SKILL_SHOT
Banned
- Jul 11, 2012
- 3,659
- 1
funny how the rules FLY out the window when your focused on that shot! Good job! : ) Your getting better.
-
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
- #42
Well, no official league night for me this month. They had it the the week before and on a Saturday, where it became a Halloween party, but I couldn't make it. Usually it's on a Sunday during the day. Doesn't mean I didn't get to play some pinball for the month though! 3 of the league members have been converting a warehouse space into a private pinball club. Why private? Well, let's just say they don't have a business license. So it's invite only, where you have to know someone to get in. Well don't I feel exclusive! It's more or less a glorified man cave that is being opened to fellow pinheads. And last night was the grand opening!
Some tables were set to free play, the rest were coin drop and at varying prices. The walls have the start of what will eventually be a pretty cool environment, with old playfields, posters, and neon signs already hanging. I'm hoping to write up more about the space and the owners at some other time, but for now, here's what I played and what was there...
Scared Stiff
Monster Bash
The Addams Family
Medieval Madness
All four of these tables had the ColorDMD displays, which are awesome. I didn't play MM, but that's because it was always occupied. As you can tell, these were all LED'd out. If I'm not mistaken, I think every table there had been converted to LED.
Bram Stoker's Dracula
No Fear
Last Action Hero
Sexy Girl
My apologies about the pics, by the way. My friend took them and we weren't exactly concerned with good photography! But as SKILL_SHOT is always trying to tell me, if there's no pics, it didn't happen. Anyway, I'm not sure I'd ever played a real NF, and I know I've never played BSD. NF hated me. For as many ramps as it has, all I could seem to hit was the posts in between them. BSD on the other hand, I could seemingly do no wrong. That thing has the most generous ball save EVER! Gotta say though, I don't dig the color scheme on it. All that blue near the flippers, does nothing for me. And the Dracula toy is kinda embarrassing in how cheese ball it looks. Didn't bother playing LAH, maybe next time. Sexy Girl, for those wondering, is essentially a re-purposed Bally Playboy. This one was a new CPR playfield and backglass. In the middle of the playfield, there was a screen that would flash nudie pics of girls as you hit their targets. Nothing like a little distraction! I think the makers of it are Zarcon? Strange hybrid of new and old.
Some tables were set to free play, the rest were coin drop and at varying prices. The walls have the start of what will eventually be a pretty cool environment, with old playfields, posters, and neon signs already hanging. I'm hoping to write up more about the space and the owners at some other time, but for now, here's what I played and what was there...
Scared Stiff
Monster Bash
The Addams Family
Medieval Madness
All four of these tables had the ColorDMD displays, which are awesome. I didn't play MM, but that's because it was always occupied. As you can tell, these were all LED'd out. If I'm not mistaken, I think every table there had been converted to LED.
Bram Stoker's Dracula
No Fear
Last Action Hero
Sexy Girl
My apologies about the pics, by the way. My friend took them and we weren't exactly concerned with good photography! But as SKILL_SHOT is always trying to tell me, if there's no pics, it didn't happen. Anyway, I'm not sure I'd ever played a real NF, and I know I've never played BSD. NF hated me. For as many ramps as it has, all I could seem to hit was the posts in between them. BSD on the other hand, I could seemingly do no wrong. That thing has the most generous ball save EVER! Gotta say though, I don't dig the color scheme on it. All that blue near the flippers, does nothing for me. And the Dracula toy is kinda embarrassing in how cheese ball it looks. Didn't bother playing LAH, maybe next time. Sexy Girl, for those wondering, is essentially a re-purposed Bally Playboy. This one was a new CPR playfield and backglass. In the middle of the playfield, there was a screen that would flash nudie pics of girls as you hit their targets. Nothing like a little distraction! I think the makers of it are Zarcon? Strange hybrid of new and old.
Naildriver74
Active member
- Aug 2, 2013
- 2,189
- 0
Thanks for posting that up Its good to see pinball will never die. Pics good or bad they are always great to see.
- Mar 14, 2012
- 7,334
- 0
- Thread starter
- #44
Moving on...
Spiderman
AC/DC
Metallica LE
X-Men LE
I played all 4 of these, with Spidey and X-Men being the first time ever for me. Spidey is like a lot of Sterns for me...as a newbie to the table, I have no clue what to do, and even after playing it, I still don't. X-Men I kinda started to get, but that was because it just seemed like you were hitting the same spot over and over! I did love Magneto's multiball effect though, where balls were magnetized to the spinning wheel and started going around and around in circles. That got a "wow" from me and my friend. The sound on AC/DC and Metallica were next to impossible to hear in the space, and as such I felt like on AC/DC I was just whacking the ball around randomly. Sucks not being able to hear call outs. Metallica, yeah I still really like that table. I think it treats newbies just right, you learn what needs to be done real quick, and I had a great time on it.
