So at Level 257 in Schaumburg, IL they have a Dailed In set up there with the other pinball machines. It looks like they're doing playtesting for the prototype.
I played the game several times at the Expo but it was nice to be able to take my time with the machine and play it some more. Here's my takeaways after playing it for about two hours.
- Still loving the layout to this table. Really nice flow
- The table is really fast though which makes it difficult
- The table needs a ball save badly! I had several balls where I plunged and the ball went SDTM. And once that happed two times in a row. Very annoying!
- There are 7 disaster modes on the phone shot (Meteor, Earthquake, Alien Attack, Fire(?), Flood(?), Volcano, and some other one I'm not sure on)
- When you trigger one of the disasters the phone will display what you need to do and how long you have to complete the mission - there is also a call out explanation when the disaster starts
- You'll also get calls on the phone and need to shoot the phone scoop to pick up before the person hangs up. Picking up will start additional modes
- On the left orbit there's some additional fun modes to unlock once you hit the "BOB" targets (also on the left)
- These Bob modes are Emoji Attack(?), Lottery something, and Selfie something (I don't remember the exact names of the modes)
- The Selfie mode is the one that takes your picture as you are playing and posts it on the backbox
- This might be just me but the hardest shot was the phone scoop. Even from trapping the ball I would have a hard time making it in. Very few times would a direct shot make it in. Usually it would bounce off the back of the scoop. Or I'd just shoot wide to the left/right of the scoop and either go in to the right orbit or bumpers.
- The magnets near the drones will sometimes send the ball SDTM. But sometimes they'll also drop the ball in to the phone scoop (helpful!)
- I only was able to initiate a 2-ball multiball on a few games. I imagine there is at least a 3-ball or more multiball on there but didn't do well enough to trigger that
- Games were a $1 a pop
I think people are right about the need to change the look of the game. There were a surprising number of kids playing the pinball tables they had set up there. But I only saw one other person, a teenager, bother to play Dialed In beyond my self. The kids were going crazy over Ghostbusters (which was right next to Dialed In) and The Hobbit, which was next to Ghost Busters.
If you do head to Level 257 it looks like Saturday afternoon is a good time. One thing with all the kids playing the pinball games is they would load games up on credit and not realize it and walk away or leave a game on ball 2 or 3. The first time I went over to play The Hobbit I put in my credit and then found someone had left it in the mist of a 4-player game. So I finished that off and played my game. But then saw there was another credit on it. Ghost Busters had 5 credits on it when I went over to it. I played 2 free games (and won an additional one) before moving on. Twilight Zone had a free credit on it. Kiss I saw was on Ball-2. And GoT was on ball-3 at one point. So while I spent $20 there it went a long way.
I played the game several times at the Expo but it was nice to be able to take my time with the machine and play it some more. Here's my takeaways after playing it for about two hours.
- Still loving the layout to this table. Really nice flow
- The table is really fast though which makes it difficult
- The table needs a ball save badly! I had several balls where I plunged and the ball went SDTM. And once that happed two times in a row. Very annoying!
- There are 7 disaster modes on the phone shot (Meteor, Earthquake, Alien Attack, Fire(?), Flood(?), Volcano, and some other one I'm not sure on)
- When you trigger one of the disasters the phone will display what you need to do and how long you have to complete the mission - there is also a call out explanation when the disaster starts
- You'll also get calls on the phone and need to shoot the phone scoop to pick up before the person hangs up. Picking up will start additional modes
- On the left orbit there's some additional fun modes to unlock once you hit the "BOB" targets (also on the left)
- These Bob modes are Emoji Attack(?), Lottery something, and Selfie something (I don't remember the exact names of the modes)
- The Selfie mode is the one that takes your picture as you are playing and posts it on the backbox
- This might be just me but the hardest shot was the phone scoop. Even from trapping the ball I would have a hard time making it in. Very few times would a direct shot make it in. Usually it would bounce off the back of the scoop. Or I'd just shoot wide to the left/right of the scoop and either go in to the right orbit or bumpers.
- The magnets near the drones will sometimes send the ball SDTM. But sometimes they'll also drop the ball in to the phone scoop (helpful!)
- I only was able to initiate a 2-ball multiball on a few games. I imagine there is at least a 3-ball or more multiball on there but didn't do well enough to trigger that
- Games were a $1 a pop
I think people are right about the need to change the look of the game. There were a surprising number of kids playing the pinball tables they had set up there. But I only saw one other person, a teenager, bother to play Dialed In beyond my self. The kids were going crazy over Ghostbusters (which was right next to Dialed In) and The Hobbit, which was next to Ghost Busters.
If you do head to Level 257 it looks like Saturday afternoon is a good time. One thing with all the kids playing the pinball games is they would load games up on credit and not realize it and walk away or leave a game on ball 2 or 3. The first time I went over to play The Hobbit I put in my credit and then found someone had left it in the mist of a 4-player game. So I finished that off and played my game. But then saw there was another credit on it. Ghost Busters had 5 credits on it when I went over to it. I played 2 free games (and won an additional one) before moving on. Twilight Zone had a free credit on it. Kiss I saw was on Ball-2. And GoT was on ball-3 at one point. So while I spent $20 there it went a long way.
