TPA Tables You've Played For Real

So which tables from TPA have you played in person? And what's one you would LOVE to play for real?

For me it's:
The Twilight Zone
Attack From Mars
The Addams Family
Lights, Camera, Action
Pinbot
Theatre of Magic
Tales of the Arabian Nights
The Party Zone
Fish Tales
Funhouse
Creature From The Black Lagoon
Monster Bash

I'll be going to try The Getaway this weekend.

One I'd love to play - Red & Ted's Roadshow

I think I've played them all other than Goin' Nuts. I'm not a fan of GN, but I cetainly would play it if I saw one. I guess Vegas has the only public one that I'm aware of.

At the 2016 Texas Pinball Festival in the Pinball History booth, I finally got to play the mechanical table top machine Play-Boy (Gottlieb, 1932), from FarSight's Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection! It was actually alot of fun, and I saw people playing two, three, and four player games trying to get the highest score. *Payouts were on the downlow.

Let me just pull up a list...

But for the sake of completion... and yes this will be long!

1. TotAN - played it a lot, but not since '97
2. Black Hole - played a few times as shows recently
3. Theatre Of Magic - played it a lot
*NEW* 4. Ripley's - played a couple of games at Allentown 2017
5. Medieval Madness - played it quite a bit
6. Bride of Pin*Bot - played it a bit
7. Cirqus Voltaire - never played it, only ones I've ever seen at shows weren't working
8. Fun House - played it quite a bit
9. Monster Bash - played it a bit, but not since '98
10. Gorgar - played it a few times at shows
11. Black Knight - played it a few times at shows, and possibly a few times in the '80s but my memory is vague
12. CftBL - played it a lot
13. Harley Davidson - played at York PA Show 2016
14. Taxi - played it a few times at shows
15. EatPM - played it a few times at shows
16. No Good Gofers - played it a few times
17. Big Shot - played it a few times at shows
18. Scared Stiff - played it a lot
19. Twighlight Zone - played it a lot
20. ST:TNG - played it a lot
21. Attack From Mars - played it a lot
22. Genie - played it a few times at shows
23. Dr Dude - played it a few times at shows
24. Firepower - played it a few times at shows
25. Cactus Canyon - played it few times
26. Central Park - played it a few times at shows
27. White Water - played it a lot
28. Space Shuttle - played it a few times at shows
29. Centaur - played it a few times
30. Pin*Bot - played it a few times
31. Champion Pub - played it a few times
32. Whirlwind - played it a lot
33. Flight 2000 - played it a few times at shows
34. Goin' Nuts - never even seen it
35. Terminator 2 - played it a lot
36. Haunted House - played it a few times at shows
37. Tee'd Off - played it a bit
38. C1812 - played a whitewood at a show
39. Victory - played it a few times at shows
40. Cue Ball Wizard - played it a bit
*NEW* 41. El Dorado City Of Gold - played one at Allentown 2017
42. Fish Tales - played it quite a bit
43. Black Rose - played it a few times
44. BK2K - played it a few times at shows
45. WHO Dunnit? - the only ones I've ever seen weren't working
46. High Speed - played it a few times
47. Junk Yard - played it a few times
48. LCA - never seen one (I think); or, possibly, there was one in an arcade I went to a lot but I never played it and always played Surf N Safari
49. HRC- played it a few times at shows
50. Diner - played it a few times at shows
51. BSD - played it a lot
52. POTO - played one at York PA Show 2016
53. Party Zone - played it a bit
54. Earth Shaker - played it a few times
55. Starship Troopers - played it a bit
56. TAF - played it a lot
57. Cyclone - played it a few times
58. Jack*Bot - played it a few times
59. Xenon - played it a few times at shows
60. Road Show - played it a lot
61. Safe Cracker - never seen one
62. HS2 - played it a lot
63. F-14 - only played it at shows, but it's one I'll always go back to if it's free....
64. Frankenstein - played it quite a bit
65. No Fear - played it a few times
66. Judge Dredd - played it a few times
67. El Dorado EM - played it a few times at shows
68. Fireball - played it a few times at shows
69. Hurricane - played it a lot
70. R911 - played it a few times
71. LAH - played it a few times
72. TX-Sector - played it a few times at shows
73. Indianapolis 500 - played it quite a bit
74. Big Hurt - never seen one
75. Eight Ball Deluxe - played it a couple of times at shows
76. Dr Who - played it lots
77. Bone Busters - saw one at a show, but didn't play it
*NEW* 78. Centigrade 37 - played it at Allentown 2017 (was in v.good condition, going for $1850(!))
*NEW* 79. Jacks Open - played it at Allentown 2017
80. Gladiators - seen it at shows, never played it
81. Al's Garage Band - seen it at shows, never played it
82. Cactus Jack's - don't recall ever seeing one
83. Swords Of Fury - played it a few times at shows
84. Paragon - one of the first pinballs I remember, back in the late 70s/early 80s; played it at shows recently