Farfalla
Funhousse
Sharkey's Shootout
Old Chicago
I don't know what the hell the graphic designer's of Farfalla were thinking. That thing is like the early 70's puked all over it! There's rainbows, flowers, butterflies on drop targets. The rollovers are the letters L-O-V-E. It also had this weird outlane flipper opportunity that didn't once save us, probably because we were too slow to hit the ball! I didn't play any of the other 3.
I also didn't play any of these titles...
High Speed
Bushido
Star Gazer
Locomotion
Star Wars: Episode 1
Spiderman
AC/DC
Metallica LE
X-Men LE
I played all 4 of these, with Spidey and X-Men being the first time ever for me. Spidey is like a lot of Sterns for me...as a newbie to the table, I have no clue what to do, and even after playing it, I still don't. X-Men I kinda started to get, but that was because it just seemed like you were hitting the same spot over and over! I did love Magneto's multiball effect though, where balls were magnetized to the spinning wheel and started going around and around in circles. That got a "wow" from me and my friend. The sound on AC/DC and Metallica were next to impossible to hear in the space, and as such I felt like on AC/DC I was just whacking the ball around randomly. Sucks not being able to hear call outs. Metallica, yeah I still really like that table. I think it treats newbies just right, you learn what needs to be done real quick, and I had a great time on it.
Farfalla
Funhousse
Sharkey's Shootout
Old Chicago
I don't know what the hell the graphic designer's of Farfalla were thinking. That thing is like the early 70's puked all over it! There's rainbows, flowers, butterflies on drop targets. The rollovers are the letters L-O-V-E. It also had this weird outlane flipper opportunity that didn't once save us, probably because we were too slow to hit the ball! I didn't play any of the other 3.
I also didn't play any of these titles...
High Speed
Bushido
Star Gazer
Locomotion
Star Wars: Episode 1
- Mar 14, 2012
- 7,334
- 0
- Thread starter
- #45
And finally...
The Getaway
Embryon
Harlem Globetrotters
Zira
Revenge From Mars
Can I just say how gorgeous the playfield on Embryon was? That thing was emaculate! It's also very funny playing on these old wide body machines, because the ball can move sooooo sloooooow. Just when you're lured into a sleepy state, it'll find a way to zing the ball at about a 100 mph to wake you back up! Had never heard of Zira before, but it had it's charms for an older game. I hate double flippers like what Harlem as on its left side. I went to catch a ball and it just rolled right off the back of the flipper into the outlane! RFM and The Getaway were fun to play also.
The thing that impressed me most with what these guys have put together is that there wasn't a single beat up table in the bunch. There were a few not working, but they still looked gorgeous. Some of the machines had 'super rubber' on them, whatever that meant. I wish there were headphone jacks on tables, because it really sucked not being able to hear many of the machines over the loud arcade like noise. Then again, with 26 machines, noise is kinda inevitable.
I'm so stoked that this place is existing. They said they'll open it maybe once every 2 weeks or so, depending on if they have enough reservations to make it worth it. They're basically hoping to cover the cost of maintaining the machines. Drinks were being served at a very reasonable cost, so again, they're essentially just trying to cover everyone's good time and pay the electric bill. This is what I love about pinball fans. They can't help but share their toys!
The Getaway
Embryon
Harlem Globetrotters
Zira
Revenge From Mars
Can I just say how gorgeous the playfield on Embryon was? That thing was emaculate! It's also very funny playing on these old wide body machines, because the ball can move sooooo sloooooow. Just when you're lured into a sleepy state, it'll find a way to zing the ball at about a 100 mph to wake you back up! Had never heard of Zira before, but it had it's charms for an older game. I hate double flippers like what Harlem as on its left side. I went to catch a ball and it just rolled right off the back of the flipper into the outlane! RFM and The Getaway were fun to play also.
The thing that impressed me most with what these guys have put together is that there wasn't a single beat up table in the bunch. There were a few not working, but they still looked gorgeous. Some of the machines had 'super rubber' on them, whatever that meant. I wish there were headphone jacks on tables, because it really sucked not being able to hear many of the machines over the loud arcade like noise. Then again, with 26 machines, noise is kinda inevitable.
I'm so stoked that this place is existing. They said they'll open it maybe once every 2 weeks or so, depending on if they have enough reservations to make it worth it. They're basically hoping to cover the cost of maintaining the machines. Drinks were being served at a very reasonable cost, so again, they're essentially just trying to cover everyone's good time and pay the electric bill. This is what I love about pinball fans. They can't help but share their toys!
Kolchak357
Senior Pigeon
- May 31, 2012
- 8,102
- 2
What a cool idea, and what a great machine selection!
- Feb 19, 2012
- 8,144
- 2
Indeed!
- Mar 14, 2012
- 7,334
- 0
- Thread starter
- #48
Well the first Sunday of the month happened, which can only mean one thing...
Another night of league play!
