Can We Be Done With The Gottlieb Premiers Now?

[HotHamBoy]

Sorry, Gottlieb fans (whoever you are). TX Sector marks the third Gottlieb this season and IMO the worst one yet. I don't know about you, but I easily blasted the high score off this table in no time at all (just got it late last night) and then again this morning. It really doesn't have any interesting features to make up for its long, dull ball times. With all the System 11, Data East and even (maybe) Capcom games out there - almost all of which are better than this dreck - Farsight should really be done with Gottlieb. They've paid their due to the historic and mediocre manufacturer, now can we leave them behind?

*Hyped for Indy 500!*

 

[Rudy Yagov]

One thing people need to understand is that Gottlieb was not really Gottlieb after 1985 or so. A company called Premier Technologies bought the rights to the name and used it on their pinball machines. The reason people say that Gottlieb's EM and early SS machines are better is because they were made by the real Gottlieb. I usually say "Gottlieb" when referring to the older games, and "Gottlieb/Premier" for the later ones.

Having said that, I still want Operation Thunder and Cactus Jack's as far as Premier tables go. If I could trade TX-Sector and Cue Ball Wizard for them, I would do so in a heartbeat.

 

[Kolchak357]

I'm sure we will get more of them. They are not my top ten pins, but I do enjoy playing many of them. I like TX a lot, but I'm a sucker for drops and spinners and that is TX.
Bit surprised that we don't have Cactus Jack as that was pretty popular. Request the Gottliebs you like and don't buy the ones you don't like. There isn't much else you can do.

 

[HotHamBoy]

Yeah, but they take up precious slots in Seasons...

So I did not know that about Premeire, but it makes a lot of sense.

 

[Kolchak357]

They must be selling or FS wouldn't keep making them.

 

[Fungi]

Then we need to stop buying them. Who's buying them? Is it you? Yeah, I'm looking at you.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

They must be selling or FS wouldn't keep making them.

I'll stipulate in my next season pass purchase "everything but the Gottliebs please and I'll pay $x less for it".

Hang on, wasn't that part of the reason season passes got pulled from iTunes?

 

[Jeff Strong]

Instead of these ho-hum Premier pins, I really wish they'd release the classic Gottliebs instead (Joker Poker, Royal Flush, Buccaneer, etc.).

 

[soundwave106]

Instead of these ho-hum Premier pins, I really wish they'd release the classic Gottliebs instead (Joker Poker, Royal Flush, Buccaneer, etc.).

One of those three Gottliebs this season at least was classic Gottlieb (El Dorado). Sure, it is a bit of a bonus rehash of City of Gold thrown in with Fireball, but the EM is much better in my opinion. (At least in *sound*).

The thing is, the "easy" DMD Williams / Bally machines are now done. Even the unlicensed System 11s are starting to get thin (only 5 top 100, unlicensed System 11 machines left... and I doubt Space Station is a candidate since we have Space Shuttle. So Banzai Run, Bad Cats, Mousin' Around, Swords of Fury).

I'm sure DMDs in general sell better than alpha-numerics so we'll probably get a few licensed DMDs based on ease of acquiring the license and other factors. Some might be Gottlieb for this reason. (Rescue 911 for instance doesn't sound it would be expensive).

I think I remember TX Sector getting some love in the Facebook page for some reason... someone likes this stuff out there. Not me, personally, but hey. I would've preferred one of the four above. Maybe they need a few slots for the next season though.

 

[Sean]

Well permit me to be a dissenting voice, I really like TX Sector. The sounds remind me of classic Bally tables and that's no bad thing. This might be my favourite Gottlieb table in the app, though I find some of the shots tough to get consistently.

 

[Kolchak357]

Then we need to stop buying them. Who's buying them? Is it you? Yeah, I'm looking at you.

Yes, I'm one of them. I will play just about any pin and enjoy the variety. I really like TX in real life pin form. It doesn't translate as well in digital form, but I still like it a lot.

