- Feb 19, 2012
- 8,144
- 2
Wow! That's insane.
-
Welcome Back to Digital Pinball Fans - please read this first
Pinball League in SoCal
- Thread starter shutyertrap
- Start date
- Mar 14, 2012
- 7,334
- 0
- Thread starter
- #23
Some table pics...
Me playing 'Joust' with my son. Couldn't figure out if the point was to send balls to your opponent or keep 'em in play on your side. We had fun though! Sound was the exact same as my Firepower, which made me laugh.
Wizard Blocks! Anybody have any idea how many of these actually exist? Maybe 2? So this is a whitewood, used in early prototyping. The owner also had a Safe Cracker in this state. Difference between that and this though, the SC had a fairly finalized version of the software running. Since WB never got very far into development, there wasn't much 'game' here. The Pin2000 screen showed some animations, but most looked like placeholders. Real hard to judge, and it would be unfair to, what this game would actually have been like. I didn't take a pic of the Playboy that was right next to it, but it looked just like this, nothing but inserts, flippers, and a ramp or two. It REALLY had early software running.
Kingpin! There's what, 8 of these? I know one just sold for only $50,000. Anyway, this was fully playable. It reminded me a lot of Dirty Harry for some reason. It was cool, but I like Big Bang Bar better. Speaking of which, while it wasn't on this floor, the guy owns one of the originals too, not the reproductions. None of us had any clue what we were supposed to be doing on the table, but that player one score is mine!
That's the view from the back of the arcade, looking out under the columns. I'm tellin' ya, this place was fantastic, and LOUD! It sounded like a proper arcade, which of course meant you couldn't actually hear the game you were playing. I wanted to play Krull, just because of how rare that is too, but it was turned off for all of but 10 minutes the entire time I was there.
I have to mention the home theater that was there too. Underneath the marquee sign out front, that's the theater. Beautiful lobby, full bar (sorry, no alcohol served at OC Pinball League meetings), and one very heavy door. Behind the door, a completely soundproofed 20 seat movie theater that was simply stunning in its architecture. All seats were D-Box, meaning they had motion control in them. I took a look at the projector...it's exactly what you'd find in a real theater. Unbelievable. And I only saw the bottom floor of this 3 story 'guest' house! There was an elevator in the place even.
Give you an idea of the neighborhood this was in, it's a private (duh) gated community of 46 houses surrounded by their own private golf course right off the ocean. I had a suspicion Kobe Bryant might live in the same community, but no. He lives 2 miles down the road! There was a Lambo parked out front, and it didn't look out of place in the least. I've shot films in crazy expensive houses before, but this place was built for playing in, and I love that. Can't wait till he hosts another league night!
Me playing 'Joust' with my son. Couldn't figure out if the point was to send balls to your opponent or keep 'em in play on your side. We had fun though! Sound was the exact same as my Firepower, which made me laugh.
Wizard Blocks! Anybody have any idea how many of these actually exist? Maybe 2? So this is a whitewood, used in early prototyping. The owner also had a Safe Cracker in this state. Difference between that and this though, the SC had a fairly finalized version of the software running. Since WB never got very far into development, there wasn't much 'game' here. The Pin2000 screen showed some animations, but most looked like placeholders. Real hard to judge, and it would be unfair to, what this game would actually have been like. I didn't take a pic of the Playboy that was right next to it, but it looked just like this, nothing but inserts, flippers, and a ramp or two. It REALLY had early software running.
Kingpin! There's what, 8 of these? I know one just sold for only $50,000. Anyway, this was fully playable. It reminded me a lot of Dirty Harry for some reason. It was cool, but I like Big Bang Bar better. Speaking of which, while it wasn't on this floor, the guy owns one of the originals too, not the reproductions. None of us had any clue what we were supposed to be doing on the table, but that player one score is mine!
That's the view from the back of the arcade, looking out under the columns. I'm tellin' ya, this place was fantastic, and LOUD! It sounded like a proper arcade, which of course meant you couldn't actually hear the game you were playing. I wanted to play Krull, just because of how rare that is too, but it was turned off for all of but 10 minutes the entire time I was there.
