• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Pinball Arcade |OT| play them all from Soho to Brighton

Shaneus

Member
I'm actually not touching any of the LEDs at the moment. Whatever is in there will stay for now. Once the game is back up to 100%, I'll start tweaking things to my liking. LED-OCD, a few mods (probably side blades to hide the scuffs on the inside of the cabinet) and maybe some cosmetic figure additions.
Good move. I think the best things to do in terms of making games unique/different are RGB-fading inserts (as long as said inserts stay lit and don't flash... I think there's a ball or something somewhere on LotR where such a thing is popular?) and gradually tweaking GI. I'd strongly recommend sussing out the different whites over at Comet Pinball. I know there's a few, like warm white, cool white, daylight (or maybe sunlight) and I think one or two more. Should make plastics pop without looking washed out (like cools do) or gross (like warms do).

Having the double layer clear is really an amazing thing in terms of playfield preservation.
Is that factory?

Also, did you hear the thing about MMR and the slingshots? Jesus, you'd think they'd have tested that out. Wonder if it's a manufacturing thing on Stern's end, or was there the whole time and just never discovered. For those not familiar, apparently the slingshot arms on MM Remake extend a little too far and can/will chip away at the top of the playfield ever so slightly. Ouch.


Bad movie pins are some of the best bang-for-your-buck pins out there (this as well as Lethal Weapon 3 and Last Action Hero). My wife and I got to play it for the first time at MGC back in April and it is pretty high on my wishlist. It is a fast game with a lot of cool toys. I really liked the video modes, though they can take a bit to figure out how to control.
Yeah, Stern/Sega/DEs are great for that. Well, not so much Segas but the DEs can be solid as hell, I really don't mind LAH or LW3 even though they still feel a little too much like B-W knockoffs at times. At least, you know, dem shaker motors.

Reckon if I'd ever go a tacky movie theme, it would probably be a Bally-Williams over a DE. I'm at the point where the money I'd save in getting a DE over a B-W would affect not only my love for the game, but the resale value if I had to part with it (which I'm sure I would with a DE).

Congo is my favorite pin of all time, so I know all about bad movie machines.
I've never played one. Itching to, but the only one I've seen at any expo or festival I've been to was for show only. During comps it looks hella fun though.
 
Quick note for anyone playing TPA on steam. The season packs just went on sale on the Steam sale. It's only pro packs and they aren't hugely discounted but a chance to pick up some tables for cheaper.
 

sefskillz

shitting in the alley outside your window
I didn't even get a chance to comment - how are you liking JM? I've never had a chance to play one but have always wanted to.
its a blast. great flow, great shots and plays lightning fast. gotta love a rewarding spinner shot too. little nervous about maintaining the glove, everyone says its a pain in the ass to keep going but so far so good.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
Progressssssss. Cliffy set installed. Shire decals installed! Got a few other decals installed. Re-rubbering the game tomorrow. After that, it's time to clean all the parts, put on the plastics, and once it's all back together, I can start fixing the coils and have a WORKING LOTR. <3

wz2_EM5b0kbfNXkS5Mg_MHWITX1fjCSvoPGDn3I8GaJT=w1668-h938-no

4THHfd7TSVK_fChH3sNNmnQOb1r0F1zYXGWYEV2P1Tg0=w1723-h969-no

XQliV-U410zRhm49auGaf0ax8RC58CrtjPE1lwhYiThA=w1723-h969-no

-wVNY7CE_xhNUd2U38qND846_noa3xYB7Q_FmVNcUtzP=w1723-h969-no

its a blast. great flow, great shots and plays lightning fast. gotta love a rewarding spinner shot too. little nervous about maintaining the glove, everyone says its a pain in the ass to keep going but so far so good.

Yeah, the glove is one of the toughest mechs in pinball (next to the whole mist multiball from BSD). But once it's working, it looks really awesome. Congrats on that game!
 

Shaneus

Member
its a blast. great flow, great shots and plays lightning fast. gotta love a rewarding spinner shot too. little nervous about maintaining the glove, everyone says its a pain in the ass to keep going but so far so good.
FYI, latest C2C has a Bowen's Cheat Sheet on it. Or one of the last two or three, I can't quite remember.

