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Attack from Mars *HS : 19.753.408.270 Pride of Pin-Bot *HS : 2.040.583.140

A regrettable milestone was passed today - I've issued my first ban that wasn't just a random spammer. So I made it 75 days...I guess that's pretty good for a forum as large and as populated as this one. But since we're here, a bit of musing on what it's like to be a moderator now that I've done it for a while and how it's changed things from being just a plain old member (albeit a very active and involved one). But first, we need an obligatory... DISCLAIMER: I'm speaking only for myself in this post, and not for Gord, Jeff and Pin Wiz, nor am I speaking on FarSight's behalf. Indeed. So what changes when you become a mod? Well, you get a bunch of new powers when that happens, mostly concerning post/thread management and the...

It occurred to me earlier today that for all the blogging and posting I've done, I've never really done a list of my favorite machines. That stunning omission is about to be corrected! The 10 machines below are kind of an eclectic mix, although heavy on the 90s Williams/Ballys, and I'm definitely presenting these as one man's opinion, not as some sort of pinball gospel. But these 10 machines are the answer to the question "If you walked into CP Pinball while it's open and I'm there, what machine would you most likely find me playing?"...which is about the best endorsement of a machine someone of my limited-yet-growing skill can offer. Honorable Mentions - Attack from Mars, Fathom, Spectrum, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Whitewater...

Rudeness is what happens when you put up 47.8M on X-Men LE (a machine I do not care for but force myself to practice because it's one of the league games this season), thereby squeaking onto the high score list, and less than two hours later get knocked back off the same list by a visiting world-class player. Let's hope Stern releases updated code soon so the score lists are reset. :rolleyes: He cost me my Grand Championship on ST:TNG, too...although let's face it...my 2.06B was not exactly a "worthy" GC score on that game.

Last updated February 24, 2014. Entries in bold are most recent. The Pinball Arcade Table Platform High Score Attack from Mars iOS 36,376,600,140 Big Shot iOS 152,840 Black Hole 360 2,737,990 Black Knight PC 879,110 Black Rose 00 The Machine: Bride of Pinbot 360 2,219,187,120 Cactus Canyon iOS 31,707,260 Centaur iOS 2,342,310 Central Park iOS 2,163 Champion Pub, The 00 Cirqus Voltaire 360 179,611,460 Class of 1812 00 Creature from the Black Lagoon iOS 381,281,050 Cue Ball Wizard 00 Dr. Dude iOS 13,800,690 El Dorado: City of Gold 00 Elvira and the Party Monsters iOS 17,073,910 Firepower iOS 240,240 Fish Tales 00 Flight 2000 00 FunHouse 360 205,977,370 Genie iOS 410,250 Goin'...

In making the morning rounds through the forum, I found a gem from a new member that deserves a little more meditation than an in-passing forum post: My first thought was the standard "well, of course the TPA tables won't play exactly like the real ones; there's too many subtleties in real-life pinball that can't be adequately captured in digital form." But then I looked more closely, where CCV says that "some tables play better in real life while others play better in simulation". Wait, what? They play better in simulation?! What heresy is this?! How can a simulation be better than the real machine? One possible answer is that the real machines available to the poster may have problems - maybe they're dirty, maybe they have...

Alright, I've distilled my knowledge about AC/DC's ruleset, such as it is, in the Real Pinball section of the forum. Or use the convenient link below. :D AC/DC LE Ruleset Explanation and Basic Strategies Enjoy!

I've started playing in a new league over on the Missouri side of the river, hosted by Third Rail Bar and Grill. Not a bad change of pace, I can get dinner on location (try the Train Wreck burger, very tasty, but be hungry - it's 3/4 lb of hamburger and beef brisket!), and new players to meet and compete with is always nice...not that the old ones were bad! :p Apparently even a change of venue isn't enough to get me out of my streak of mediocrity though - 11 points out of 20 this week. But since I've never played these particular machines before, I'll take it and run! :D Another shock for me - these machines actually require coins to operate. (The machines at CP Pinball, my usual haunt, are all on free play.) Of course, I left my...

Still some electrical investigation work to do - at some point when all these mods were added there was a mix-up and some of the inserts now strobe or blink when they're not supposed to - but I figured that was no reason not to share a picture of her all lit up: Again, my apologies for the poor photo quality...I wish my hands shook less. (They shake all the time, not just when I'm thinking about TZ. Really, they do.) And for the curious, just some of the modifications...I can't remember all of them: All lights are LEDs. There is not one incandescent bulb left in the thing. Chrome mirror flipper buttons Chrome mirror flippers (all 4) Lit outlane posts Invader statuette on right slingshot Hand-painted car above Town Square with...