I have to mention the home theater that was there too. Underneath the marquee sign out front, that's the theater. Beautiful lobby, full bar (sorry, no alcohol served at OC Pinball League meetings), and one very heavy door. Behind the door, a completely soundproofed 20 seat movie theater that was simply stunning in its architecture. All seats were D-Box, meaning they had motion control in them. I took a look at the projector...it's exactly what you'd find in a real theater. Unbelievable. And I only saw the bottom floor of this 3 story 'guest' house! There was an elevator in the place even.
Give you an idea of the neighborhood this was in, it's a private (duh) gated community of 46 houses surrounded by their own private golf course right off the ocean. I had a suspicion Kobe Bryant might live in the same community, but no. He lives 2 miles down the road! There was a Lambo parked out front, and it didn't look out of place in the least. I've shot films in crazy expensive houses before, but this place was built for playing in, and I love that. Can't wait till he hosts another league night!
- May 8, 2012
- 4,334
- 3
I won't quote your epic post and comment in-line, shutyertrap, but the Sega game you mentioned that rotated is a G-LOC 360.
It's basically the original G-LOC plane shooter encased in a similar contraption to those human gyroscope attractions you see around the place. The unit runs off three-phase power, it takes so much juice to run.
Playing the game is quite interesting. There is an input lag between when you activate the flight stick to when the motors kick in and turn the gyroscope mechanism. So you can be half way through a turn and all of a sudden the machine starts turning you left when you've finished your left turn and are now into your right turn. Very off-putting.
Anyway, onto the pinballs. What an *epic* collection of pinballs this guy has. Some real rarities. What a joy it would be to play Kingpin IRL. I played it on pinMAME plenty of times, but IRL would be a great experience. Joust reminds me of Alvin G Soccerball, except Soccerball had this switch system on the flippers that triggered them automatically. So you could have a one person game against the CPU.
It's basically the original G-LOC plane shooter encased in a similar contraption to those human gyroscope attractions you see around the place. The unit runs off three-phase power, it takes so much juice to run.
Playing the game is quite interesting. There is an input lag between when you activate the flight stick to when the motors kick in and turn the gyroscope mechanism. So you can be half way through a turn and all of a sudden the machine starts turning you left when you've finished your left turn and are now into your right turn. Very off-putting.
Anyway, onto the pinballs. What an *epic* collection of pinballs this guy has. Some real rarities. What a joy it would be to play Kingpin IRL. I played it on pinMAME plenty of times, but IRL would be a great experience. Joust reminds me of Alvin G Soccerball, except Soccerball had this switch system on the flippers that triggered them automatically. So you could have a one person game against the CPU.
Clawhammer
New member
- Nov 1, 2012
- 611
- 1
Wizard Blocks, Kingpin and Krull in one collection? Thats one demi-god of a pinball collector (with very deep pockets). Whoever it is, its nice that he opens up his collection to let us mere mortals play those games. That is one lucky trip, thanks for posting.
- Mar 14, 2012
- 7,334
- 0
- Thread starter
- #27
No idea what line of work he is in. I don't know if he had Cactus Canyon Complete, but I'm guessing not. He's a prototype collector and leaves the pins in that state.
N
netizen
Guest
If he likes leaving his machines in their OG State it is unlikely he would have busted out the P-ROC to turn it into Cactus Canyon Continued.
Bowflex
New member
- Feb 21, 2012
- 2,287
- 1
Ahh...I think my holy grail to play is a CC with the finished software ROMs. Either that or I hope TPA can obtain them. That whole scenario sounds pretty shady in general so it would be great if more info came out about it some day.
There would be no need for P-Roc. This would be the actual finished roms instead of some homebrew project.
SKILL_SHOT
Banned
- Jul 11, 2012
- 3,659
- 1
PICS DAMIT!!! 
Kolchak357
Senior Pigeon
- May 31, 2012
- 8,102
- 2
PICS DAMIT!!!
