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The Pinball Arcade |OT| play them all from Soho to Brighton
- Thread starter AMUSIX
- Start date
nicoga3000
Saint Nic
I wish this meant a price war, haha.
nicoga3000
Saint Nic
Copy/pasta from my Pinside post!
Another update!
I replaced the right and left flipper assemblies as well as the kickback coil tonight. My soldering still isn't great, but this was an easier (and significantly less stressful) job than the board work. As far as I know, the only major "repair" left would be the female side of the GI connector. The only thing left for me to do is finish cleaning all the ramps/plastics/etc, install LEDs while cleaning out the inserts a bit, and reassembly.
Once I get everything reassembled, I'll be able to do a full switch test to determine what may be causing the trough opto problem and the ball lock issues.
Few pics of my 3-hours of work tonight! Kind of boring, but this is part of it! For the record, the left flipper wasn't needing to be replaced necessarily, but I figured that I might as well just get fresh left/right flipper assemblies entirely. The coils on both are still good, too. Having an extra isn't the worst thing in the world. If nothing else, I can pawn off the used left flipper assembly for $15 and help someone out, haha. The right one seemed OK, but the playfield mounting bracket was missing a screw/messed up, so I figured I'd just replace that whole one, too. Maybe could have saved myself the cost of both assemblies, but it's relatively minor overall considering the age of the game (and I'm only assuming they hadn't been replaced).
E: The pics are just the old bad right and bad kickback, as well as the NEW right and new kickback. As I said on Pinside, my soldering is slightly improving. But what matters is that the solder will hold and allows the game to play/function. That was my goal!
Another update!
I replaced the right and left flipper assemblies as well as the kickback coil tonight. My soldering still isn't great, but this was an easier (and significantly less stressful) job than the board work. As far as I know, the only major "repair" left would be the female side of the GI connector. The only thing left for me to do is finish cleaning all the ramps/plastics/etc, install LEDs while cleaning out the inserts a bit, and reassembly.
Once I get everything reassembled, I'll be able to do a full switch test to determine what may be causing the trough opto problem and the ball lock issues.
Few pics of my 3-hours of work tonight! Kind of boring, but this is part of it! For the record, the left flipper wasn't needing to be replaced necessarily, but I figured that I might as well just get fresh left/right flipper assemblies entirely. The coils on both are still good, too. Having an extra isn't the worst thing in the world. If nothing else, I can pawn off the used left flipper assembly for $15 and help someone out, haha. The right one seemed OK, but the playfield mounting bracket was missing a screw/messed up, so I figured I'd just replace that whole one, too. Maybe could have saved myself the cost of both assemblies, but it's relatively minor overall considering the age of the game (and I'm only assuming they hadn't been replaced).
E: The pics are just the old bad right and bad kickback, as well as the NEW right and new kickback. As I said on Pinside, my soldering is slightly improving. But what matters is that the solder will hold and allows the game to play/function. That was my goal!
bloodydrake
Cool Smoke Luke
I finally broke thru 1 billion on Bram Stoker's Dracula,I'm definitely finding it hard to keep the ball from draining down the outside lanes at super speed.
I've watched a couple videos of the real table and I'm not noticing its so bad.
I'll get typically 2 to 3 balls just spike down the outside lanes in a row every few balls.
Basically it goes ..good ball, good ball,(get extra ball) insta drain,(saved) insta drain..last ball pay it out best I can.
It seems like there's a weird acceleration lack of deceleration problem with Pinball Arcade.
Its like any contact with the sides of the lanes speeds up the ball vs slowing it down.
Its like the ball needs a bit more weight/mass but the play field surface and certain items needs to have abit bit more friction so it will decelerate faster
Its become apparent you can't do alot of flipper control actions due to flippers not being able to be interrupted from doing its full range of movement(can't flick for transfers etc)
regardless the games a hoot..I can't stop playing and as I get better and watch more "how to play pinball videos on papa channel" its pretty amazing to see how deep some of the game play is on these tables.
I've watched a couple videos of the real table and I'm not noticing its so bad.
I'll get typically 2 to 3 balls just spike down the outside lanes in a row every few balls.
Basically it goes ..good ball, good ball,(get extra ball) insta drain,(saved) insta drain..last ball pay it out best I can.
It seems like there's a weird acceleration lack of deceleration problem with Pinball Arcade.
Its like any contact with the sides of the lanes speeds up the ball vs slowing it down.
Its like the ball needs a bit more weight/mass but the play field surface and certain items needs to have abit bit more friction so it will decelerate faster
Its become apparent you can't do alot of flipper control actions due to flippers not being able to be interrupted from doing its full range of movement(can't flick for transfers etc)
regardless the games a hoot..I can't stop playing and as I get better and watch more "how to play pinball videos on papa channel" its pretty amazing to see how deep some of the game play is on these tables.
