The Pinball Thread

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
User avatar
Gozer
Posts: 245
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:52 pm
Location: West Chester, Pennsylvania

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Gozer »

BrianC wrote:Most of the time for my pinball fix, I go to Flippers near the outer banks when visting my dad in NC, or to Crab Towne USA in Glen Burnie, MD, the latter of which is much closer. Flippers is especially cool since it has some rare machines like Big Bang Bar and a combination of newer and older machines. It has newer Sterns like Metallica and Star Trek, classics like Addams Family (modded with color DMD), and even some older machines like Centaur and Wizard. Too bad the pinball museum in Baltimore closed.

I used to do one play and move to another machine, but now, I put a few credits in to give machines a good play. I don't consider myself that good, but I somehow made it to wizard mode of Monster Bash (awesome machine, BTW). While I love the rulesets of some 90s machines, I also like the simpler, but often more challenging gameplay of older solid state and EM machines.

I've always wanted to visit Flippers.

Place looks amazing.
User avatar
BPzeBanshee
Posts: 4857
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 3:59 am

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by BPzeBanshee »

Addams Family is great, like a Twilight Zone v0.5. I pitched in to the Kickstarter to get the Gold edition, not sure what the differences are in the rules but it plays really well and looks great under the DX11 version lighting. Season 4's tables are really shaping up now they've got a nice set of stuff but I think I liked season 3's quantity more.

I envy all you guys that actually have pinball arcades still - There's even less real pinball machines here than there is arcade cabinets though so simulation is the only way for me to play these titles now. Last time I actually played a proper pinball was Fish Tales about 12-15 years ago, and it was about as drain-prone as it is in TPA now if not more so.
User avatar
MOSQUITO FIGHTER
Posts: 1717
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2005 7:32 pm

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by MOSQUITO FIGHTER »

I'm really liking Haunted House. It's like Black Hole but better. Best Gottlieb table to me. Gottlieb is so different compared to the other pinball companies. They really seemed to have had their own style.
User avatar
Austin
Posts: 1262
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 6:32 pm
Location: Fairfax, VA
Contact:

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Austin »

MOSQUITO FIGHTER wrote:I bet you would like some of the zen pinball tables. They have some of the deepest rulesets I've encountered in pinball. But I think the physics are seriously lacking on zen pinball. The zen tables for some reason just aren't as much fun to me. I don't care much for the art style on most of their stuff either.
The Zen pinball tables are interesting. For digital-only games, they are great, although some tables are hit or miss, depending. The physics are pretty good and you can control the ball pretty well. You can live-catch and drop-catch as well, which is nice. The ball moves a bit fast and the physics on the tip of the flippers are weird and unrealistic, but you get used to it.

I do think their newer tables are a lot better than their older ones. I appreciate how they changed some of their sounds too. On the newer tables the flippers sound a little more like real flippers, versus on their earlier tables where they sounded really clunky, muted and unrealistic.

My only complaint is that I've noticed that most tables play very similarly from a ruleset perspective, with activated modes always being worth the most points. It would be nice if they would make some tables where flow and combos was the main goal in mind and scored the most points, versus tables where starting modes (I know their tables usually have combos, but they aren't worth many points in the grand scheme of things).

My favorite tables are based on the Marvel line. I also like Paranormal, Mars and Rome a lot too. I picked up the Portal table over the weekend and that's pretty interesting too.
BrianC wrote:Most of the time for my pinball fix, I go to Flippers near the outer banks when visting my dad in NC, or to Crab Towne USA in Glen Burnie, MD, the latter of which is much closer. Flippers is especially cool since it has some rare machines like Big Bang Bar and a combination of newer and older machines. It has newer Sterns like Metallica and Star Trek, classics like Addams Family (modded with color DMD), and even some older machines like Centaur and Wizard. Too bad the pinball museum in Baltimore closed.
How close is Crab Towne to you? A buddy of mine runs a league there and they get a pretty good turnout (about 25 players I believe). It's fun playing competitively with people. If it's close, check it out. Otherwise the place is still fun to visit. I need to make another trip up there and spend a day playing all the games. It's about 90 minutes away for me though so I don't head up there often unless there is a tournament or something.