So I was dreading this one, because most of the collection was really old machines. Lots of EM's, '70s, and not a DMD in sight. The guy who was hosting, his house was literally crammed wall to wall with machines. there was a small living room with a couch and TV, but otherwise every square inch of the place was filled. The bummer was, so many either weren't plugged in or weren't functioning at all. I think he had 5 pitch and bats, a bunch of old slot machines, and out in his garage he had a mini 18' long bowling lane that must have taken up way too much precious real estate in some arcade!
The most modern machine on site was High Speed (not working). There was an 8 Ball Deluxe and Black Knight, but neither of them was working either. Fireball was working temporarily and was going to be a tournament game, but then it crapped out too. I got to play some Centaur, but barely so. The right flipper had a short in it that would cause it to vibrate in the up position sometimes, and no matter how hard you smacked the queen's chamber ball, it would only get about halfway up. There was a Pinball Wizard, Captain Fantastic, and Pick A Card, as well as a few others I didn't take the time to write down as they weren't functioning.
During the first 2 hours of practice play, about every 5 minutes a new problem would crop up with some machine. The poor host, it was his first time doing this and you could tell it was stressing him out. You invite a whole bunch of people over and then find out all your toys are breaking! Sometimes it was a thing where problems occurred only when 2 or more players joined, something he wouldn't have normally discovered. Other times it was people hitting a particular bonus and seeing the scoring go wrong. You put that many pinheads in a room, it's like a massive bug hunt. We have some top, top players in our league who know the ins and outs of every machine you can throw at them, but in the end they are also very good at solving problems with machines, so while things were malfunctioning at first, they were also getting fixed if possible.
So anyway, old tables. Not a ramp in sight. Not a single one of the tables in tournament are available in TPA. Yikes. Best I could do was cross my fingers and hope to get lucky.
Round 1 - Bally Playboy
In practice round, this thing was killing me. Just cheap drain after cheap drain. Somehow, I was the top ranking player of my group of 3, so I got to go last. The first 2 they scored around 24,000 first ball. I managed 45,000. It was a 5 ball machine, and on my 3rd ball I managed to max out the bonus, which cranked up my score big time, earning a match AND an extra ball (which we just plunge and let bounce). 4th ball I earned a special, and discovered the bonus multiplier carries over. I finished with north of 600,000 points, where the other two never broke 100. So I start the tourney with the full 10 points for 1st. Nice!
Round 2 - Nip It
If you've ever seen Happy Days, this is the pin at Arnold's. It's got little 2" flippers that move in and close the gap when you hit a particular target, just like Fireball does. Are these what they call zipper flippers? This time I was in a group of 4, my player ranking had me playing 2nd, which is where I'm used to playing normally. We also had an 'A' player, who if you beat, you get an extra point. First ball, all four of us didn't get a single flip in. The ball just bounced right out the outlane. None of us had much of a clue what to do, even though one of the players was the host himself! On my 3rd ball, I managed to rack up a hefty amount of points while leaving a ball locked for multiball that anyone can steel. Nobody stole it until ball 5, when the 'A' player made a run on me. Too bad it wasn't enough! Just like that, another 1st place but this time I get 11 points for beating the top seed!
Round 3 - Harlem Globetrotters
Oh did this table hate me. The shocker for everybody was that it was only set up for 3 balls, where everything else we played was 5. I think I legitimately got to flip the ball 5 times over those 3 balls. My score was dreadful! Fortunately, it was that way for the other 3 guys. Somehow I came in 3rd, AND the 'A' player managed to come in last. So instead of 6 points, I earned 7. We all sucked so bad, we started up another round quickly just to redeem ourselves, even though it wouldn't count. I fared no better that time either. The Washington Generals are showed more respect than what these Globetrotters showed me.
Round 4 - Space Invaders
Can I just say how wide this particular wide body felt? The outlanes on this table never felt like they were even a factor. All my drains came thanks to the center, and they all happened in slow motion! There was one that I could tell the ball was going to drain down the center even as it was 3/4 of the way up the playfield. Nudging this beast did nothing except risk a tilt. So I just watched as the ball slowly descended right between my flippers! And yet in the end, I came out on top again. Seriously, this is one of the best nights I've had in placing.
Round 5 - Bally Star Trek
The best thing about this table is the back glass. Bones and Spock are ripped! The 'A' player I defeated on Nip It? He's in this round again with me. And through ball 4, he can't get anything going on. Me and the player 1, we're tearing it up somehow. This machine like being abused, so we're both just bumping the crap out of it. Player 3, he's having the same problem I had on Globetrotters where he never gets to even flip the ball. Come ball 5, I'm sitting pretty in 1st with a 45,000 point cushion. But then the 'A' player showed why he's ranked how he is. He winds up putting on a clinic and breezes right past me. Knowing he wasn't giving up that extra point, he then let the ball drain. Still, I'll take my 2nd with chin held high.
