PAF Top Ten Most Wanted Table Poll Series : #3 - Bally (Closed)

This poll is now CLOSED! Thank you for showing your support by participating and voting for your Top Ten Most Wanted Tables!

Welcome to the third poll in the PAF Top Ten Most Wanted Table Poll Series featuring 30 carefully selected Bally Solid State tables. This poll will be active from July 7, 2013 - July 20, 2013 with the poll standings hidden from the public. The current poll standings will be visible to the public on Saturday July 13th, after which, the poll standings will be hidden once again for the remainder of the entire poll series. The Top Ten Most Wanted Bally Tables, as voted by the pinball community, will be revealed on Friday September 6, 2013.

The PAF Top Ten Most Wanted Table Polls are run exclusively by the Pinball Arcade Fans Forum and are not official FarSight Studios polls.

NOTE : Voting is open to forum members only, so if you haven't signed up yet, please take a minute to join the forum and begin casting your votes.

Below you will find links to gameplay videos and playfield pics of each table in this poll, so take your time and check out some of the tables you may have never seen or heard of before you proceed to select your Top Ten Most Wanted Bally Tables. Remember, you will have two weeks to make your choices, so no need to rush.

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Black Rose (1992) Gameplay | Playfield
Corvette (1994) Gameplay | Playfield
Eight Ball Champ (1985) Gameplay | Playfield
Eight Ball Deluxe (1981) Gameplay | Playfield
Elektra (1981) Gameplay | Playfield
Embryon (1981) Gameplay | Playfield
Evil Knieval (1977) Gameplay | Playfield
Fathom (1981) Gameplay | Playfield
Fireball Classic (1984) Gameplay | Playfield
Fireball II (1981) Gameplay | Playfield
Flash Gordon (1981) Gameplay | Playfield
Future Spa (1979) Gameplay | Playfield
Indianapolis 500 (1995) Gameplay | Playfield
Judge Dredd (1993) Gameplay | Playfield
Mata Hari (1978) Gameplay | Playfield
Medusa (1981) Gameplay | Playfield
Mousin’ Around! (1989) Gameplay | Playfield
Nitro Ground Shaker (1980) Gameplay | Playfield
Paragon (1979) Gameplay | Playfield
Party Zone, The (1991) Gameplay | Playfield
Radical! (1990) Gameplay | Playfield
Safe Cracker (1996) Gameplay | Playfield
Silverball Mania (1978) Gameplay | Playfield
Space Invaders (1980) Gameplay | Playfield
Spectrum (1981) Gameplay | Playfield
Strange Science (1986) Gameplay | Playfield
Strikes and Spares (1978) Gameplay | Playfield
WHO dunnit (1995) Gameplay | Playfield
World Cup Soccer (1994) Gameplay | Playfield
Xenon (1980) Gameplay | Playfield

World Cup Soccer x10 please!

Bally had it going on. Most of those look really run.

Paragon!

Nice work.......decisions, decisions.....

1. Black Rose - Pirates!
2. Corvette - Looks interesting, not really into the car theme.
3. Eight ball deluxe - Cowboys and pool
4. Flash gordon - love the artwork
5. Judge Dredd - wicked comicbook MUST HAVE.
6. Medusa - we need more Swords & Sandals
7. Paragon - ditto
8. The Party Zone - the sequel to Dr. Dude, must have.
9. Strange Science - looks like a fun table
10. Who Dunnit - toys look fun.

Heretic said:

Paragon!

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...and Xenon! Actually, everything on this list ending with 'on' is pretty good!

PiN WiZ, a better video explaining Safe Cracker here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJaglZFFq5I

Black Rose
Fathom
Flash Gordon
Judge Dredd
Medusa
Safe Cracker
Strange Science
WHO dunnit
World Cup Soccer
Xenon

Nice to see Dredd there without needing a KS!!!

Should Space Invaders really be on there? After the 20th Century Fox lawsuit, wouldn't this be harder to get than TAF?

Plus, the game sucks.

lettuce said:

Nice to see Dredd there without needing a KS!!!

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Shouldn't be too expensive a license to obtain from Rebellion, as it's based on the comic and not the movies.

lettuce said:

Nice to see Dredd there without needing a KS!!!

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But this isn't an official FarSight poll. So it doesn't mean they're going to make it, and it doesn't mean it's not going to need a Kickstarter if they do.

Fungi said:

Should Space Invaders really be on there? After the 20th Century Fox lawsuit, wouldn't this be harder to get than TAF?

Plus, the game sucks.

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Even though I use the backglass as my avatar, I have to agree. It's looks cool, but it's a pretty boring table. But I love the Giger inspired artwork.

Quit Talking and Start Chalking

Eight Ball Deluxe is likely to be coming our way regardless, but I'll still be touting it loud and clear for this poll. My signature is one possible tilt alert in EBD. This is a seminal table that every pinball player should play. The ruleset is deeper than it might appear.