If College Park is close to you, there is a bar called Town Hall Liquors. They have about eight or nine machines, with the current lineup including a Shadow, World Poker Tour, AC\DC Premium, Strikes & Spares, and a few others (I think the op has rotated out some of the other games like WoZ, AFM, TZ, and TAF, but I'm not sure).
BPzeBanshee wrote:I envy all you guys that actually have pinball arcades still - There's even less real pinball machines here than there is arcade cabinets though so simulation is the only way for me to play these titles now. Last time I actually played a proper pinball was Fish Tales about 12-15 years ago, and it was about as drain-prone as it is in TPA now if not more so.
I'm not sure where you are located, but you might be surprised to find a place with some pins that you never knew about locally. They are out there, you just have to look for them. Of course, if you have the space, you could always buy one for yourself as well. :P
User avatar
BrianC
Posts: 8856
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:33 am
Location: MD

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by BrianC »

Crab Towne is about 30 or 40 minutes away. Not super close, but not too far either.
User avatar
BPzeBanshee
Posts: 4857
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 3:59 am

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by BPzeBanshee »

Austin wrote:
BPzeBanshee wrote:I envy all you guys that actually have pinball arcades still - There's even less real pinball machines here than there is arcade cabinets though so simulation is the only way for me to play these titles now. Last time I actually played a proper pinball was Fish Tales about 12-15 years ago, and it was about as drain-prone as it is in TPA now if not more so.
I'm not sure where you are located, but you might be surprised to find a place with some pins that you never knew about locally. They are out there, you just have to look for them. Of course, if you have the space, you could always buy one for yourself as well. :P
Got the space but not the income - considering I'm in Australia (so automatically less local stuff anyway) and importing anything that big is going to be a hefty 5-digit fee for any of the good tables. :(
User avatar
Austin
Posts: 1262
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 6:32 pm
Location: Fairfax, VA
Contact:

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Austin »

BrianC wrote:Crab Towne is about 30 or 40 minutes away. Not super close, but not too far either.
Ah, that's not too bad. That's about how far Town Hall is for me so I tend to make my way up there more frequently.
BPzeBanshee wrote:Got the space but not the income - considering I'm in Australia (so automatically less local stuff anyway) and importing anything that big is going to be a hefty 5-digit fee for any of the good tables. :(
Ah, right on! There's actually quite a few collectors in Australia. From what I hear the hobby is pretty expensive over there though with importing costs being a major factor. You could try looking into older games, say, from 1977 - 1985. Many of those are very cheap here in the USA ($500-ish), so there may be some floating around Australia in a similar price range. Still not super cheap, but it's a way to get into it without breaking the bank on a $4500 modern Stern.
User avatar
BPzeBanshee
Posts: 4857
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 3:59 am

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by BPzeBanshee »

Pinball Arcade's fifth season has started and it takes off with The Getaway: High Speed II. Pretty fucking sweet table. Table hint suggests F-14 Tomcat as next month's table and rumor/Android port leaks suggest Mary Shelley's Frankenstein perhaps as the one after that.

I also had the privilege of playing several pinball machines while down in Adelaide last month including a real Cirqus Voltaire. It was in need of service but still amazing to see and play in person. Amusement Worx have an open night for the general public every two weeks, anyone in the area should give them a buzz.
User avatar
Austin
Posts: 1262
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 6:32 pm
Location: Fairfax, VA
Contact:

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Austin »

The Getaway is a great machine, as is F-14. Interesting to see they may do Frankenstein after that, there are some interesting rules there.

Glad you were able to play a real Cirqus. It is quite a different beast than the TPA version, much tougher, yet even more beautiful to look at.

Funny this thread was bumped--I coincidentally brought home a Simpsons Pinball Party machine today. Crazy deep and I wish Farsight would go after recreating some more games like that. Many of the licenses are probably too expensive.
User avatar
BPzeBanshee
Posts: 4857
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 3:59 am

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by BPzeBanshee »

Simpsons Pinball Party is top of the list of machines tipped to be tried through a Kickstarter. Indiana Jones was one but apparently the license holders wouldn't even return calls.

