Table of the Week Club...week 5: BLACK HOLE

[Maggie]

I'm excited about the 10,000 point mark! Like you, I'm hopeless on Cactus Canyon and Dr. Dude. Part of my big leap forward happened when I figured out that there was more upside potential on the early tables I had scored well on, rather than the later tables where my scores are lower. (I had thought it would be easier to move 25 points to 200 than 200 to 375, but then I hadn't realized how poorly calibrated the HOF points are to difficulty).

Thanks for the head's up about the rollover problem! My IOS 'handle' is lilybucks. I'll be in the gold tournament this time around -- but you'll have to scroll way down to find me!

 

[Morg]

Managed to up my best saved score from 2.9m to 4.5m, first time I've actually improved on a TotW. I could have easily seen more than that improvement, but I sort of didn't mind being stuck there for an extra half an hour. I think that was just about a 20 minute game. Such a far cry from when I first got this game and BH was among the hardest and most frustrating. Scoring 40,000 points felt like a great achievement once upon a time. Boy how it flipped around once I started to figure the table out - this was basically the table I taught myself to play TPA on.

It's too bad that the marathon play ruins it so much, as it's still a very pleasant experience for the first several minutes and it has one of the most fun multiballs around what with playing in both directions at once.

I did have an event I've never seen occur before in an earlier game however... the ball came down such that it softly landed atop the slingshot-type piece in the bottom left(the one the game just refers to as a switch). It then proceeded to slowly roll a little ways towards the center and then without appearing to hit anything or make any noise it turned around and rolled back left up over the top of it and down into the little trap area on the left edge. Of course that was nothing compared to the alien spacewarping physics I had happen in my random cooldown game of AFM I played just after. Maybe my PS3 was feeling sleepy or something that morning.

 

[Fungi]

Oh...is this still a thing?

 

[shutyertrap]

Posted this on Twitter, forgot to do it here.

So since TAF got released, there will be no new TotW for next week. Enjoy TAF, or practice up on Genie, Firepower, AFM, and Flight 2000 for next Saturday's tourney. Sign ups will start on Wednesday, and I'll be sure to link it all over the place.

Thanks for participating, kiddos.

 

[WhiteChocolate]

We have a Black Hole at our clubhouse, and just as Haunted House is more impressive in real life with it's widebody and 3 layers, so too is Black Hole more vibrant and "spacey" than can be brought over by a 2D screen. As has been said it's way more difficult than it's TPA counterpart, which in the case of "our" Black Hole is also a bit because of wear and tear. Not every rubber is that reactive anymore and the flippers also feel a bit worn out. Where a clean shot to the alley at the left (to the lower playfield) is an instant access in TPA, in the real table it's about 50/50 if it will get up high enough in the alley to get to the lower playfield. Anyway, I didn't play it very long or often because it's often broken down. Love the atmosphere though!
[MENTION=16]Fungi[/MENTION]: thanks for considering it!

back in the early eighties, i remember how this machine made us "starry-eyed video-game youngster-types" look at pinball again - you -had- to notice it; it wasn't like any other pbs up to that point it seemed; dark and ominous (some of us influenced by the disney-movie crossover feel), the machine seemed to actually suck light out of the room - "it made its presence known", in such a well-designed way! and -two- levels??? crazy, i gotta try that!!

but at fifty cents, it was tough to beg that much out of a parent then! ;0 then when you had fifty cents to try it out, 'zing-zing-zing' go all three balls... and you kinda went back to video games. ;0

i hate to say it, because i've got such belatedly-earned appreciation of what kind of pb machine it is now, but this machine might be solely responsible for "killing" the pb industry for the following generation!! ;0 and that's too bad... it shoulda just been left 25 cen' man. hindsight is 20/20... still it is more fun now than it was then!

 

[Slam23]

Great writeup WhiteChocolate, I have a similar memory of having Indiana Jones (90's version) blow my mind when I first played the Well of Souls 6-multiball. Or shooting the Power playfield for the first time on a TZ with those magnetic flippers.
[MENTION=134]shutyertrap[/MENTION]: wise move to suspend TTotW club for now, everybody is probably playing TAF right now.