Repeated trips up the left ramp can grant extra ball. The pool balls are represented by a single bank of seven drop targets. Once they are dropped, the eight ball can be sunk in the right ramp. Once the eight ball is dropped, the right ramp can award the bonus accumulated to that point. Sinking eight balls also allows the standup targets (D-E-L-U-X-E) behind the drop targets to be active. Completing D-E-L-U-X-E awards 50K and resets the drop targets. All drop targets dropped during the entire game are included in the bonus. Completing A-B-C-D drops two drop targets.

The deluxe also increases the super bonus (tacked onto regular bonus) and acts as a progressive jackpot of sorts. Each deluxe achieved spots a letter on the backglass to spell out (again) deluxe. Spelling out deluxe on the backglass (across any number of games) awards three specials.

Bonus multiplier is increased with inline drop targets. This is a dangerous shot, since the inline targets are protected by pins on either side. The rampside pins in EBD are notorious deflectors to drain doom. Experienced players of EBD get bonus multipliers only by accident or when desperate to achieve a free game on the last ball. EBD should only be played as a five-ball game.

You might think that EBD is my all-time favorite Bally table. No. That distinction (and my all-time favorite pin, period) goes to Paragon (I recently added an avatar.) This widebody masterpiece throws everything but the kitchen sink at you.

A saucer in the upper right cycles through the letters of P-A-R-A-G-O-N. Dropping in the saucer at the right time spots a letter. Completing P-A-R-A-G-O-N awards a special plus points. Another saucer, in the upper left, awards progressively higher point values. Yet another saucer, hiding behind the inline drop targets, will eventually grant the skilled player an extra ball. The inline targets themselves grant points and bonus multipliers up to 5X.

Paragon doesn't have a left outline, but it does have an odd chamber with a bumper in the center and a hole at the bottom. You can usually use nudge and the bumper to stay out of there. This table also places a double flipper in the lower right. The dreaded "between the flippers" drain in possible. These are just some of the many quirks in the game.

A bank of three drop targets on the right award progressively higher point values and eventually a special. Dropping these also makes the waterfall lane behind them more valuable. A fourth flipper on the left helps you to drop the bank.

Paragon has cool bonus award music. It also has the bonus carryover feature at 20K, 30K and 40K. It's another of those machines, like Centaur, that rewards a good first ball.

There are many fine pins in this poll. I'm as excited for the Bally poll as I was for the Williams. Leave these two fine pinballs off of your ballots and I won't think less of you. I will, however, be forced to make snide comments about some of your choices under my breath. My quiet, distant wrath will haunt you.

Well, more great tables in this poll, but I wish I could give up five of my votes here, and just apply them to five more tables in the Williams poll. Some of the new tables, (presumably after Bally and Williams merged) look fairly Williams-esque which I look upon favorably. I voted for:

Black Rose - Looks fun, and looks Williams-esque.
Eight Ball Deluxe - Played a ton of this back in the day, and I voted for this back in Farsight's Bally poll. A terrific historical table.
Indianapolis 500 - Had trouble deciding between this and Corvette. Both seem interesting and Williams-esque.
Medusa - That in-playfield digital display looks neat, and the drop targets in the back that give you different targets look fascinating.
Paragon - Seems like one of the more interesting older Bally tables.
Safe Cracker - Intrigued by the countdown feature from the gameplay video. Might have a good story line.
Silverball Mania - I remember playing this a few times back in the day.
Spectrum - All those colored lights make this look like Pinbot on steroids. Gotta see what that's all about.
WHO dunnit - Looks like another interesting story, and another Williams-esque table.
Xenon - This table was everywhere back in the day. Definitely remember playing this.

Would still give up a few of these tables for some more Williams tables that fell out of my top ten there, but I'm sure years down the line, I'd love to see all the tables from all of these polls eventually brought into The Pinball Arcade.

I thought EBD was coming regardless if it was second place for the classic Bally table poll, and Fireball for that matter. :\

This will be hard. Very hard to chose just 10.

Fungi said:

Should Space Invaders really be on there? After the 20th Century Fox lawsuit, wouldn't this be harder to get than TAF?

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I don't know this for a fact, but my assumption is that since Space Invaders is on the Bally poll and not the Premium poll, it's within FarSight's means to do without a Kickstarter. If you could confirm or deny this, PiN WiZ, I'd be much obliged...

atlantis1982 said:

I thought EBD was coming regardless if it was second place for the classic Bally table poll, and Fireball for that matter. :\

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My thoughts exactly. I won't be wasting votes on EBD or FB. I assume we are already getting those classics.


Happy to see Strikes and Spares and Evel Knievel (two favorites of my youth)!

Tough choices to be made.. after one pass through the list looking at pictures and watching videos, I picked 12 tables.

What to cut, what to cut..

I wish I could just vote 5 times for Party Zone and 5 times for Black Rose.

Judge Dredd, Safe Cracker, and Who Dunnit round out my top 5.

Here are my ten.

Black Rose (1992)
Corvette (1994)
Future Spa (1979)
Indianapolis 500 (1995)
Judge Dredd (1993)
Mousin’ Around! (1989)
Party Zone, The (1991)
Radical! (1990)
Safe Cracker (1996)
WHO dunnit (1995)