Bram Stokers Dracula Table

[Bravewall]

I'm surprised I haven't seen a thread on this since it was announced. Has anyone played this table IRL? The design looks good, and apt for the Halloween season.

Glad they finally got a licensed movie property in Season 3.

 

[DanBradford]

I used to own one, it's one of the few that I regret selling, and it's a stone cold classic. It's ridiculously hard, so you play 29 rubbish games for every good one. But that good one is sooooooo good......... that it haunts and taunts you into 'just one more' that quickly becomes just one more hour then just one more evening.

Fantastic game. Just wait til you experience the true majesty of Ron Jeremy in his coffin, and the delights of hearing quotes such as "heffer lasting lyffe" and "Vince! Matt Vince!" as the lesbian vampire ghouls turn to skulls at the start of coffin MB. I sure hope they get that ramp dialled in, as it's the key - not too easy, please TPA.

The mist multiball is one of the true delights of real pinball, along with the Shadow's ball lock, and the music of Rollergames. Also a brilliant video mode. I can't wait.

9/10

p.s. For those interested in the difference between real and emulated pinball games, let me tell you that my high score was 1.4B and I was *very* proud of it (3 balls, EB for replay and special, maximum incline, outlines medium) as it was a very rare game indeed that went above 400M. I expect that in the TPA version we will all be scoring 5B and for that we will get 80 HOF points. But I hope not.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Yes, I have played it. Twenty years ago. Since re-reading the rules sheet on ipdb (I used to get my rules sheets from rec.games.pinball!), it's jogged a few memories: shooting werewolves in video mode, the "floating" ball to start Mist Multiball, some of the quotes, but a lot of things that don't really register. This I find strange since it was one of the many tables that cycled through my most frequently frequented bar at university and I would've played it a lot.

 

[kinggo]

this is the one where people actually can complain about the magnet

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

this is the one where people actually can complain about the magnet

They're warming up for TAF with this one, obviously

 

[W1LDD ONE]

No TPA pics of BSD table yet. Strange.
No android beta on BSD yet either to possibly see some pics.
Maybe later today.

 

[Zaphod77]

this table is a quarter sucker on location that kicks you down hard most of the time. but that makes it a good home game. This game punishes you for success a lot, by sending the ball into the bumpers after every lock, though i think castle lock gives you a ballsaver.

It was also designed with normal flippers, but released with the lightning ones. the points get truly sick if you can manage to get all three multiballs going, and getting good bats and rats bonuses early on gives you a huge leg up that lasts for the rest of the game.

 

[jaredmorgs]

Played it back when it was new in the Arcades. Great game. Stackable Multiball fun. Rock Hard. One of the best video modes in a Pinball (IMO, shortly followed by Escape in Dr Who), super long and steep primary ramp that is a killer for drains. Unforgiving outlanes.

It's basically a recipe for sorting the "adults from the kids" when it comes to pinball (although I know some kids that would pants me if playing head to head).

Oh, and lightning flippers...

 

[Shaneus]

Oh, I forgot about the lightning flippers!

Crap.

 

[smbhax]

Yeah lightning flippers! ^_^ I do like this table. The Mist Multiball start gets me every time. : )

 

[switch3flip]

Here's the PAPA tutorial for the pin.
http://papa.org/2012/12/03/bram-stokers-dracula-tutorial/

 

[invitro]

Glad they finally got a licensed movie property in Season 3.

I wish someone would make a FAQ on licenses and TPA. I was under the impression that TPA would not be making a licensed table without a Kickstarter. This is based not on anything Farsight might've said, but rather on the recent history of releases. Does the release of BSD mean that Shadow and Johnny Mnenomic and similar tables are possible? (?!)

I am also very curious why FS would release this evidently very popular and desired table at the -end- of a season, rather than at the beginning of a season. My mind is boggling at these two seemingly improbable events.

I think I have been able to play a working BSD only once... as a qualifying table at some Pinburgh. Knowing the rules is crucial to BSD (making it a terrific tourney table), and I didn't, and so mostly ignored it. But I played Visual Pinball version a ton, and really enjoyed it.

