Pinball eras: mixed preferences poll

[mikehg]

One more, then I'll stop spamming you with polls



[but I know you secretly love polls...]


eta - gah. I'm not sure what the difference between 'no preference' and 'EM, SS, AN and DMD' would be. But I can't edit it. Ho hum...

eta2 - in case anyone's baffled by the initialisms:

EM = electromechanical - think Big Shot or Central Park
SS = early solid state - think Firepower or Centaur
AN = alphanumeric - think High Speed or Diner
DMD = digital multimedia display - think Star Trek The Next Generation or Fish Tales

 

[weirdproq]

Voted for EM, AN and DMD. I don't particularly like the SS era that much because of kinda bland playfields (Gorgar, Black Knight), but there's some good ones (Black Hole, Centaur, Haunted House). I've only played the EMs in TPA and in PHAF:WC, and don't care to much for Central Park, but like Big Shot and Jive Time and like some videos I've seen of EMs (Nip It, Fireball).

 

[infernogott]

I'm a sucker for DMDs

 

[Kolchak357]

My faves are EM and early SS but I have favorites from every category. I really have a good time with some of the recent Stern pins.

 

[Dedpop]

I hesitated between EM or SS or EM and SS or AN or EM and AN or SS and AN or EM, SS and AN or DMD or EM and DMD or SS and DMD or EM, SS and DMD or AN and DMD or AN and DMD or EM, AN and DMD or SS, AN and DMD or EM, SS, AN and DMD. I finally voted for EM, SS, AN and DMD.

 

[mikehg]

Well at least you were sure you weren't going for 'No overall preference'!

 

[Dedpop]

Well at least you were sure you weren't going for 'No overall preference'!

EM, SS, AN and DMD = No overall preference

 

[David Pannozzo]

Please tell me what An stands for, I voted SS, AN, AND DMD. Don't like EM's sorry.

 

[jbejarano]

There'll always be a special place in my heart for EM and early SS, but really?... All of them. I love all of them in their own way.

 

[weirdproq]

Please tell me what An stands for

I was a little confused myself, but I think it means AlphaNumeric, as in the score display can show not just numbers but letters and simple animations to. Examples are Taxi, Funhouse, and Elvira and The Party Monsters.

 

[David Pannozzo]

Thank you very much Weirdproq, I really appreciate it. Now that you say that, AN games are used on System 11 games like Bad Cats, Mousin' Around, Radical, Fire!, Banzai Run, Cyclone, Jokerz, Earthshaker, Whirlwind, Riverboat Gambler, and many others (even Data East's Phantom Of The Opera).

 

[mikehg]

Yeah, sorry, AN was meant to be AlphaNumerical... Should have written that somewhere - I'll add it to the first post.

 

[wolfson]

I voted EM,SS,AN and DMD.

 

[infernogott]

What's the differnce between "EM, SS, AN and DMD" and "No overall preference"?

One of them is redundant.

 

[mikehg]

Not according to the voters, who are leaning quite strongly towards 'EM, SS, AN and DMD' over 'No overall preference'.

 

[dtown8532]

I like working on EM's the most. Sooo simple. I also like EM's that are fast and have that "out of my control" feel.

I like certain early sold state games like Centaur or Fathom.

I like the light show spectacle of simple DMD's like Getaway or BSD, but, I don't like working on these games because of all the crap that's on the playfield and sooo much electronic board work to look over.

I'm not really a big fan of the System 11 games for whatever reason.

New Sterns are...just out of my price range.

 

[vikingerik]

SS and DMD, which is a bit of an odd combination. So here's why. Many of the alphanumeric games focus too much on hyping their one feature or gimmick, so the game ends up less diverse and fun. BOP's left ramp, Taxi's airport million, Elvira's ramp grinding, Dr Dude's mixer, all of those get very single-note as you ignore the rest of the game.

Earlier SS games don't have that problem, before jackpots were invented, there was much better care taken to get the whole playfield and all the features involved in optimal gameplay. Genie gets the whole playfield involved in chasing extra balls and bonus, Black Knight has all the drop target banks, Black Hole has the accelerators and lower playfield, Firepower makes you do a lot of stuff to get into multiball. DMDs mostly don't have the tunnel-vision problem either, as everything gets involved in escalating to the wizard mode.

There are of course exceptions, this means you Borg Multiball. And some alphanumeric games are exceptions, notably Lawlor's in Funhouse and Whirlwind where you do play the whole table.

 

[ThePinballFan]

EM, SS, AN and DMD
I voted for them all, because every era has good Pins.
Variety is important to me and it's all about the mood, sometimes I like to play Big Shot or Genie than a complicated DMD with his rules or vice versa.

 

[TomL]

Ooops, I think I punched the wrong chad and voted for the Libertarian candidate.