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[nicoga3000]

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?

In the states, you can get a Pirates for $3200-3500 routed, $4200+ HUO. Not bad IMHO. Game is super fun and family friendly, so it makes sense.

Regarding stripping the playfield...WCS94 is notoriously known as being one of the hardest games to shop apparently. That said, I took upwards of 300 pictures during the breakdown to make damn sure I didn't miss anything. Even then, I still missed a few things. I'm actually in the process of reassembling everything as we speak. I'm putting LEDS in and cleaning PCBS and inserts as I go.

The hardest thing I discovered about stripping the entire game? Keeping track of the screws. I have baggies upon baggies of screws with sharpie descriptions as to what the screws are for. Even then, I'm sure my head will explode putting this back together. I'll be able to comment more on the repopulating part later this week.

On the topic of TPA, I played a game of Junkyard on the plane for 30+ minutes last week. I think I enjoyed it, but I won't be going back to it for a while. I'm going to spend some time with High Speed (in your honor, haha) to try and get a better feel for it. I only own S3 on my phone currently, so I'm going to focus on those tables before I buy S1, 2, and 4. And as expected, BSD plays fucking brilliantly on mobile/TPA. It's not 100% due primarily to how wonky the physics engine can be sometimes, but the game plays and feels like it should. I had a KILLER game of that, too. Didn't hit 1 bil, but I think I was around 780m. It's silly how one ball will give you 500M+, and another will net you 10m, haha. Wonderful table that still sits as one of my favorites.

 

[TheyTookOurJobs]

They finally put up Diner and Dracula for PS3 and Vita, but it says it's not available for purchase yet as the 3rd season pass. Does anybody know when you can DL it?

 

[Shaneus]

On the topic of TPA, I played a game of Junkyard on the plane for 30+ minutes last week. I think I enjoyed it, but I won't be going back to it for a while. I'm going to spend some time with High Speed (in your honor, haha) to try and get a better feel for it. I only own S3 on my phone currently, so I'm going to focus on those tables before I buy S1, 2, and 4. And as expected, BSD plays fucking brilliantly on mobile/TPA. It's not 100% due primarily to how wonky the physics engine can be sometimes, but the game plays and feels like it should. I had a KILLER game of that, too. Didn't hit 1 bil, but I think I was around 780m. It's silly how one ball will give you 500M+, and another will net you 10m, haha. Wonderful table that still sits as one of my favorites.

Awesome, thanks for the tip!

On the TPA version of HS, it's pretty close to the real thing (as far as TPA can get) but with a few key things:
* Nudging is obviously over-exaggerated, and takes HS from being a real ball-drainer to something that just rewards nudges
* Holding flippers with the two ball ejects/returns is a safe flipper hold even when the ball bounces back up and glances along the edge of the slingshot. Shouldn't be like that. Should be more sensitive, otherwise you can just orbit-upper loop-flipper WAY too easily (if this makes sense)
* Extra ball set WAY too low. Not unheard of to get the full complement of 5 extra balls.
* The full plunge sometimes doesn't go all the way around the upper loop. On a dialed-in machine, it will ALWAYS make it. Trust me, I know Infuriating when you're plunging for three-ball multiball and you miss the first plunge, turning it into a two-ball MB :/
* The sound is broken on the iOS versions (at least, possibly others) of the table. During the bonus countdown at the end of a ball, it sounds broken and weird, it should be one long sound ramping up in pitch. PC doesn't do this, just the iOS one. Frustrating!

 

[nicoga3000]

Have to order a few more LEDS (because I'm dumb and forgot to grab some 44's for various inserts), a new soccer ball, and new flipper bats...But the reassembly has finally begun!

For reference, here's what it looked like before (in nearly the same assembly point):

 

[Shaneus]

Can't remember if I asked or not... did you roll with colour-coded GI or just warm/cool whites?

A game like that would pop like crazy with cool whites, I think. Really bring out the blues and the colours.

BTW I didn't realise you did that mini-teardown with the playfield still in the machine. Didn't even know that could be done! Although with me wanting to do it with High Speed, just remembered I can't pull the PF out like that. Damnit

 

[Benedict]

No Halloween sale on any tables?
they have many they could fit a sale, and people would buy them.

 

[nicoga3000]

Can't remember if I asked or not... did you roll with colour-coded GI or just warm/cool whites?

A game like that would pop like crazy with cool whites, I think. Really bring out the blues and the colours.

