Pinball!!!!!!!!!

The machine with the worst accessibility to quality ratio has to be South Park; it's everywhere but it's just way too easy and boring.

Judge Dredd, ST:TNG, Black Rose, that one with the fish on the top, Road Crew, The Machine: Bride Of Pinbot ("I can feel!")....ahhh yes.

Well, duh...

Never underestimate the Power of the Twilight Zone.

Not a pinball story, but an affirmation that Williams, Inc. must be a magical place.

Matter of fact, about this time next week, I should be in Las Vegas at....

www.pinballmuseum.org

Aww yeah.

when you go to stern pinball's web page it says "Stern Pinball, Inc. The World's Only Manufacturer of Electro-Mechanical Pinball Machines"

Williams stopped producing machines about 4 years ago. Bally's just sorta stopped doing it. There have been rumors about a Bally's revival, but who knows. Stern is still out there though; they're the last one in existence. Its funny, because Williams had the pinball operation shut down as they were demoing Attack From Mars and Star Wars Episode 1 at E3 (which were their showcases of Pinball 2000 tech).

There's a new Stern machine based on, I guess, the Indiana ones movies (not jsut the new one, there's parts on the table for every movie) that's pretty fun, but it must be too easy because I hit 60 mill + replay on my like 5th go at the table. Trying to figure out now what the TG records are like for it because if they're low I'm gonna go all Steve Wiebe on this bitch (even though I have the same name as his rival).

The new Stern games, I've found, are super easy to get replay on. I replayed on Spiderman the 2nd time I played, same with LOTR.

Just went to the Pinball Hall of Fame in Vegas last month--over 200 games, the place is totally boss.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2087/2541456819_03d97b0990_m.jpg

Awesome.

I am trying to find a local place with a really competitive machine in Montreal but the Internet is apparently not as awesome for this as I hoped!

When I lived in Montreal ('93-'94), I played pinball all over Ste.-Catherine and up on St. Laurent near Duluth.

http://gridskipper.com/60004/ready-aim-arcade-fire-a-neon-bible-to-montreal-gaming-scene

?? You probably know about all these places, though

Hahaha, I totally saw that title when googling and skipped it cos I thought it was yet another arcade fire article (arcade + montreal bring up many, obviously).

2000+ I am aware of, it only has Shrek, that Indiana Jones I was talking about, and... uhh... Pirates of the Caribbean. Reading the others now.

oh and this doesn't mention korova, which has a few classic arcade machines (partic. fucking GALAGA) but they're cocktail tables and i've NEVER seen these machines NOT covered in beers! :(

There was a game around 1996 called Safecracker, a Bally machine that was smaller than average and more or less flipped the script on the regular rules of pinball, such as 3 balls per game. If you cracked the safe, a token rolled out of a slot on the backglass and down the glass. Loved that one.

There's also one, circa 1999, that involved getting in a bar fight with all kinds of ethnic stereotypical characters.

I found out recently about competitive pinball in Chicago, though it's all hosted in owners' basements.

There was a game around 1996 called Safecracker, a Bally machine that was smaller than average and more or less flipped the script on the regular rules of pinball, such as 3 balls per game. If you cracked the safe, a token rolled out of a slot on the backglass and down the glass. Loved that one.

I played this at the pinball hall of fame! So tough, the flippers were smaller so you couldn't trap the ball. I "won" the board game part of the game, but the machine wasn't loaded with tokens.

The fighting game sounds like Champiuonship Pub, I've never played that one.

Yep, yep, here it is: Champion Pub.

I played Safecracker once at the Broadway Arcade (Lou Reed's old hangout near Times Square, RIP) and played it often at Pop's in downtown Minneapolis.

In NYC, it's against the law for a machine to reward free games, so the arcade exchanged Safecracker tokens for shirts. I won a black golf shirt with the Broadway Arcade logo on one sleeve and Professional & Amateurs Pinball Association (P.A.P.A.) on the other.

there was also a really nice, well-maintained OST Star Trek machine, that got a lot of play

http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/16/3793274/stern-inside-one-of-the-last-pinball-factories-in-the-world

this is amazing

http://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/SovietNSF-Evil_Mansion-Custom_Pinball_Machine2.jpg

Pinball Wizard in Pelham, NH is completely amazing and only about an hour outside of Boston. Over 100 tables and almost 200 video games. Every state should have a place like this.

went to the Pacific Pinball Museum (finally) in Alameda yesterday. Nothing totally mindblowing but a really nice space and a bunch of great machines. I did not get very far on the new AC/DC machine (did a little better on the new Iron Man one). Spent the longest playing Pub Champion, which I've never really bothered with before. Best part was probably that my daughter REALLY loved playing, that was cuet. Multiball play blew her mind.

I go to that place maybe once a year. I like that they have nice new machines up front if you just want a quick game before going to a movie or dinner or whatever.

There's a miniature golf place across the street, fwiw. It's a little bit shitty but worth doing once. Very homemade.

We go there once a year at Thanksgiving when we come out to visit my relatives in Alameda. Didn't know about the mini golf though, might have to check that out.

California Extreme tomorrow for me and the missus' 10th anniversary!

this Wizard of Oz table is pretty mindblowing, one of the best I've seen in a long time

ooh yeah they have that at Free Gold Watch on Waller St here in SF. It's nuts, takes a bit to get used to there's so much going on on the table.

Oh man, those Tilt Warning machines are blowing my mind.

Woah do pinball machines now have HD flat screen displays in them?

that one does

And lots of muilticolor LEDs!

there needs to be a breaking bad pinball game like yesterday

it's that special time again

and again!