There are pics on the first page of the thread. Or are you lookin for more pics?
- Mar 14, 2012
- 7,334
- 0
- Thread starter
- #33
Thought I might comment about some of the tables I played that weren't of the ultra rare variety...
Judge Dredd - I really really dug this table. The theme is just great, and the whole being a police officer vibe just reminds you of every other pin that is of the cop variety. For some reason that never ceases to be fun for me! The upper right corner is crazy with how many different shots there are in such a tight space, and they can be crazy fast considering you need to hit 'em with the little 2" flipper. The table isn't an outlane exploiter, but damn do you gotta be careful with the center drains. My practice games were good sessions considering I had no clue what I was doing. My tournament session had the table kicking my butt like a pissed off Judge would! But I honestly never felt like the table issued me cheap drains. Ultimately it's the one table I keep thinking about 3 days later, so I really hope it has a future in TPA.
Revenge From Mars - While I very much prefer AFM more, it did manage to win me over some. My overt hate for Pin 2000 with Star Wars and having never played an RFM in good condition, you might say I was a wee bit prejudiced against it. Watching my 7 year old play though, and how he was reacting to the animations, well that softened me a bit. Then I played, and I started paying attention to the humor. Much of it is the same as AFM but now fully animated. There was one mode though where the martians are trying to take over the TV airwaves, and each time you shot the ball up into the animated monitor banks, you witnessed one of these shows. Gotta be honest, I laughed out loud at every one of 'em. I still don't love the table, but I no longer hate it.
Tron LE - Look, its pretty, no doubt about it. It also just fails to hook me in. There is so much going on, it's stimulus overload. It absolutely fails to entice someone that doesn't know the rules to learn 'em. This is the epitome of a table you have to do your homework on, meaning great for home use, lousy for location. I finished my game and honestly could care less to play it again.
World Cup Soccer - I really like this machine. I like the sounds, the look, the satisfaction of shooting a goal. The only negative is that it is a VERY cramped playfield. There's really only a 3 inch gap to get the ball to the upper portion it seems. Still, that spinning soccer ball sends the ball all over the place. I saw it launch a ball up and into one of the ramps multiple times. I gave a fist pump every time I shot past the goalie. It can play nasty, but I like it all the same. This was the second league night in a row that had it, and I'll continue to play it every time I see it now.
Radical - I've seen pics of it before, I think I may have played it in VP too. My impression was always that it was a huge misfire. Playing the real thing though? This table is way tough! There are two mid field flippers, and both are for shots that you absolutely have to be able to hit, and yet they feel impossible! But then you find the groove, and wow. The theme is crap to be sure, or at least not well executed. Extreme sports and pinball just seem to bring out the cheese. The game play on the other hand was a blast. For sure the surprise of the night.
Beyond that, Earthshaker continued to be a completely nasty drain monster for me. Shooting the right ramp with the mid flipper was about as safe as juggling chainsaws. Indy 500 turned out to be one of those tables where as a player, you never once can look up at the DMD because taking your eye off the ball is death. You almost need a spotter, looking at the DMD for you and then telling you what is going on. Good ramp fun, but I quickly forgot the experience.
Once the scores are posted from the tourney, I'll let you guys know how I did. Until then...
Judge Dredd - I really really dug this table. The theme is just great, and the whole being a police officer vibe just reminds you of every other pin that is of the cop variety. For some reason that never ceases to be fun for me! The upper right corner is crazy with how many different shots there are in such a tight space, and they can be crazy fast considering you need to hit 'em with the little 2" flipper. The table isn't an outlane exploiter, but damn do you gotta be careful with the center drains. My practice games were good sessions considering I had no clue what I was doing. My tournament session had the table kicking my butt like a pissed off Judge would! But I honestly never felt like the table issued me cheap drains. Ultimately it's the one table I keep thinking about 3 days later, so I really hope it has a future in TPA.