Link to the Pinside thread?Copy/pasta from my Pinside post!
Another update!
I replaced the right and left flipper assemblies as well as the kickback coil tonight. My soldering still isn't great, but this was an easier (and significantly less stressful) job than the board work. As far as I know, the only major "repair" left would be the female side of the GI connector. The only thing left for me to do is finish cleaning all the ramps/plastics/etc, install LEDs while cleaning out the inserts a bit, and reassembly.
Once I get everything reassembled, I'll be able to do a full switch test to determine what may be causing the trough opto problem and the ball lock issues.
Few pics of my 3-hours of work tonight! Kind of boring, but this is part of it! For the record, the left flipper wasn't needing to be replaced necessarily, but I figured that I might as well just get fresh left/right flipper assemblies entirely. The coils on both are still good, too. Having an extra isn't the worst thing in the world. If nothing else, I can pawn off the used left flipper assembly for $15 and help someone out, haha. The right one seemed OK, but the playfield mounting bracket was missing a screw/messed up, so I figured I'd just replace that whole one, too. Maybe could have saved myself the cost of both assemblies, but it's relatively minor overall considering the age of the game (and I'm only assuming they hadn't been replaced).
E: The pics are just the old bad right and bad kickback, as well as the NEW right and new kickback. As I said on Pinside, my soldering is slightly improving. But what matters is that the solder will hold and allows the game to play/function. That was my goal!
Dash Kappei
Not actually that important
So there's a thread on Pinside asking for impressions on Full Throttle (the first game from Heighway Pinball) and Bowen Kerins (last year's world champ) posted this:
Has me VERY excited! Shame there's a lot of non-Stern games also coming out soon which will no doubt drown it out a little, but I'm a bit pumped to play it. Hopefully a few make it to Australia.
Minsc
Gold Member
It's been fun reading all the projects and real-world pinball news, but lately they've been overpowering the thread. I think even if it means the thread rarely sees new posts, it'd be better to have a new thread for actual pinball news and playing real tables, like mentioned a little while ago. It definitely seems there's enough interest going by the last 200 or so posts to carry one out to me.
It's fine to mention pinball stuff outside TPA here and there, some real big news, etc, but try to balance it with TPA info in your posts too. So I'm not singling anyone out, the posts were enjoyable, but we need to shift back to TPA again. We can even have a link to the new real-pinball thread front and center of the OP too, to help (even if it's only a little) draw a few extra eyes to the new thread.
It's fine to mention pinball stuff outside TPA here and there, some real big news, etc, but try to balance it with TPA info in your posts too. So I'm not singling anyone out, the posts were enjoyable, but we need to shift back to TPA again. We can even have a link to the new real-pinball thread front and center of the OP too, to help (even if it's only a little) draw a few extra eyes to the new thread.
Dash Kappei
Not actually that important
Agreed. Lately the discussion has been 90/10 in favor of physical machines.
I vote for the split. Whether it's good news discussion, bad news discussion, or little discussion at all, it makes sense that a TPA thread should be about TPA just like all of the other game-specific threads here at GAF. As long as there is also a place for general pinball talk, it makes sense to separate the two.
Gentleman Jack
Member
Well I don't think the proposal is that we have a separate 'put all real life pinball news here' thread but that cool real life pinball news gets new threads in Gaming. Did the news of the Big Lebowski table even get out there? These new projects may be rich boy toys but rekindling interest in physical tables is better done outside of Community than within it.
Fuck it, I'm gonna create a thread for Lebowski. When I get home from work tonight.
Edit: I don't think we should split, but we should definitely have a new thread just for pinball and pinball-related posts (like hobbyist stuff or whatever). Just as long as it doesn't get thrown into the Community area. Otherwise I'm creating a thread for each new table announced. Still think we should have one for Lebowski, though... reckon there'd be enough non-pinball people in Gaming who'd be interested/curious.
I'd be more than happy (and honoured) to create said official pinball thread, too
nicoga3000
Saint Nic
Took the day off work yesterday since it was my birthday (no one should ever have to work on their birthday) and checked out the pinball machines that I recently learned were in town. Granted, it had been around 15 years since I had last played an actual pinball machine so my games tended to be quite short but still good times. My thoughts on the games I played:
Tee'd Off - I did play the trial version on TPA, so I was sort of familiar with this game. This game doesn't play too fast, which was good for me being fairly inexperienced with pinball machines. It was easy to follow the ball; I did not encounter any instances where the ball disappears and is suddenly shot down to the flipper from some random location. I got about 50 million on my first ball and ended up close to 60 million. This was a fun, easy going machine.
