Farsight's Official Pre-1980 Poll

[Pinballwiz45b]

Hi, I understand what are saying. I felt the same way but have looked more into this and determined it is possible Xenon does count. This is debatable but politically the 1980's did not start until 1981. If we look at it this way, then Xenon would be the youngest pre-1980s table after being manufatured in November of 1980. 2 months before 1981.

It's like saying that the 00's didn't start until '01. That doesn't make sense. The turn of the decade ALWAYS starts after a 9, going into a 0. The 80's begin in 1980, the 90's in 1990, and the 00's in 2000.

Hmmm, so in re-reading the title of this poll, I am noticing "Pre-1980". I take this to mean before 1980. While I certainly do not know what Farsight will end up choosing, by all rights, Xenon should be disqualified. Consider this: if this was the poll by Farsight asking for the next pinball table, would Xenon be that choice? I mean, this is the first time that I am seeing this table mentioned (at least anytime recent). If the voting is not going to stay within the designated parameters then I vote for F14 Tomcat from 1987. I get that we are not going to see many EM tables. I get that many (perhaps the majority) here want the more modern bells and whistles tables. Those dominate The Pinball Arcade. I am ok with that. Personally, I do not give a crap about the upcoming Starship Troopers pin to be released. I never got into the whole theme of Starship Troopers nor do I care to. I get that there are a lot of people who like that and they are getting it. I am good with that. The Pinball Arcade should not always be about what one person likes. Give the EM folks a day in court here and let's choose an old table and throw us a bone.

Amen to that. I call for a redo without Xenon. I would understand the disappointment in many of you guys wanting Xenon to be included, but since it wasn't officially released until 1980, it couldn't count as one of the choices. Another EM is desperately needed in this collection. (Paragon I'm completely fine with, though.)

 

[Tarik]

Hi, I understand what are saying. I felt the same way but have looked more into this and determined it is possible Xenon does count. This is debatable but politically the 1980's did not start until 1981. If we look at it this way, then Xenon would be the youngest pre-1980s table after being manufatured in November of 1980. 2 months before 1981.

Pre-1980 means before 1980, not including 1980.

Xenon was not only manufactured in 1980, the copyright on the manual says 1980 too.
http://mirror2.ipdb.org/files/2821/Bally_1980_Xenon_Manual.pdf

I wanted to nominate Seawitch first, but didn't because it's a 1980's table.

Now it just looks like Farsight included Xenon because it was a highly requested table on Facebook and they were going to do it anyway, making this poll useless.

Can one of you guys help me put that poll up on the forum, so we can watch Xenon and Paragon take all the votes?! :-D

 

[sedated]

Farsight added Xenon to their official poll and we voted for it. It's their fault if this was supposed to only be tables manufactured before 1980 and didn't even bother to look at the date, not ours. My guess at this point is there is probably more demand for older tables than newer ones anyway. Why not Xenon and Paragon this year? EDIT: next year I meant.

 

[Star Hedgehog]

It's like saying that the 00's didn't start until '01. That doesn't make sense. The turn of the decade ALWAYS starts after a 9, going into a 0. The 80's begin in 1980, the 90's in 1990, and the 00's in 2000.

Yes I agree. Like I said it is debatable and I could be wrong. I was listing different possibilities why Xenon is on the poll no matter how silly my theories may sound. That's my way of thinking sometimes and I meant no disrespect. I didn't pick Xenon in the poll, I picked "Spirit of 76" because it is a mid 70s table and I have explained why I chose it on the previous page. There was even a EM poll last year and that table came in second place. Thanks.

