Farsight's Official Pre-1980 Poll

[Fungi]

Yes Mr. Nightstalker sir.

 

[Funkbox]

I do believe he was being sarcastic, especially since there was an earlier response saying polling should be limited to those over 45. There is a learning curve to some of our user's whit and humor.

There are no exclusions to any member, new or old. New members are needed and appreciated, as this place would get pretty stale without 'em. So welcome. Don't step on any land mines.

I barely tiptoe in the forums, so I'm not worried about it. Text doesn't convey humor or sarcasm, so hopefully people in general remember that.

I don't know if it's been done, but it would be interesting to gauge how many users have played these machines IRL. I was an arcade rat in the 70s and 80s, and am familiar with a lot of machines from that era. In the current iOS tourney, I've played Firepower (still with broken cabinet art) more than any other table. As long as farsight throws in an occasional EM machine, I'll believe they are looking to entertain all kinds of users. Even if the gameplay isn't outstanding, the art, rules, and challenge can still make some tables very entertaining.

 

[John Solitude]

This poll is like asking would you'd rather amputate an arm or a leg.

Since I'm into this whole virtual pinball thing bcs I have found memories of playing the real tables myself, I'd like to see them all reproduced eventually.

But as a kid that spinning wheel on Fireball was quite fascinating to me, so my vote goes to Fireball. Maybe it's not the most innovative or best game play of the bunch, but hey this thing is all about memories right.

Xenon on the other hand annoyed the crap out of me. Once beyond the novelty of the robotic voice I did not much get into the game play. Trying to regain control over the ball after it whizzed over that Fireball spinner in the playfield, now that was fascinating as a kid.

Hope Fireball is next, since it seams Xenon is going to win it.

 

[Star Hedgehog]

How many more days or hours left till the poll ends?

 

[jbejarano]

I actually would kind of prefer Xenon, but I know that Xenon really shouldn't count in a pre-1980 pool, so I picked Paragon which is my most wanted of the others. And anyway, it seems Xenon doesn't need my help in the vote tally. Hope we end up with both (and a few others on this list) when all is said and done.

 

[daneman20]

Xenon come up quite a bit on the Facebook feed. (So does Paragon for that matter.) For the most part, I see this "it's not pre-1980" whine, while technically correct, also as a whine that Xenon is winning.

Having said that, an EM would definitely be welcome for better balance. Neither Xenon nor Paragon are EMs. (Nor is Flash or Future Spa or Joker Poker or Time Warp for that matter). Pinball Arcade actually has a pretty healthy dosage of earlyish solid state (seven pins from 1979-1981), including two of them that never were in the Hall of Fame games. We only have two EMs though, all Hall of Fame carryovers.

The problem is (as seen from this poll to be honest) EM fans tend to be a vocal minority, and the requests tend to be a bit more broad (eg "make an EM" vs "I want Xenon!"). The business problem with the Bally / Williams EMs, as I see it, is that an EM pin here would use up a license that would be used on a table that would clearly sell better.

This is not so much the case for the hated Gottliebs. So my thought has been for a bit -- if one must Gottlieb, instead of wasting another slot on something like LCA, make a Gottlieb EM, spare the Wms/Bally license, and make something (like Royal Flush or Spirit of 76) that the EM people will love and the DMD folks will hate vs. something *everyone* will hate.

(Not that a Bally / WMS EM would also be cool too, but it just makes less "business" sense in some ways.)

You make some valid points here. The EM request is too broad I think. I suspect you are also right about the business end as well. Since we are down to 12 tables a season, an EM would eat up a slot for valued licensed table. Also, it occurred to me, and I could be wrong about this, that it would be a bit more difficult to emulate an EM as they would need to code the logic of the EM from scratch since they do not have eproms and/or any other readably solid state components. With a solid state table, one just needs to build the table around the already existing code.

The EM folks are vocal for a reason I think. As you point out, there is only 2 tables in the entire collection. I (and others) feel a bit underrepresented. In any case, I hope that Farsight is listening and takes this into consideration. In any case, I made my point and I'm out now. Cheers!

 

[JJH516]

Prior to this poll, nobody appeared to care about Xenon.

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.

Please, just stop. You obviously have no idea what you're talking about. If you did, you'd realize that Xenon has been requested for years.

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.