Revenge From Mars - While I very much prefer AFM more, it did manage to win me over some. My overt hate for Pin 2000 with Star Wars and having never played an RFM in good condition, you might say I was a wee bit prejudiced against it. Watching my 7 year old play though, and how he was reacting to the animations, well that softened me a bit. Then I played, and I started paying attention to the humor. Much of it is the same as AFM but now fully animated. There was one mode though where the martians are trying to take over the TV airwaves, and each time you shot the ball up into the animated monitor banks, you witnessed one of these shows. Gotta be honest, I laughed out loud at every one of 'em. I still don't love the table, but I no longer hate it.
Tron LE - Look, its pretty, no doubt about it. It also just fails to hook me in. There is so much going on, it's stimulus overload. It absolutely fails to entice someone that doesn't know the rules to learn 'em. This is the epitome of a table you have to do your homework on, meaning great for home use, lousy for location. I finished my game and honestly could care less to play it again.
World Cup Soccer - I really like this machine. I like the sounds, the look, the satisfaction of shooting a goal. The only negative is that it is a VERY cramped playfield. There's really only a 3 inch gap to get the ball to the upper portion it seems. Still, that spinning soccer ball sends the ball all over the place. I saw it launch a ball up and into one of the ramps multiple times. I gave a fist pump every time I shot past the goalie. It can play nasty, but I like it all the same. This was the second league night in a row that had it, and I'll continue to play it every time I see it now.
Radical - I've seen pics of it before, I think I may have played it in VP too. My impression was always that it was a huge misfire. Playing the real thing though? This table is way tough! There are two mid field flippers, and both are for shots that you absolutely have to be able to hit, and yet they feel impossible! But then you find the groove, and wow. The theme is crap to be sure, or at least not well executed. Extreme sports and pinball just seem to bring out the cheese. The game play on the other hand was a blast. For sure the surprise of the night.
Beyond that, Earthshaker continued to be a completely nasty drain monster for me. Shooting the right ramp with the mid flipper was about as safe as juggling chainsaws. Indy 500 turned out to be one of those tables where as a player, you never once can look up at the DMD because taking your eye off the ball is death. You almost need a spotter, looking at the DMD for you and then telling you what is going on. Good ramp fun, but I quickly forgot the experience.
Once the scores are posted from the tourney, I'll let you guys know how I did. Until then...
sotie
New member
- Aug 30, 2012
- 1,123
- 0
There is a Revenge From Mars onsite at the Pacific Pinball Museum in the DMD room. Every time I go there I notice that kids are immediately drawn to it.
- Mar 14, 2012
- 7,334
- 0
- Thread starter
- #35
Yeah, my boy immediately understood the general idea. He could visually see the imbiginator with the giant pig and chicken, and knew to hit them to make 'em small again. We played AFM after, and since a lot of the call outs are the same, he was able to instinctively know where to shoot, even without the graphics. Before that (at home with TPA), he'd just shoot randomly, trying to keep the ball alive with no sense of an actual mission event taking place.
SKILL_SHOT
Banned
- Jul 11, 2012
- 3,659
- 1
to bad theres no HUSTLER 2000 GET IN THE HOLE!
GET IN THE HOLE!
- May 8, 2012
- 4,334
- 3
PICS DAMIT!!!
Keep scrolling up. Pics aplenty.
- Mar 14, 2012
- 7,334
- 0
- Thread starter
- #38
New month, new night of pinball at the OC Pinball League!
The host of this month's meeting had a lot of older games. Translation, EM's and such. Not a fan, and after how I performed in tournament, really really not a fan! It really is a different style of play needed for these things. The ball moves slower, you have to be a nudger, and scoring is so much more a slog. Give me jackpots and modes to stack! Anyways, here's the list of games I got to play tonight...
Row 1
Count-Down
Spanish Eyes
Freedom '76
Big Deal
Time Zone
Row 2
Cleopatra
Sea Ray
Scorpion
World Cup Soccer '94
Bowling Queen
Row 3
F-14
Riverboat Gambler
Terminator 2
Road Kings
Spanish Eyes has this crazy setup at the flippers.