 

[daneman20]

Farsight was pretty clear by "Pre-1980" not "Pre-1980s", which in my interpretation is pretty clear. If the title was "Pre-1980s, then one could possibly interpret as the beginning of 1981, which some believe to be the beginning of the decade. If course, I remember the world celebrating the 1980 new year and it was then deemed as the beginning of the new decade. All of this is irrelevant. As for Farsight including Xenon, well I just flat disagree with that. This is a wasted opportunity. I made several points in my original post, but one of them was rather subtle. Prior to this poll, nobody appeared to care about Xenon. If the poll was "What should be the next pinball table after AF?", an educated guess, based on the feedback in this forum would have High Speed 2, Cyclone, or similar as the winner. Very likely nobody would have mentioned Xenon. While it is impossible for me to know, one possible reason Xenon was chosen now was because most of the people picking it are afraid to try something out of his/her experience. Xenon is all bells and whistles. The gameplay is not terrific by any means, which is likely the reason nobody requested it before this poll. The tragedy of all this is that the consumer will get a great looking pin that has poor replay value. The bells and whistles will wear off in about a day or two and it will be a forgotten table. Big Shot looks pretty shabby compared to Black Knight 2000 or Black Rose, but it plays great and people like it. At this point, we get 12 new pins a season. Is is too much to ask for just 1 EM out of that 12?

 

[sedated]

Is is too much to ask for just 1 EM out of that 12?

Ha blame Farsight for putting out stupid crap like Dr. Dude, Party Zone, Starship Troopers etc instead of making older tables. They're obviously more concerned with putting up crap DMD tables than classic EM and SS ones that people want. Maybe they just don't like classic EMs so they assume no one else wants them.

 

[Pinball_wiz_05401]

I signed up on Twitter just to participate in this poll and my tweet never even showed up on Farsight’s Twitter page and I do not do Facebook. Gorgar is my favorite Farsight video rendition pinball “hands down” and back in the day, commercial pinball took a giant leap in audio/ visual development with William’s FLASH – 1979.

The thing about William’s FLASH was that it was a very challenging pinball that required skill like many of the electro- mechanical pinballs some Pinball Arcade fans are hoping for here but FLASH paved the way for Gorgar and other great classics to come.

Xenon had very lame game play back in the day… and if Farsight stays true to their commitment in recreating lame game play… then there you have it… “Try a tube shot…” a glamorous back glass that you’ll never see during “video” game play… but I’ll still enjoy it… but not as much as other Farsight pinballs such as my favorite… “Gorgar”… Flight 2000… Centaur… Firepower… Black Hole… to name a few…

Attached was my original post for William’s FLASH – 1979 with some informative video links and the Internet Pinball Machine Database page on FLASH. I tried promoting this historical commercial pinball classic, it’s just a matter of time before this great pinball gets a “video” rendition.

The good thing is they made over 19k Flash's in real life so, it's not to expensive. I'd like to get a cheap project Flash and trick it out in LED's and Cointaker post flashers tied into the pops and slings.

Damn, was hoping Flash would get a good look-in, at least it's a fairly good player compared to the majority of the titles up there. Oh well, hopefully it has a chance of appearing in TPA eventually.

Williams Flash – 1979 has my vote. 19,505 produced and they could have made more. Flash - 1979 was the first pinball to have background audio that increased in pitch as you achieved game objectives and also the first pinball to have flashing lamps during game play as well.
It paved the way to other classics such as Gorgar, etc. Paragon probably has the best game play on this list however very lame audio and Bally’s Xenon was officially released in November, 1980. Xenon’s back glass art was fantastic… game play was very average… however, Suzanne Ciani’s vocal talents were a plus… “Try a tube shot…”

Internet Pinball Machine Database link- http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=871

AUDIO sample link- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neNiMNH1MHk
VIDEO sample link (1 min 47 sec)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAum3nj8gcc
A PRESTINE condition Williams Flash pinball video link– I WANT IT! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j0y3wqjsB0

 

[Zorgwon]

Hi, I understand what are saying. I felt the same way but have looked more into this and determined it is possible Xenon does count.

It will count if they want it. When people talk about the 70s they don't mean 1980.

Eight Ball Deluxe / IPD No. 762 / September 15, 1980 - another pre-1980? Well, they got rid of it.

 

[Gregory Mcgill]

Xenon

 

[Star Hedgehog]

It will count if they want it. When people talk about the 70s they don't mean 1980.

Eight Ball Deluxe / IPD No. 762 / September 15, 1980 - another pre-1980? Well, they got rid of it.

Yeah, I see what you are saying, thank you. I looked at the nominations again just now and saw it. If they said the classic Eight Ball from 1977 it probity would be in the poll. The situation with Xenon is mind boggling for everyone.