AC/DC Premium - I really like the art and the music is quality (who doesn't like AC/DC?) The gameplay kicked my ass though. This game plays FAST and you need to be on your game to play this machine, definately night and day playing this after Tee'd Off. My three balls lasted about a minute I think, so I didn't really get a chance to get a good impression of the game. This is a game that I will need to play more to improve and get a better impression of how the machine plays.
Black Knight 2000 - I also played the trial on TPA prior to playing and this was also a fast game. I really like the two-level design of the playfield, though I did have difficulty figuring out how to get back up there from the lower level. I am partial to DMD games, but this was a fun one.
Doctor Who - This one was alright, but probably my least favorite machine of the ones I checked out. Maybe it was because my game was short and I was having issues getting the second ball lock at the top after getting the first one my first try. I'll probably have to go back and try this one again.
Twilight Zone - This was a fun one, though it did piss me off. There is a lot of variety on the playfield. I really like the magnet zones on the upper left side. The theme is cool, though lots of the nuances are lost on me since I never really watched the TV show. The part that pissed me off was that there was a point about left-center, midway up the playfield that I would hit from the right flipper that would ricochet the ball right down the middle. This happened on all three balls for me. Good game though.
Tales From the Crypt - This game wasn't too bad, but not that great either. It is a slower game, but didn't really have a lot of modes (or I didn't get them started at all). I played this right after TZ, so that may be why it didn't impress me at all.
Aladdin's Castle - I never played an EM before, but this one wasn't too bad. It is a slow game and the playfield is simple, but I liked the double flipper on the right side.
Tee'd Off - I did play the trial version on TPA, so I was sort of familiar with this game. This game doesn't play too fast, which was good for me being fairly inexperienced with pinball machines. It was easy to follow the ball; I did not encounter any instances where the ball disappears and is suddenly shot down to the flipper from some random location. I got about 50 million on my first ball and ended up close to 60 million. This was a fun, easy going machine.
AC/DC Premium - I really like the art and the music is quality (who doesn't like AC/DC?) The gameplay kicked my ass though. This game plays FAST and you need to be on your game to play this machine, definately night and day playing this after Tee'd Off. My three balls lasted about a minute I think, so I didn't really get a chance to get a good impression of the game. This is a game that I will need to play more to improve and get a better impression of how the machine plays.
Black Knight 2000 - I also played the trial on TPA prior to playing and this was also a fast game. I really like the two-level design of the playfield, though I did have difficulty figuring out how to get back up there from the lower level. I am partial to DMD games, but this was a fun one.
Doctor Who - This one was alright, but probably my least favorite machine of the ones I checked out. Maybe it was because my game was short and I was having issues getting the second ball lock at the top after getting the first one my first try. I'll probably have to go back and try this one again.
Twilight Zone - This was a fun one, though it did piss me off. There is a lot of variety on the playfield. I really like the magnet zones on the upper left side. The theme is cool, though lots of the nuances are lost on me since I never really watched the TV show. The part that pissed me off was that there was a point about left-center, midway up the playfield that I would hit from the right flipper that would ricochet the ball right down the middle. This happened on all three balls for me. Good game though.
Tales From the Crypt - This game wasn't too bad, but not that great either. It is a slower game, but didn't really have a lot of modes (or I didn't get them started at all). I played this right after TZ, so that may be why it didn't impress me at all.
Aladdin's Castle - I never played an EM before, but this one wasn't too bad. It is a slow game and the playfield is simple, but I liked the double flipper on the right side.
bloodydrake
Cool Smoke Luke
i'm pretty new to the thread but I enjoy reading about everything pinball related here honestly.
I wish i could play the new FX2 Southpark table in TPA's engine environment..its like merging the two would end up with the best pinball game system ever.
They both each have their own strengths.
I wish i could play the new FX2 Southpark table in TPA's engine environment..its like merging the two would end up with the best pinball game system ever.
They both each have their own strengths.
If there's one game that always kicks my arse whenever I play it IRL (mind you, that's not been a lot of times), it's Black Knight 2000. It feels masochistic at times to play it, but I just love playing it so much. It's shallow, very much a one-trick right-flipper game, but it's just so damn punishing I can't help but love it.
Thinking about it makes me want to set back up my High Speed. She was a little dirty and worn, but played like a goddamn dream.
Can't really disagree with any of your impressions, either. If you had fun with AC/DC Premium, you should try playing the Pro. The drop targets on the Premium are replaced with standups on the Pro, making the game play a HELL of a lot faster. TBH, I actually prefer how the Pro plays compared to the LE/Premium. A lot more "pure", I think.