Progressssssss. Cliffy set installed. Shire decals installed! Got a few other decals installed. Re-rubbering the game tomorrow. After that, it's time to clean all the parts, put on the plastics, and once it's all back together, I can start fixing the coils and have a WORKING LOTR. <3
I admire your dedication to fully stripping and cleaning machines when you get them. Do you find it takes a lot of room when going through the process? Only because I can't picture how much floorspace one would need to strip a playfield, put the pieces somewhere (and screws!), clean it and put it all back together again.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
I admire your dedication to fully stripping and cleaning machines when you get them. Do you find it takes a lot of room when going through the process? Only because I can't picture how much floorspace one would need to strip a playfield, put the pieces somewhere (and screws!), clean it and put it all back together again.

I actually took pictures of my office as it stands. My desk is currently even messier as I'm in the process of re-rubbering LOTR. Since only I spend time in my office, my wife doesn't really mind the mess. Of course, she doesn't want it STAY like this for an extended period of time, but she understands.

In terms of organization, every single part I remove gets it's own separate bag with label. There's a few labeled sandwich bags with only 2 or 3 screws/nuts in them, but it makes the organizing and reassembly process SO much smoother.

Honestly, it's all about space management and book keeping. I took 180 pictures in this tear down. Every single chance I had to take a picture, I took one. I still have a bit to do, so this number will probably be close to 250. The more pictures, the better.

In terms of the experience, the first one is always the hardest. If you ever decide to do it, I would do your most basic and least complex game. Once you finish that, you'll be able to tackle the harder games with ease. :)


E: My sling plastics are chipped/cracked/broken. So instead of shelling out money for new ones...


Still need to get some polycarbonite and decal paper. Colors are SLIGHTLY different, but not enough for me to care.
 

Shaneus

Member
I actually took pictures of my office as it stands. My desk is currently even messier as I'm in the process of re-rubbering LOTR. Since only I spend time in my office, my wife doesn't really mind the mess. Of course, she doesn't want it STAY like this for an extended period of time, but she understands.

In terms of organization, every single part I remove gets it's own separate bag with label. There's a few labeled sandwich bags with only 2 or 3 screws/nuts in them, but it makes the organizing and reassembly process SO much smoother.

Honestly, it's all about space management and book keeping. I took 180 pictures in this tear down. Every single chance I had to take a picture, I took one. I still have a bit to do, so this number will probably be close to 250. The more pictures, the better.

In terms of the experience, the first one is always the hardest. If you ever decide to do it, I would do your most basic and least complex game. Once you finish that, you'll be able to tackle the harder games with ease. :)
Man, that is exactly the sort of summary I was looking for! And yeah, I think a System 11 like High Speed would be the perfect machine to do it with ;) Will actually give me a chance to put the playfield protector on there as well, which is supposed to make the games play super well (and look almost like it's had a good clearcoat).

Not gonna be able to do it in the place I'm living at right now, though. Single bedroom unit is not optimum for that kind of thing :/
 

microtubule

Member
Road Show is out on Steam now!! download is ~120MB

Red and Ted's Roadshow Released

Version 1.39.7
- Added Red and Ted's Roadshow
- Fixed GI on Party Zone (DX11)
- Fixed Ripleys bug where getting large bonus ends game before it's actually over
- Rumble no longer stays on when turning off while it's active (Both Roadshow and Earthshaker)
- Fixed framerate not being locked in table select. Caused issues when streaming on steam.
- Fixed some textures on Creature
- Xenon audio fixes
 

bloodydrake

Cool Smoke Luke
never played Roadshow before its really cool, flipper physics are there but not as pronounced as Xenon to me.
Love the new portrait mode views . till we get DMD on a secondary screen this is the way to go.
10% bulb and 55% room lighting looks awesome.

Hoping for another DMD table to finish off the season and inspire me to blind buy the next season upfront
 

twinturbo2

butthurt Heat fan
I seriously wish that FS would let players earn standard and wizard goals concurrently. I managed to get a special in Road Show, but it didn't count because I still had a standard goal (extra ball) to go.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
Anyone else playing on an Android phone? My Note 4 has momentary frame drops (from say 30 to 24 or something). Enough to notice, but not enough to totally fuck me over.
 
