Eight Ball Deluxe

[Fungi]

Also, thanks to shutyertrap for going the extra distance, pestering Farsight about doing this table.

Agreed. I can't believe we've had to put up with Cue Ball Wizard this whole time due to FarSight's lack of knowledge/taste. The flipside however, is that we get a top notch version of EBD with the current physics.

 

[invitro]

Now I know why it was always one of the last pinball machines to linger at various bars, bowling alleys, etc before they all disappeared.

OK, I'm curious about what you're saying here. In my part of the country, pinball machines were in bars & bowling alleys long after EBD, at least 20 years longer, probably more like 30. Actually, bars have had pinball machines pretty much as often as they always did, at least until the last time I was in a bar, some five years ago . Now I think I was in a bowling alley a couple of times in the last 10 years and they didn't have pinball, but about 15 years ago, they did.

The disappearance I've noticed the most is of pinball in convenience stores, and arcades. But that was still some 20 years after EBD.

 

[EccentricFlower]

OK, I'm curious about what you're saying here. In my part of the country, pinball machines were in bars & bowling alleys long after EBD, at least 20 years longer, probably more like 30. Actually, bars have had pinball machines pretty much as often as they always did, at least until the last time I was in a bar, some five years ago . Now I think I was in a bowling alley a couple of times in the last 10 years and they didn't have pinball, but about 15 years ago, they did.

The disappearance I've noticed the most is of pinball in convenience stores, and arcades. But that was still some 20 years after EBD.

Oh no, what I mean is, long after the pinball machines started to disappear, often the last table to linger (in many of the joints I visited) was Eight Ball Deluxe. Some of them were so well-played there were ball tracks on the table surface. It seemed to be the one table that people didn't want to do away with in a number of places - including outstaying a number of machines which were ten or fifteen years younger.

There are two working bowling alleys in my vicinity, both candlepin because I'm in the Boston area and we're weird that way. I haven't been to one of them in a while and don't know if they still have any pinball or arcade machines left. The one I do attend does not, but that's because they converted the non-lanes space to a restaurant. The pool hall I like to go to had a pinball table - pretty sure it was EBD - but they closed for a big fire and who knows whether the table will still be there when they reopen. The only other pinball table I have seen in the wild in the last ten-plus years in the entire greater Boston area is an AFM I was delighted to find in a bar in Cambridge a few months ago.

 

[karl]

Agreed. I can't believe we've had to put up with Cue Ball Wizard this whole time due to FarSight's lack of knowledge/taste. The flipside however, is that we get a top notch version of EBD with the current physics.

Very true. I can live with that flipside.....now, at least

Never understood why we got CBW at all. Must be the dumbest pool representation in the history of pinball

 

[Spork98765]

Now where's Fathom?

That's the thought that runs through my head every game I play of EBD

 

[invitro]

Oh no, what I mean is, long after the pinball machines started to disappear, often the last table to linger (in many of the joints I visited) was Eight Ball Deluxe.

Thanks. It sounds like a regional thing, then. There are actually probably more good-quality pinball machines within two hours of my current location right now than there have been since the 1990's or even 1980's. (My problem is that almost all are at least an hour away, and I have started having balance problems that are preventing me from driving.)

 

[invitro]

Here's a mini-poll for you guys. The top ten machines in the smbhax survey are: MM, AFM, MB, ToM, TZ, TAF, STTNG, TotAN, RS, and WWater. How many of these ten do you think EBD is better than? (Right now, my answer is one: STTNG. ToM is close, and comparing EBD to the other eight is laughable.)

 

[Fungi]

Here's a mini-poll for you guys. The top ten machines in the smbhax survey are: MM, AFM, MB, ToM, TZ, TAF, STTNG, TotAN, RS, and WWater. How many of these ten do you think EBD is better than? (Right now, my answer is one: STTNG. ToM is close, and comparing EBD to the other eight is laughable.)

I'm very certain I've already put more time into EBD than TAF.

 

[EccentricFlower]

Here's a mini-poll for you guys. The top ten machines in the smbhax survey are: MM, AFM, MB, ToM, TZ, TAF, STTNG, TotAN, RS, and WWater. How many of these ten do you think EBD is better than? (Right now, my answer is one: STTNG. ToM is close, and comparing EBD to the other eight is laughable.)