And thinking about it, I like nicoga's idea of just renaming this thread. IMO Pinball itself isn't big enough to have it's own thread, and an TPA-only thread would be far too quiet I think.
Fake edit: I just quickly played Ghostbusters and haven't had a chance to experience the token thing (I couldn't see a token counter in the corner, so maybe it's free play for TPA owners?) but I quite like it. I wasn't expecting the full song AND stacks of movie quotes in it at all, let alone everyone's likenesses on the playfield. I need to give it more of a go, but I'm REALLY surprised!
forgeforsaken
Member
It's a mod/reskin of Haunted House. The problem with that table is the lower playfield just kind of sucks IMO.
Just played Ghostbusters on Android. The token counter is very prominent on the top-level table attract view.
Kinda ridiculous that I now have two copies of their ~50 MB engine on my tablet (one for TPA and one for Ghostbusters). Sigh. I hope if they release more F2P tables they'll be bundled in a single F2P app so I don't have a 3rd, 4th, 5th...copy of their game engine.
It's hard to imagine many people will be buying tokens for this thing. Will this really be a money-maker?
Kinda ridiculous that I now have two copies of their ~50 MB engine on my tablet (one for TPA and one for Ghostbusters). Sigh. I hope if they release more F2P tables they'll be bundled in a single F2P app so I don't have a 3rd, 4th, 5th...copy of their game engine.
It's hard to imagine many people will be buying tokens for this thing. Will this really be a money-maker?
bloodydrake
Cool Smoke Luke
Man I wish we had a real Pin at work that would be amazing for breaks.
So TPA on my mac thru Steam is getting stuck downloading The Getaway, Earthshaker,The Party Zone,The Addams family and Starship Trooper
so guess we know the next 5 of season 4
So TPA on my mac thru Steam is getting stuck downloading The Getaway, Earthshaker,The Party Zone,The Addams family and Starship Trooper
so guess we know the next 5 of season 4
They must've pulled that quickly or something, because my Steam client (on PC) isn't downloading shit.
Party Zone was hinted with the most recent hint, we knew about Starship Troopers via that poster here who interviewed FS (and whose name escapes me... apologies!), Earthshaker via the poll last year as a kind of a hunch (but we didn't know when it was coming out) and TAF via the KS (obviously).
So The Getaway is the only real surprise, but I don't think it would take a fool to guess it was coming sooner or later. Having said that, I'm stoked about those upcoming tables! All should be a blast for one reason or another.
Thanks for the tip
Party Zone was hinted with the most recent hint, we knew about Starship Troopers via that poster here who interviewed FS (and whose name escapes me... apologies!), Earthshaker via the poll last year as a kind of a hunch (but we didn't know when it was coming out) and TAF via the KS (obviously).
So The Getaway is the only real surprise, but I don't think it would take a fool to guess it was coming sooner or later. Having said that, I'm stoked about those upcoming tables! All should be a blast for one reason or another.
Thanks for the tip
twinturbo2
butthurt Heat fan
The Getaway is coming? Okay FS, shut up and take my money. Genuinely surprised on Party Zone as well.
twinturbo2
butthurt Heat fan
Harley Davidson was initially released by Sega, so Starship Troopers would be the second one.
I do remember playing Party Zone once. It was fun, but I got the ball stuck.
Gunstarheroes
Member
Wow, awesome stuff. Love the Starship Troopers table, have a local friend who owns a nice one.
Gentleman Jack
Member
I am and I'm not, I remember you mentioned that Purple Haze would draw some licensing problems but if Junkyard can get away with The Beatles then Party Zone is clear for Jimi Hendrix and The Who.
twinturbo2
butthurt Heat fan
THIS TIME I'M GOING TO NAIL THAT DIRTBAG.
Let's not forget La Grange for Getaway as well. I think that was the most obvious sticking point of any upcoming tables, but there are other bigger songs in lesser ones that would be a lot more difficult to license.
Maybe as a part of Farsight's movie licensing thing with Sony, they also got music as well?
Gentleman Jack
Member
It's probably even simpler than that. I'm guessing the basic Stern/Williams/Bally licenses come with unlimited access to their versions of the music, and that retaining performance rights to those specific performances does not require re-negotiation with the labels that published the originals.
Of course, if a table played actual recordings of performances by the original artist (AC/DC, Metallica, etc), that would make it harder.