BTW I didn't realise you did that mini-teardown with the playfield still in the machine. Didn't even know that could be done! Although with me wanting to do it with High Speed, just remembered I can't pull the PF out like that. Damnit

Oh no, I pulled the whole thing out, haha. I had a coworker come by and help me get it out (takes all of about 30 seconds). He also came by yesterday and helped me put it back in.

As for the GI, I've got mostly cool whites. However, you can sort of see that I put some red/blue where the ramps will be. Going to see how I like it. Some folks on Pinside suggested that. If it looks good, I'll keep it. If not, I'll just pop some whites in (or get creative and put some other colors in). Most of the inserts are color matched, though.

 

[Shaneus]

Yeah, right way to go with inserts. I think I mentioned it before though: beware of yellow and possibly orange (I can't be sure) SMDs. They're almost always noticeably dimmer than the other colours. Throw warm whites in there instead

 

[nicoga3000]

Yeah, right way to go with inserts. I think I mentioned it before though: beware of yellow and possibly orange (I can't be sure) SMDs. They're almost always noticeably dimmer than the other colours. Throw warm whites in there instead

That's what I did - warm whites for yellow inserts. I bought orange for the orange inserts, so we'll see how that looks. As I said before, I need to order a few more that I forgot, so I might toss in some warm white 44's in case I want to replace the orange ones I currently have in the magna save, ball save, etc.

I cannot WAAAAIT to put this together and start playing it. My wife is excited, too. She was really happy to see how much "stuff" this game has going on compared to some of the newer Stern machines. I tried to explain to her how things have evolved, but it occurred to me how stupid it sounds to a non-pinhead. Trying to explain that as time went on, manufacturers REMOVED features and complexities is just ridiculous. Even as I type it, I realize how backwards it sounds. You'd think that as time went on, machines would at least stay as exciting as they used to be...

Oh and unrelated, I realized the other day that TOTAN and WCS94 are INCREDIBLY similar in layout. I guess that's what happens when you get a JPOP game. Good thing TOTAN is a top tier game in my book!

 

[Psykoboy2]

No Halloween sale on any tables?
they have many they could fit a sale, and people would buy them.

I think some Pinball FX2 tables are on sale. Might only be on Steam though.

 

[Benedict]

I think some Pinball FX2 tables are on sale. Might only be on Steam though.

They are on sale on Android, iOS, PSN, Steam. Probably most of the platforms, except EU PSN because SCEE seems to have trouble activating the sale-price.

 

[bloodydrake]

Really awesome work Nicoga can't wait to see it finished..you'll have to do a video so we can see the LED lighting in action.

 

[twinturbo2]

Played Phantom of the Opera today. It's good, but I can do without the woman's bloodcurdling scream every time I drain the ball.

There's no way in hell we're going to see WWF Royal Rumble, are we? That license can't be cheap.

 

[Gunstarheroes]

Played Phantom of the Opera today. It's good, but I can do without the woman's bloodcurdling scream every time I drain the ball.

There's no way in hell we're going to see WWF Royal Rumble, are we? That license can't be cheap.

I actually thing, given Sega tables are now in, it possible. Its more of just having so many different licenses, but Dracula was feasible, so i wouldn't be shocked if that is.

 

[nicoga3000]

Really awesome work Nicoga can't wait to see it finished..you'll have to do a video so we can see the LED lighting in action.

Thanks man, I appreciate the praise. I feel like if I can do this, ANYONE can do it. I knew NOTHING about the inner workings of a pinball machine (nor how to solder or use a multimeter) prior to picking this thing up. Now, I feel like I can at least diagnose and fix minor problems, replaces solenoids/switches/parts, etc. Very fun and rewarding!

Placed my final order for LEDs this morning! Cannot WAAAAIT to get them! Once they get here, I should be able to finalize everything and turn this beast on! I'm cleaning parts today and starting the reassembly of ramps, guides, and plastics. Really fun, but kinda scary, haha.

 

[twinturbo2]

I actually thing, given Sega tables are now in, it possible. Its more of just having so many different licenses, but Dracula was feasible, so i wouldn't be shocked if that is.

But with all the wrestlers making appearances in that game, I don't know if that's possible unless there's a Kickstarter involved.

If that's the case, though, then I also really want to see Guns N' Roses,

 

[Psykoboy2]

But with all the wrestlers making appearances in that game, I don't know if that's possible unless there's a Kickstarter involved.

If that's the case, though, then I also really want to see Guns N' Roses,

Wrestlers don't have a union. So I don't think their likenesses have to be licensed individually. I don't know shit about the situation currently, but if WWE or SEGA (it's a Data East table, right?) is who this has to go through, it isn't likely expensive enough to warrant a KS.

