Official Twilight Zone News

[bossyman15]

As of now it needs $479/day. I think that should be an easy gimme.

What? I calculated it at $694.30 a day to reach goal. How did you get $479?

 

[DarkAkatosh]

...wrong numbers. My bad, redid it and got what you got.

 

[Gord Lacey]

And the last few days have been sitting around $1000/day, so it looks like that's what it's leveled off to. Not bad. I'll definitely be contributing when I get back home from my trip.

 

[neilpinbot]

I have finally got around to pledge 10 Dollars will probably up it to 25 near the end. I think there should be more/some indication on Farsights Kickstarter page that people outside US can pledge all I see is Dollar signs.

 

[dyleck]

Looks like latest kickstarter update caught people's attention. Today lots of fb's "likes" and quite a lot of cash. @Farsight: post such updates more frequently!

 

[bossyman15]

I have finally got around to pledge 10 Dollars will probably up it to 25 near the end. I think there should be more/some indication on Farsights Kickstarter page that people outside US can pledge all I see is Dollar signs.

Kickstarter only uses Dollars iirc.

 

[gsxrboy]

Just a casual $12,000 to go now as $43,000 has been surpassed.

 

[baronkohinar]

Just a casual $12,000 to go now as $43,000 has been surpassed.

Then onward to ST:TNG!

 

[Fuseball]

Kickstarter only uses Dollars iirc.

Which is absolutely fine, but some more indication that the kickstarter is paying for the worldwide license might encourage more European contributors.

 

[mmmagnetic]

Call me selfish, but I wasn't really into the Pat Lawlor style of pinball so I didn't really want to pledge, although I'm absolutely head over heels in love with TPA in my iPad 3.

That is, until I saw the great PAPA tutorial on Funhouse - and suddenly it clicked. Had a ton of fun (hehe) on that table and then proceeded to RBION, which up until that point I thought was incredibly ugly, noisy and confusing. Now I'm really enjoying that as well!

I mean, it still looks like some mid-90s graphic design nightmare (it even has Comic Sans on the "Did you know?"-sign - the most hated font on earth!), but something about the whole mess of a pinball just made me laugh. The ridiculous horizontal flipper, the crowded playfield, in stark contrast to the flowing tables like MM or TOM... it's weird, it's over-the-top, and I'm quickly falling in love with it.

So I checked out the PAPA video of TZ (I really love the top-down camera in their videos, the newer 3 camera ones are even cooler!) and pledging for the kickstarter is just my way of not just funding this specific pin, but also as a little thank you to Farsight. TPA is just a dream on the hi-res iPad 3 screen, and the tables are very affordable considering the replayability they offer.

I've never got to play pinball more than a handful of times during my youth, thanks to some idiotic german laws that prevented proper arcades from forming back then. TPA makes me feel nostalgic for a time I almost entirely missed.

And if pinball fans say TZ is one of the best tables of all times, so be it! You can just tell the guys at Farsight have their hearts in the right place, and I'm more than happy to contribute.

Sorry for the long post, but hey, it's my first one

 

[Jeff Strong]

Welcome to the forum! Great first post

 

[mmmagnetic]

Thanks Have been lurking for a while!

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

I mean, it still looks like some mid-90s graphic design nightmare (it even has Comic Sans on the "Did you know?"-sign - the most hated font on earth!), but something about the whole mess of a pinball just made me laugh. The ridiculous horizontal flipper, the crowded playfield, in stark contrast to the flowing tables like MM or TOM... it's weird, it's over-the-top, and I'm quickly falling in love with it.

So I just compared the RBION and TZ playfields...they're pretty damn similar. Raised area in upper-left, pops midway down the left side, upper right flipper with a variety of shots to the left, generally crowded playfield. Mirror the Believe It or Not! scoop across the centerline and you've got the Slot Machine. Take the magnets out of the Spiral and you have the Penguin loop. Both have the chance for immediate unpreventable drains down the left outlane (from the Idol on RBION, from the pops on TZ) and both have extremely-long-distance ramp shots from the bottom flippers.

One of my friends once joked that Pat Lawlor has really only designed two tables in his career...maybe this is what he meant.

 

[xNiCeGuYx]

Some say, RBION is the poor people's twilight zone.

 

[Jeff Strong]

1,521 backers, but 2,379 people who "like" the TZ Kickstarter page on FB.....come on, you cheapskates!

 

[PiN WiZ]

1,521 backers, but 2,379 people who "like" the TZ Kickstarter page on FB.....come on, you cheapskates!

I think most of them "like" the fact that others are paying to bring The Twilight Zone to The Pinball Arcade while they get to sit back and wait for it to be released.

 

[Fungi]

So I just compared the RBION and TZ playfields...they're pretty damn similar. Raised area in upper-left, pops midway down the left side, upper right flipper with a variety of shots to the left, generally crowded playfield. Mirror the Believe It or Not! scoop across the centerline and you've got the Slot Machine. Take the magnets out of the Spiral and you have the Penguin loop. Both have the chance for immediate unpreventable drains down the left outlane (from the Idol on RBION, from the pops on TZ) and both have extremely-long-distance ramp shots from the bottom flippers.

One of my friends once joked that Pat Lawlor has really only designed two tables in his career...maybe this is what he meant.

Take a closer look at "Whirlwind" while you're at it.

 

[Brian Clark]

Not to mention that TAF has a similar layout too.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Take a closer look at "Whirlwind" while you're at it.

I'm well aware of Lawlor's Earthshaker! - Whirlwind - FunHouse - Addams Family - Twilight Zone - No Good Gofers! - RBION - Family Guy series. But of all those tables, I'd never encountered a real RBION until recently, and it's far more similar to TZ than the others. Almost as if he was testing the waters at Stern to see how much "creative license" they'd allow him to get away with.

 

[Actionball]

Of the Lawlor Tables (not counting Stern) I have the least playtime on Banzai Run, Earthshaker and TZ. So I can't really comment too much on them. He does tend to make very similar games, my personal take is that Addams Family is the best version of Whirlwind there is. But the general knock about how his games dont flow is not really that accurate. His games don't flow for 95+% of players, if you can make his games sing though there is nothing faster or more rewarding. Getting a 8 or 10 in a row combo on say the Theater loop in TOM is all well and good but it doesn't have that heart stopping speed and split second precision of a WW 3 way combo or 4 way combo on Addams. Or running up the short upper loop to open the trapdoor in Funhouse. They don't HAVE to play start stop start stop, its riskier to make them flow but I want the sirens that they almost never hear in the pizza parlor to go off, over and over and over