[video=youtube;j7LVm1bnI4c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7LVm1bnI4c&feature=youtu.be[/video]
Howdy Forum Fans,
The reason I call this entry "Stranger in a Strange Land" is because I never went out to discover pinball here in Portland. I've lived here for 14 years and the only machines I played were at the bowling alley I bowl at.
The first 8 years here in Portland were spent with a mate who did not really like pinball. They loved bowling, but no pinball. After constantly playing pinball from 1973-1998, I can't believe I stopped playing pinball. Then again, my mate was pretty persistent and it was easier to do what they wanted instead of what I wanted.
After my mate passed in 2006, I never really thought that Portland was that big of a pinball city. All the places that me and my mate went, there were no pinball machines. We have these darn video lottery games here in Oregon that takes up the space where all the pinball machines should be.
I am sure glad that my friend gave me my ASUS tablet for a Black Friday present. The biggest surprise was of course TPA, then PAF and finally I found the pinball map app in the Play Store. When I downloaded it and saw all the pinball machines in Portland, I almost fell out of my chair. I did fall out of the chair when I found TPA.
As I've stated before, I am disabled and do have medication fatigue issues and this horrible condition in the bottom of my feet that makes them tingle and burn most of the time. It's can sometimes be a chore standing up for long periods; however, when I have energy, real pinball machines trump the pain in my feet.
I went out on 6/16 to the Ground Kontrol Arcade - http://groundkontrol.com to specifically play CPub. I had read the many posts on how people really wanted to CPub to be part of TPA. When I saw that it was going to be part of this month's tablepack, I decided I had to go and play it at the arcade.
Ground Kontrol really takes great care of their machines and CPub was installed about 5 months ago and when I played it, the machine was in excellent shape. The table's surface was clean, shiney and fast. The ideal condition for a pinball machine.
I never have played the machine before and my first impression of CPub is that it's a decent machine, but not totally my cup of tea. I do look forward to having the TPA table because I will be able to play it more and get a true opinion of the machine.
I played two games of CPub. The reason I only two games is that in both games I had to wait for the in-game attendant mechanism to find the ball for me twice in each game. Every time the ball hung up behind the punching bag. With real machines, when the ball gets hung up in a place, it does take some time for the machine to pop the ball from the place it was stuck. This was tiring after two games and I hope TPA's version will not have this issue.
The replay score of the two games I played was 63 million.
My first game score was 12,737,160
The second game was 9,104,990. I think I was getting tired of waiting for the darn ball to become unstuck.
CPub was not the only machine I played, it is an arcade with many machines.
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My next machine was T2. I had forgot to mention in my forum posts that I did get to play that in Seattle when it first came out. It was like meeting an old friend again after many years. I played three games of T2.
Table was in very good condition and the replay value was 18 Million.
Game 1 - 12,190,940 - it was an okay game.
Game 2 - 17,923,940 - had 17 million going into third ball and I choked. Missed winning a game because of choke. T2 took mercy and gave me a match.
Game 3 - 3,882,180 - T2 was in a corner and it was a hot day in the arcade and I needed air so my attention span on game 3 was lacking.
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The next machine I played was Simpson's Pinball Party. Never played the game before and I really liked it. Now I know why most would love to see this in TPA. It's a fun game to play and I just love nuclear plant cooling towers pop-bumpers, it was cool how when they lit up green.
The table was in pretty good condition. There were no dust bunnies on the table, but it is about time they did a table cleaning. The ball rolled well though.
The score to get a replay was 4,040,000.
Game 1 - 3,734,610 - not bad for playing the game for the first time.
Game 2 - 6,371,560 - Woo-Hoo I won a game on merit
Game 3- 2,246.290 - Well so many machines - so little time. I was ready to play another machine
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White Water was the fourth machine I played. The table was in very good condition. It sure was an advantage to play WH20 on TPA before I played the real machine.
Replay Value 72 Million
Game 1 - 86,591,360 - It was great to hear the thunk on wood of a replay during the first game. The only reason I won the game is the TPA version.
Game 2 - 11,891,230 - I had won one game and I only had 1/2 hour before meeting a group of friends for dinner.
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Twilight Zone - My nemesis, is the fifth machine I played. TZ is the only machine in my life that I have never won a game on points. The TPA table is the only table that I haven't reached the score where the table stopped because I scored too many points. 31 TPA games and counting. I will buy the table when I reach the lowest high score.
The table was in very good condition and the replay value was 161 Million
Game 1 - 40,733,410 - Not even close to winning a table replay or close to the score in TPA that would make the game quit. I like game it just does not like me. I still will give the machine a go when I see it.
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Last but not least, I played The Addams Family. Always have to play the machine when I see one.
I'm not as enamored with the machine as I once was. There are many tables that I've played in TPA that I like just as much as TAF. It still is my favorite machine for sounds and voices.
The table was in very good condition and the replay amount was 56 Million
Game 1 - 15,185,350 - not really concentrating because it was about time for dinner with my friends.
Game 2 - 26,329,050 - not bad but hurried to get to dinner.
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I had a great time playing all these machines. It takes me a little adjustment to play a real machine after playing so many games of TPA. Pinball is a physical game if you like to nudge and who doesn't. My forearms were sore the next day, but worth all the pain.
I hoped you enjoyed my little adventure into a strange land. I am planning to make more journeys into the real pinball world.
I hope you enjoyed reading this blog entry. After going out to play in the real world again, I will update you on how I played and the machines I played on.
Luck - Laughter and High Scores for All - Montana Frank
too bad about TCP thats a favorite of mine. Pic's or didn't happen 
