How to play Pokémon Pinball on Mac

Game summary

There are two tables in the game, red and blue. Each table has its own details and gameplay elements. Each table has different "locations" that you play, which determine which Pokémon are available for capture. A subset of available locations are displayed slot-machine style in the beginning of a game, and pressing A will select your starting location and launch the first ball into play. After that, each table has its own mechanism for advancing to the next location, including the locations not available at the start of the game. "Catch Mode," when activated, starts a 2 minute window of opportunity where you can attempt to capture a Pokémon. Once you activate "catch mode," you must hit the pop bumpers 6 times. Each hit unlocks 1/6 of an image of the Pokémon currently up for capture. Once the image is complete, the Pokémon appears on the table, where it must be hit 4 times with the ball to capture it. "Evolution Mode," when activated, starts a 2 minute window of opportunity where you select a captured Pokémon (from the current game in progress only) and attempt to evolve it into another form. This is the only way to add the evolved form to your Pokédex. Once you select a Pokémon, you must hit targets on the playfield. There are up to 6 targets, but only 3 of them have items in them you need to evolve a Pokémon. The others create a time-wasting sequence before you can hit targets again. If you hit a target with an item, the item appears on the playfield and must be collected with the ball. Once you've collected 3 items, the hole in the center of the board opens up. Sinking the ball in the hole successfully evolves the Pokémon.
First released: Apr 1999

Play Pokémon Pinball on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Pokémon Pinball on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

Pokémon Pinball installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install Pokémon Pinball like you would on any PC.
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