Now, if I am wrong on that and yeah, they ALL have to be licensed individually, then you're probably looking at a KS to get that going. There's a few people I remember seeing on that table who are no longer with us and that might make it even more difficult, if that's the case.

It is also unlikely they'd be able to use the WWF logo on the table, but that shouldn't be that big of deal to change.

 

[Data West]

Every wrestler featured in Royal Rumble is under a Legends contract with the WWE. All they would have to do is get permission from WWE themselves in that regards. Which shouldn't be too hard given that WWE isn't making any kind of pinball game themselves.

WWE also got the old WWF logo back a while ago though I bet they'd insist it was changed to their 'retro' WWE one that's basically just the W.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

I would worry that any inexpensive WWF license down the line will get challenged in a court of law Ed O'Bannon style and the table would get yanked.

 

[AstroLad]

That is one Kickstarter that I bet would make its goal really easily.

 

[nicoga3000]

I know, everyone is probably sick of seeing stuff like this, but I just get excited and have to share! Parts are going back on!

 

[Shaneus]

Keep posting! Man, that's such a great looking playfield, I'd swear from here it was a repro.

Where did you wind up getting your LEDs from? I can't recall if you said or not. And are they LEDs, or SMDs?

Side note: I've no idea how visible those light decal things on the back panel are, but it would look awesome if there was a way to get them lit up like real lights somehow.

PS. You need to get the alternate translite, too

I'd kill for an alternate Ripley's one. I'm picturing just this logo, with some kind of a vortex-y background a la that level from MK2:

Something a lot simpler than the current one and way less cartoony :/

 

[Dash Kappei]

Found a spot with a mint Playboy machine, never played it tho, how is it?

 

[Shaneus]

Found a spot with a mint Playboy machine, never played it tho, how is it?

Depends which one it is. The latest one is apparently complete trash, the 80s one is good and the 70s one is great. I think that's how it works... might be getting the 80s/70s ones confused.

But I do remember playing the 70s one a few weeks back at a thing and it was a lot of fun.

But don't worry about our opinion. Play it yourself and make up your own mind

 

[nicoga3000]

I ended up getting cointaker LEDS throghout. Bought them myself versus a kit and saved like $70+, so that's awesome.

And I love Striker! I don't want to replace the translate and take away the mascot!!

 

[Dash Kappei]

Depends which one it is. The latest one is apparently complete trash, the 80s one is good and the 70s one is great. I think that's how it works... might be getting the 80s/70s ones confused.

But I do remember playing the 70s one a few weeks back at a thing and it was a lot of fun.

But don't worry about our opinion. Play it yourself and make up your own mind

It's the Stern one, so it's trash I guess...

Btw, I was asking about how complicated the rule set is, if a fast table or not, ball drainer... those sort of things, of course I'm gonna form my own opinion over it but well, I don't want to waste precious free time to go back to the place specifically to play it if it's absolute shite!

 

[Shaneus]

Oh, if you have to go out of your way to go back to play it, I wouldn't worry about it. That's not first-hand experience talking, but I know other people who have played it and said it was really quite bad, regardless of the theme.

 

[nicoga3000]

Going to check out a Black Hole on Saturday. I may be able to grab it for $1000 which would rock.

 

[Velinos]

Going to check out a Black Hole on Saturday. I may be able to grab it for $1000 which would rock.

Black Hole is a fun game. I really like the upside-down lower playfield. Good luck and be sure to post pics if you end up picking it up.

 

[nicoga3000]

Black Hole is a fun game. I really like the upside-down lower playfield. Good luck and be sure to post pics if you end up picking it up.

Definitely! Black Hole is my favorite "classic" on TPA, next to Genie of course.

 

[Teppic]

Played a bit of the PS4 version. Looks great, but the awful, awful sound quality ruins the experience. Hearing "It's aliiiveee!" with that crackling low quality voice makes me not want to play it.

 

[nicoga3000]

Played a bit of the PS4 version. Looks great, but the awful, awful sound quality ruins the experience. Hearing "It's aliiiveee!" with that crackling low quality voice makes me not want to play it.

It sounds like you're talking abut Bride of Pinbot, no? If so, the audio has always sounded a bit crackly. Game is amazing even though it's a one-shot game.

 

[BobTheFork]

I haven't had a chance to post or play too much lately. I had some really good finishes in the last few weeks and picked up another machine.

I'm still working on the Twilight Zone. It's running in good shape but I've had an issue with one part. There is a sensor to check for the powerball and it's not working. I'll have to get another part. It's not terrible but it effects the game.