Phew!

Back in time (80-90's), I played:

One time:
- Pin*Bot (in a funfair, bad shape)
- World Cup '94 (during foreign holidays, a pretty fun table)
- ToTAN (same foreign holidays, good shape)

Several times:
- Monster Bash (good shape, except Frankie who didn't record a shot, unless if it was very powerful)
- Medieval Madness (good shape, and the table is a LOT more harder IRL than in TPA)
- Apollo 13 (didn't remember well the table, except obviously the 13 balls multiball)
- Monopoly (almost unused, fun table)

More recently:
- LOTR (very bad shape)

I wish I could play BSD or Jack*Bot for real.

Here's what I haven't played...

Central Park - forgot to look for it at Expo 2.0
Flight 2000 - saw it at E2.0 but didn't play
Class of 1812 - saw it at PHOF before TPA was a thing, wasn't interested
Victory - other than seeing it in pieces at FarSight, never seen it playable
El Dorado - also forgot to look for it at E2.0
LCA - don't believe I've ever seen it
Rescue 911 - don't believe I've ever seen it
TX-Sector - saw at E2.0 but it wasn't working

At next year's Arcade Expo I'll try and fill in the rest of the gaps. With over 600 machines it's easy to let tables slip through the gap!

I have played (about?) 64 of the 77 TPA tables (including four yet-to-be released tables).

An estimate of the number of times I've played each table:
over 1000 times: TZ
hundreds of times: TAF, TotAN, AFM, FH
about 100 times: ToM, MM, SS, STTNG, CftBL, WWater, T2, FT, Pin*Bot, Frank
about 50 times: Taxi, BoP, CV, WWind, ES, JY
about 25 times: SpSh, TAFG, Cyclone, J*B, NGG, Victory, BK2K, CBW, RS, HS2, F14, JD, LAH, DrWho
about 10 times: WD, HS, MB, BSD, CC, Hurr, R911, TOff, PMagic
about 5 times: TCP, SST, SafeC, HRC, EatPM, DrDude, NF, RBIoN
once or twice: BK, HD3E, BH, BRose, FirePwr, Centaur, Diner, PotO, PZone, I500, BBB
do not remember ever seeing: Genie, Fl2k, Co1812, EDCoG, LCA, Gorgar, Xenon, HH, CentPk, GNuts, BigShot, Fireball, ElDorEM, TXS

Nearly all of these are local to me, some on location, most in private collections. Only 1 (Pin·Bot and possibly Black Knight) are from what I remember from childhood.

1 machine
Addams Family
Addams Family (Gold rom)
AC/DC Lucy
Attack From Mars
Black Knight
Black Knight 2000
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Champion Pub
Cirqus Voltaire
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Cyclone
Eight Ball Deluxe
F-14 Tomcat
Fathom
Funhouse
Genie
Ghostbusters Premium
Gorgar
Jackbot
Mustang
No Good Gofers
Paragon
Party Zone
Pistol Poker
Rescue 911
Ripley's Believe It or Not
Star Trek Premium/LE
Swords of Fury
Tales of the Arabian Nights
Terminator 2
The Machine: Bride of Pinbot
Theatre of Magic
Whirlwind
White Water
Who Dunnit
World Cup Soccer 94

2 different machines
Black Rose
Doctor Who
Fish Tales
Getaway High Speed II
Judge Dredd
Medieval Madness
Monster Bash
No Fear
Pinbot
Space Shuttle
Star Trek TNG
Twilight Zone

3 different machines
Sorcerer

Did not put Star Trek Pro, AC/DC Pro or Ghostbusters Pro, as these are not what is represented in TPA.

