"Get ready for 32 different game options for 6 different games with 11 paddle sizes. We guarantee you will break out in a cold sweat before you break in to an upper level of fun in this exciting game cartridge."

Pinball Challenge is directly inspired by arcade hit Breakout (Atari) released in 1976. However it offers some interesting variations enhancing the original concept:

Pinball Wiz
1 player game like the original Breakout

Cooperation Partners
2 player cooperative game. This game calls for close cooperation between partners. you both control the green paddle, but the right hand controllers will move the paddle only to the right while the left hand controller moves the paddle only the the left.

Crossover Partners
You alternate hits in this game. Onr of you has complete control over the blue paddle, the other has complete control over the green paddle. After the ball is hit the
paddle changes color to the other players color.

Pro Challenge
Two players, two scores, competitive Blue starts on top and hits the ball, if the ball hits a block, blue gets the points and green moves to the top position. If the blue misses and green hits the ball, blue will disappear until green misses. Blue and green gain points in the normal way. Green's paddle will shorten when blue disappears.

Block Shot
This game offers both offensive and defensive action. The defense is that there are little paddles just below the "Blocks" that move with the big paddle. Thus when it's your oponnent turn you can move your blocker to prevent him from scoring. If you miss the ball with your big paddle, it disappears, and all you can do is defend with your small blocker.

Double Block
Two players, two scores, competitive. Same as game 5 except both blockers remain even though one player missed the ball.

In addition to these 6 base games, there are also 32 variations available! Variations include mixtures of pad shrinking, ball speedup, invisible blocks, pro speed and an interesting "changing the paddle" option where your paddle shrinks each time you hit the ball!

Overall Pinball Challenge is an interesting adaptation of Breakout, though a bit jerky compared to the arcade version. It is worth noting that it is not the first version of breakout for a home video game system as Atari already released it on dedicated system called Video Pinball.

The official Atari VCS version was released the same year (1978).