Pinball is awesome – I love it – and I’ve recently been feeding my addiction with a new iOS game from Zen Studios called “Zen Pinball.” Now, I already own Zen Pinball on the PS3, along with all 11 of the tables they’ve released, plus Marvel Pinball, a game from the same company featuring Marvel-themes pinball tables (6 tables for that).

Anyway, last week they released Zen Pinball for iOS as a Universal app (meaning the same app runs on the iPad and the iPhone), and I’m in heaven. My favorite table from the PS3 version is “Sorcerer’s Lair,” and they’ve bundled that for free with the iOS game, and the game itself is a free download! They’ve also made Wolverine and Captain America tables available for download at just $1.99 each. Though I own them both, I jumped at the opportunity to buy them again because I could now play them “on the go.”

The game plays beautifully on the iPad, with its nice large screen. It’s a bit more difficult on the iPhone, because the table is quiet detailed, and the screen is very small, but it’s still a blast to play. I used to routinely drop $20 into pinball machines as a teen, so these tables are a steal at $2. I expect we’ll see a lot more tables released for the game in the coming months, especially considering the backlog of tables they have from the console release, and Marvel Pinball (which will get another 4 tables added to it next week).

Also coming in 2012 is “Pinball Arcade,” a new game from Farsight Studios. These guys have been around for a long time, and they’ve released a number of games under the “Pinball Hall of Fame” series (Williams, Bally and Gottlieb). While Zen Studios focuses on creating new tables, Farsight focuses on recreating existing tables in digital form. This is great for fans of the classic pinball machines, as it gives us an opportunity to play games that cost thousands of dollars, for just a few bucks. While they’ve released a few trailers showing off the first four tables, and promised lots more available as downloadable content, they haven’t mentioned a price yet. The game will be available on PS3, X-Box 360, iOS, Android and Nintendo 3DS. I expect I’ll buy all the tables on the PS3 and iOS, and I’ll love playing them all.

That photo was taken at the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, just a few hours after Kat and I were married. Look closely and you can see the ball is still in play (down near the flippers).