I bought a World Poker Tour 2 weeks ago and it finally came down from the mountain last night. I spent some time setting it up and I love it so far. This one also has one issue (sense a pattern?). The Ace in the hole gate is twitching out but at least still registering.

It's always been a good idea, for me, to find machines with some issues that are cheaper and work on them. These two were good deals but the issues are a bit more complicated that I normally deal with. Luckily I know a dozen good fixers who are willing to at least show me what I need to do.. TZ is just a part that will be complicated to put in but the gate may need a board fix. I'll post pics when I get a chance.



Oh, I'm on board with Walking Dead.... There are some things I don't like about it (ball placement being the biggest) but it has some interesting shots and rules that I like and are making competition lots of fun.

 

[Teppic]

It sounds like you're talking abut Bride of Pinbot, no? If so, the audio has always sounded a bit crackly. Game is amazing even though it's a one-shot game.

Monster Bash But it's not just that table, it's all of them. Just that it's easier to spot in voices, and it was the best example I could think of. Even the menu music sounds bad. The PC version sounds okay to me, so I don't understand why the PS4 version sounds so bad.

 

[Shaneus]

Going to check out a Black Hole on Saturday. I may be able to grab it for $1000 which would rock.

Hope you've been working on your weight training! Bitch is HEAVY.

It sounds like you're talking abut Bride of Pinbot, no? If so, the audio has always sounded a bit crackly. Game is amazing even though it's a one-shot game.

I don't know how you didn't get that. I will not ridicule you, because you might be tired or something

 

[nicoga3000]

Hope you've been working on your weight training! Bitch is HEAVY.


I don't know how you didn't get that. I will not ridicule you, because you might be tired or something

BoP says she's alive, doesn't it? That was my bad, haha.

 

[Vyse24]

"It's aliiiveee!" is Monster Bash IIRC. It's what Dr. Frankenstein says when you complete the monster.

 

[nicoga3000]

Nothing like putting plastics on!

 

[Shaneus]

Nothing like putting plastics on!

Have to wait for when I'm not at work, damn Pinside being blocked

 

[nicoga3000]

Found a nice Space Station locally for $1200. :| Not sure if I want to pursue that or the Black Hole.

 

[TheyTookOurJobs]

Season 3 pass for Vita stilll isnt up!!! I'm losing patience!

 

[Shaneus]

Found a nice Space Station locally for $1200. :| Not sure if I want to pursue that or the Black Hole.

Depends on what condition the Black Hole is, I think. If BH has the animated backbox and the PF is in good nick, I'd go for that. It's less regular person-friendly though IMO, so if you're looking for something the wife might get into as well, Space Station might be better.

 

[Velinos]

I went to the local bowling alley tonight and checked out the new machines. Played four games of Space Jam. Pretty fun, though it has a lot of bounce backs that went straight down between the flippers. I got in six games of Tee'd Off. This game plays a lot different from the version on TPA. The ball tends to fly off the playfield a lot in the actual machine, though I have not encountered that behavior in the virtual version. Not sure if it is a nuance of this specific table or how it is configured, but I also found the shots to be a lot harder to hit in the actual machine. I wanted a rematch with AC/DC Premium, so I played four games. I did better than my first go at it, but I am still figuring out the ruleset and I did not figure out how to get to the lower playfield or what you are supposed to aim at when you fire the cannon. There was a Data East Simpsons there, but it was out of order so hopefully it will be working next time. Good times though and makes me want to continue trying to hunt a machine down for myself.

 

[nicoga3000]

Depends on what condition the Black Hole is, I think. If BH has the animated backbox and the PF is in good nick, I'd go for that. It's less regular person-friendly though IMO, so if you're looking for something the wife might get into as well, Space Station might be better.

I'm hopefully checking them both out this weekend. I'd love to grab both, but I don't have the funds for that, haha.

So I played some Who Dunnit last night. Am I bad at it, or are the shots really tight and hard to hit? Also, is it better to guess the wrong suspect multiple times to boost score or go straight for the correct suspect?

 

[Shaneus]

Also, is it better to guess the wrong suspect multiple times to boost score or go straight for the correct suspect?

Yep. Heard that from Norman (from FS) himself at Texas this year.

Still don't really like that game, though. Or many of Oursler's other big machines... that, Junkyard, BSD, Doctor Who... they all have a feel that really doesn't entice me that much at all.

 

[bloodydrake]

I love Whodunnit its probably one of my top 5 in TPA.