That pop bumper in the middle of the flippers will bounce your ball around a good many times. We were all laughing because according to league rules, if you earn an extra ball, you have to plunge and then not touch the table. Well, the ball stayed in play for nearly a minute because it simply would not center drain!
Time Zone, which made an appearance on one of the polls, was the only old game I actually did really well on. I have no clue why my score got to what it did, but as it's the only table I didn't fall flat on my face playing, I'm not complaining!
Riverboat Gambler is a whole lot of fun. It's a bit on the ugly side, especially all the solid red ramps, and I suspect that might be why it doesn't get much love.
Get past the looks though, and good times! The skill shot is great. You essentially have to plunge just enough for the ball to barely make the turn and ride on a little ledge that leads over to the roulette field. Too soft, it rolls back down the ramp. Too hard, it goes all the way around the turn and drops into the pop bumpers. Speaking of roulette, you pick your color and a wheel on the backbox spins and if you hit, you get chips (end of ball bonus points). There are all manner of shots, be it drop targets or ramps or dead ends. 'Bout the only thing it doesn't have are loop shots. It's not a flow table, but you can get some rhythm going.
I think it surprised a lot of people, and pissed off its fair share too. Just a really solid System 11 machine.
F-14 separates the men from the boys, and I proved to be an infant. T2 was a center drain monster, and every failed shot wanted to send the ball there. First time ever playing Road Kings and...did nothing for me. Well, it reminded me of Harley and how much more that sucked compared to this! Didn't help matters that this particular machine had issues, be it the center drop target going on the fritz or the ball taking a nice bounce each time it transitioned from metal ball guide to flipper.
So my tournament machines were Cleopatra, which I'd get 2 bounces and one flipper shot before the ball would go to an outlane; Sea Ray which gave me play time, just not much scoring; Time Zone, the only table of the night I did okay on; T2, which I had great practice sessions on but couldn't do diddly during the tourney; Riverboat, which had the same story as T2 but was even meaner; Road Kings, where the less said the better.
I'm not gonna like seeing my points total when posted a day or so from now, that's for sure. My other 3 meetings, I managed to avoid placing last on probably 5 of the 6 tables we'd play, often posting 1st in my group on at least 2. Tonight, I was bottom on 5. Oh well, here's hoping next month treats me better.
The host of this month's meeting had a lot of older games. Translation, EM's and such. Not a fan, and after how I performed in tournament, really really not a fan! It really is a different style of play needed for these things. The ball moves slower, you have to be a nudger, and scoring is so much more a slog. Give me jackpots and modes to stack! Anyways, here's the list of games I got to play tonight...
Row 1
Count-Down
Spanish Eyes
Freedom '76
Big Deal
Time Zone
Row 2
Cleopatra
Sea Ray
Scorpion
World Cup Soccer '94
Bowling Queen
Row 3
F-14
Riverboat Gambler
Terminator 2
Road Kings
Spanish Eyes has this crazy setup at the flippers.
That pop bumper in the middle of the flippers will bounce your ball around a good many times. We were all laughing because according to league rules, if you earn an extra ball, you have to plunge and then not touch the table. Well, the ball stayed in play for nearly a minute because it simply would not center drain!
Time Zone, which made an appearance on one of the polls, was the only old game I actually did really well on. I have no clue why my score got to what it did, but as it's the only table I didn't fall flat on my face playing, I'm not complaining!
Riverboat Gambler is a whole lot of fun. It's a bit on the ugly side, especially all the solid red ramps, and I suspect that might be why it doesn't get much love.
Get past the looks though, and good times! The skill shot is great. You essentially have to plunge just enough for the ball to barely make the turn and ride on a little ledge that leads over to the roulette field. Too soft, it rolls back down the ramp. Too hard, it goes all the way around the turn and drops into the pop bumpers. Speaking of roulette, you pick your color and a wheel on the backbox spins and if you hit, you get chips (end of ball bonus points). There are all manner of shots, be it drop targets or ramps or dead ends. 'Bout the only thing it doesn't have are loop shots. It's not a flow table, but you can get some rhythm going.
