Rate tables in Season 4

[soundwave106]

This is the only place I have heard of outside of the military where there are people that insist on using acronyms for everything. It is so weird.

It's because some pinball names are very long. It's not uncommon for people to abbreviate long titles, especially anything longer than two words or so, when typing. Music is a great example -- think Emerson, Lake and Palmer or Electric Light Orchestra or Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark etc. People even do that in other things -- movies (something like "Back to the Future" will commonly be BTTF on forums) or television (most television network names are acronyms for a start). I run into abbreviations a lot in software and electronics as well.

Short pinball names of course don't need to be abbreviated (and usually aren't. If you call Firepower "F", no one will know what you are talking about.) I actually think there is a danger even with something as short as Monster Bash (get the context wrong, and people could think you are talking about "multiball") or Scared Stiff (well, what would you call Surfin Safari then?) But it's not like you don't run into this anywhere else.

 

[Dedpop]

Join the A.A.A.A.
(Association Against Acronym Abuse)

 

[Iain]

1) The Addams Family
2) Earthshaker
3) Cyclone
4) The Party Zone

Starship Troopers, Phantom of the Opera and Jack*Bot, I really cant rate as I really dislike all three tables and imo this is a really weak season with only The Addams Family and Earthshaker really being tables I see myself playing long term.

 

[Robert Misner]

1)JackBot
2)The Party Zone
3)Starship Troopers
4) The Addams Family
5) EarthShaker
6) The Phantom of the Opera
7) Cyclone

I never played the Addams family IRL and honestly I don't know why its so well regarded..its good..but nothing exceptional or at least thats my impression of the gameplay coming late to the party.
To me the real surprise win this season is Jackbot..i expected to dislike it since I'm not crazy about Pinbot(love bride tho)..I was so wrong..the rule set and update is fabulous.
I'm genuinely shocked how much more I enjoy Jackbot vs pinbot..

 

[kinggo]

1 The Party Zone (highlight of the S4 and probably in my top 10 when it comes to TPA)
2 Cyclone (challenging, difficult)
3 Earthshaker (the one for relaxation after some other kicks my ass)
4 Phantom of the Opera (the same as cyclone, but x5)
5 Addams Family (I would put it on #2 but that damn "power" is to powerful so multiballs are useles)
6 Jack*Bot (don't like gambling themes and beside that, original Pin-Bot is faaar better game. Maybe it will grow on me with time)
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99 Starship Troopers (I'm saving bandwidth)

 

[doveton]

1. Addams Family - excellent
2. Jackbot - excellent
3. Earthshaker - very good
4. Cyclone - good
5. Party Zone - ok
6. Starship Troopers - irritating
7. Phantom of the Opera - irredeemable toilet

 

[wolfson]

1.JACK=BOT 2.ADDAMS FAMILY 3.CYCLONE 4.PARTY ZONE 5.PHANTOM OF THE OPERA 6.EARTSHAKER 7.STARSHIP TROOPERS

 

[pm1109]

How would you rate this season compared to the others everyone.
Still like Season 3 better.

 

[The Night Flier]

PS3 rate.
1.Phantom Of The Opera.

Yeah.This.

 

[oqvist]

TAF? What is it with Pinball Arcade players that they have to make everything into acronyms? Half the time I have no idea what table people are talking about. And why do so many of you leave the first T in "the" in? Its not TNATO or TNASA. Come on people, it cast 2 seconds longer to just type the words.

It´s slightly annoying like there is some cult club where they don´t want outsiders to know what they talk about. Expect newbies to learn acronyms for 300 pinball tables? Some forum software that would auto fill would be great. I think some forum software has a function that you can hover and then get the meaning? I have seen it in some forum would work also.

This season has been a small disaster but Jack Bot looks promising.

 

[Flipperdeflip]

How would you rate this season compared to the others everyone.
Still like Season 3 better.

Season 1 has the best tables but the quality of them is seriously lacking.
The first two seasons are due an overhaul.

It´s slightly annoying like there is some cult club where they don´t want outsiders to know what they talk about. Expect newbies to learn acronyms for 300 pinball tables? Some forum software that would auto fill would be great. I think some forum software has a function that you can hover and then get the meaning? I have seen it in some forum would work also.

Learning new things is more fun than being spoonfed the answer, imo.

 

[Robert Misner]

How would you rate this season compared to the others everyone.
Still like Season 3 better.

Season 1 (by far)
Season 3
Season 4=Season 2 (tho I expect with three more great tables 4 will take the lead over season 2...but so far season 4 has been really weak)

 

[Kratos3]

It´s slightly annoying like there is some cult club where they don´t want outsiders to know what they talk about. Expect newbies to learn acronyms for 300 pinball tables? Some forum software that would auto fill would be great. I think some forum software has a function that you can hover and then get the meaning? I have seen it in some forum would work also.

This season has been a small disaster but Jack Bot looks promising.

This site used to use that software.

 

[Pinballfan69]

I never played the Addams family IRL and honestly I don't know why its so well regarded..its good..but nothing exceptional or at least thats my impression of the gameplay coming late to the party.
To me the real surprise win this season is Jackbot..i expected to dislike it since I'm not crazy about Pinbot(love bride tho)..I was so wrong..the rule set and update is fabulous.
I'm genuinely shocked how much more I enjoy Jackbot vs pinbot..