I'd like to see some more Gottliebs this season. We had none at all last season and Stargate, Spirit, Krull and TX-Sector are all decent tables from what I've seen/played in digital-land.
User avatar
Austin
Posts: 1262
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 6:32 pm
Location: Fairfax, VA
Contact:

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Austin »

Some good suggestions for sure. There are a ton of great Gottlieb games that aren't even based on existing licenses that they could also dip into.
User avatar
Frenetic
Posts: 952
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 5:19 am

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Frenetic »

What I'd really like to see is some of the rare Capcom pinballs digitized in The Pinball Arcade (TPA). Pinball Magic, Big Bang Bar, and Kingpin. I've been fortunate to play all of these but I'd love to play them instead of having to wait until the next league tournament rolls around to the fellow league player who has it in his/her collection.
User avatar
Cee
Banned User
Posts: 380
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 9:14 pm
Location: Taunton

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Cee »

Austin wrote:Some good suggestions for sure. There are a ton of great Gottlieb games that aren't even based on existing licenses that they could also dip into.
Definitely agree i'd love to see a decent digi version of Alien star which is a personal fav gottlieb for me.
boagman
Posts: 1345
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:30 am

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by boagman »

Austin wrote:Funny this thread was bumped--I coincidentally brought home a Simpsons Pinball Party machine today.
Very nice pickup...I own one myself. Want to *completely* change the way the game is played? Kill the garage door opening coil, so that the door no longer opens. Yes, it does kill the Mystery awards, but that's the only actual loss. Makes that Comic Book Guy side ramp really, *really* important, all of a sudden. ;)
User avatar
Austin
Posts: 1262
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 6:32 pm
Location: Fairfax, VA
Contact:

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Austin »

boagman wrote:
Austin wrote:Funny this thread was bumped--I coincidentally brought home a Simpsons Pinball Party machine today.
Very nice pickup...I own one myself. Want to *completely* change the way the game is played? Kill the garage door opening coil, so that the door no longer opens. Yes, it does kill the Mystery awards, but that's the only actual loss. Makes that Comic Book Guy side ramp really, *really* important, all of a sudden. ;)
Haha! True, it will certainly make the game more challenging (and the CBG shot more important). I'd like to eventually get to the end-game wizard mode some day, so I have to hit the shot anyway for the CBG hurry-ups and the Tree House modes. Really tough shot though. You'd think going Otto -> Left ramp would be easier, but I'm having much more consistency throwing the ball through the pops, around the left orbit, and on-the-fly into the left ramp. Always a satisfying shot to make when you actually get it.
User avatar
Stevens
Posts: 3799
Joined: Thu May 01, 2014 11:44 pm
Location: Brooklyn NY

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Stevens »

It is a ways out, but I am going to build a virtual table one day.
My lord, I have come for you.
User avatar
Obiwanshinobi
Posts: 7463
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2009 1:14 am

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Obiwanshinobi »

Is any Space Jam home version any good? How's the physical table Sega when there's a PSX version? Sort of WipEout kind of story?
The rear gate is closed down
The way out is cut off

Image
User avatar
Austin
Posts: 1262
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 6:32 pm
Location: Fairfax, VA
Contact:

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Austin »

Console versions of Space Jam are basketball games, not pinball.

I have not played the Sega pinball machine, but I have played the Stern NBA re-theme of it (same layout). It probably has different rules but I enjoyed it.
User avatar
Stevens
Posts: 3799
Joined: Thu May 01, 2014 11:44 pm
Location: Brooklyn NY

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Stevens »

This is a quick read -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Pinball

The most interesting part of the article -
Spoiler
It was sold to Gary Stern and is now Stern pinball.
My lord, I have come for you.
User avatar
BrianC
Posts: 8856
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:33 am
Location: MD

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by BrianC »

Obiwanshinobi wrote:Is any Space Jam home version any good? How's the physical table Sega when there's a PSX version? Sort of WipEout kind of story?
There's no home version of the Space Jam pinball AFAIK. I'm guessing SEGA pinball was able to make a Pinball of Space Jam while a different company made a basketball video game because the licenses for video games and pinball are separate.
User avatar
Obiwanshinobi
Posts: 7463
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2009 1:14 am

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Obiwanshinobi »

I just saw a cheap PSX Space Jam copy and assumed it was digital pinball indeed.
The rear gate is closed down
The way out is cut off

Image
User avatar
wgogh
Posts: 535
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 5:01 am
Location: Brazil

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by wgogh »

The only tables we have around are the Rolling Stones, Transformers and Jurassic Park.
I used to play the first Black Knight as a kid, but never saw that table again. The Williams collection for ps2 has a recreation, wich was a nice surprise for me.