So, Dan the operator for the 1up locations picked up a 'America's Most Haunted' machine at the showdown and put it on location. That's the new machine from Spooky pinball. It's an odd machine in some ways. It has a much more simple design but looks more modern so I'll be interested in how it performs.

Dan mentioned how badly balls are getting stuck in it though lol. It's clear the guy so created and designed it is a pinball fan but not a pinball designer. There are over a dozen spots where the balls will get stuck during a game and we've been trying to help get all those spots covered so that it rolls down the field.

KISS launch parties are mostly this week so check around to see if one is in your area. Our's is this Sunday.
 

Velinos

Member
So, Dan the operator for the 1up locations picked up a 'America's Most Haunted' machine at the showdown and put it on location. That's the new machine from Spooky pinball. It's an odd machine in some ways. It has a much more simple design but looks more modern so I'll be interested in how it performs.

Dan mentioned how badly balls are getting stuck in it though lol. It's clear the guy so created and designed it is a pinball fan but not a pinball designer. There are over a dozen spots where the balls will get stuck during a game and we've been trying to help get all those spots covered so that it rolls down the field.

KISS launch parties are mostly this week so check around to see if one is in your area. Our's is this Sunday.

Oh yeah, I should probably post my impressions from playing at our event this past Saturday.

The game is fast and shoots well. Shots are a little tighter than I am used to, but I feel that adds to the challenge. I liked the mechanic of having to hit the targets to sides of the Gene Simmons head before you can lock the ball for Demon Multiball.

KISS is also rather punishing. The right ramp is pretty steep and not making it all the way up caused me to center drain once. I also had it drain as the ball exited the Starchild target area. It did not feel unfair to me, more that it requires quicker reflexes.

Overall I think that Stern has a hit on their hands with KISS.
 

Shaneus

Member
lots of pics to come from Southern Fried, but had to share this asap
Awesome! Was it flipping at all?

I'm sure they'll succeed in selling the 10 or 15 or so they have planned initially... it would be a shitload of fun if nothing else. Doubt I'll ever see one in Australia though, so guess another US trip is on the cards once it comes out!

So, Dan the operator for the 1up locations picked up a 'America's Most Haunted' machine at the showdown and put it on location. That's the new machine from Spooky pinball. It's an odd machine in some ways. It has a much more simple design but looks more modern so I'll be interested in how it performs.

Dan mentioned how badly balls are getting stuck in it though lol. It's clear the guy so created and designed it is a pinball fan but not a pinball designer. There are over a dozen spots where the balls will get stuck during a game and we've been trying to help get all those spots covered so that it rolls down the field.
Ah damn, that's a shame to hear about AMH. I hadn't heard anything about stuck balls but my only source for info has really only been Nate on C2C. Does it play okay though?

Oh yeah, I should probably post my impressions from playing at our event this past Saturday.

The game is fast and shoots well. Shots are a little tighter than I am used to, but I feel that adds to the challenge. I liked the mechanic of having to hit the targets to sides of the Gene Simmons head before you can lock the ball for Demon Multiball.

KISS is also rather punishing. The right ramp is pretty steep and not making it all the way up caused me to center drain once. I also had it drain as the ball exited the Starchild target area. It did not feel unfair to me, more that it requires quicker reflexes.

Overall I think that Stern has a hit on their hands with KISS.
So... tight shots... are they nice feeling tight shots or are they horrible feeling a la that goddamn Black Widow ramp on Avengers?

Great to hear that it should be a hit... whilst it still looks like standard Borg fare (ie. nothing interesting or unusual) it doesn't look unfun. Kinda hanging for the next Trudeau one though, at least he's been putting out titles with unusual/different (yet solid) shots and features. After watching more of the PAPA Circuit Final on my iPad (still grinding through it) I want to play a Mustang again.

And if the KISS was a Pro, does that have the back playfield magnetic floating ball thing, or is that just the Prem/LE?
 

sefskillz

shitting in the alley outside your window
Awesome! Was it flipping at all?