I kind of agree with you on Adams Family. The allure might be that you can tour the mansion without actually beating it and then get to the 'wizard' mode of sorts. The thing is you get more points if you complete the mode. Ripley's and Twilight zone has that aspect too.

For me the highlights of S4 is definitely Earthshaker and Adams Family. POTO is good too. Kind I a weak season IMO compared to the first 3. Hopefully S4 has F-14 World cup 94 (After playing it at Zapcon in Mesa AZ last weekend, I can't see why this isn't in) There are also gems like The Shadow, Congo High speed 2. overall decent tables in S4, but I end playing mostly S1 and S2 tables.

 

[RushDude2112]

For the Ouya.
1. Adams Family
2, Jackbot
3. Cyclone
4. Starship Troopers
5. Phantom of the Opera

 

[Gus]

1 Cyclone
2 Earthshaker
3 Phantom of the Opera
4 Addams Family
5 Starship Troopers
6 Party Zone

No JackBot on iOS yet, but it looks promising! Cyclone is damn fun Addams is a very cool table, but the TPA version just takes forever to play. It's my least table in the whole collection with only 3-4 plays. Still, I like that we finally got it.

 

[Neko20]

1. Party Zone (Gets me pumped. Good starting table when I first play)
2. Addams Family (Trickier than it looks, for me anyway ^^)
3. Jack*Bot (Probably the most unique table in S4 so far, kinda cramped though)
4. Phantom of the Opera (Love the design and artwork for this table more than most in the whole game. Weak gameplay sours it a bit)
5. Cyclone (Pretty lackluster after waiting for this reveal. Still, an ok table)
6. Earthshaker (This one is a personal grudge. The table is very cramped making it difficult to solve its scoring methods.)

 

[invitro]

How would you rate this season compared to the others everyone.
Still like Season 3 better.

Because of the not-so-hot quality of the Season 4 tables in real life, I strongly suspected the TPA edition to be a rotten season, and so waited until a few weeks ago to buy it. Boy was I wrong, or did I ever change my mind, or something, because I mostly loved Season 3 (WD and JY are not favorites), and I think I love Season 4 even more. Farsight is on a real roll and this is why I hope they don't do TPA2, or revisit older tables, or do anything else to disrupt the current flow of one wonderful table per month. I'm also changing my long-held opinions of many real-life tables, and appreciating non-1990s-WMS-DMD tables quite a bit more.

Here are my rankings, although they are still in a lot of flux, as I still have lots to discover on each one.
1. TPZ - one of many big surprises, the shots feel great, there is a lot of strategy, and I even like the music and silly humor. I don't know if it will stay as my #1 though.
2. TAF - the shallow flippers bugged me at first, but I'm fine with them now. If this table has problems, I haven't seen them.
3. Cyclone - a super surprise. I played this table as a teen so I suppose I could have nostalgia for it, but it was negative nostalgia and I didn't want it to appear in TPA. Well now I know it's a superior challenge with a superb playfield and rules that make every shot important to something. I've done a 180 on this one.
4. J*B - this is a real-life favorite and I expected it to be fun. It's harder than I expected though. I thought it would surely have trillion scores but I was probably being stupid... or Casino Run gives out much less EBs than I thought.
5. PotO - another super surpise, I think most DEs are horrible, but this is a solid table, and the sound is much better than I would've thought. I haven't played this one in real life.
6. SST - the sound is rotten and hurts my ears, but it's a very rare creative Sega. The physics feel bad though, more like a Season 1 table than a Season 4 one.
7. ES - it's a fine recreation, but the rules are pretty flat for the real thing.

Now if Farsight can make HS2 fun, I'll eat my hat.

 

[vikingerik]

4. J*B - this is a real-life favorite and I expected it to be fun. It's harder than I expected though. I thought it would surely have trillion scores but I was probably being stupid... or Casino Run gives out much less EBs than I thought.

It's been out all of three days. Give me some time.

The unexpectedly hard bit is how kickouts from the game saucer can go SDTM. I think I've figured that out, though - always slap save with the LEFT flipper even though it looks like the ball might be closer to the right.

Now if Farsight can make HS2 fun, I'll eat my hat.

You think HS2 isn't fun? The real table has always been a blast for me.

 

[invitro]

It's been out all of three days. Give me some time.

Did you finally buy Season 4? I'm gonna have to monitor your scores if you did...

You think HS2 isn't fun? The real table has always been a blast for me.

Well I actually don't remember it all that well, but I do remember that I hated it. I played one a few dozen times when I lived somewhere that had HS2 as the only halfway decent pin nearby. I remember it being a near identical copy of HS and HS's rules except for the Supercharger, which was neat a few times but got boring quickly. My opinions have changed on so many pins in TPA though, they could change again. I won't be surprised if many people post here that HS2 is a letdown, especially since many people have already posted that HS has been.

I also have some anti-Steve Ritchie bias left over from the 1990s, where I thought he was so overrated as being an equal to Lawlor as the twin titans of pinball design. I felt that S.R. was closer to his brother, and Eddy and Nordman, and Gomez and Trudeau, than to Lawlor. I'm not sure if that bias was misplaced...

(And after Shadow and AFM, in 1996, I felt that Eddy was the clear #1 designer in pinball. And then he put out MM and retired from designing which was so sad .)