Round 6 - Final Round - 300
Oh Gottlieb, how I loathe you. I heard multiple comments through the night of how this table lived at every bowling alley in existence during the 70's. My first ball, it treated me very unkindly. The 2nd player started and the scoring went completely wonky. It was decided that only one player could play at a time, so the machine got reset. Lucky break for me, as I quadrupled my ball 1 score on the do over. My score was nothing special, as I looked at the other 5 previous rounds to see it was fairly anemic. Good thing 2 of the other players in my group had worse games! I got beat by a different 'A' player, so another 2nd place for me.
So despite my dread at what I thought for sure was going to be a series of last place finishes, I did really well. Hoping my overall score takes a big jump up in the rankings. I'm currently sitting at #32 in our league, and that's having missed the first 2 tourneys of the season. There are only 3 more to the season, so my goal is to see if I can crack the teens. My average score is usually in the mid 40's, but this time I scored 54 points and there were quite a few absences from other players, many who have already used their absentee score (which is a one time use of your average score). So I'm confident I'll be in the 20 somethings after this month. Once our scores are officially posted, I'll update with how I did overall. Who knows, maybe next month I'll get to be player 3 a bunch of times.
Another night of league play!
So I was dreading this one, because most of the collection was really old machines. Lots of EM's, '70s, and not a DMD in sight. The guy who was hosting, his house was literally crammed wall to wall with machines. there was a small living room with a couch and TV, but otherwise every square inch of the place was filled. The bummer was, so many either weren't plugged in or weren't functioning at all. I think he had 5 pitch and bats, a bunch of old slot machines, and out in his garage he had a mini 18' long bowling lane that must have taken up way too much precious real estate in some arcade!
The most modern machine on site was High Speed (not working). There was an 8 Ball Deluxe and Black Knight, but neither of them was working either. Fireball was working temporarily and was going to be a tournament game, but then it crapped out too. I got to play some Centaur, but barely so. The right flipper had a short in it that would cause it to vibrate in the up position sometimes, and no matter how hard you smacked the queen's chamber ball, it would only get about halfway up. There was a Pinball Wizard, Captain Fantastic, and Pick A Card, as well as a few others I didn't take the time to write down as they weren't functioning.
During the first 2 hours of practice play, about every 5 minutes a new problem would crop up with some machine. The poor host, it was his first time doing this and you could tell it was stressing him out. You invite a whole bunch of people over and then find out all your toys are breaking! Sometimes it was a thing where problems occurred only when 2 or more players joined, something he wouldn't have normally discovered. Other times it was people hitting a particular bonus and seeing the scoring go wrong. You put that many pinheads in a room, it's like a massive bug hunt. We have some top, top players in our league who know the ins and outs of every machine you can throw at them, but in the end they are also very good at solving problems with machines, so while things were malfunctioning at first, they were also getting fixed if possible.
So anyway, old tables. Not a ramp in sight. Not a single one of the tables in tournament are available in TPA. Yikes. Best I could do was cross my fingers and hope to get lucky.
Round 1 - Bally Playboy
In practice round, this thing was killing me. Just cheap drain after cheap drain. Somehow, I was the top ranking player of my group of 3, so I got to go last. The first 2 they scored around 24,000 first ball. I managed 45,000. It was a 5 ball machine, and on my 3rd ball I managed to max out the bonus, which cranked up my score big time, earning a match AND an extra ball (which we just plunge and let bounce). 4th ball I earned a special, and discovered the bonus multiplier carries over. I finished with north of 600,000 points, where the other two never broke 100. So I start the tourney with the full 10 points for 1st. Nice!
Round 2 - Nip It
If you've ever seen Happy Days, this is the pin at Arnold's. It's got little 2" flippers that move in and close the gap when you hit a particular target, just like Fireball does. Are these what they call zipper flippers? This time I was in a group of 4, my player ranking had me playing 2nd, which is where I'm used to playing normally. We also had an 'A' player, who if you beat, you get an extra point. First ball, all four of us didn't get a single flip in. The ball just bounced right out the outlane. None of us had much of a clue what to do, even though one of the players was the host himself! On my 3rd ball, I managed to rack up a hefty amount of points while leaving a ball locked for multiball that anyone can steel. Nobody stole it until ball 5, when the 'A' player made a run on me. Too bad it wasn't enough! Just like that, another 1st place but this time I get 11 points for beating the top seed!
Round 3 - Harlem Globetrotters
Oh did this table hate me. The shocker for everybody was that it was only set up for 3 balls, where everything else we played was 5. I think I legitimately got to flip the ball 5 times over those 3 balls. My score was dreadful! Fortunately, it was that way for the other 3 guys. Somehow I came in 3rd, AND the 'A' player managed to come in last. So instead of 6 points, I earned 7. We all sucked so bad, we started up another round quickly just to redeem ourselves, even though it wouldn't count. I fared no better that time either. The Washington Generals are showed more respect than what these Globetrotters showed me.
