Possible help for determining what Season(s) to buy: Ratings cross reference

[cjchand]

Hello all!

I was noodling over which Seasons to pick up given the upcoming WMSgeddon. Being new to pins in general, I leaned on both the ratings here and on Pinsite to help drive that decision.

So, on the off chance it proves useful to others, here’s the output of my compulsion, which is sorted by average of those two scores:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ffAWnn_YmBDtGCMM-cw27W7oht-RkH3JOquo62ikRzE

Some stuff that jumped off the page to me:
* Season One is the clear winner both from a price per table as well as average + max table ratings
* I stopped listing manufacturers at the top 50 as only 2 tables were not Williams or Bally

Anyway, hope that helps people who had similar FOMO to me.

 

[shutyertrap]

Or you could just ask the forum.

A couple of people have been asking this question, and I just say Seasons 1,2,4 and 7. Pick up The Getaway, 8 Ball Deluxe, Fireball, and Fish Tales from the other seasons. Boom, you're welcome.

Haha, actually your spread sheet was rather interesting to look at just at a glance for the final results. You do have to remember though, real world ratings don't quite jibe with how the tables translate to TPA. There's another thread on this forum devoted to table ratings by users, be interesting to know how that compares to the ratings you used.

 

[ScotchYeti]

I have to agree with shutyertrap. The real world rating doesn't fully reflect how a table plays in TPA. If you have access to Steam or the mobile platform then sample them there and check how deep a ruleset is.

Personally I will go with season 1+3 and cherry pick from the other.

 

[Zygon78]

Here's a related question: since Steam only allows full season purchases outside of the program, how safe are in-program table purchases from the Williams/Bally purge? If Farsight goes out of business, are we at risk of losing access to in-program purchases vs. the Steam season purchases?

 

[shutyertrap]

Here's a related question: since Steam only allows full season purchases outside of the program, how safe are in-program table purchases from the Williams/Bally purge? If Farsight goes out of business, are we at risk of losing access to in-program purchases vs. the Steam season purchases?

Yes, if the servers get taken offline, so to does your access to those tables. Fortunately Bobby said the servers are rather inexpensive to keep turned on. Also FarSight was already transitioning away from TPA being their only game so they aren't in any danger of going away anytime soon. This is a studio that has been around for 20+ years, they know how to keep the lights on. If the absolute worst did happen though? I guarantee a torrent file will be available if you know where to look. All other platforms will be out of luck though.

 

[cjchand]

I just say Seasons 1,2,4 and 7. Pick up The Getaway, 8 Ball Deluxe, Fireball, and Fish Tales from the other seasons. Boom, you're welcome.

Thanks!

There's another thread on this forum devoted to table ratings by users, be interesting to know how that compares to the ratings you used.

Sorry, I should have called out what I meant when I said "the ratings here". I'm presuming you're talking about this list? http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/6104-The-Pinball-Arcade-table-ratings

If so, that's where columns B (Ranking) and C (PBA Fans Rating) came from.

On the Pinsite stuff, that boosted "Scared Stiff" and "Creature from the Black Lagoon", but otherwise didn't materially change the rankings above.

On a side note: Thanks a million for the most recent podcast! Really helped spell out where things are heading.

 

[shutyertrap]

Thanks!


Sorry, I should have called out what I meant when I said "the ratings here". I'm presuming you're talking about this list? http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/6104-The-Pinball-Arcade-table-ratings

If so, that's where columns B (Ranking) and C (PBA Fans Rating) came from.

On the Pinsite stuff, that boosted "Scared Stiff" and "Creature from the Black Lagoon", but otherwise didn't materially change the rankings above.

On a side note: Thanks a million for the most recent podcast! Really helped spell out where things are heading.

Just doing what I can. Thanks for listening. Next show is gonna be a lot of fun as we go into full speculation mode, you won’t want to miss it.

 

[cjchand]

Just doing what I can. Thanks for listening. Next show is gonna be a lot of fun as we go into full speculation mode, you won’t want to miss it.

(dons tinfoil hat.... grabs popcorn)

 

[bavelb]

Thanks, I was already doing similar research but you saved me time (and probably money).

Based on your data I'm going for:
Season 1 (already had that for ages)
Season 2 (yes it has one of the lowest average/medians but thats due to double the amount of tables of whcih quite few bring it down. Theres still 6 tablepacks in there that are really good and so you might as well get the season
Season 3

and will add (have TAF):
s4: Red & Ted's Road Show
s4: Earthshaker
s4: Jack•Bot
s5: The Getaway: High Speed II
s5: Judge Dredd
s6: Eight Ball Deluxe
s6: Indianapolis 500
s6: Swords of Fury
s7: World Champion Soccer
s7: Fathom


BTW, fathom is ranked 34th on pinside...which kind of shocked me as there is a very heavy bias towards modern day DMD on that site compared to ipdb.

