Table Pack #25 Speculation

[Fungi]

I can imagine the folks at FarSight getting sick of the table within a week and getting rid of it. All the while thinking "why did we buy this?"

 

[Bowflex]

I can imagine the folks at FarSight getting sick of the table within a week and getting rid of it. All the while thinking "why did we buy this?"

Not to mention all the space it would take up. They could have 4 regular tables in its place.

 

[Espy]

Yeah, that would be a bad choice for a digital table. The novelty of that table is playing it in real life and even then the novelty wears off pretty quick. So if its included in a pack hopefully its just as an extra freebie along with something else.

Yeah, it will be exactly the same size as every other table on your TV screen...

 

[StarDust4Ever]

Yeah, it will be exactly the same size as every other table on your TV screen...

They can make it seem bigger; simply zoom in so you see less of the table.

 

[kinggo]

I'm not sure that would work. Even the wide body tables already look weird on my tab.

 

[StarDust4Ever]

I'm not sure that would work. Even the wide body tables already look weird on my tab.

Do you play in landscape or portrait?

 

[kinggo]

portrait. I know, it's better in landscape but I really don't like when i don't see the upper playfield.

 

[StarDust4Ever]

portrait. I know, it's better in landscape but I really don't like when i don't see the upper playfield.

the tracking cam helps but i can see it being a problem for some. I feel like I'm six inches off the playfield (think little kid who can't see over the table) but if I use the zoomed out views I can't see the playfield elements well. I see 20-20 but I use a 23" PC monitor for low lag and sit far back in the room. Still bigger display than those 13" TVs kids used to use with back in the day with NES. Not everyone has a 55 inch HDTV you know.

 

[jbejarano]

Do you play in landscape or portrait?

Now that I play on the iPad, I play in portrait so I can see the whole playfield. When I used to play on my iPhone, I played in landscape because in portrait it's just TOO small to see, and my hands are too close together on that size of device.

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

Hmm, Centaur is a slow table? My impression was it was a pretty fast table IRL but I've never played one.

The real Centaur is a pretty slow table. I played on a real one just this past Sunday. It's a really bouncy one though, so it's difficult to aim at anything and is just as prone to straight-down-the-middle or screaming outlane drains as anything made after it.

Isn't there a recommended banking angle for each specific table? I saw a table at TPF that had the back legs jacked up. Balls drained very quickly. IMO, if a table has it's back end jacked up, the flippers at a minimum will need more powerful solenoids to reach the same height. Even then ramps if they exist will be way too steep. IMO, tables should have used a third tilt sensor (in addition to tilt and slam tilt) to detect the pitch of the table and prevent it from operated if the back end was jacked up, so greedy operators couldn't rob patrons of their quarters.

Nearly all modern pinball machines have a level next to the plunger, either to the right or the left, depending on the machine. (It's a bright yellow liquid in a plastic tube with a bubble in it and markers, just like what architects use.) It'll be visible to anyone playing. If the machine is not entirely level, either lengthwise or widthwise, the level will let you, as the player, know. If the level itself is missing, and you see a roughly 1.5-inch slot next to the plunger, that's a red flag that the operator has messed with the levelness of the machine.

Besides, if an operator wanted to scam players, they would slant the machine slightly to the side so the balls are more likely to drain down an outlane. Until recently, a pizza place I visited did this with all four of its machines, the level indicating they were all slanted very slightly to the right. (It has since been corrected--my guess is that the ground itself was slightly slanted.) Increasing the incline grade of the machine is also a lot more noticeable to players when they see they can't make certain ramp shots, but frequent outlane drains are treated as a normal thing and might not be noticeable unless you look at the level.

 

[StarDust4Ever]

Nearly all modern pinball machines have a level next to the plunger, either to the right or the left, depending on the machine. (It's a bright yellow liquid in a plastic tube with a bubble in it and markers, just like what architects use.) It'll be visible to anyone playing. If the machine is not entirely level, either lengthwise or widthwise, the level will let you, as the player, know. If the level itself is missing, and you see a roughly 1.5-inch slot next to the plunger, that's a red flag that the operator has messed with the levelness of the machine.

This is good to know, thanks!

 

[PinballLizard (Mark Wyda)]

One thing I would like to add; I went to the Texas Pinball Festival Friday night and played a pristine Bride of Pinbot with LED lighting. Anyway, BoP is the only table I completed all Wizard Goals in TPA. The ramp shots felt perfect, only I had to let the Pinball roll slightly farther down the Flipper, likely due to the absense of screen lag on real hardware. Even the flipper action felt exactly the same. When I shot the ball up the heart ramp, I held the right flipper high, and when the ball hit the bottom of the flipper, it bounced and hit the 3/4 mark on the flipper before sliding down and cradling at the bottom. And as my two balls balls rolled smoothly across her face she started singing! Heartbeat was like thump, thump-thump, thump-thump-thump... Didn't quite make the "billion" point money shot, maybe next year. Either way, BoP is one sexy table, both IRL and in TPA!

Puns aside, I spoke to the TPA representative and I have a nice jiucy leak for you guys: He asked me if I played the massive Hercules table; and I replied, "yes, it's huge." He told me they recently aquired a Hercules table; I inquired if they were planning on digitising it; he stuttered a bit and told me, "It's going in the lobby for visitors to play and enjoy..." I call bull crap. Guy stuffed his foot in his mouth and I read him like a book, so for better or worse Hercules may or may not be coming to TPA. Honestly the novelty wears off as you start playing it since due to the extreme size it takes the giant cue ball some time to roll across the playfield, and there's less elements that actualy fit acoss the table, so it plays more like a slow EM than a fast modern table. I'm calling Hercules for table pack #31. Random guess...

He could have had that nervous choke because he didn't want to disappoint you that it's not coming to pinball arcade.

