Pirates of the Caribbean is an arcade pinball game designed by Dennis Nordman and illustrated by Kevin O'Connor. It was released in 2006 by Stern Pinball, coinciding with the release of the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Dead Man's Chest.
The game puts the player in the boots of Captain Jack Sparrow as he stumbles through various misadventures. Engage in sword fights, fire on Port Royal, collect your pirates, then play Liar's Dice and assemble a crew of 100 souls. Prove your mettle by shooting the pirate ship on the playfield and sinking it, then Fight Davy Jones, Destroy the Kraken, and use the Key to open the Dead Man's Chest. Along the way, you'll Catch the Wind and collect various bits of Treasure, but only the Pirate King will be able to complete the eight tasks and four points of the Compass to invoke Four Winds Multiball and come out on top of the Gauntlet of Pirates.
Not to be confused with Jersey Jack Pinball's later pinball adaptation of the series, or the Pirates of the Caribbean home pinball game by John Popadiuk and Zizzle Toys,
Pirates of the Caribbean demonstrate the following tropes:
- Credits Gag: During the Attract Mode, entering a secret flipper button combinationnote displays a secret credits sequence showing the development team as pirates.
- Critical Staffing Shortage: Referenced in the "All Pirates" mode, where the player must gather six named piratesnote (the minimum number needed to sail the Black Pearl).
- Eject the Loser: Sinking a ship causes it to collapse on itself and drop below the playfield in a comically-abrupt manner that resembles a Monty Python animated sequence. See it here.
- Giant Squid: The Kraken, obviously.
- Golden Snitch: One of the cardinal direction compass awards is to maximize all Jackpots (to 2 million) for the remainder of the ball, and it happens to be the easiest of the four to light by far. Considering how frequently Jackpots are lit, and considering that the normal jackpot value builds up extremely slowly, most games come down to "how well you can do on the one ball you maximize Jackpots on".
- Heartbeat Soundtrack: Opening the Dead Man's Chest causes one to play, in time with the beating of the heart inside the chest.
- Match Sequence: A flaming torch is waved back and forth, revealing the match number.
- Obvious Rule Patch: The pirate ship and Kraken on the playfield are surrounded by two large transparent plastic shields (dubbed "sneeze guards" by some players) to prevent airborne pinballs from landing in the mechanisms.
- Pirate: Well, being based on Pirates of the Caribbean and all...
- Pirate Booty: Shooting the left and right lanes collects treasure.
- Score Multiplier: Shooting balls into the spinning compass will double, triple, or quadruple scoring while there are one, two, or three balls in there, respectively.
- Secondary Adaptation: The game is based on the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, itself (loosely) based on ride of the same name at many Disney Theme Parks.
- Spectacular Spinning: Shooting Port Royal drops the pinball onto a spinning compass that flings it about, hitting targets along the perimeter.
- Spelling Bonus: P-A-R-L-A-Y enables the ball saver, J-A-C-K completes Jack the Monkey, and K-E-Y opens the Dead Man's Chest. With the chest open, H-E-A-R-T enables Heart Multiball and collects the Heart Jackpot.
- Walk the Plank: One of the exits from the upper level is "Walk the Plank", which drops balls directly onto the main playfield.
- Wizard Mode: Completing all eight tasks for the Compass note enables Four Winds Multiball. This starts as a four-ball multiball, where the goal is to freeze and collect the four Wind Jackpots. Do so without draining too many balls to begin the Gauntlet of Pirates; the player must repeatedly shoot the spinning disc at Port Royal to light one of the major shots, then shoot it to collect a Gauntlet Point. The player with the most Gauntlet Points is recognized as the Pirate King.
