Question 60 Answer and Explanation _ACT OG1 Form 1MC English Section

Passage IV

Pinball and Chance

[1]

Doesn’t anyone play pinball anymore? I was disappointed the other day when I took my kids to a game arcade. Afterwards, I went to the movies. Not one of the many colorful machines with flashing lights were a pinball machine. Video games filled the room.

[2]

[1] I can understand why video games might seem more attractive than pinball. [2] Video screens which have been populated by movie stars, monsters, and heroes. [3] You can blow up cities, escape from dungeons, and battle all sorts of villains. [4] Pinball machines, on the other hand, are essentially all the same. [5] Some machines are bigger and fancier than others, but the object of pinball never changes: you have to keep a steel ball in play long enough to rack up a high score and win a free game.(49)

[3]

The attractions of video games, however, are superficial and short-lived. As you guide your character through the game’s challenges, you come to know exactly how the machine that’s built to last will respond to your every move. He or she learns where the hazards lurk and the special weapons are hidden. Pinball, though, can’t be predicted with such accuracy. You never know when the ball will drain straight down the middle, out of reach of both flippers. Then again, you can sometimes get lucky, and a ball you thought was lost, will inexplicably bounce back into play.

[4]

It is the element of chance that makes pinball more interesting than video games. Most video games are designed so that your main opponent in these video games is a predictable computer program. Once you have mastered a game, the challenge is gone, and you must look for a new game to conquer. After you learn the new game, you get bored again. The cycle keeps repeating. But in pinball, you have three factors to consider: you, the machine, and chance, which is sometimes your enemy sometimes your ally. No matter how many games you play on any pinball machine, the various times of each game is different. That’s what makes pinball a continually challenge.

Question 60 asks about the preceding passage as a whole.

60. Suppose the writer had chosen to write an essay that indicates that pinball is superior to video games. Would this essay fulfill the writer’s goal?

F. No, because the writer admits that video games have become more popular than pinball machines.

G. No, because the writer states that video games are designed to challenge the skills of the player.

H. Yes, because the writer claims that pinball games require luck and are more visually attractive than video games.

J. Yes, because the writer suggests that it is more difficult to become skilled at a pinball machine than at a video game.

Answer and Explanation

Your Answer is

Correct Answer is J

Explanation

The hypothetical theme of the question stem is "pinball is better than video games", which is consistent with the theme of the article, and the reasons for J are correctly explained.