Alright, I'll say it... I like Genie

[yespage]

Genie is a wide body pinball table, with a consensus of having annoying sound effects (though I don't particularly find them annoying) and isn't well loved.

I was somewhat neutral about the table a while ago, and played the real thing one day last summer, and liked it. The wide body gives a feel of an expansive playfield which doesn't have certain traps that makes the ball drain too easily. It awards accuracy without being brutal about draining.

Of course, there is the left drain which is probably one of the more anxious moments in pinball, first after the ball goes through the A to D slots and whether you can nudge it out of the area and around the bumper... but if you fail, then it is as to whether the ball will go right and stay in play at the flipper or fall left and drain (nudging here can drain a safe ball as much as save a draining ball). Learning to nudge on this table is a must to help prevent those left drains.

The game isn't high scoring, but it plays well and balls can last a good amount of time. The rule set is simple to follow, though not as simple to take advantage of. It is the simplicity that I think I like the most. I'm not particularly great on the table, maxing only at just over 600k (though working on bettering the score as I get better at the table), but it is fun.

 

[Kolchak357]

Don't tell anybody, but I like it too. Shhh

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

A lot of people are turned off of Genie because of that stupid 3,000,000 Wizard Goal. And the fact it's hard anyway.

Ignore that and it's a very solid wide-body SS that might as well be an EM.

 

[Fungi]

I've warmed up to this table just fairly recently, and I too like the sounds. The early digital tables had a unique sound specific to that era, and I miss it. For some reason, very few of this time frame of tables have made it into TPA.

 

[Johni3w6]

I don't mind this table as much as some of the other tables. Gave up on the 3 mil goal awhile ago.
Enjoyable table.

 

[Kolchak357]

The three mil goal and the sounds are the only two negatives for me. I enjoy the play and rules a bunch.

 

[yespage]

People need to just relax on the goals. Granted, the goals should be a bit more equivalent. A series of reasonable goals, a series of hard but attainable goals, and then maybe a series of hardcore goals that makes obsessive/compulsive people just keep coming back for more.

Based on my review of the top scores, the ceiling for attainable high score seems to be 3.7 million when the names start bumping into each other score wise.

 

[Fungi]

I immediately stopped caring about the goals when the new UI kicked in. Since the stars are no longer seen at a glance, I no longer care.

 

[Xanija]

I like playing Genie as well sometimes. And yes, stop caring too much about wizard goals helps a lot keeping the fun - for all tables.

 

[Gorgar]

I disagree about the goals. Screaming at the pinball machine and threatening to break something or stab someone from frustration is what pinball is all about. Since the machines are easier than in real life, the wizard goals provide this wonderful frustration (and wonderful satisfaction when achieved) that is frustration (and why I keep coming back)

 

[Jeff Strong]

Honestly these Gottlieb widebodies are more fun than many of the EM wedgeheads simply because the wider bodies offer more shot variety and keep the gameplay interesting with more places for the ball to bounce around. I'm not just saying that because I own one in real life either. Maybe it's a hidden blessing for some of my friends/family that the sound doesn't work on my Gottlieb Circus at the moment, but I actually like early 80's sound effects.

 

[codinghorror]

Some brave men have posted in this topic, and I salute you all

 

[JefferyD]

Genie is great fun, if you like that kind of thing. I like it a lot but I can understand why folks don't. It's floaty and frustrating. I hate how everything resets after each ball drains. A true pinball roguelike.

I'm nowhere near the 3 mil goal, but it doesn't bother as much as not being able to crack the high scores list on Cactus Canyon.

It is the one table my wife insists I wear my earbuds for if she's next to me. Well, there are others, too, but there's no pause while she thinks about whether or not she can tolerate the noise. She can id Genie in one note, or beep, or ding. Off!

 

[karl]

I am also in the fan club. I find Genie both beautiful and fun.

 

[Heretic]

this machine has electronic audio? whats making the notes?!? how can the source of the sound not vibrate the air? its magic! its the jetsons! - apprently the first tune a computer ever played was a renditon of daisy...im so crazy ....an interesting topic actually well before the synth era

 

[Lord Boron]

Genie definitly rocks in my book! (But then again again I don't hate Goin Nuts, so what do I know)

 

[yespage]

Yes! I knew there had to be at least 6 other people on the planet that liked the table.

Finally broke 1 million.

 

[pinballchris]

I was one of the first to break 3Mil...maybe the second or third overall...it is a fun table one just needs to learn to be patient on, but have rarely play it since then. I have given up on goals since the release of Safecracker token goal.

 

[Slam23]

I also like the disciplined style of playing this table enforces, somebody posted a very good diagram of "allowed" and "disallowed" shots in the strategy thread (too lazy to look it up). As with a lot of EM style pins, they are the best training ground for learning how to nudge. If you get control over the upper left part of the playing field AND know how to save the ball from the lower left drain area, you'll see your scores soar....Pro tip (blatant copy from somebody else): backhand the "red" Special/EB target at the lower right from the right flipper. Takes some tries, but is very safe.