Round 4 - Space Invaders
Can I just say how wide this particular wide body felt? The outlanes on this table never felt like they were even a factor. All my drains came thanks to the center, and they all happened in slow motion! There was one that I could tell the ball was going to drain down the center even as it was 3/4 of the way up the playfield. Nudging this beast did nothing except risk a tilt. So I just watched as the ball slowly descended right between my flippers! And yet in the end, I came out on top again. Seriously, this is one of the best nights I've had in placing.
Round 5 - Bally Star Trek
The best thing about this table is the back glass. Bones and Spock are ripped! The 'A' player I defeated on Nip It? He's in this round again with me. And through ball 4, he can't get anything going on. Me and the player 1, we're tearing it up somehow. This machine like being abused, so we're both just bumping the crap out of it. Player 3, he's having the same problem I had on Globetrotters where he never gets to even flip the ball. Come ball 5, I'm sitting pretty in 1st with a 45,000 point cushion. But then the 'A' player showed why he's ranked how he is. He winds up putting on a clinic and breezes right past me. Knowing he wasn't giving up that extra point, he then let the ball drain. Still, I'll take my 2nd with chin held high.
Round 6 - Final Round - 300
Oh Gottlieb, how I loathe you. I heard multiple comments through the night of how this table lived at every bowling alley in existence during the 70's. My first ball, it treated me very unkindly. The 2nd player started and the scoring went completely wonky. It was decided that only one player could play at a time, so the machine got reset. Lucky break for me, as I quadrupled my ball 1 score on the do over. My score was nothing special, as I looked at the other 5 previous rounds to see it was fairly anemic. Good thing 2 of the other players in my group had worse games! I got beat by a different 'A' player, so another 2nd place for me.
So despite my dread at what I thought for sure was going to be a series of last place finishes, I did really well. Hoping my overall score takes a big jump up in the rankings. I'm currently sitting at #32 in our league, and that's having missed the first 2 tourneys of the season. There are only 3 more to the season, so my goal is to see if I can crack the teens. My average score is usually in the mid 40's, but this time I scored 54 points and there were quite a few absences from other players, many who have already used their absentee score (which is a one time use of your average score). So I'm confident I'll be in the 20 somethings after this month. Once our scores are officially posted, I'll update with how I did overall. Who knows, maybe next month I'll get to be player 3 a bunch of times.
Kolchak357
Senior Pigeon
- May 31, 2012
- 8,102
- 2
Good playing SYT. Sounds like older pins fit your game nicely. That is a selection of pins I would be very excited to play. Shame about so many being out of order. Any pics, or is that frowned upon in your league?
SKILL_SHOT
Banned
- Jul 11, 2012
- 3,659
- 1
good job. yes those are zipper flippers.
- Mar 14, 2012
- 7,334
- 0
- Thread starter
- #51
I never remember to snap any! That and my camera works real poorly in dim light. Good news though, just got a new iPhone, so I'll be able to snap away at the next one.
neglectoid
New member
- Sep 27, 2012
- 845
- 0
i never played nip it or 300. sounds like you kicked some butt. soon you'll have a reputation of "that guy to beat".
- Mar 14, 2012
- 7,334
- 0
- Thread starter
- #53
Well holy crap. I tied for 2nd place with 2 other people! That was unexpected. I moved up the 28th place in the overall rankings. In case you like to know this kind of stuff, here's the stats for the tables I played when compared to all other players...
Playboy
4th place with 617,210 score
684,350 was 1st place
281,942 was the average score
Nip It
8th with 34,000
48,670 1st
30,606 avg
Harlem Globetrotters
23rd with 22,030
646,480 1st
153,115 avg
Space Invaders
12th with 92,900
844,600 1st
236,783 avg
Star Trek
14th with 141,470
404,290 1st
173,606 avg
300
9th with 43,680
94,940 1st
43,850 avg
As you can see, I only scored above average on 2 machines, which makes my placing even crazier. Most tables had between 22 and 24 players for placing.
Playboy
4th place with 617,210 score
684,350 was 1st place
281,942 was the average score
Nip It
8th with 34,000
48,670 1st
30,606 avg
Harlem Globetrotters
23rd with 22,030
646,480 1st
153,115 avg
Space Invaders
12th with 92,900
844,600 1st
236,783 avg
Star Trek
14th with 141,470
404,290 1st
173,606 avg
300
9th with 43,680
94,940 1st
43,850 avg
As you can see, I only scored above average on 2 machines, which makes my placing even crazier. Most tables had between 22 and 24 players for placing.
- Mar 14, 2012
- 7,334
- 0
- Thread starter
- #54
Alrighty then! New year, new month, new OC League Pinball tourney. This month you'll be happy to notice I actually provided pictures. Amazing what happens when you finally enter the modern world and get an iPhone.
So last month the house we were at was packed to the gills with nothing but EMs for the most part. This month's house was packed to the gills with DMD after DMD. The home owner is a game operator, so he makes his living on these things. Well, maybe not pinball machines so much anymore, but there's a reason he as the collection he does. Two story house, games in 3 different rooms, 26 machines total for our enjoyment.