I think it surprised a lot of people, and pissed off its fair share too. Just a really solid System 11 machine.
F-14 separates the men from the boys, and I proved to be an infant. T2 was a center drain monster, and every failed shot wanted to send the ball there. First time ever playing Road Kings and...did nothing for me. Well, it reminded me of Harley and how much more that sucked compared to this! Didn't help matters that this particular machine had issues, be it the center drop target going on the fritz or the ball taking a nice bounce each time it transitioned from metal ball guide to flipper.
So my tournament machines were Cleopatra, which I'd get 2 bounces and one flipper shot before the ball would go to an outlane; Sea Ray which gave me play time, just not much scoring; Time Zone, the only table of the night I did okay on; T2, which I had great practice sessions on but couldn't do diddly during the tourney; Riverboat, which had the same story as T2 but was even meaner; Road Kings, where the less said the better.
I'm not gonna like seeing my points total when posted a day or so from now, that's for sure. My other 3 meetings, I managed to avoid placing last on probably 5 of the 6 tables we'd play, often posting 1st in my group on at least 2. Tonight, I was bottom on 5. Oh well, here's hoping next month treats me better.
SKILL_SHOT
Banned
- Jul 11, 2012
- 3,659
- 1
Cool! I just confirmed that my pinball buddy and I will be going to East Bay CITY RUMBLE
http://www.eastbaypinball.org/rumble/roster.html
although were not representing a league it is a open 2 man team tournament wich will be my first competitive pinball venture. Time to practice till my fingers BLEED!
http://www.eastbaypinball.org/rumble/roster.html
although were not representing a league it is a open 2 man team tournament wich will be my first competitive pinball venture. Time to practice till my fingers BLEED!
- Mar 14, 2012
- 7,334
- 0
- Thread starter
- #40
And here we go again.
League night tournament for the OC Pinball League. It was hosted at the house of the first event I went to, so no new pins to report. If you really wanna know everything that was there, look at my very first post of this thread!
So I got a solid hour and a half of 'practice' on the tables before the tourney started. We don't know exactly which tables will be a part of the event, so I just tried to get at least one game on all of them. I wasn't so much trying to score as I was trying to figure out how the ball bounced coming out of eject holes, doing dead flipper passes, checking tilt sensitivity, that sort of thing. Finally we got our list, and here's how it went down for me...
Round 1 - Earthshaker
Oh man, not a good start AT ALL. My first ball was over and done with in less than 20 seconds. I felt fine at first with that, as the next 2 people had only slightly better turns, but then the 4th guy put up a score of 5 million. Ouch. Second ball ended fairly quickly too with a bad bounce to the outlane. On my 3rd ball I got 2 flips in before getting a bad bounce of a post that sent the ball screaming down the middle. I don't think I even scored 350,000 on the table. Ugly, ugly start.
Round 2 - Funhouse
Well ball 1 started much the same way it did on Earthshaker. Ball 2 on the other hand, I was able to make things happen. I got multiball, I started a Frenzy, and I racked up 4 million points. On the 3rd ball, I tried for Rudy's Hideout on launch. It came up short, dropped onto the table going right between the pop bumpers, and without hitting a single thing on the table, drained right down the middle. I got a launching score and that was it! Damn does that table need a ball save timer. Because of that, I took 2nd when I easily could have locked down a 1st place score for my round.
Round 3 - Attack From Mars
This is the one table I felt pretty confident going into. I had good practice sessions on it, my plan was to just pound away at the saucer and ignore everything else, and I've had good luck on it in previous tourneys. High score in previous rounds was only slightly over a billion, so I knew what my target score to beat was. Ball 1, I destroyed one saucer and that was it. Ball 2, yet another saucer and came ever so close to starting martian multiball. Ball 3 ended with my ball rattling out of the final shot to destroy a saucer and dropping down the middle, but my final score was just over 2 billion. Yay! Unfortunately 2 other guys in my round ALSO shot over 2 billion. One of whom I lost to by only 35,000 points! At the end of the night, I looked to see how our scores compared to everyone else's. Turns out I would have taken first if I had been in any other round, but instead took 3rd for mine. Sometimes you just can't get lucky.