I love the theme and find the goals to get clues and eliminating the suspects to finally catching the killers on the roof really challenging. I find sometimes I just can't make the phone shot tho.but otherwise its not bad.
Getting elevator madness and multiball really racks up the points till your getting 200million bets at the roulette which is fun as hell. couple really good roulette wins got me up to 6.6 billion for my best game.

I tend to guess at a suspect whenever I can just to start the chase.

 

[nicoga3000]

*phew* Busy night! I still need to put the goalie on (need to go buy new screws, but it's a #5 screw and NO stores around here carry odd numbered screws) and get ONE of the damn ramp screws that join the two ramps together (which is thankfully one I will be able to find).

Now I need to start wiring things back up. Apron will not go on until the game is fully working (removing the apron is SO fucking hard on this game).

 

[nicoga3000]

Yay keeping this thread alive!

Real pinball

Decided that I'm picking up the Space Station on Saturday. $1100 with a brand new set of plastics and mostly LED'd out. It needs a new ramp, but the new plastics make it worth the cost. I can get a new ramp for $60 from someone on Pinside. Played it and LOVED it. The game is very unique with no inlane/outlane designation; instead, there are only outlanes.

Definitely a cool contrast to WCS94, which is coming along nicely. Started to wire it back up last night. I need to pick up a crimper so I can finish everything. If I am able to find a crimper after work/over lunch today, I should have it powered back on tomorrow. At that point, I'll be able to diagnose any other issues I have and get it to 100% in a week a so!

Pinball arcade

As I only own S3 on my phone, that's all I've been playing. I'll be picking up S1, S2, and S4 eventually...But not until I get bored with the S3 stuff.

S3 is growing to be one of my favorites. I still think S1 offers more recognizable games, but the offerings of S3 are just so different. Of them all, BSD is still my favorite players game. The sound package and difficulty is what makes that table one I'd still love to own. The color doesn't hurt, either. I love the blue.

I've been playing a lot of Black Rose this weekend, and it's SUCH a great game. It's definitely unique with the big habitrail down the center of the playfield. I also LOVE the whirlpool ramp; I love how if you hit it hard enough, the ball whips around and feeds to your left flipper. But if you don't give it enough, it falls into the pops. Really cool design.

I played more High Speed last night, too. That game is growing on me. I think I dismissed it initially because of the music, as dumb as that sounds. But as I get more into it, I find that I LOVE how much of an accuracy game it can turn into. Aiming for the lights is a lot of fun, and hitting them is super rewarding. I don't like how the game handles the dynamic camera on this one, though. When you shoot up the middle or around the left loop, the camera zooms in really quick to the ball as it passes across the upper flipper. As it gets close, it zooms back out. That disorients me and makes it REALLY hard to nail that upper flipper shot reliably. I don't want to turn OFF dynamic camera, though. I like the way it works otherwise.

I'm excited to see what they bring to S4. I don't own it yet, but I will as they announce more tables. PotO looks like a really fun table, and the demo has proven to be a good and unique game thus far.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

I usually wait for 3-4 tables to accumulate before dropping money down on the season so I at least feel like I'm getting value for my money at the point of transaction.

 

[BobTheFork]

Yay keeping this thread alive!

Real pinball

Decided that I'm picking up the Space Station on Saturday. $1100 with a brand new set of plastics and mostly LED'd out. It needs a new ramp, but the new plastics make it worth the cost. I can get a new ramp for $60 from someone on Pinside. Played it and LOVED it. The game is very unique with no inlane/outlane designation; instead, there are only outlanes.

Definitely a cool contrast to WCS94, which is coming along nicely. Started to wire it back up last night. I need to pick up a crimper so I can finish everything. If I am able to find a crimper after work/over lunch today, I should have it powered back on tomorrow. At that point, I'll be able to diagnose any other issues I have and get it to 100% in a week a so!

At first I was thinking of Space Shuttle; Who made Space Station? I have a friend with a Space Station project cabinet (he is rebuilding most of it) but I don't remember what it looks like.

I finally got the World Poker Tour running and balanced. I did some work on the Top gate. I can get it to close properly but it's still opening whenever it wants to and not on the ball release.


We had a pingolf tournament this weekend in Fort Collins....I finally won my first annual event!!!!!!! I'm pretty damned pumped about it.

We played 9 holes (Evel Knievel, Tron, Adams Family, Avatar, Fish Tales, Wizard em, Congo, High Speed and Spiderman). I managed to hole out Fish Tales and tie the leader. We played a 2 out of 3 match and I won on the last ball. Depending on the points, I may finally break into the top 250 in the world. I got a bunch of money I needed as well : ) I think it's my new mustache.