I'm sure they'll succeed in selling the 10 or 15 or so they have planned initially... it would be a shitload of fun if nothing else. Doubt I'll ever see one in Australia though, so guess another US trip is on the cards once it comes out!
Pinball Circus was flipping, just on the white wood. It struggled a bit and needed several repairs throughout the weekend and played hard as hell, but several people were able to scale up and see most of the machine in action. I'm just grateful they brought the machine out for us to see and play. They gave a presentation on Sunday, but sadly I had already left.

Here's the footage I took, my apologies for being incapable of recording in a decent aspect ratio... I'll blame the alcohol: https://youtu.be/0daEE4uXS1Y
 

Shaneus

Member
Pinball Circus was flipping, just on the white wood. It struggled a bit and needed several repairs throughout the weekend and played hard as hell, but several people were able to scale up and see most of the machine in action. I'm just grateful they brought the machine out for us to see and play. They gave a presentation on Sunday, but sadly I had already left.

Here's the footage I took, my apologies for being incapable of recording in a decent aspect ratio... I'll blame the alcohol: https://youtu.be/0daEE4uXS1Y
Awesome, awesome stuff. Would love to have seen PPC up and running in person! Thanks for the vid :)

Link to Pinball News' coverage of SFGE, sadly missing recording some of Ben Heck's talk.

Edit: I like the concept of Pinball Circus. The trick with that sort of machine trying to not make the shots feel super close to the flippers, a la WMS Indy.
 

Ronabo

Member
I seriously wish that FS would let players earn standard and wizard goals concurrently. I managed to get a special in Road Show, but it didn't count because I still had a standard goal (extra ball) to go.

One of my issues with their products. I once had a game on Monster Bash when it first came out where I would of done all the goals on one ball. :(
 

Velinos

Member
So... tight shots... are they nice feeling tight shots or are they horrible feeling a la that goddamn Black Widow ramp on Avengers?

Never played Avengers, so I cannot comment. What I mean is that the lanes seem slightly narrower. While I was able to make shots, there were several times where I would hit the post or have the ball bounce back and forth in the lane and lose momentum partway up. This happened mostly in the lane to the Starchild targets. It may have just been my imagination, but the shots seemed a little harder to make than say Star Trek or AC/DC.

And if the KISS was a Pro, does that have the back playfield magnetic floating ball thing, or is that just the Prem/LE?

The machine was a Pro. I believe the floating ball is only on the Premium and LE versions.
 

Shaneus

Member
Never played Avengers, so I cannot comment. What I mean is that the lanes seem slightly narrower. While I was able to make shots, there were several times where I would hit the post or have the ball bounce back and forth in the lane and lose momentum partway up. This happened mostly in the lane to the Starchild targets. It may have just been my imagination, but the shots seemed a little harder to make than say Star Trek or AC/DC.
That's actually good to hear. Hopefully it will slow the game down a little, the one thing I don't like about either of those two (and I know they're both the same designer) is that the shots are a little *too* quick. Something a bit slower and requiring a little more precision is more than welcome on my end.

The machine was a Pro. I believe the floating ball is only on the Premium and LE versions.
Fair enough, that makes sense. Hopefully there's not a drastic difference in how it actually *plays* between the pro and prem/LE (a la Star Trek, AC/DC).
 

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
Master Edition of Zaccaria is free today (usually $2.99) on iOS it has 5 full tables plus all the others (more than a dozen) that you can play in free mode (with ads with and required online connection, good for trying 'em out, no time limit like TPA).

It's a great, great game.
 

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
Btw, do we have any pics of the upcoming Alien and Gremlins tables? Are they already in production or still in the planning stages? both of those are such freakin' great themes and I'm an Alien geek.

Hey sef, your circus footage was on the Arcade Heroes blog today.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
Btw, do we have any pics of the upcoming Alien and Gremlins tables? Are they already in production or still in the planning stages? both of those are such freakin' great themes and I'm an Alien geek.

Hey sef, your circus footage was on the Arcade Heroes blog today.