Round 4 - The Addams Family
Perhaps the table I was most nervous about playing. I know what a cruel beast this thing can be. In practice, I had one horrible game and one really really good game. I really haven't played it much since the 90's, so I don't know any of the tricks to scoring. The way the ball bounced while playing, I never had a chance to even fumble upon a score. By the end of ball 3, my score put me at 2nd to last for EVERYONE that had played the table so far. Talk about flaming out. I want revenge on this table something bad.
Round 5 - Cirqus Voltaire
Much like AFM, I had a plan. Punish the Ringmaster over and over again, get multiball, end of story. The real table is much more forgiving on cheap outlane drains, but much harder to hit loops and ramps on. 2 things that threw me off were (1) I play in TPA in view 2 which is much lower than when standing at the table for real, and (2) the room had gotten dark by this time and the lights really affect seeing the ball. Still, I wasn't doing bad, but wasn't doing good either. My highlight was ball 3, where at launch I had the Ringmaster up waiting to be finished off. I launched, hit the skill shot, and it bounced right into the Ringmaster hole! Man did that feel good. Never was able to get multiball going though, and finished in 3rd, which sucked because I lost to a gal who had no clue about doing a thing on the table.
Round 6 (final round) - Big Bang Bar
The thing with this machine is we're all on a level playing field. Apart from those that own it, it's not like people get a whole lot of practice on it. Nobody really knows the rules, everybody just kinda flails around on it. I was second shooter, and only scored 5 million on it for ball 1. The first shooter (same gal who just beat me on CV) for some reason played shooter 3's round, and then realized her mistake. I opted for us to just start fresh, not being concerned about losing my ball 1 score at all! Good choice, as my second ball 1 produced a nice 20 million. No sense in me describing ball 2, as I honestly couldn't describe anything to you since I have no clue what was going on! I just kept aiming for the Tube Dancer ramp and other than that trying to keep the ball alive. Ball 3 was unfortunately an epic failure, and I lost to No Clue Girl by 2 million points. The harsh part of that was, in tourney standings I'm 42nd place, she's 43rd. Now she came in dead last on 4 of her machines, but beat me on the 2 we played. Harsh beat, hopefully I don't drop a place to her.
So that was that! Another fun night playing pinball, where it don't matter how you did, because what beats playing real live silver ball? Got in games on High Speed, Cyclone, Cactus Canyon, Party Zone, Elvira and the Party Monsters, Creature, and Monster Bash too. Color DMD on AFM, Creature, MB, and TAF all looked amazing. They were talking about possibly tackling Dr Who for color DMD, and how they'd like to do LotR, but it'd make MB look like a cake walk in comparison.
Next tourney is a Halloween party not close at all to me, so I'll be skipping it. Gonna be a long wait to December to play in the next one! So until next time....
League night tournament for the OC Pinball League. It was hosted at the house of the first event I went to, so no new pins to report. If you really wanna know everything that was there, look at my very first post of this thread!
So I got a solid hour and a half of 'practice' on the tables before the tourney started. We don't know exactly which tables will be a part of the event, so I just tried to get at least one game on all of them. I wasn't so much trying to score as I was trying to figure out how the ball bounced coming out of eject holes, doing dead flipper passes, checking tilt sensitivity, that sort of thing. Finally we got our list, and here's how it went down for me...
Round 1 - Earthshaker
Oh man, not a good start AT ALL. My first ball was over and done with in less than 20 seconds. I felt fine at first with that, as the next 2 people had only slightly better turns, but then the 4th guy put up a score of 5 million. Ouch. Second ball ended fairly quickly too with a bad bounce to the outlane. On my 3rd ball I got 2 flips in before getting a bad bounce of a post that sent the ball screaming down the middle. I don't think I even scored 350,000 on the table. Ugly, ugly start.