I hope to hear something from FarSight soon. They only posted contest results for the 12 days of Christmas Friday and that was it. I was ready to stream Season 2 on PS4 but I'm afraid to download it because the pro version isn't out yet and waiting to see if PS3 buyers will get an upgrade discount for season 2 and 3.

 

[Heretic]

i couldnt give a crap what a table looks nor its toys and gimmicks,

the 70s were an era of pure HARD pinball games, then to get the plebs playing we enter the 80s with zing zing beep beep LOOK at me

tpa horribly unrepresents the last era of pure pinball which is a great shame

xenons gameplay is average is best..a few game wonder

im usually happy to buy all tables but i wont buy that pish on princple

and yes i do believe some of you have godawful taste! only reason xenons getting any votes is people saw it that one time in 711 as they were trying to lookup missys skirt! guess what missy had herpes!

as far as gameplay goes xenon shouldnt get a look at almost any table on the list

abit of a farce really.

ive wanted paragon from day one but id galdy have many of the others too, but to loose to xenon kinda stings.

tbh if it wasnt up agaisnt such great tables i wouldnt bat an eyelid but to loose the likes of paragon formthis? its sad

i gave up on ever seeing paragon ages ago, to get this dangled in my face onky to be blocked by a painted hoor like xenon is annoying

 

[IGoFirstIndy]

i gave up on ever seeing paragon ages ago, to get this dangled in my face onky to be blocked by a painted hoor like xenon is annoying

Awesome!

 

[kinggo]

hmmm....... it seems that we have quite a few new members here. Voting shouldn't be allowed to those with less than 100 posts.

 

[Heretic]

hmmm....... it seems that we have quite a few new members here. Voting shouldn't be allowed to those with less than 100 posts.

unless its a oaragin vote

 

[canuck]

hmmm....... it seems that we have quite a few new members here. Voting shouldn't be allowed to those with less than 100 posts.

Why not? This isn't some kind of exclusive club. New members is a good thing.

 

[Snorzel]

Xenon gameplay. Great light show imo. Beautiful post '80 machine

 

[shutyertrap]

Time for me to chime in...

First off, this is a poll, not a bracket. It is being used to gauge people's interest. It is NOT the sole determiner as to what will actually get made. Don't believe me? Then explain why we have Cue Ball Wizard instead of Eight Ball Deluxe.

Second, just because YOU do not like EMs, or toys, or DMD, or Gottlieb, or whatever, does not mean everyone else agrees with you because you saw a few posts on Facebook. FarSight has the actual sales numbers, they know what moves units and what doesn't.

Third, it is highly unlikely that FarSight is going to comment on or change the poll because of the stir created in this thread. Witness every other time, except for the T2 skull, the forum has gotten riled up over something.

Fourth, I'm seeing a lot of talk about this taking up the EM slot for the year. An EM is an EM. If FarSight is being true to their word, then maybe this poll works two-fold. You've got the SS titles up there, you've got the EM titles. That means Fireball is currently leading with EM's. A lot depends on what FarSight wants to use their allotted number of WMS titles on before the next contract. Do not take this poll as scripture.

Finally, instead of crying out about things being unfair, or the semantics of registered date over manufacturing date, how we change the tune? Make a push for the also rans, not by decrying some other table's perceived faults, but in why the table you like is so great. Be it the table art, drop targets, it being a super wide body, it having 3 chimes, whatever. You don't win any debating points by saying your taste is better than someone else. Something like this...

I like Fireball since we don't have any other tables that have zipper flippers, and I think the spinning disc is cool.
Xenon is aesthetically pleasing, with a layout I tend to enjoy.
We need a gambling table, so bring on Joker Poker as it has cool shot selections.

9 pages in, I think we've had enough of the bashing. We get it. Now let's show FarSight why you all are so passionate about these titles.

 

[Star Hedgehog]

Many have talked about Paragon and is currently in second place. I never heard of this machine till recently, after looking YouTube videos and reading more about it, I can understand why this is a popular pre-1980s table. I hope to see this get made for TPA as well soon.

 

[Snorzel]

Paragon. Very cool lots to shoot for

 

[Snorzel]

Fireball. Really want to try this one in real life or TPA