 

[superdan]

I find it interesting to note that on the The Pinball Arcade fan forum the thread is decidedly on the "easy" game category; that is, playing 'black hole' on the TPA. However, if one goes to comments on the ipdb (Internet pinball database), the comments are decidedly so that it is a tough game, fast speed, challenging.
I find both to be true, challenging pinball machine, much easier TPA play. I find myself sometimes having to drain my last ball or two on TPA just because I don't have the time to finish with my busy schedule. So perhaps the physics are a bit off on the TPA version, not sure.
I don't own a 'black hole' pin but remember playing one in an arcade and remember it being a challenging game.
Having said all that, it's a visually stunning game (not as much in TPA), a game ahead of its time...came out in 1981? (Feeling my age) and ranked currently #93 on pinside's top 100 pins (not bad for a 1981 game made 34 years ago and counting).
I'm sort of in a Solid State mania at the moment with pins and I do think this game is still so cool and fun and a great play.
I just wish TPA may consider revisiting the physics on it and make it play more like the actual pin. All in all I think, a cool game and one I enjoy playing.
"Do you dare and enter the Black Hole?"

 

[shutyertrap]

An insightful first post. Welcome to the forum, [MENTION=5169]superdan[/MENTION] !

 

[jdoa]

Hi guys, i hope you guys won't mind helping me out with this, but I am struggling to get these last two standard goals completed. I read how to do it but it doesn't seem to be happening....am I not understanding the explanation (when you click on that goal) correctly or what. Please help...

 

[Morg]

Well, there are two ways to claim the special from the upper playfield -- I don't think the goal cares which one you get:

1 ) You can clear the bank of 3 drop targets on right side of the lower mini-playfield 3 times in one ball to set up one of them. Each time it lights one lamp in the lane that leads around to the rollovers at the very top of the upper playfield. The first lamp makes a shot to the rollovers earn you 10,000 points, the second one gives you an extra ball and the third will give you a Special. It might be difficult to see the third light depending on your camera settings. You don't need to make the shot 3 times, you get the reward as long as all 3 lights are lit. I'm not sure if claiming the extra ball when the Special isn't lit means you have to clear the targets twice again or not.

2 ) If you clear all 4 drop targets on the left side of the lower playfield when they are all lit(which can be difficult to see when you are down there depending on your system/display settings but the lamps are obvious when you are on the upper field), it will light both the blue capture light and the red Special light near the capture hole above the far left flipper on the upper playfield. A shot into the capture hole while the red lamp is lit will give you the Special.

The game doesn't give you any indication you have done anything in particular, and all it gives you in the game is an extra ball(since a free game is pointless in TPA), but hitting either shot when lit should get the goal for you. Both of them will turn off when the ball drains and you'll have to activate them again. If there were a potential issue I can think of that could make it not count it might be related to making the shot when you already have an extra ball ready since they don't stack.



The lower level bonus should be just a matter of getting 250,000 points from the end-of-ball bonus which is raised by playing in the mini-playfield and shown in the center of the table. Increasing the multiplier to 5x by going around the loop in the mini-playfield(which is the easy way) or clearing the lit rollovers at the top of the upper field will make it easier since you'll only need to get 50,000 points from the actual bonus. It's been a really long time but I doubt you need to actually get the number displayed to reach 250k.

I don't know if that's any more clear than the instructions in the game, but that's about the best I can explain it.

 

[shutyertrap]

Sign in sheet for the Tournament of the Month...

http://goo.gl/forms/zl0GRrL8w9

 

[Kratos3]

I find it interesting to note that on the The Pinball Arcade fan forum the thread is decidedly on the "easy" game category; that is, playing 'black hole' on the TPA. However, if one goes to comments on the ipdb (Internet pinball database), the comments are decidedly so that it is a tough game, fast speed, challenging.
I find both to be true, challenging pinball machine, much easier TPA play. I find myself sometimes having to drain my last ball or two on TPA just because I don't have the time to finish with my busy schedule. So perhaps the physics are a bit off on the TPA version, not sure.
I don't own a 'black hole' pin but remember playing one in an arcade and remember it being a challenging game.
Having said all that, it's a visually stunning game (not as much in TPA), a game ahead of its time...came out in 1981? (Feeling my age) and ranked currently #93 on pinside's top 100 pins (not bad for a 1981 game made 34 years ago and counting).
I'm sort of in a Solid State mania at the moment with pins and I do think this game is still so cool and fun and a great play.
I just wish TPA may consider revisiting the physics on it and make it play more like the actual pin. All in all I think, a cool game and one I enjoy playing.
"Do you dare and enter the Black Hole?"

I think season 1, in general, may be tuned a bit easier than all subsequent seasons, and especially the last 2. Perhaps due to the need to be compatible with earlier, less powerful devices.

I don't know.

 

[shutyertrap]

If you haven't signed up for the tourney yet, you have a little less than 11 hours to do so! Get on it.