 

[shutyertrap]

Thanks, I was already doing similar research but you saved me time (and probably money).

Based on your data I'm going for:
Season 1 (already had that for ages)
Season 2 (yes it has one of the lowest average/medians but thats due to double the amount of tables of whcih quite few bring it down. Theres still 6 tablepacks in there that are really good and so you might as well get the season
Season 3

and will add (have TAF):
s4: Red & Ted's Road Show
s4: Earthshaker
s4: Jack•Bot
s5: The Getaway: High Speed II
s5: Judge Dredd
s6: Eight Ball Deluxe
s6: Indianapolis 500
s6: Swords of Fury
s7: World Champion Soccer
s7: Fathom


BTW, fathom is ranked 34th on pinside...which kind of shocked me as there is a very heavy bias towards modern day DMD on that site compared to ipdb.

Can't fault that thinking! I do recommend (S4) Safe Cracker just because you next to never see them in the wild and it's a Pat Lawlor design, and from S5 Fireball (fantastic EM) and possibly F-14 because it is a Steve Ritchie classic. Strange that I don't then recommend BK2000, but I really dislike that table.

 

[cjchand]

Thanks, I was already doing similar research but you saved me time (and probably money).

Glad it was useful!

Season 2 (yes it has one of the lowest average/medians but thats due to double the amount of tables of whcih quite few bring it down. Theres still 6 tablepacks in there that are really good and so you might as well get the season

Fair point. Maybe I’ll add a column for the rating of the top 5 tables to help suss that out.

 

[FarSight_Matt]

Awesome spreadsheet, didn't realize Season 1 was so stacked.

 

[shutyertrap]

Awesome spreadsheet, didn't realize Season 1 was so stacked.

I don’t think FarSight knew there’d be a season 2! We need a time machine that sends FarSight_Matt back to the beginning and he designs a long term plan for the game while instituting his levels of quality.

 

[cjchand]

Season 2 (yes it has one of the lowest average/medians but thats due to double the amount of tables of whcih quite few bring it down. Theres still 6 tablepacks in there that are really good and so you might as well get the season

Fair point. Maybe I’ll add a column for the rating of the top 5 tables to help suss that out.

Definitely a worthwhile exercise. I added Average and Median for the Top 10 of each Season based on your comment. Like you elude to, makes it a more fair comparison. Also updated the chart to just have Max/Min/Top 10 Average (as median was more or less the same).

Interesting to see the downward slide of the average over time, with an uptick with Season 7

 

[bavelb]

Definitely a worthwhile exercise. I added Average and Median for the Top 10 of each Season based on your comment. Like you elude to, makes it a more fair comparison. Also updated the chart to just have Max/Min/Top 10 Average (as median was more or less the same).

Interesting to see the downward slide of the average over time, with an uptick with Season 7

Definitely a worthwhile exercise. I added Average and Median for the Top 10 of each Season based on your comment. Like you elude to, makes it a more fair comparison. Also updated the chart to just have Max/Min/Top 10 Average (as median was more or less the same).

Interesting to see the downward slide of the average over time, with an uptick with Season 7

Your data is slightly comprised due to not adding the pinside average for Roadshow sorcerere and others past the top 50 though. S5 and S6 suffer from that most as their % i the top 50 is lowest. I added those averages as well to see what that would do. as Pinside's averages all are almost all quite higher.

• As expected, in the top 33 not much happens: Roadshow jumps almost 10 spots
• between 40 and 60 stuff gets shuffles around
• In the top 55 Junkyard jumps about 10 spots up, Jack-bot about 8, Hurricane drops 10 places but everything else goes up or down few places. That trend continues basivally to the bottom...where things aint as interesting.
• All average go up but espcially s6: Season 6 isnt AS bad with an average of 6.55
• Median top 10 of s4,5,6 go down
• All the mins go up (obviously)

Basically I did this so Roadshow would enter the top 20 cause that table is fun

 

[AdrenalinDragon]

Damn! I had no idea people hated the Gottlieb tables so much. 4 of my top 5 favourite tables in Season 2 were made by Gottlieb (Haunted House, Cue Ball Wizard, Tee'd Off, Class of 1812).

Season 1 and 2 are definitely the best seasons. After that, the quality of the tables are all over the place. Season 6 might be the most underrated though because of it being Gottlieb heavy.

 

[wolfson]

a pinball tragic loves all the tables , buy the bloody lot hehehe !!!