I recently hit a pothole and got a flat on the highway. Cop pulls over as I was changing it, asked me a few questions then goes "Is this your car??" My heart dropped and I had that 'gulp' and voice crack when I said "yes", even though, IT IS MY CAR and I DO OWN IT lol. Basically like it was the way he asked me the question or whatever that caused the reaction from me. That's why I personally would never trust a lie detector test, human beings can have malfunctions ! Lol.

I do not believe Hercules will be a standalone, 5$ table pack release... However... I have this theory that tables like Ace High, and perhaps now Hercules and others will be added in as unlockable bonus content.

There were pictures of the new UI that showed a wierd counter, may have been related to specials. Get enough specials, use them to unlock some cool extra goodies.

It's just speculation on my part but I think it might happen or something like it.

*edit* the nervous response could have been because my dad helped me purchase the car and perhaps I was unsure if the car was completely in my name (it is but I wasn't 100% sure at the time) and I do believe for sure you can tell when people are lying, lending credance to my theory that it will be an unlockable. After all the answer isn't no and it isn't yes if that's what they intend on doing. Make sense?

 

[StarDust4Ever]

I recently hit a pothole and got a flat on the highway. Cop pulls over as I was changing it, asked me a few questions then goes "Is this your car??" My heart dropped and I had that 'gulp' and voice crack when I said "yes", even though, IT IS MY CAR and I DO OWN IT lol. Basically like it was the way he asked me the question or whatever that caused the reaction from me. That's why I personally would never trust a lie detector test, human beings can have malfunctions ! Lol.

I know what you mean. I was chatting with some dude once and I told him that I went to an all boys boarding school during high school (I had some issues as a teenager so my parents thought it was best to ship me out of state - long story but I'm all the better because of it). So he flat out asked me, "Are you gay?" I stopped in my tracks and hesitated a bit, an said, "um, no." Then he asked me why I took so long to respond; I told him, "well, that's not the type of question a person normally asks." So yeah, anything shocking or unusual statement can catch a person off guard. Besides, even if the registration was in your dad's name, assuming your name was on the insurance papers as a driver, everything would be good.

Honestly, I was hoping the knot in the guy's throat didn't indicate that Hercules was coming, because there's tons of better stuff they could add to TPA than that giant behemoth. I was bored with it after two or three games. Hercules is kind of the thing someone would want in their business to get people to walk in the door just to see it, then hopefully spend some money while they were there.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

Forget it. It's High Speed. Put an Easter bonnet on that

 

[Rudy Yagov]

Hercules is an Atari game, which they don't have the license for. I wouldn't look forward to seeing it.

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

I would actually love to see a table from something other than Bally/Williams, Gottlieb, or Data East/SEGA/Stern. Capcom would be at the top of that list, but Atari would be interesting too. There is no licensing deal Capcom doesn't like, so I don't think it'd be that hard. Atari, to my knowledge, is currently owned by Hasbro though, which can be really easy, really hard, or anywhere in between.

 

[netizen]

this is the easter bonnet you all wanted

 

[StarDust4Ever]

this is the easter bonnet you all wanted

How hard would it be to get the Evel Kinevel license? Would a kickstarter be required? I've heard it is one of the nicer and more popular EMs.

IMO, The modern Atari brand is sh**. Not their old stuff mind you but most anything released in the past 20 or so years. Last I heard in 2013, Atari was filing bankrupcy (again). It seems they've been bought, sold, swapped around a million times and it seems Atari hasn't really released much of anything worth playing since the late 70s to early 80s. The original company no longer exists but various companies have attempted to buy up the Atari brand and associated IP over the years to milk the franchise for what it was worth and most companies that touched it eventually went bankrupt as well. Problem is all most people associate the Atari brand name with is the video game crash of '83. Outside of your usual Flashback TV consoles and Atari compilations, there's not much of anything worth buying. Nintendo, Sega, Namco, Balley, Williams, Gottlieb all have far better brand recognition in today's market.

 

[rehtroboi40]

How hard would it be to get the Evel Kinevel license? Would a kickstarter be required? I've heard it is one of the nicer and more popular EMs.

IMO, The modern Atari brand is sh**. Not their old stuff mind you but most anything released in the past 20 or so years. Last I heard in 2013, Atari was filing bankrupcy (again). It seems they've been bought, sold, swapped around a million times and it seems Atari hasn't really released much of anything worth playing since the late 70s to early 80s. The original company no longer exists but various companies have attempted to buy up the Atari brand and associated IP over the years to milk the franchise for what it was worth and most companies that touched it eventually went bankrupt as well. Problem is all most people associate the Atari brand name with is the video game crash of '83. Outside of your usual Flashback TV consoles and Atari compilations, there's not much of anything worth buying. Nintendo, Sega, Namco, Balley, Williams, Gottlieb all have far better brand recognition in today's market.

True. Atari's old games seem to be hard to emulate outside of Mame. Factor in controls too-even on touchscreen, the paddle/spinner/trackball/analog controls don't feel exactly right.

As for Hercules, it's more of a conversation piece than a true pinball game. I do give Atari credit for trying something different.
IDK if I would enjoy it in TPA though. Jon Norris pretty much got the use of a cue ball in a pinball game right with CBW in my opinion.

 

[Kolchak357]

I had that Evel Knievel Halloween costume. Wish I still did. I'd be wearing it right now of I did. Might need to let the seems out though.
I also had a cool EK toy. Was a little motorcycle with Evel on it and you could crank it up and it would go flying. Used to make jumps for it to go over. Man I loved that thing.
I know a lot of people would find the EK pin a little dull compared to modern pins and it has become a bit of a joke around here. But I truly loved playing it in my youth and would be very excited to see it become part of TPA someday.