That's the main entry living room. Pictured is Revenge From Mars, Monster Bash, Medieval Madness, Monopoly, and Simpons Pinball Party.
And what it looks like as you enter the house. That direction you had Rollercoaster Tycoon, Who Dunnit, Addams Family, Twilight Zone, and Star Trek: TNG.
Room one, on the bottom floor. Family Guy, Pyramid, Apollo 13, Jurassic Park, and Spider-Man Black.
Room 2, upstairs. Theatre of Magic, Earthshaker, Fish Tales, TotAN, and Creature are on the opposite wall from Cyclone, Rollergames, BoP, Funhouse, White Water, and No Fear.
I had a fun 2 hours playing before the tourney even started! Didn't get a chance to play Rollercoaster Tycoon as it crapped out. Nor did I play Apollo 13 as it was never turned on. As far as the tournament, well it was rough. While I certainly enjoy these games more than EMs, so do the other guys. And they a lot of them own these very machines. So sure, I might know the rules from TPA, but we all know it's a whole nother beast playing the real deal. On top of that, I was thrown on machines I am terribly unfamiliar with.
Jurassic Park
I won my heat pretty handily thanks to a well timed Smart Missile. Also helps that its layout is virtually the same as Whirlwind.
126,402,690
White Water
Wow did this one beat everybody up in my heat. Going into ball 3, I was actually in the lead. And then the A class player showed us what was what. Wound up 3rd.
31,446,110
Family Guy
I barely made a showing on this thing. I did fine in practice, but my first 2 balls took quick visits to the left outlane. 3rd ball I managed to at least get a multiball going, but that was it. 4th place, didn't even bother writing down my score.
Addams Family
This is the second time I've been wiped out by this table in tournament. Another 4th place for me in my heat. Right after, I played one more game, just to see. I did this on White Water too, where the results weren't any different. With TAF, I wound up having a score that would have put me in the top 3 for the night. Go figure. Instead, I had to post this woeful score...
14,308,650
Twilight Zone
I think this was the first time I ever actually played TZ for real. I figured with the way I had just played the last 2 tables, I was gonna get crushed. I really haven't played it much in TPA, other than to know some basics. Lo and behold, I actually put up numbers good enough to win my heat again! Utterly shocked.
114,167,320
Simpsons Pinball Party
We were supposed to play Rollercoaster Tycoon, but it went down right before the tourney started. As I've never put much time into either, this had no bearing on me. This happened to be the round I needed most, as I was playing against players who I'm neck and neck with in overall standings. Sadly, the table handed me a big ol' D'OH! Finished 3rd with a score once again that I didn't even bother recording.
Total points for the night were 42, and I average 43, so we'll see if my overall stays or drops a tick. I'm not complaining though. You did see the line up of machines available, right?
So last month the house we were at was packed to the gills with nothing but EMs for the most part. This month's house was packed to the gills with DMD after DMD. The home owner is a game operator, so he makes his living on these things. Well, maybe not pinball machines so much anymore, but there's a reason he as the collection he does. Two story house, games in 3 different rooms, 26 machines total for our enjoyment.
That's the main entry living room. Pictured is Revenge From Mars, Monster Bash, Medieval Madness, Monopoly, and Simpons Pinball Party.
And what it looks like as you enter the house. That direction you had Rollercoaster Tycoon, Who Dunnit, Addams Family, Twilight Zone, and Star Trek: TNG.
Room one, on the bottom floor. Family Guy, Pyramid, Apollo 13, Jurassic Park, and Spider-Man Black.
Room 2, upstairs. Theatre of Magic, Earthshaker, Fish Tales, TotAN, and Creature are on the opposite wall from Cyclone, Rollergames, BoP, Funhouse, White Water, and No Fear.
I had a fun 2 hours playing before the tourney even started! Didn't get a chance to play Rollercoaster Tycoon as it crapped out. Nor did I play Apollo 13 as it was never turned on. As far as the tournament, well it was rough. While I certainly enjoy these games more than EMs, so do the other guys. And they a lot of them own these very machines. So sure, I might know the rules from TPA, but we all know it's a whole nother beast playing the real deal. On top of that, I was thrown on machines I am terribly unfamiliar with.
Jurassic Park
I won my heat pretty handily thanks to a well timed Smart Missile. Also helps that its layout is virtually the same as Whirlwind.
126,402,690
White Water
Wow did this one beat everybody up in my heat. Going into ball 3, I was actually in the lead. And then the A class player showed us what was what. Wound up 3rd.
31,446,110
Family Guy
I barely made a showing on this thing. I did fine in practice, but my first 2 balls took quick visits to the left outlane. 3rd ball I managed to at least get a multiball going, but that was it. 4th place, didn't even bother writing down my score.
