machines that broke the mold

[Clawhammer]

Orbiter 1 broke the mold. A mold that should have never been broken IMO.

This!

 

[netizen]

One machine that totally broke the mold would be Williams Joust. It's the table hockey of pinball.

 

[brakel]

I second this. Pinball Circus is quite possibly one of the most unique pinball games in existence. And while it doesn't have the deepest rule set, it is truly challenging and gratifying to get the ball all the way up to the top level (something I've yet to accomplish).

I only played this once and did not find it difficult to get to the highest level but maybe I got lucky. What I did find was that there isn't too much to do other than try to get to the next level. The table seemed lacking in things to hit and do.

 

[rehtroboi40]

farsight seems to SPOTLIGHT specific machines from time to time that were responsible for significant contributions or break through advancements that evolved pinball into what it is today, one of those was gorgar(voice), the blackhole was another(although i wouldn't consider it's contrabution as significant) especially when you compare a sunken play area(blakhole) to the likes of rotating disks(fireball), or the first machine to incorporate multiball...i guess multiball would be one of the top advancements in the game, the other would have to be those plastic ramps..just think of all the early pinballs that did not employ ramps, then think of all the great machines since ramps were introduced, virtually every machine since then has some of these ramps... and so my question is, what machine was the very first to offer the plastic ramp...i believe the first machine i encountered with one of these ramps was THE COMET...am i correct? and if so, does farsight have plans to recreate this machine? the simplicity of a plastic ramp eroneously degrades it's inovative contribution when compared to the likes of the microchip, but if farsight was to continue it's tradition of recreating machines that defined an era, to me, it would have to be THE COMET.

Also worth noting is that it offered the first "Million point shot" just as TM:BoP offered the first Billion point shot.

 

[rehtroboi40]

How about Gottlieb's "Goin' Nuts" prototype with it's timer based play? FarSight did this one on the later versions of the Gottlieb Collection. Not a great table, but gets credit for trying what was in '83 a unique style of play.

 

[pezpunk]

How about Gottlieb's "Goin' Nuts" prototype with it's timer based play? FarSight did this one on the later versions of the Gottlieb Collection. Not a great table, but gets credit for trying what was in '83 a unique style of play.

yeah, what a weird machine that was! no outlanes. every ball starts with an automatic 3-ball multiball. hardly anything to do other than hit drop targets ... over and over and over and over. there are 5 sets of 3 drop targets, and if you drop all 5 sets 5 times each (so that's 3x5x5 = 75 targets hit) you get an extra ball. hitting targets and restarting multiball are basically the only two goals of the whole game.

i guess it could be challenging with some tuning to the timer, but the version implemented in gottlieb PHOF can be played virtually indefinitely. if you do manage to lose two of your three balls (which is almost a challenge, what with no outlanes and no important shots that pose a major SDTM drain risk), a timer starts counting down, during which you try to restart multiball (which stops the timer). if the timer gets to zero, your ball ends and it starts your next ball by launching 3 new balls into play. the number of seconds on the countdown timer depends on how many shots you made during multiball. it's not hard to get it up to 100 seconds on a decent round. either way, it's easily far more than enough time to make either of the two relatively easy shots that will restart multiball. you may then commence hitting drop target after drop target after drop target.

 

[neglectoid]

to me... the color orange has meant extra ball. green = lock, and red of course, special. any clue on these firsts?

 

[norbert26]

One machine that totally broke the mold would be Williams Joust. It's the table hockey of pinball.

i remember this. you could play with two people and it had a one player mode too.

 

[jaredmorgs]

One machine that totally broke the mold would be Williams Joust. It's the table hockey of pinball.

That reminds me of Alvin G and Co's Soccerball game.

 

[alop]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGxbritkh2Y&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This is Cyrcus revolutionary but only make 2 machines

 

[Rollergoalie16]

How about a shout out for Bally's, Xenon. First table I believe to incorporate a tube shot to traverse the width of the playfield. Gottlieb's, Mars God of War is another that comes to mind with the clear tube shot, but I do believe came out after Xenon.

 

[Carl Spiby]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGxbritkh2Y&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This is Cyrcus revolutionary but only make 2 machines

2 prototypes to be correct.

 

[rehtroboi40]

Wow, two pages in and still no mention of Atari's Hercules table. Sorely missing from TPA (sarcasm!)