Round 2 - Funhouse
Well ball 1 started much the same way it did on Earthshaker. Ball 2 on the other hand, I was able to make things happen. I got multiball, I started a Frenzy, and I racked up 4 million points. On the 3rd ball, I tried for Rudy's Hideout on launch. It came up short, dropped onto the table going right between the pop bumpers, and without hitting a single thing on the table, drained right down the middle. I got a launching score and that was it! Damn does that table need a ball save timer. Because of that, I took 2nd when I easily could have locked down a 1st place score for my round.
Round 3 - Attack From Mars
This is the one table I felt pretty confident going into. I had good practice sessions on it, my plan was to just pound away at the saucer and ignore everything else, and I've had good luck on it in previous tourneys. High score in previous rounds was only slightly over a billion, so I knew what my target score to beat was. Ball 1, I destroyed one saucer and that was it. Ball 2, yet another saucer and came ever so close to starting martian multiball. Ball 3 ended with my ball rattling out of the final shot to destroy a saucer and dropping down the middle, but my final score was just over 2 billion. Yay! Unfortunately 2 other guys in my round ALSO shot over 2 billion. One of whom I lost to by only 35,000 points! At the end of the night, I looked to see how our scores compared to everyone else's. Turns out I would have taken first if I had been in any other round, but instead took 3rd for mine. Sometimes you just can't get lucky.
Round 4 - The Addams Family
Perhaps the table I was most nervous about playing. I know what a cruel beast this thing can be. In practice, I had one horrible game and one really really good game. I really haven't played it much since the 90's, so I don't know any of the tricks to scoring. The way the ball bounced while playing, I never had a chance to even fumble upon a score. By the end of ball 3, my score put me at 2nd to last for EVERYONE that had played the table so far. Talk about flaming out. I want revenge on this table something bad.
Round 5 - Cirqus Voltaire
Much like AFM, I had a plan. Punish the Ringmaster over and over again, get multiball, end of story. The real table is much more forgiving on cheap outlane drains, but much harder to hit loops and ramps on. 2 things that threw me off were (1) I play in TPA in view 2 which is much lower than when standing at the table for real, and (2) the room had gotten dark by this time and the lights really affect seeing the ball. Still, I wasn't doing bad, but wasn't doing good either. My highlight was ball 3, where at launch I had the Ringmaster up waiting to be finished off. I launched, hit the skill shot, and it bounced right into the Ringmaster hole! Man did that feel good. Never was able to get multiball going though, and finished in 3rd, which sucked because I lost to a gal who had no clue about doing a thing on the table.
Round 6 (final round) - Big Bang Bar
The thing with this machine is we're all on a level playing field. Apart from those that own it, it's not like people get a whole lot of practice on it. Nobody really knows the rules, everybody just kinda flails around on it. I was second shooter, and only scored 5 million on it for ball 1. The first shooter (same gal who just beat me on CV) for some reason played shooter 3's round, and then realized her mistake. I opted for us to just start fresh, not being concerned about losing my ball 1 score at all! Good choice, as my second ball 1 produced a nice 20 million. No sense in me describing ball 2, as I honestly couldn't describe anything to you since I have no clue what was going on! I just kept aiming for the Tube Dancer ramp and other than that trying to keep the ball alive. Ball 3 was unfortunately an epic failure, and I lost to No Clue Girl by 2 million points. The harsh part of that was, in tourney standings I'm 42nd place, she's 43rd. Now she came in dead last on 4 of her machines, but beat me on the 2 we played. Harsh beat, hopefully I don't drop a place to her.
So that was that! Another fun night playing pinball, where it don't matter how you did, because what beats playing real live silver ball? Got in games on High Speed, Cyclone, Cactus Canyon, Party Zone, Elvira and the Party Monsters, Creature, and Monster Bash too. Color DMD on AFM, Creature, MB, and TAF all looked amazing. They were talking about possibly tackling Dr Who for color DMD, and how they'd like to do LotR, but it'd make MB look like a cake walk in comparison.
Next tourney is a Halloween party not close at all to me, so I'll be skipping it. Gonna be a long wait to December to play in the next one! So until next time....
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