Addams Family
This is the second time I've been wiped out by this table in tournament. Another 4th place for me in my heat. Right after, I played one more game, just to see. I did this on White Water too, where the results weren't any different. With TAF, I wound up having a score that would have put me in the top 3 for the night. Go figure. Instead, I had to post this woeful score...
14,308,650
Twilight Zone
I think this was the first time I ever actually played TZ for real. I figured with the way I had just played the last 2 tables, I was gonna get crushed. I really haven't played it much in TPA, other than to know some basics. Lo and behold, I actually put up numbers good enough to win my heat again! Utterly shocked.
114,167,320
Simpsons Pinball Party
We were supposed to play Rollercoaster Tycoon, but it went down right before the tourney started. As I've never put much time into either, this had no bearing on me. This happened to be the round I needed most, as I was playing against players who I'm neck and neck with in overall standings. Sadly, the table handed me a big ol' D'OH! Finished 3rd with a score once again that I didn't even bother recording.
Total points for the night were 42, and I average 43, so we'll see if my overall stays or drops a tick. I'm not complaining though. You did see the line up of machines available, right?
SKILL_SHOT
Banned
- Jul 11, 2012
- 3,659
- 1
awsomeness as usual! 
I take it the person who lives there is single
I take it the person who lives there is single
Kolchak357
Senior Pigeon
- May 31, 2012
- 8,102
- 2
awsomeness as usual!
Ha, I was thinking the same thing.
- Mar 14, 2012
- 7,334
- 0
- Thread starter
- #57
Sooooo, it's been a while!
Excuse me while I dust off the cobwebs. My first season of playing in a league is over, and the new season just started. I finished 28th out of 74 players, though realistically, only 50 were active enough to be competitive. I also missed 3 sessions completely, while a 4th was missed but I was awarded a points average for that one. We get one of these a year.
So on to the new year! I'm hoping to not miss any this go around and really see what I can do. For the first meeting of the year, everyone is considered to be 'A' division. Top 10 players keep this status, everyone else drops to 'B'. What this meant for me was, getting the opportunity to play a ball after some of the top players, which was nice.
The house we went to this time was gorgeous. The owner had added on to his home an arcade room, and it housed 35(!!) tables. There was another small room that housed 6 tables, and then there were an additional 3 set up in the living room. Every one of these was in beautiful shape, just pristine examples of tables. I'll list everything in a bit.
First, let's talk about the tourney! To get things started, prior to the actual tournament starting, a special was done on Metallica LE. You had to cross your arms, left on right button, right on left, and play one game. Top score won a t-shirt. You only had one game to do it. Lemme just say, that's freakin' hard! I scored 1.5 million, which was pretty much the standard. The winner scored 5 million, if that tells you anything.
The actual tourney, went something like this for me...
X-Men LE - 12,242,770
I've played this one other time, and I knew the key was to get a multiball going. The setup on this machine was slightly off, and it killed us because of it. There is a scoop on the left side of the table that the ball is supposed to loop around and bounce into. For us, it would just barely miss the hole and then center drain. All 4 of us fell prey to it on ball one, so thereafter we knew to nudge. Also, Magneto locks a ball and lets it loose, but it's not supposed to go sdtm! One player got killed by this on his other 2 balls. I took first in my group, mainly because I outsmarted the setup. I did manage a tilt, which I think is the first time I've ever done that in tourney!
AC/DC LE - 7,701,910
I have no clue what to do on this machine. Keep the ball alive. That's my strategy! All 4 of us were neck and neck until the final ball. Player one was one of the top players in our league, and he showed why. Racked up 58 million points in the end. Still, I managed to place 2nd.
TotAN - 4,807,620
Grrrrr. Good to know that I can't hit orbit shots on the real table just like I can't in TPA! The only reason I didn't score worse was somehow I managed to hit the Genie right away when it came time to hurl fireballs at him. I played terrible. Again, had a top player in the group and he ran the table for 19 million. I placed 3rd, which was a bad trend!
Sleic Pin-BALL - 6,780,476
If you are scratching your head wondering what the hell this table is, so was everyone else. Table is from Spain, and nobody had any idea how to play it. It looked like it should have been from the early 80's, yet it had a DMD and was incredibly sloped for fast play. It was comical how bad everyone was doing on it. Somehow I managed to get a bonus situation going on 2 of my balls, which led to me not only taking 1st in my group, but 1st on the table overall!
This was rather sweet justice for me, as the table was originally supposed to be Apollo 13. During practice, I had played that, managed to get the 13 ball multiball going, and got to enter my initials on the machine. Scoring enough to enter initials in these guys' houses, no small feet. So being told you are no longer playing a table that you just killed on, and instead were to play on some oddball table you've never heard of, that sucked. Kharma, that's all I can say!
Metallica LE - 2,989,090
Speaking of kharma...it's sad when I played almost as poorly without crossing my arms! I couldn't get anything going here, including picking a good song. Oh well, welcome to 4th place. I still like this pin a lot though.