2013 Real Machine High Scores: AC/DC [PREM]........................ 14.6 M Attack From Mars (3-Ball)......... 3758.2 M Attack From Mars (4-Ball)........ 19315.9 M Avengers............................ 26.8 M Batman Dark Knight................. 194.0 M Batman Forever.................... 1231.4 M Baywatch.......................... 1577.3 M Corvette........................... 245.6 M Diner............................... 32.3 M Family Guy.......................... 49.9 M Fireball II.......................... 407 K Fish Tales.......................... 33.1 M Funhouse............................ 18.4 M Haunted House........................ 533 K Monopoly............................ 23.7 M Indiana Jones*...................... 22.2 M Indiana...

Arrived into our world April 21, 2013 - Length 58 inches - Weight approx. 300 pounds

I was just there. The videos seen above on the huge flat screens are 60fps and look amazing.

Next goal: 4 billion (and at least Dawn of Time completed). I'd like to insert the image in here, but the IMG code is disabled. Went to the Pro Pinball page under "Other Pinball Games" for the time being.

It's time to get current on my coverage of recommended TPA tables again. For thoughts on earlier tables in TPA, see Recommended TPA Tables for Beginners and Beyond and More Recommended TPA Tables for Beginners and Beyond (DLC Packs 5 - 7). Difficulty is rated by pinballs, 1 being stupid easy and 5 being blood-on-the-cabinet tough. Twilight Zone (2.5 pinballs, 5 for the real table): Pat Lawlor's magnum opus has been severely defanged for TPA, although the recent removal of the barrier between the bumpers has helped restore a smidge of the challenge. It's still quite an enjoyable experience with unique toys such as the Powerball (a non-magnetic pinball) and Powerfield (a mini playfield where you flip using magnets instead of physical...

Not if it's pinball Sin. Still no art to show everyone (I know, I know...I'm working on it, I swear!), but I think I've finally got the playfield where I can put the spinners down without blocking four other shots; I've got the mess of inserts untangled near the bumpers - that Soul Burn hole has a lot of different things it can light for and not a lot of space nearby to put the inserts; and we may be going with a double inlane configuration on both sides. In addition to making the outlanes a little more humane (they were really wide before), it'll let me inject a little more variety. Ruleset nearly finalized...that is, until I/we can actually play it and discover it's completely unbalanced. First forum member participation segment...

It appears I was a little hasty with declaring my league season over (see The Pinnacle of Mediocrity). It turns out that I thought I had just missed the playoffs for B Division, but a higher-ranked player than me was unable to attend, so I just squeaked in as an alternate. While I didn't win the division despite leading going into the final game (congratulations Dave Wente for finishing strong on Avengers Hulk LE!), I did improve to seventh overall from tenth. I'll take it! :cool: For the record: When 34 million is not only enough to win a game of Fish Tales, but is enough to get the extra game point bonus for a dominating lead, you know you were playing an absolutely evil Fish Tales.

Since it's that time of year where the nation watches tall men put orange-colored spheres through horizontal rings over nets with gigantic holes in them, I figured we could have our own madness as well. Each of the items below is the name of a multiball mode. Can you supply the machines they came from? One rule: You can only use a machine once, so if you use Medieval Madness for one multiball, you can't use MM for any other multiball. Ace in the Hole Antarctica Armed at the Dock Bing Cardassian Castle Coffin Crane Davros Diamond Eternal Life Fast Lock Final Draw Fortress Freshwater Harem Heart Jam Lard Loki Mosh Pit Mothership Mudflap and Skids Razz Red Light Scarecrow Terror from the Crate Total Annihilation Two Towers Trip to...

Nailed it just now on Timeshock!. Really felt satisfied with it, as I also cashed in 100M with the Souvenir Combo (Mobile Phone + Couch Potato = Very Big Points). How? Right Loop (no Quickshots Lit), Right Ramp, Spinner, Continent Ramp, Left Ramp, Crystal. Then see your score jump by 100M+. You'll enjoy it. :) Rewards: All Locks Lit, All Empty Continents spotted, Time Drive ready, All Souvenirs from the current Time Zone.

But apparently you all have managed it. I was stumbling around my user profile and happened to read that I joined the TPA Fans forum on 03-17-2012...exactly one year ago. So it seemed appropriate to publicly thank Gord, our administrator and sheriff 'round these parts, Jeff Strong for moderating and polling and interviewing, and everyone else for making this forum an entertaining, active, and (mostly) civil place. When I joined a year ago, there were 4 tables. Now there are 26. There were 150 members on this forum a year ago, now there are over 2000. Along the way I've talked about Twilight Zone entirely too much, cursed way too loudly at tables both physical and virtual, spent too much time posting here when I should have been...

About 2 months ago, I posted some observations on TPA and programming in general (if you missed them, these posts were On Pride and Programming, What Greed Won't Get You, and The Lust for Results), wherein I tried to explain some of what goes on in software development for the benefit of the layperson who might not understand why TPA has some of the issues that it does. And a few other developers put in their 2 cents in the comments (thank you!), and for a while I assumed the point was made. Since then, of course, TPA has had some issues like the ball-quantum-tunneling-through-flipper problem fixed and other issues like the what-the-hell-happened-to-TZ-on-the-Vita problem crop up. And despite the fact that I'm viewed as one of the...