ALL of those Lawlor tables

[wizard33]

in my opinion, Pat Lawlor is one of the best. But he didn't create a lot of tables.
Look at Jon Norris: he made much more and also ... errrk .. Lights, Camera.. Action !
look at the PL tables here: http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?ppl=Lawlor&sortby=name&searchtype=advanced
these are "only" good tables. none of them sucks

my 2cts

 

[shutyertrap]

PL was the first designer who's name I bothered to learn way back when. Wasn't on purpose, either. Considering Banzai Run is the first pinball I specifically remember where and when I played, and then a few years later having Earthshaker and Whirlwind in the arcade I worked at, and Funhouse coming out soon after, I think it was inevitable.

 

[Epsilon]

I can't deny it, I love Lawlor tables. Pretty much all of them (at least pre-Stern, which I haven't played enough of to judge.) They definitely play a lot differently than most, and I understand how those in love with the flow of Ritchie games could find them irritating, but I find them to complement each other perfectly. Pinball was never better than when Lawlor and Ritchie were matching each other game for game.

 

[Zorgwon]

Pinball was never better than when Lawlor and Ritchie were matching each other game for game.

High Speed and Earthshaker are tables of the month now and both have a traffic theme. Lawlor had still pretty safe bumpers and the game is easy to play.

 

[Zaphod77]

I never had much problems with the train wreck shot. On the tables I've played it usually bounced back into the swamp hole(?) where you get a kickout towards the right flipper. I think Addam's is one of the easier real tables. I played it a couple of months ago for the first time in many years and toured the mansion on 2nd try. Got to love the Power messing up the play though Kickout from the chair, and the Power can suck it straight to an outlane or DTM

You were lucky. usually a rebound from the train wreck will hit a swamp million target and bounce dangerously close to the left outlane. The difficulty of an Addam's machine is highly dependent on setup.

On one that is set properly.

1) you can usually backhand the bear kick ramp from a trapped ball on the lower right flipper, but it's not easy. if you are off a little it will roll back down, often SDTM. Attempting to loop that ramp is incredibly risky. the sweet spot for it is microscopic, and if you are slightly off it will roll back down.
2) the bear kick ramp is a really easy shot from the lower LEFT flipper.
3) the vault is very difficult.
4) the shot through the bumpers is doable after shooting the center ramp
5) THING flips almost NEVER misses.
6) thing ramp after bear kick is a very easy shot.

I've played at least 3 games that were this perfectly setup in my lifetime.

ALso the power can slam the ball right back into the chair.

 

[Reagan Dow]

PL was the first designer who's name I bothered to learn way back when. Wasn't on purpose, either. Considering Banzai Run is the first pinball I specifically remember where and when I played, and then a few years later having Earthshaker and Whirlwind in the arcade I worked at, and Funhouse coming out soon after, I think it was inevitable.

I'm with you. I remember plunking down endless quarters on his tables even before I realized they were all done by the same person. Starting w whirlwind which today is still my fav