The rec.games.pinball folks called it Dr*c*l*. It was loathed. It isn't that bad of a table, of course, but it does have some problems: the dots are ugly and sloppy. The sound is also mostly ugly and sloppy, and is kind of like Black Rose in really paling against the sound of the great WMS tables of 1992/1993. The animation and delay after hitting that Rats scoop is way, way too long, iirc. And it looks bad compared to the WMS classics of 1993 that I'm sure you know: Whitewater, Twilight Zone, Indiana Jones, STTNG, and probably Judge Dredd blow it completely out of the water. (Is 1993 the best year in pinball history? I think a case can be made for any year in 1992-1996, and maybe 1979 and 1981.)

I'm glad to see BSD, but I'm more glad that I have some hope now of seeing other licensed WMS tables.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

I wish someone would make a FAQ on licenses and TPA. I was under the impression that TPA would not be making a licensed table without a Kickstarter.

Several licensed tables were made without Kickstarters: RBION, Monster Bash, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the two Elvira tables, for starters. They only resort to Kickstarter for bigger licenses, like TZ and ST:TNG.

I am also very curious why FS would release this evidently very popular and desired table at the -end- of a season, rather than at the beginning of a season. My mind is boggling at these two seemingly improbable events.

This is pure speculation, but if the Addams Family kickstarter is truly about to happen, it stands to reason that FarSight would want a strong, popular and long-awaited table to be released immediately beforehand.

 

[Kolchak357]

Licenses are a bit tricky. From what they have said, don't expect to ever see anything with a Marvel license, or anything owned by Disney. I also wouldn't expect anything with heavy music licenses such as AC/DC. They have hinted that Elvis (usues an impersonator) might be possible.
But they have surprised us with some smaller licenses before such as Ripley's, the Elvira pins, CFTBL, Monster Bash, and Harley Davidson. Dracula is one of those that I'm surprised that it wouldn't need a kickstarter.
So if your question is, what other licenses wouldn't need a kickstarter? Well pretty much all you get is speculation, and some of the pins speculated as not needing a kickstarter; Getaway (LaGrange), Roadshow (Carter music), Judge Dredd (comic license) seem the most likely. But only Farsight knows.

Edit - sorry to repeat some of Sean's post. He must be a faster on the keyboard.

 

[W1LDD ONE]

I'am surprised that no pics have been released on the upcoming BSD table. I wonder if there are issues on this particular release. Oh well......just curious.

 

[Rich Lehmann]

There is a button in the table section for Dracula on TPA website but nothing happens when you click it. How long does it usually take from when they post it in the tables section and when it starts downloading to those who already bought the season?

 

[jaredmorgs]

...The rec.games.pinball folks called it Dr*c*l*. It was loathed. It isn't that bad of a table, of course, but it does have some problems: the dots are ugly and sloppy. The sound is also mostly ugly and sloppy, and is kind of like Black Rose in really paling against the sound of the great WMS tables of 1992/1993. The animation and delay after hitting that Rats scoop is way, way too long, iirc. And it looks bad compared to the WMS classics of 1993 that I'm sure you know: Whitewater, Twilight Zone, Indiana Jones, STTNG, and probably Judge Dredd blow it completely out of the water.

Note that Indy, STTNG and JD all use a comparitively advanced MPU compared to Whitewater, Twilight Zone, and BSD. Black Rose also uses the same MPU as BSD.

Comparing apples with oranges here.

 

[invitro]

So if your question is, what other licenses wouldn't need a kickstarter?

No, my question is: "Does the release of BSD mean that Shadow and Johnny Mnenomic and similar tables are possible?" (By similar I mostly mean also made in the 1990s) (I hope you're right that Marvel and Disney tables are impossible! )

On RBioN, Elvira, SS, CFTBL, MB, and HD (and also BH): I thought it would be obvious that I was talking about the recent history of releases, since I said, well "recent history of releases" . But I suppose I could've been more clear. I'll try again...

- Of the first 18 tables, 7 were licensed.

- The next two were the Kickstarters: TZ and STTNG.

- Of the next 30, there was just one license. That's the Kickstarter, T2.

- So: before BSD, there were 29 straight non-licensed and non-Kickstarted tables. This is why I had gained the impression that any licensed table would require a Kickstarter. Isn't that a reasonable conclusion?

 

[Jim O'Brien]

Think they will edit out the girl moaning as she is being bitten by Dracula ( multipliers raising ) ? I'm thinking along the lines of Scared Stiff here and maybe we'll only here the moans in the pro version.

 

[mpad]

Don't put the idea in their head. Here in Europe your US censorship rules make me laugh and cry at the same time.