Instead of these ho-hum Premier pins, I really wish they'd release the classic Gottliebs instead (Joker Poker, Royal Flush, Buccaneer, etc.).

That would be the ideal solution. But I think we both know that we won't be that lucky. By the way, I love all three you mentioned.

Well permit me to be a dissenting voice, I really like TX Sector. The sounds remind me of classic Bally tables and that's no bad thing. This might be my favourite Gottlieb table in the app, though I find some of the shots tough to get consistently.

Yeah, I'm with you. It plays and sounds like a good pin from 1983, which is a good thing in my book.

 

[Xanija]

I don't think TX Sector is really bad, as in "Haunted House" bad. Actually, from the selection of Premier Gottliebs we have, I think it's one of the best. For me it's similar to Victory. That being said, I don't see me playing these tables very often. One of the reasons is what Chris said in the podcast: I hate it feeling having no progression from ball to ball, but to have to start all over again. That's more true for TX than for Victory of course.

In general I don't like the look and feel of Gottlieb tables very much. This is even more true when I play on a real machine. I wouldn't mind having no more Gottliebs in TPA, but I understand there are some people who like to play them and would love to see more of them.

 

[Kaibun]

I actually like both TX and Haunted House, they're pretty good 80's-style tables as far as they go.

Gottlieb tables were a lot better when their rules were kept simple; the 90's ones are full of weird rules, bad DMD's and nonsensical playfields (I'm looking at you, Cue Ball Wizard and Rescue 911!).

 

[Jeff Strong]

That would be the ideal solution. But I think we both know that we won't be that lucky. By the way, I love all three you mentioned.

Right on man. I always knew you had good taste. But yeah, it's only a dream at this point. At least we have good versions of many of the classics in VP, but it would be nice to have them on all platforms, especially mobile.

 

[Fungi]

I still haven't read the rules yet. Should I, or is it better not to in this case?

 

[Kolchak357]

I still haven't read the rules yet. Should I, or is it better not to in this case?

Won't take you long to read them. It's a pretty straightforward game.

 

[Gorgar]

Another thing to think about is Farsight's license with WMS is only good for a certain number of tables. We know that they were initially able to do 28 Williams and Bally tables (Farsight said they exchanged the license for Sorcerer to do Fish Tales) before renegotiating with WMS. There have been 21 Williams and Bally releases since then. So, assuming that the 2nd deal was to do another 28 tables, there would only be 7 Williams and Bally releases remaining (5 if you count Dr. Who and Indy 500) for season 6.

What I am getting at is maybe part of the reason why Farsight did 3 Gottliebs and 2 Sterns in Season 5 was so that they didn't have to Gottlieb the sh*t out of us at the end of season 6 (like they did at the end of season 2)

Of course, this is all unfounded speculation (except for the part about renegotiating at the end of season 2. That we know is true.)

 

[Kaibun]

I still haven't read the rules yet. Should I, or is it better not to in this case?

I always make sure I read the rules from start to finish before playing a game. That way I know exactly what I need to do.

 

[Rudy Yagov]

Another thing to think about is Farsight's license with WMS is only good for a certain number of tables. We know that they were initially able to do 28 Williams and Bally tables (Farsight said they exchanged the license for Sorcerer to do Fish Tales)

It's not that they literally "exchanged" the license on Sorcerer for Fish Tales, but rather they had one license left and chose to do Fish Tales instead of Sorcerer. They don't license specific tables at a time, they just license a certain number. They could have done Sorcerer anytime after renewing their WMS licenses.

 

[Fungi]

I always make sure I read the rules from start to finish before playing a game. That way I know exactly what I need to do.

I only ask because sometimes, I do really well on a table until I read the rules, and this table seemed simple enough that I wouldn't have to learn modes and hurry-ups.

Don't you hate it when a table tells you to hurry up and you have no idea what it wants from you?