I saw a Big Lebowski pinball game the other day

i used to live at this cool house owned by an older hippie/sculptor type (he was in an ATL 80s post punk band called Vietnam) that had a pinball cabinet sitting on the front porch. it was for the Tommy movie but it was missing the headboard piece.

one day we got it to work and it was glorious. we played a few balls and then it died again and was permanently inoperative from that point on. the one saving grace was that the lights still lit up, so it kind of became a cool, super dusty, lamp.

A local aging coffee shop has an equally aged Ted Nugent pinball machine.

p stoked to discover one of our local pinball arcades (Free Gold Watch) recently got a Sopranos machine - that game is hard! Also one of the few games I know of that has actual profanity in the audio ("Where's the fuckin' money!" etc.)

oh man i put a lot of quarters into that one in 2006. probably the best of stern's countless licensed tables in that era, there was actually stuff to do and it didn't feel cheap or flimsy.

I'd only played it once before, don't really see it very often. All the little episodes/tasks you have to complete are pretty funny

https://uncrate.com/the-big-lebowski-pinball-machine/

"if you order by October 19, you'll even get a custom woven, perfectly sized rug to stick under the machine. It'll really tie the room together"

i'm not a huge pinball guy but I always see this place in Asbury Park so we finally went in recently , it's pretty cool imo

http://silverballmuseum.com/asbury-park/

What is the world's most famous or iconic pinball machine? I mean an individual machine, not a model.

I don't know but I still think about how awesome and different No Fear was and how I'd like to play it again

just returned from California Extreme pinball/arcade expo. They actually had a Sopranos machine this year, I made it all the way to Acting Capo :)

They also had this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgoDryiZHY8 which I had never seen before and was fucking *insane*, what a fantastic game design.

woah, never seen that before. kinda strange that it's not a more commonly-used concept, seems like there'd be just tons of potential there to step into the space occupied by e.g. air hockey or Crossfire.

it's nuts! If you lose a ball, it gets kicked over to the other player. And then they had it set on a timer so that at the end of each game there was a minute-long multiball sequence where both players are shooting 4 balls around.

the new hot thing this year seemed to be the Deadpool game (they had like 6 of 'em), new Black Knight game, new Munsters game (this one looked pretty fun tbh but I didn't get around to it)

crew I was with lamenting as to why there's never been an Eagles pinball game (features would be kind of a no-brainer: Life in the Fast Lane loops, Hotel California for the lock/multiball, etc.)

GLENN: if i had a dollar for every time we enjoyed minute-long four-ball play backstage while we were out on the road i'd have... a lot of dollars

DON: well, yeah

Pfft. When hell freezes over.

There's a Deadpool in my town now, it's pretty fun.

that Joust tho

I've seen that head to head pinball machine before, maybe in seattle or portland. definitely drunk.

sopranos, adams family and fish tales are my favourites that I've played. i am bad at pinball

this year there was also a small-ish section devoted to virtual pinball machines - ie cabinets with no moving parts, just displays. I didn't play any cuz it just seems stupid.

it seems like more work than just making a real one? in terms of they must have some technology to give realistic haptic feedback

I don't get much access to real machines... Pinball Arcade is the only game on my phone and it's pretty well done. Good for learning rules of real tables.

I've tinkered with MAME machines and stuff... but the full-on virtual pinball table world is just nuts, yeah

The problem w/an Eagles pinball machine is it would only take twenties.

Hit all flashing targets to lighten Glenn's load

er loosen

the ball save light just says "love", cuz it's what keeps us alive

https://finderskeepersrecords.bandcamp.com/album/xenon

How have I never contributed to this thread? Favorites by decade:

1960s: Gottlieb Cross Town. First one I was ever obsessed with as a child, because the subway doors on the back glass opened and closed. Didn't have too many spare coins for pinball in those days, though.

https://images.pinside.com/2/ca/2ca52526da33e5004e025f0a232628f34006b307/polaroid/43726f737320546f776e20283139363629/0ba947cc76b5aa1e7242db3f369d9270/250/2ca52526da33e5004e025f0a232628f34006b307.jpg.png

1970s: Spiderman. First time I was of legal drinking age and had a "regular bar."

1980s: Elvira and the Party Monsters. First time I ever played pinball at 4 AM, in a 24 hour bar, first trip to New Orleans.

1990s: Cyclone. Tavern walking distance from my house when I lived in Seattle. Cyclone and pints of Ballard Bitter.

2000s onward: I have not played nearly enough newer machines. Addams Family my favorite, but even that's 90s.

I too have never contributed but my favorite pinball sounds come from Black Knight.

I finally found the one I need to own

Rush Pinball is here! 🦉🔥 Check out the all new Rush Pinball Machine, Limited Edition! Just 1,000 units to be produced! Featuring original hand drawn artwork by Michael Barnard and game design by John Borg. #Rush #RushPinball #SternPinball #Pinball #PlayStrong rush pic.twitter.com/ueMpf9EQui

— Stern Pinball (@sternpinballinc) January 5, 2022

Those who wish to play must put aside the tilt temptation.

REPLAY AT 780,000,000

Show don’t bagatelle

I went to the Pinball Museum and played Safecracker!

Thank u Eazy, Mr Que and mh

It’s true that it’s hard but it’s very cool. Very compact play area. I successfully entered the bank but only vaguely understood how to play the minigame on the backglass. I was staying one step ahead of the guard but when the teller gave me the bag of money it had a bomb in it.