What I haven't played :
Theatre Of Magic / Ripley / Cirqus Voltaire / Creature from The Black Lagoon / Harley Davidson / Big Shot / Central Park
Goin' Nuts / Tee'd Off / El Dorado City of Gold / Who Dunnit / LCA / HRC / Frankenstein / El Dorado EM / R911 / Indy 500

Adding upcoming / rumored tables to the list, as well as SPA confirmed tables:
- Played Dr Who a lot
- Played Big Bang Bar once, at Allentown this year (not an original though, but one of the slightly less rare licensed remakes)
- Seen Pinball Magic, but it was being worked on so I couldn't play it
- Played Eight Ball Deluxe, finally, at Allentown this year
- Played AC/DC more than a few times
- Played Ghostbusters once at Allentown this year
- Played Stern Star Trek a few times

EldarOfSuburbia said:

Adding upcoming / rumored tables to the list, as well as SPA confirmed tables:
- Played Dr Who a lot
- Played Big Bang Bar once, at Allentown this year (not an original though, but one of the slightly less rare licensed remakes)
- Seen Pinball Magic, but it was being worked on so I couldn't play it
- Played Eight Ball Deluxe, finally, at Allentown this year
- Played AC/DC more than a few times
- Played Ghostbusters once at Allentown this year
- Played Stern Star Trek a few times

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Eldarofsuburbia, what did you think of Big Bang Bar?! I just recently found out the story on this table, followed by a video showing game play. I would like to get my hands on one for some pinball action. At the very least, I really want to see this come to TPA. Also, how did you like ghostbusters? Was it the pro edition? Ghostbusters 2016 Stern is coming to the Seattle Pinball museum in the next few months and I can't wait to get my mitts on it.

To answer the main thread question I've played most tables in TPA except Flight 2000, GOin' Nuts, Who Dun'it?, Black Rose, Central Park, Genie, Jack bot, Lights Camera Action, El Dorado CoG (possibly the worst table in TPA IMHO), Tee'd Off, TX Sector, Dr. Dude, Class of 1812, Cue Ball Wizard, Haunted House, High Roller Casino and Attack from Mars.

Has anyone played the new Rob Zombie table by Spooky Pinball? If so, what did you think?

I've played Rob Zombie pinball a couple of times at the Allentown pinball show this year. The middle of the playfield is pretty open. One of the shots on the right side was pretty tough to hit. I had pretty long ball times on it but didn't really love it. The art was good. I couldn't fairly judge the callouts & music as it was a very loud room and the pin wasn't cranked up. My general opinion was that it was just ok. I wasn't dying to play it again. I much prefer Americas Most Haunted from the same maker.
Big Bang Bar was a pretty good player with a great presentation (art & sound). Not worth anywhere near $20,000 though.
I actually liked Ghostbusters better than both BBB and Rob Zombie.

Mclong said:

Eldarofsuburbia, what did you think of Big Bang Bar?! I just recently found out the story on this table, followed by a video showing game play. I would like to get my hands on one for some pinball action. At the very least, I really want to see this come to TPA. Also, how did you like ghostbusters? Was it the pro edition? Ghostbusters 2016 Stern is coming to the Seattle Pinball museum in the next few months and I can't wait to get my mitts on it.

To answer the main thread question I've played most tables in TPA except Flight 2000, GOin' Nuts, Who Dun'it?, Black Rose, Central Park, Genie, Jack bot, Lights Camera Action, El Dorado CoG (possibly the worst table in TPA IMHO), Tee'd Off, TX Sector, Dr. Dude, Class of 1812, Cue Ball Wizard, Haunted House, High Roller Casino and Attack from Mars.

Has anyone played the new Rob Zombie table by Spooky Pinball? If so, what did you think?

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Well, I only played one game of BBB, and I really didn't have a clue what was happening, but I got the impression I'd grow to like it. It's a very bright, colorful table - think The Party Zone on a major trip - so i can see that the theme might not be to everyone's taste. It was also loud at the show so I really didn't get much of the sound package - I pretty much could only hear T2 being played elsewhere in the background!!