Monster Bash and Theatre of Magic are two of my all-time favorites in TPA and I'm not sure I would want to try for an absolute ranking among my top ten. But EBD looks, based on the amount I've played it just in the last 24 hours, to be shooting into my top ten real fast Certainly it's looking to be one of my two favorite pre-DMD SS's (the other being Xenon, and bearing in mind that I have an unreasonable dislike for Black Knight).

 

[Fungi]

Never understood why we got CBW at all. Must be the dumbest pool representation in the history of pinball

I'm thinking it was because of the real cue ball and eight ball and FarSight fell for it. Pretty interesting to see those in a table IRL. Not interesting at all in video game format, where nothing is real. So for us, without the distraction of the gimmick, the weakness of the table revealed itself. A good example of Lost in Translation.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

I'll be giving EBD a solid 8-ball in the poll, which puts it above STTNG and TZ (both 7s) and level with MM, AFM, TAF, ToTAN and R&T which are all 8s. That seems about fair to me. It would be joint 10th on my personal rankings with a load of other 8s.

 

[kinggo]

Here's a mini-poll for you guys. The top ten machines in the smbhax survey are: MM, AFM, MB, ToM, TZ, TAF, STTNG, TotAN, RS, and WWater. How many of these ten do you think EBD is better than? (Right now, my answer is one: STTNG. ToM is close, and comparing EBD to the other eight is laughable.)

not even one. I really don't care about EBD.

 

[David T. Melnick]

First table I ever played IRL, down on Brighton seafront. Very happy to see it finally in TPA, and probably looking/playing a lot nicer than if it had had the S1 release it deserved. Also the first TPA game I've played where I didn't get to make a single flipper shot the whole game (2-player game, P1 3.5 million, P2 72,000, all from top rollovers and bumper hits before immediate centre drains...) - love it

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Good show! I wish it came in season two or three. My best was only near two million (so far).

 

[David T. Melnick]

I got that (still do) due to my epileptic seizures. Let alone, trying out new anti epileptic drugs.

 

[invitro]

You can get 3 EBs per game. One each on balls 1, 2, and 3. You just have to score the Special at the left loop and on the next ball you can get an EB again.

Thanks! It looks like this info is missing from the rules. Would the following be correct to add to the Rollover Lane section (and could it be written better):

"When the 50,000 value is scored, the next value lit will be Extra Ball if you are on the first ball of a game, or the Special in this lane was
scored on the previous ball. After scoring either Extra Ball or Special, the next shot lit will be 70,000 points."

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Thanks! It looks like this info is missing from the rules. Would the following be correct to add to the Rollover Lane section (and could it be written better):

"When the 50,000 value is scored, the next value lit will be Extra Ball if you are on the first ball of a game, or the Special in this lane was
scored on the previous ball. After scoring either Extra Ball or Special, the next shot lit will be 70,000 points."

The rules aren't very clear on it. It's simplest to say that the left lane alternates between EB and Special, and you can only collect one per ball, and it will only switch when you collect either the EB or Special.

 

[zmcvay]

Thanks! It looks like this info is missing from the rules.

It's missing from the rules, but stated in the Pro tips so they must be aware of it. Odd omission.

 

[David T. Melnick]

I'm very certain I've already put more time into EBD than TAF.

_____
You know it . I have done so also...I so love these late 70s to mid 80s.

 

[Anubis]

EBD is a perfect example of how to be challenging "in a good way". It's not my favorite but probably in my top ten.

 

[wolfson]

Here's a mini-poll for you guys. The top ten machines in the smbhax survey are: MM, AFM, MB, ToM, TZ, TAF, STTNG, TotAN, RS, and WWater. How many of these ten do you think EBD is better than? (Right now, my answer is one: STTNG. ToM is close, and comparing EBD to the other eight is laughable.)

invitro,polls are like Galahs !!! have your say in what tables you like and let others have there say.what you think are a bunch of great tables might be different to others.my fave table is Taxi,i haven`t got stupid written on my forehead,but I know Taxi would not be most peoples top 40. but you know what ,I love it.