Ruiner Pinball
Ruiner Pinball — frequently asked questions
- Is Ruiner Pinball on Steam?
- No. Ruiner Pinball is not distributed on Steam, so there is no Steam Charts or SteamDB player count for it. Its live popularity is tracked here via Twitch viewership instead.
- What platforms is Ruiner Pinball on?
- Ruiner Pinball is available on Atari Jaguar.
- When did Ruiner Pinball release?
- Ruiner Pinball was first released on November 6, 1995.
About Ruiner Pinball
Ruiner Pinball is a collection of two fantasy pinball tables: Ruiner and Tower. In Ruiner, a double-wide table provides challenging gameplay and real classic arcade feel as you strive to defend your country from a foreign attack and prepare a strike of your own. In Tower, the triple-length table is so eerie you'll think you've descended into Hell. The Sorceress and her wicked minions are after you. Casting three spells will bring the tower crashing down, but can you figure them out before it's too late!
Summary via IGDB.
Ruiner Pinball on Wikipedia
Ruiner Pinball is a 1995 pinball video game developed by High Voltage Software (HVS) and published by Atari Corporation for the Atari Jaguar. The game features two different pinball tables: the nuclear war-inspired Ruiner, and the medieval-themed Tower. Each table contains targets for the player to hit with the ball, increasing their score before the ball is lost. It was marketed as the first title to support the ProController, a redesigned Jaguar controller that added three more face buttons and two triggers.
Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0).
Game details
- Platforms
- Atari Jaguar
- Developer
- High Voltage Software
- Publisher
- Atari Corporation
- Game modes
- Single player
Details via IGDB.
Collector value & authenticity
Atari Jaguar · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-07-24
- Region
- NA+EU
- Released
- 1995
- Authenticity
- Low
Playing this on the stock pad is playing it in the configuration its designers were trying to escape.
High Voltage Software pitched Atari one pinball table and shipped two: Ruiner, a nuclear-war-themed double-wide (the better one), and Tower, a medieval board. Reviewers were rough on the physics, audio, and controls, and those criticisms matter most in a genre that IS a ball responding to a flipper — though later reassessments have been kinder.
The historical hook: this was marketed as the first title supporting the Jaguar ProController, whose shoulder triggers finally put flipper buttons under your index fingers. Pinball is exactly the genre the 1995 controller redesign existed for.
How it was made
High Voltage Software developed the Atari Jaguar version, published by Atari Corporation. Credited: designed by Mike Baker, Scott Corley; programmed by Scott Corley; art by Mike Baker.
What the press said at the time
| CP | 80% | |
| EPD | 4/10 | |
| Mega Generation | #27, January 1996 | 54% |
| Next Generation | #15, March 1996 | 2/5 |
| Atari Fan | #8, March 1996 | 75/100 |
| Atari Gaming Headquarters | 2001 | 5/10 |
| The Atari Times | #4, August 1996 | 20% |
| Game Zero Magazine | December 1995 | 15.0/50 |
| ST Magazine | #102, February 1996 | 52% |
| Ultimate Future Games | #13, December 1995 | 23% |
| VideoGames | #85, February 1996 | 5/10 |
The contemporary press could not agree on this one: comparable scores run from 20% to 80% across 11 publications. Scores are printed in their original scales.
Cartridge & preservation record
Cartridge ROM capacity 16 megabit (2 MB), measured from the preserved cartridge image.
Catalogue part number J9061E
Cartridge data from the No-Intro preservation database (metadata only — names, sizes and checksums, no game data).
Worth knowing
- Named after a Nine Inch Nails song. Chris Corley — one of High Voltage Software's first employees in 1993, later its vice president of software development — has said the game took its name from "Ruiner", the track on Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral. It was shown at Summer CES 1994 simply as Ruiner and only became Ruiner Pinball later, by which point Atari was demonstrating it at its Fun 'n' Games Day press event.
- The tables were hand-painted and scanned in pieces. Artist Baker painted the artwork on a single large board by hand, then scanned it into Deluxe Paint slowly, section by section, because nothing available could take it in one pass. High Voltage had come to the Jaguar through the White Men Can't Jump adaptation, also in this library. Atari marketed Ruiner Pinball as the first game to support the ProController — the redesigned pad adding three face buttons and two triggers — and it was re-released for the first time in 2022 as part of Atari 50.
Before you buy
Moderately common, inexpensive, soft demand. Flag ProController compatibility in listings — it materially changes the game. Included in Atari 50, which gives casual buyers a legal alternative.
Authenticity & condition — Atari Jaguar
Specific to the format this title shipped in
Buying a Jaguar cartridge
Cartridges are the durable half of this library — the risk is provenance, not decay. The platform has an active post-commercial scene, so the question is usually which era a cartridge is from rather than whether it still works.
- Ask for a photo of the label edge and the cartridge back. Reproductions are usually printed on adhesive photo stock and sit proud of the label recess.
- Donor shells are the common trick: sanding marks on the back, or adhesive ghosting where an older label was lifted, are the strongest signals.
- Cartridges are region-free on this platform, so a cheaper PAL copy plays on a North American console — a price difference is not evidence of a fake.
Ruiner Pinball screenshots
Watch on YouTube
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