As for digital pinball, I really like the Akira Psycho Pinball, from the devs of Necronomicon for the Saturn.
Image
User avatar
BrianC
Posts: 8856
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:33 am
Location: MD

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by BrianC »

wgogh wrote: I used to play the first Black Knight as a kid, but never saw that table again. The Williams collection for ps2 has a recreation, wich was a nice surprise for me.
It's also in other versions of the Williams collection and in Pinball Arcade (multiple platforms).
User avatar
Damocles
Posts: 2975
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2005 12:23 am

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Damocles »

What is considered the best table for Pinball FX 2? After putting him/them off for six years, I finally sat down and beat Ultimo and Dracula on the Marvel Pinball pack. Damn if Ironman isn't the most generic table out there. I'm once again getting sick of Zen physics, but if there's an excellent table left, I'll give it a shot. I have all the original DLC for PFX1 as well as the first Marvel DLC.
User avatar
Kaiser
Posts: 1728
Joined: Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:20 am

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Kaiser »

Damocles wrote:What is considered the best table for Pinball FX 2? After putting him/them off for six years, I finally sat down and beat Ultimo and Dracula on the Marvel Pinball pack. Damn if Ironman isn't the most generic table out there. I'm once again getting sick of Zen physics, but if there's an excellent table left, I'll give it a shot. I have all the original DLC for PFX1 as well as the first Marvel DLC.
Fear Itself, treat yourself to it.
Zenodyne R - My 2nd Steam Shmup
User avatar
Ruldra
Posts: 4222
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:27 am
Location: Brazil

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by Ruldra »

^I can vouch for Fear Itself, that table is awesome. But I think you can't buy it alone, you need to buy the Avengers Chronicles pack. It does come with The Avengers and Infinity Gauntlet, both are great.
[Youtube | 1cc list | Steam]
mastermx wrote:
xorthen wrote:You guys are some hardcore MOFOs and masochists.
This is the biggest compliment you can give to people on this forum.
User avatar
DJ Incompetent
Posts: 2373
Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2006 10:28 pm
Location: Murda Mitten, USA

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by DJ Incompetent »

Fear Itself for sure. The boss fights are great and tough.
PC Engine Fan X!
Posts: 8405
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:32 pm

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

Farsight finally released it's season 6 tables of Pinball Arcade for the PS Vita platform. It's about damn time that they did so. The last update (season 5 tables release) was back in 2015 for that respective platform indeed.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
User avatar
orange808
Posts: 3185
Joined: Sat Aug 20, 2016 5:43 am

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by orange808 »

Shameless plug: http://www.lyonspinball.com/

Visual Pinball with vpinmame is the standard for playing video pinball. While it's not 3d rendered, there is a community to help tweak the tables.

Of course, there are no simulated options that feel like the real thing. Pinball Arcade is a microtransaction nightmare--with poorly optimized visuals and spotty physics. Visual Pinball may be guilty of the similar technical shortcomings, but it doesn't cost money, either.

I recommend Fathom. There were some very nice reproduction playfields about ten years ago. If you can find a cabinet, it's a great game.

Lyons Pinball has the super rare Joust machine. It's the coolest game I've ever seen. Bring a friend, it's two player.
We apologise for the inconvenience
PC Engine Fan X!
Posts: 8405
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:32 pm

Re: The Pinball Thread

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

I recall playing the actual rare Williams produced Joust pinball machine at my local Cals-R-Cade arcade hangout back in 1987-1988. Very interesting dual-player concept within the pinball world. It's made the occasional appearance at the yearly California Extreme classic arcade game & pinball show in the past.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
Post Reply