Embryon - 193,240
While waiting for our group's turn, I watched a guy turn this machine over on ball 1. The play times on this machine were insane. Our group starts, and the first 2 guys have never ending balls too. Then my turn. 30 seconds later, I'm done. To say I epically failed on this machine is a disservice. It was downright comical. Another 4th place finish.
When all was said and done, I finished 23rd out of 52 players. Good enough for me! My whole goal is to crack the top 20, so we'll see how this season treats me. Full rundown of the machines in next post.
Excuse me while I dust off the cobwebs. My first season of playing in a league is over, and the new season just started. I finished 28th out of 74 players, though realistically, only 50 were active enough to be competitive. I also missed 3 sessions completely, while a 4th was missed but I was awarded a points average for that one. We get one of these a year.
So on to the new year! I'm hoping to not miss any this go around and really see what I can do. For the first meeting of the year, everyone is considered to be 'A' division. Top 10 players keep this status, everyone else drops to 'B'. What this meant for me was, getting the opportunity to play a ball after some of the top players, which was nice.
The house we went to this time was gorgeous. The owner had added on to his home an arcade room, and it housed 35(!!) tables. There was another small room that housed 6 tables, and then there were an additional 3 set up in the living room. Every one of these was in beautiful shape, just pristine examples of tables. I'll list everything in a bit.
First, let's talk about the tourney! To get things started, prior to the actual tournament starting, a special was done on Metallica LE. You had to cross your arms, left on right button, right on left, and play one game. Top score won a t-shirt. You only had one game to do it. Lemme just say, that's freakin' hard! I scored 1.5 million, which was pretty much the standard. The winner scored 5 million, if that tells you anything.
The actual tourney, went something like this for me...
X-Men LE - 12,242,770
I've played this one other time, and I knew the key was to get a multiball going. The setup on this machine was slightly off, and it killed us because of it. There is a scoop on the left side of the table that the ball is supposed to loop around and bounce into. For us, it would just barely miss the hole and then center drain. All 4 of us fell prey to it on ball one, so thereafter we knew to nudge. Also, Magneto locks a ball and lets it loose, but it's not supposed to go sdtm! One player got killed by this on his other 2 balls. I took first in my group, mainly because I outsmarted the setup. I did manage a tilt, which I think is the first time I've ever done that in tourney!
AC/DC LE - 7,701,910
I have no clue what to do on this machine. Keep the ball alive. That's my strategy! All 4 of us were neck and neck until the final ball. Player one was one of the top players in our league, and he showed why. Racked up 58 million points in the end. Still, I managed to place 2nd.
TotAN - 4,807,620
Grrrrr. Good to know that I can't hit orbit shots on the real table just like I can't in TPA! The only reason I didn't score worse was somehow I managed to hit the Genie right away when it came time to hurl fireballs at him. I played terrible. Again, had a top player in the group and he ran the table for 19 million. I placed 3rd, which was a bad trend!
Sleic Pin-BALL - 6,780,476
If you are scratching your head wondering what the hell this table is, so was everyone else. Table is from Spain, and nobody had any idea how to play it. It looked like it should have been from the early 80's, yet it had a DMD and was incredibly sloped for fast play. It was comical how bad everyone was doing on it. Somehow I managed to get a bonus situation going on 2 of my balls, which led to me not only taking 1st in my group, but 1st on the table overall!
This was rather sweet justice for me, as the table was originally supposed to be Apollo 13. During practice, I had played that, managed to get the 13 ball multiball going, and got to enter my initials on the machine. Scoring enough to enter initials in these guys' houses, no small feet. So being told you are no longer playing a table that you just killed on, and instead were to play on some oddball table you've never heard of, that sucked. Kharma, that's all I can say!
Metallica LE - 2,989,090
Speaking of kharma...it's sad when I played almost as poorly without crossing my arms! I couldn't get anything going here, including picking a good song. Oh well, welcome to 4th place. I still like this pin a lot though.
Embryon - 193,240
While waiting for our group's turn, I watched a guy turn this machine over on ball 1. The play times on this machine were insane. Our group starts, and the first 2 guys have never ending balls too. Then my turn. 30 seconds later, I'm done. To say I epically failed on this machine is a disservice. It was downright comical. Another 4th place finish.
When all was said and done, I finished 23rd out of 52 players. Good enough for me! My whole goal is to crack the top 20, so we'll see how this season treats me. Full rundown of the machines in next post.
- Mar 17, 2012
- 4,293
- 0
- Mar 14, 2012
- 7,334
- 0
- Thread starter
- #59
Yes, because I'm gonna read through and remember all that minutes before I touch the machine for only the 3rd time ever! Hehe. Hell, I know the rules intimately for TotAN, and a lot of good that did me.
- Mar 17, 2012
- 4,293
- 0
Lol, fair enough. But you do have a resource here before you touch the machine for the 4th time ever.