The company, most of the time anyway, puts out what people want. Unfortunately for a select few, EMs just aren't that highly requested. This debate has been beaten to death on the forum and on Facebook. I'm honestly surprised that it's still being debated!

I will say though, I am saddened we won't be getting Fireball. We could use an EM, it's been long overdue.

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!

No, it's getting votes because a lot of people want it. Sorry about your luck.

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

Nonsense.

It's bad enough that people complain because they need approval before they can post on the site, but now you wanna restrict them from voting until they get 100 posts?!? By the time that happens, the poll will be done.

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.

THANK YOU!

@ Tarik
well, sorry, but you missed the point. I'm just afraid that the opportunity for getting one older table will be wasted with something that doesn't even belong to this poll. And now we have a bunch of new members (which are very welome) that came here just to vote for something that will/would probably happen anyway. It's not something personal against any of you, it's just my reaction on something that FS did very poorly and without clearly stating what does all this means for that EM they promissed. Or some older SS.
This poll had an obvious winner before we started to vote. So all I/we/some of us want to know what does that mean.

At this point, it doesn't matter, it's what Farsight wants. As I said before, we're lucky to even be getting the chance to vote.

 

[RobbW]

Paragon is my fave table from that era. It's such a special table, bringing back so many memories and represented that certain classic recognizable "style" that carried over to tables like Lost World, etc.

It's such a special table. I hope Farsight considers what a cult classic Paragon was and gives it extra weight over the VERY pedestrian Xenon. To have another chance to hear that "melody" when you raised the left hole bonus to the top, note by note..., or to work on those advance bonus targets on the left, etc. would be something I would truly celebrate!!

I made a Xmas wish.... We'll see!!

 

[tom69]

I had to vote for Xenon. Loved this table when i first played it back in the summer of 82. Was hoping to see this one recreated eventually.

 

[kinggo]

Nonsense.

It's bad enough that people complain because they need approval before they can post on the site, but now you wanna restrict them from voting until they get 100 posts?!? By the time that happens, the poll will be done.

At this point, it doesn't matter, it's what Farsight wants. As I said before, we're lucky to even be getting the chance to vote.

please, go back to first page and read my first post and you'll realize why I said that. It has nothing to do with new members. FS is to blame for all this.

 

[sid8580]

Well, in a perfect perfect world u would even have 9 rounds, to eliminate the last candidate each time, but we dont have the time needed for that theses days ;p

That sound like the 'vote until the outcome fit [group x] expectations' approach. Either vote once and live with the outcome or do not vote and choose what you want by yourself (as FS here obv.). They let us vote, so deal with it. .)

I did vote for xenon btw., becaus its the only table in the votes that i actually played in rl. So here we go, i hope it wins.

 

[night]

FS should at least release the top 3 of this poll.

 

[Kratos3]

I feel pretty confident that Paragon and Fireball will get made eventually.

 

[sid8580]

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

Also, voting for goverments should only be allowed by people with an IQ > 100, dont you think?

 

[Star Hedgehog]

I feel pretty confident that Paragon and Fireball will get made eventually.

Yes they will, I have faith in them and "Spirit of 76" too.

 

[daneman20]

Please, just stop. You obviously have no idea what you're talking about. If you did, you'd realize that Xenon has been requested for years.



JJH516
In reviewing the history of the forums before I became a member and the FB site, I am going to man-up and admit that I was wrong to say that. While nobody has mentioned Xenon recently, that is not to say that there was no interest. It was an uninformed statement on my part and you were right to call it out. It does appear that the interest in that pin is genuine. Apologies!

 

[David T. Melnick]

FS should at least release the top 3 of this poll.

------------
that will be an awesome XMAS 12 day gift eh.

 

[sid8580]

I feel left out of the conversation, so I'm gonna waste some bandwidth with this post. Ok, I'll go away now.

Also, the cake is a lie!

 

[JJH516]

Please, just stop. You obviously have no idea what you're talking about. If you did, you'd realize that Xenon has been requested for years.



JJH516
In reviewing the history of the forums before I became a member and the FB site, I am going to man-up and admit that I was wrong to say that. While nobody has mentioned Xenon recently, that is not to say that there was no interest. It was an uninformed statement on my part and you were right to call it out. It does appear that the interest in that pin is genuine. Apologies!

No problem, man.

 

[JJH516]

FS should at least release the top 3 of this poll.

It would certainly solve a lot of problems and please a lot of people.

I want Fireball!!!!