I don't remember what's going on with Alien. But the Gremlins guys (Vonnie D) I'm PRETTY sure are in jail for drug related charges, haha.
 

Shaneus

Member
I don't remember what's going on with Alien. But the Gremlins guys (Vonnie D) I'm PRETTY sure are in jail for drug related charges, haha.
It wasn't him, but one of the guys he was working with (and quite good friends with I think... so not a casual association). And from one of the interviews Gameroom Junkies (I think) did, Oursler basically had nothing to do with that pin in the slightest. So fucking shady.

Alien is coming, but I think they're waiting until they've finally started manufacturing and moving Full Throttle. I assume it hasn't gone on sale yet because we would've heard something by now. Personally though, I'm waiting for Heighway's next machine after that ;)

Oh, and of course Thunderbirds, which I have a hunch will be a sleeper hit.
 
Awesome! Was it flipping at all?

I'm sure they'll succeed in selling the 10 or 15 or so they have planned initially... it would be a shitload of fun if nothing else. Doubt I'll ever see one in Australia though, so guess another US trip is on the cards once it comes out!


Ah damn, that's a shame to hear about AMH. I hadn't heard anything about stuck balls but my only source for info has really only been Nate on C2C. Does it play okay though?


So... tight shots... are they nice feeling tight shots or are they horrible feeling a la that goddamn Black Widow ramp on Avengers?

Great to hear that it should be a hit... whilst it still looks like standard Borg fare (ie. nothing interesting or unusual) it doesn't look unfun. Kinda hanging for the next Trudeau one though, at least he's been putting out titles with unusual/different (yet solid) shots and features. After watching more of the PAPA Circuit Final on my iPad (still grinding through it) I want to play a Mustang again.

And if the KISS was a Pro, does that have the back playfield magnetic floating ball thing, or is that just the Prem/LE?

AMH plays fine. It's has enough going on and flows reasonably well. I only spent a few minutes with it you I'll proably be at the 1up playing it this weekend.

The KISS shots are not like Avengers IMO. Tight shots like the center ramp just have to be made very quickly. It looks like a simple shot but it's hard to hit. I know the code was very early but myself and many other players aren't sure has enough going on in it. IT's got 4-5 main shots that are pretty standard and it's just a case of light them and hit them without much interest. I don't like that cradle shot on the left where you put it into the little area with the stand ups. Again, code, but there needs to be a reason to shoot this stuff and ever in modes you just hit the orbits, hit the center, hit the orbits and that's it. I really don't care for that lock target right under Gene's face. The right one can't be hit with a backhand (that's designed on purpose).

I still like the general designs on the new STERN's but it's like they want to make games harder and draw more quarters so they are using design to make more ball chaos. I mean, look at the ball drop in Walking Dead. Just out of the pops and off that little bump right into the center. Even the best players I've seen lose the ball there. It's punishing you for making a good shot and that sucks. So that lock target shot on KISS is was forcing you to slam a stand up with a cross shot in a way that just sends the ball into chaos.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
So it's not confirmed, but this picture that WAS on Stern's FB page (removed after Pinside got it's paws on it):

eqRwe9e.jpg


That's a SM whitewood in some state of testing. There's a DAMN good chance we now know the next VE.
 
Just to mention this but you REALLY should be shooting the ball up into Gene's mouth via the tongue. I'm sure there a host of problems with that but seriously!
 

Shaneus

Member
AMH plays fine. It's has enough going on and flows reasonably well. I only spent a few minutes with it you I'll proably be at the 1up playing it this weekend.

The KISS shots are not like Avengers IMO. Tight shots like the center ramp just have to be made very quickly. It looks like a simple shot but it's hard to hit. I know the code was very early but myself and many other players aren't sure has enough going on in it. IT's got 4-5 main shots that are pretty standard and it's just a case of light them and hit them without much interest. I don't like that cradle shot on the left where you put it into the little area with the stand ups. Again, code, but there needs to be a reason to shoot this stuff and ever in modes you just hit the orbits, hit the center, hit the orbits and that's it. I really don't care for that lock target right under Gene's face. The right one can't be hit with a backhand (that's designed on purpose).

