brutal game. and so it keeps you coming back for more, and that's what we like. The one more game is constant. I really, really am having fun with this game. So layout wise, there are two targets over here to add time during modes, as well as to light your left out lane ball save. This left shot, you'd think it's an orbit, it's not. It has a spinner, but it actually feeds the vertical up kick in the wire form to feed your right flipper. It's very important for increasing the value of your super features, as well as to start the Black Knight multi-balls. This is the main orbit in the game. You're going to use that to not only go all the way around, but also to spell war or to feed the pops. There are some inserts here. I think it's these two bottom ones. If those are red, that means the ball is going all the way around. If they're off, the ball is going to stop up top.

1:20

There are a lot of posts in this game. A lot of posts, which mean if you miss, that ball is coming straight back at you. So be prepared. You've got to pay attention. The main and only ramp in the game is incredibly satisfying to hit. That flail does spin and get in the way from you actually being able to hit that shot. But it's just a super fun shot to hit. You can hit it with either flipper, which you can actually hit most shots in this game from either flipper, which make it a ton of fun. This is the main body shot on the Black Knight. It's a very deadly shot because the ball is coming straight at you, but really important for starting the super features as well as starting power during your modes. This is the shield the shield will go up to allow you to go behind it To put the ball on the vertical up kick and then the vertical up kick is how you start your modes and will feed the Right flipper. This is the shield target. That's how you light lock Very important shot in the game to get through multi balls Then you have your right orbit shot and you have these three drops these three drops are how you actually fill up the sword to Use the power And that's how you get through modes easier So let's just dive on in and hopefully I can show you a little bit about the game

5:32

Shot so now it's yellow so now every time I hit a sling. I'm getting more points I can increase again, so now if I hit a sling I'm at 350k. If I want another super feature, I just hit that, uh, the, the orbit and then my super's lit. So now I have super targets. If I want another super feature, I, uh, super's lit. Let's start another one. So now I have super pops. So you can get a bunch of super features qualified and then every time you hit that left shot, you are upgrading them. And then what's cool is you can actually cash them all out. The way you cash them all out is, let's get one more super feature going, and let's cash them all out here by using the Magna Save. The Magna Save is going to drop the ball through the lane, and when you do that, that's how you cash out all of your super features, which is pretty cool. I've hit the Black Knight enough to qualify a mode, but one thing I want show you is actually i want to show you war so i'm actually just gonna do that war is once you've spelled war now i got all these white shots here in the middle so you want to hit one and that locks in that value so the left one's done the middle one's done the right one i just got my extra ball and i started the mode but let's go ahead and finish war which i just did so that gave me another uh knight letter i've also activated power that's why in this mode normally you hit a green shot and then you have to hit that same green shot again but once you've done it once that green shot you can't use anymore well being that i've activated power i can actually hit the same green shot over and over and over again so okay just throw the ball at the ramp so uh you could basically just ramp out if you had this shot dialed in and totally burn through the mode, which is pretty cool. So let's do that. There we go. And I am one night litter away from showing that off. So I've shown you war. I haven't shown you multi-ball. So multi-ball, basically, I got to light my lock. I'm going to get it in there. That should be lock number two. So let's do lock number three. And then in a perfect world, I wouldn't want to start my multi ball until I started my next mode So I got to battle the knight There we go now I got to qualify my mode and then if I light lock and start multiple at the same time this is kind of the perfect stack here so I have multiple going and I have the mode going so this particular mode pretty simple all the shots are lit and you just have to hit let's just do all of them okay one thing I've also done being that I'm halfway through the mode they do all those shots and then you do one more so I'm actually got through that mode this is the multi-ball uh it's just points but once I get through it what you're gonna see is I've spelled night so night is freaking out so to get to that mini wizard mode you hit this left shot. So I've done a lot. Honestly, this game is not this easy because even just throwing the ball, I missed the shot in the ring. These are pretty cool. These are like retro callback modes to the original Black Knight, the Black Knight 2000. They're worth points. It's nothing from a progress standpoint in the game, but they are a lot of fun to play. So I think I've shown you everything. I think I've shown you war. I showed you the Black Knight modes. I've showed you how to actually do the modes it's very important to either bring multi-ball into the mode or to get your your sword powered up and then prioritize the power uh shot when you start the mode because it'll make the mode easier but once you get through all five modes then black castle's lit and that's how you battle the black knight so i'm really enjoying the simplicity of this code because it keeps you focused it's very simple what am i trying to do because you gotta put all your energy into keeping the ball alive. But we're loving this game. I hope that explained a lot for you guys. And if it did or didn't, leave a comment. That would be great. Otherwise, come check us out live every Wednesday night. So appreciate everybody for watching this. Have a great rest of your day.