Played the Pro Ghostbusters. It's not bad, but again, from a single game, it's very difficult to come up with a conclusive opinion. Based on a single game of each, I liked Game Of Thrones (Pro) better than I did Ghostbusters. Others may differ in their opinions, of course!

BBB is a fun table with a lot of humor and a great art package. It is not near worth the money (but then I'd be hard pressed to name any table worth over 10K of fun). If you ever get the good fortune to play it, temper your expectations way the heck down from the hype levels. I used to have a lot of fun playing it in VP, I've gotten to play the real thing quite a few times, and do hope it comes to TPA. That being said, I could easily name a dozen other tables I'd want to own instead.

I have played the new Ghostbusters and really enjoyed it - deep rule set, good flow, fun shots. Last night I finally got to play Stern's Star Trek and loved it. It helped that the arcade had the volume at full blast but man, what a fun table. As for other new Sterns which we may see in SPA I've played:
Kiss
Metallica
AC/DC
Game of Thrones (2 versions, hated them both)
Mustang
Spiderman
WWE Wrestlemania

Kolvhak357, that's sort of disappointing that you didn't get to hear the call outs. There's something about a pinball game that curses at me I would find interesting. I spoke to another individual who owns both Spooky Pinball Machines and his statement was similar to yours preferring Americas Most Haunted. Hopefully there will be some updates to Rob Zombie because I feel it has real potential and I hope to play it myself someday.

I've read a few rumors that BBB might actually come to TPA. Does anyone feel positive that it will come in season 6? 20k is way to much for any pinball machine but again I'd be happy to hear "a little to the left" emulated within TPA.

I can't wait to play Ghostbusters LE in 2 months. Another local place called 8-bit Arcade posted a picture of 2 Ghostbusters Pro's on Facebook that recently arrived for tournament play but I haven't actually played them. However, after hearing both you and EldarofSurbia talk about your experience and comparison I think I will make the 35 minute drive this weekend. I'm a huge of stern and I really like Star Trek LE and Spider-Man Vault Edition.

ElderofSuburbia, That's great to hear! I've been wondering about Game of Thrones and now I'm looking forward to playing it. Someone told me they didn't like it and weren't purchasing it for their collection.

I hear what you're saying about not being able to hear machines because of surrounding noise. I've been hoping we would see headphone line out jack, like on Jersey Jack's The Wizard of Oz and The Hobbit, for other machines to become a standard. I personally think sounds, call outs and music greatly enhance the experience.

I recently just moved to Washington and a fellow pinball enthusiast told me about an app called Skill-shot:Seattle Pinball which allows the user to see all available pinball machines and locations of said machine. I'm downloading as we speak. Are there similar apps in your particular state or area of the world? should I start a new thread since I am completely off topic now.

Metallica looks amazing from the videos I've seen. I hope that comes to the Stern Pinball Arcade app! I'll have to watch a video on Game of thrones and Mustang because I haven't seen either yet.

Mclong said:

Metallica looks amazing from the videos I've seen. I hope that comes to the Stern Pinball Arcade app! I'll have to watch a video on Game of thrones and Mustang because I haven't seen either yet.

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Metallica is in my local movie theater so I do play 2 or 3 games every couple of months, gradually learning it! It's got good flow and I can't fault the soundtrack or even the art.

GoT is an oddity for recent Sterns, most people will tell you the Pro works better than the LE/Premium because that upper mini playfield really doesn't help much.

Sent from my SM-T710 using Tapatalk

shutyertrap said:

BBB is a fun table with a lot of humor and a great art package. It is not near worth the money (but then I'd be hard pressed to name any table worth over 10K of fun). If you ever get the good fortune to play it, temper your expectations way the heck down from the hype levels. I used to have a lot of fun playing it in VP, I've gotten to play the real thing quite a few times, and do hope it comes to TPA. That being said, I could easily name a dozen other tables I'd want to own instead.

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I completely agree that no table should be worth more the 10k! I'll try and set those expectations lower, if I ever get to play, based on your response. I just started listening to your podcast so I'm curious as to what other tables you would like to see come to TPA before BBB that won't have to many licensing problems. I think we can all agree we want the original Indian Jones but from what little I've read, that will doubtfully happen. With that being said, I really want to see The Shadow in TPA. I've never played it in RL but I was a fan of the movie, back in the day, and saw a tournament on it and it looks quite fun!