I still like the general designs on the new STERN's but it's like they want to make games harder and draw more quarters so they are using design to make more ball chaos. I mean, look at the ball drop in Walking Dead. Just out of the pops and off that little bump right into the center. Even the best players I've seen lose the ball there. It's punishing you for making a good shot and that sucks. So that lock target shot on KISS is was forcing you to slam a stand up with a cross shot in a way that just sends the ball into chaos.
Yep, sounds like a Borg design to me. I know he's not a horrible designer, but it really doesn't seem like he has any kind of real designing talent or nous. Generally, there's never more than one or two shots (if that) that "feel" great to hit, compared to Steve Ritchie, Lawlor or even Trudeau machines.

So it's not confirmed, but this picture that WAS on Stern's FB page (removed after Pinside got it's paws on it):

http://i.imgur.com/eqRwe9e.jpg[IMG]

That's a SM whitewood in some state of testing. There's a DAMN good chance we now know the next VE.[/QUOTE]
Holy shit, that's a great find! I wonder what it will do to prices of existing Spideys, given it sold more (I assume) than Iron-Man. But I'm happy given that was to be my next Stern. Shame it'll be running on SPIKE (does that mean no LED modding?) but hopefully the LED fading they have on KISS will feature on their VEs, too.
 

twinturbo2

butthurt Heat fan
Master Edition of Zaccaria is free today (usually $2.99) on iOS it has 5 full tables plus all the others (more than a dozen) that you can play in free mode (with ads with and required online connection, good for trying 'em out, no time limit like TPA).

It's a great, great game.
Thanks for the tip, downloading now.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
Someone on Pinside messaged me the other day. This was the result (unexpected to say the least).


I didn't intend to trade away Metallica because the game is awesome. But a nice Shadow + Pinbot + cash for my MET Pro? Yup - had to.

Shaneus - you better be proud of me. Check out the span of years in my gameroom right now. ;) 1986, 1994, 2009. And for having had VERY little time on a physical Shadow or Pinbot, these games are magic. The soundtracks on both are killing it. Shadow's main theme is stuck in my head. Also, that game is heavy as shit.
 

Shaneus

Member
Someone on Pinside messaged me the other day. This was the result (unexpected to say the least).



I didn't intend to trade away Metallica because the game is awesome. But a nice Shadow + Pinbot + cash for my MET Pro? Yup - had to.

Shaneus - you better be proud of me. Check out the span of years in my gameroom right now. ;) 1986, 1994, 2009. And for having had VERY little time on a physical Shadow or Pinbot, these games are magic. The soundtracks on both are killing it. Shadow's main theme is stuck in my head. Also, that game is heavy as shit.
That brings a tear to my eye! I'm not sure on prices there, but did it work out okay to have those two to trade with MET? And they're both in solid condition I'd assume? Not sure how to check wear on Pinbot, but I know the magnet in the middle of the top of the playfield on Shadow is a bit of a killer (but not to be fussed about.

Man seriously, that really is a great looking lineup now. Would legit not be ashamed to have those! Most of all, I'm glad you're happy with them as well. Such a broad range of titles there, I very much doubt you'll be bored with any of them.

Fake edit: That alt. translite package on Shadow looks solid as hell, too. Very nice score. Seriously, over the moon on that setup. Really honestly, you pretty much have every generation (that I like) covered!
 

sefskillz

shitting in the alley outside your window
I haven't spent much time on LOTR, but that's a pretty boss lineup right there. Good stuff nicoga
 
Someone on Pinside messaged me the other day. This was the result (unexpected to say the least).



I didn't intend to trade away Metallica because the game is awesome. But a nice Shadow + Pinbot + cash for my MET Pro? Yup - had to.

Shaneus - you better be proud of me. Check out the span of years in my gameroom right now. ;) 1986, 1994, 2009. And for having had VERY little time on a physical Shadow or Pinbot, these games are magic. The soundtracks on both are killing it. Shadow's main theme is stuck in my head. Also, that game is heavy as shit.

I'm really not a fan of Pinbot but if that Shadow is clean, you made the right call. It's an amazing game so 2 pins plus cash is a good idea.
 
Top Bottom