Of course, if a table played actual recordings of performances by the original artist (AC/DC, Metallica, etc), that would make it harder.
twinturbo2
butthurt Heat fan
A couple of songs were removed from Creature from the Black Lagoon, though...
plagiarize
Banned
So I ran into some glitches on Ghostbusters pinball.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nik0mQtqo2o#t=159
Skip to halfway through if it doesn't automatically.
You'll notice it jumps right to ball 2, and then tweaks out when multiball should have started. I'm not sure that anyone here would have bought credits, but maybe hold off on doing that if you get robbed a ball.
Playing this on an Nvidia Shield tegra based device.
Oh, one other thing I should note.. this doesn't happen when I first load the game. It's when I start a second game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nik0mQtqo2o#t=159
Skip to halfway through if it doesn't automatically.
You'll notice it jumps right to ball 2, and then tweaks out when multiball should have started. I'm not sure that anyone here would have bought credits, but maybe hold off on doing that if you get robbed a ball.
Playing this on an Nvidia Shield tegra based device.
Oh, one other thing I should note.. this doesn't happen when I first load the game. It's when I start a second game.
Here's the URL you want:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nik0mQtqo2o&feature=youtu.be&t=2m50s
Pretty disgusting. Thanks for the heads up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nik0mQtqo2o&feature=youtu.be&t=2m50s
Pretty disgusting. Thanks for the heads up.
Glitches? In my Farsight? It's more likely than you think.
dreamcastmaster
Banned
I've brought an iPad Air 2 and when I play PBA the UI is really small and crushed up into the top left of the screen. Is it just me or have others found this and know of a fix?
Minsc
Gold Member
Same thing happened with the first round of retina products, you just need to wait for an update to fix it. They're pretty good about fixing these things, so hopefully it's under a month wait. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have an iPad 2 themselves until just now (if they even do yet).
I assume it happens in both portrait and landscape the same? It sometimes will render the UI wrong in one orientation if you make it rotate the screen.
nicoga3000
Saint Nic
Got to play a PotC here in Disney last night. 25 cents a play - crazy! Ship didn't work, which sucks, but everything else was pretty awesome. Flippers were strong, but the game wasn't level. But man, for 25 cents? Hell yes. I had a pretty killer first game, but my subsequent games weren't so hot. I love that game.
Played some more TPA last night and broke 33 million on TOTAN, getting all but one jewel. Granted I did end up buying most of the jewels from the Bazaar, but it was still a lot of fun. I would love to have an actual TOTAN machine, but I really cannot justify spending $9k on it.
nicoga3000
Saint Nic
Yeah, great game, but a bit repetitive to justify the market price. You can find them for the same price as NIB Sterns I think, but TOTAN is a better game than a lot of newer Stern titles, ha.
I have only ever saved the princess by taking the jewel from the bazaar. I talked to a guy once who saved her by completing the objectives. That's some CRAZY levels of skill right there.
Yeah my main issue is that while I can consistantly hit the ramps, I cannot make those outside shots to save my life. That and the ball always seems to find the outlanes or bounce of the lamp just right to send it right down the middle.
I figured for my first machine I should find myself a Pin-Bot. I loved the NES game as a kid and only recently discovered that it was an actual machine. From what I read, it is a good first machine being easy to work on and not too pricey.
twinturbo2
butthurt Heat fan
The Party Zone is confirmed to be the next game for Season 4.
nicoga3000
Saint Nic
Pin*Bot is an amazing game. It's simple enough to walk up and smack the ball around, but complex enough to force you to play well to keep the ball alive. I love the multiball, and the way you light the grid in front of the visor is awesome. I also LOVE the sound package in that game. I almost bought one a while back, but the guy was asking just a BIT too much for me.
PotC is a surprisingly good game. Only played it for the first time around a month ago during Pinfest (but was at a pub) and loved the hell out of it. There are a lot of shots, but I never felt there were so many it was overwhelming. I loved the monkey shot (I think) that has the return u-turn vertical ramp thingy, keeps the ball moving so damn fast it's ridiculous.
Figures it's a Nordman title, but I loved it so much I'd put it as one of my next pins to get... but I'd wager that because of the license, it's far from a "sleeper" and would be worth a fair bit of coin (much more than RBION).
Figured as much, the clue alluded to it pretty strongly. Pretty lazy with that one actually, thought they would've been more subtle than just putting a hat on Rod Serling.
Yeah, I think Pinbot would be a fine table as a first machine. I'd go so far to say that almost any System 11 would be a great title. I'd highly recommend High Speed (obviously) as it's insanely simple under the playfield and great for learning how a pinball machine works. But the game is far from everyone's cup of tea.
Need to strip the playfield on that sucker and put on that plastic playfield protector ramp thing, make it play all smooth and stuff. Was it painful for you to do, nicoga?