The Mystery of Eight Ball Deluxe

[invitro]

1979-10 Supersonic Bally SS 10,340

This one has a spectacular backglass, and a playfield that looks fun but not as beautiful as S&S.

 

[DA5ID]

These older machines ARE fun - both SS and em- it's just harder to give them the attention they deserve when they are placed next to or compared to a shiny newer table out in the wild.

We have the 71' Bally Star Trek at the lodge I belong to, we usually play four player and have a blast every time - it's a fun table IRL.

I have really started to appreciate them more since the guys in my pinball league have explained the rules and strategies to me for these older tables.

So for me it's a combo of a reasons why I want these older tables included in TPA - historical preservation among them. But I think the enjoyment comes from a better understanding of the tables rulesets and strategies, definitely competition, and also by not comparing them to newer machines. They are a different breed of pin altogether.

 

[invitro]

They're probably more fun to play than they are in TPA... though Gorgar is about as much fun as any TPA table. The very few times I've found good-condition 1970's machines, like Wizard, I've played them every chance I could... maybe I need to move next door to a pinball museum.

 

[Kolchak357]

I think invitro is onto something here. A lot of EM and early SS pins are so much about feel and ball speed. And it seems very hard to get that right in a digital recreation. Look at Central Park for example. The flippers are too strong, which causes excessive ball speed, and the rubber down in the flipper area lacks bounciness (play). So when you play a real one (and I have on several occasions) it feels nothing like the recreation. The real pin is slower but feels much more alive. And feel is such a big part of these older pins.

I'd love to see one of the bowling pins, either Strikes and Spares or Triple Strike would do the job nicely.
As for the Bally Star Trek, I really like it and search it out at pin shows. My wife finds it a total bore (and she likes many older pins). So I fear it wouldn't have a broad enough appeal to pursue the license.

 

[DA5ID]

it's all about the bounce yo!

 

[invitro]

Star Trek's backglass is beautiful. The playfield looks nice too, and maybe a little more interesting than most 1977-1978 tables. (I couldn't find a better big playfield image quickly... would like a link to one. It looks lovely in the video.)

 

[Fungi]

Those BALLY inserts are really out of place theme wise.

 

[DA5ID]

Those BALLY inserts are really out of place theme wise.

Agreed but what other five letter Star Trek word is there?

Oh yeah, Spock

 

[Tabe]

I voted for EBD in the Bally 80's poll. Moreover, I remember the old mac version from the early 90's (Coming soon: Fun House LOL)-which I liked but was put off by the asinine difficulty. TPA would certainly do this classic some overdue justice.

Ah yes, good old Amtex. First with Tristan, then Royal Flush, and finally Eight Ball Deluxe. Looked great but, like you said, reaaaaaaaly hard. And, of course, the taunting "Coming Soon: Funhouse" in the menu area. That just killed me, since Funhouse is my favorite table (by far). But then Amtex went out of business, screwed over creditors or something, and killed remakes of actual pinball tables on the PC for a decade.

 

[Pop Sergeant]

Ah yes, good old Amtex. First with Tristan, then Royal Flush, and finally Eight Ball Deluxe. Looked great but, like you said, reaaaaaaaly hard. And, of course, the taunting "Coming Soon: Funhouse" in the menu area. That just killed me, since Funhouse is my favorite table (by far). But then Amtex went out of business, screwed over creditors or something, and killed remakes of actual pinball tables on the PC for a decade.

They killed Rudy! You Ba$t^rd$ !

 

[rehtroboi40]

Ah yes, good old Amtex. First with Tristan, then Royal Flush, and finally Eight Ball Deluxe. Looked great but, like you said, reaaaaaaaly hard. And, of course, the taunting "Coming Soon: Funhouse" in the menu area. That just killed me, since Funhouse is my favorite table (by far). But then Amtex went out of business, screwed over creditors or something, and killed remakes of actual pinball tables on the PC for a decade.

Amtex was the publisher. Little Wing was the developer. And they're still around too, at www.littlewingpinball.com.
Looks like they're still making tables too. Luved me sum Crystal Caliburn back in the day!

 

[EccentricFlower]

Oh, hey, Little Wing! I lost a LOT of time to Looney Labyrinth on an old Mac back in the day. Nice to see they're still around.

 

[rehtroboi40]

My apologies to all for getting us semi off-topic. The whole point was to show that EBD has been done before. It was a good effort for the time (great sounds too), but I would very much like to see it get the TPA treatment. After seeing how TPA improved HH and CBW (from Microsoft Pinball Arcade), I'm hopeful we will in this season.

Plus, I like EBD because it's just good old-fashioned (and well-designed IMO) fun. Not to take anything away from Xenon, but I have a lot more memories of EBD.
Right down to "Oops, too much English".

 

[Reagan Dow]

Yeah YO!

 

[karl]

I think invitro is onto something here. A lot of EM and early SS pins are so much about feel and ball speed. And it seems very hard to get that right in a digital recreation. Look at Central Park for example. The flippers are too strong, which causes excessive ball speed, and the rubber down in the flipper area lacks bounciness (play). So when you play a real one (and I have on several occasions) it feels nothing like the recreation. The real pin is slower but feels much more alive. And feel is such a big part of these older pins.

I'd love to see one of the bowling pins, either Strikes and Spares or Triple Strike would do the job nicely.
As for the Bally Star Trek, I really like it and search it out at pin shows. My wife finds it a total bore (and she likes many older pins). So I fear it wouldn't have a broad enough appeal to pursue the license.

Well, the time when I disagree with Kolchak had to come sooner or later I see what you are saying but in my experience, it is really hard to find a table from the 70' in good condition and playing well. (maybe people in Norway are not that good restoring the old ones) With Farsight, they look like new(almost )

I also find the 70' and early 80' re-creations really fun to play in the app. Sure, I might play the new ones the most at first but the old tables is what I tend to not get tired of and keep coming back to play the most.

Yes, the scripted ones have a few bugs and might not play exactly as their real counterparts but I love Big Shot, Centaur, Flight 2000, Gorgar, Xenon, El dorado and Geinie in the app. They all feel really great to me. (Not so fond of Black Knight, though.)

It makes me thirst for more of them

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Centaur (and thus Xenon, which uses the same MPU) and F2K aren't scripted. F2K not being scripted means Seawitch (also the same MPU) has a good chance of happening, and while I've only played it a couple of times, it's a very interesting layout that I think will be good to have in TPA.

 

[dave950lam]

More 70's and 80's, please.... Especially EM's (Gottlieb and Williams).

Williams has/had a lot of underrated EM's : Flicker, Capt Fantastic, Wizard (flippy flags, what other machine had those?), Dealer's Choice, Gulfstream, Hi-Deal, Air Aces, etc.,

 

[karl]

More 70's and 80's, please.... Especially EM's (Gottlieb and Williams).

Williams has/had a lot of underrated EM's : Flicker, Capt Fantastic, Wizard (flippy flags, what other machine had those?), Dealer's Choice, Gulfstream, Hi-Deal, Air Aces, etc.,

I believe most of those are Bally games, not Williams, but I agree with you

 

[karl]

I could probably list at least 30-40 games from 76-83 that I would really, really, really want to have in the app. So many great ones to choose from but to keep it on topic, Eight Ball De Luxe is absolutely among the top 5 of those 30-40 titles

 

[Deepest blue]

I really hope EBD makes it but I've lost hope. I'm 43 and I grew up with this pinball along with Centaur, Flash Gordon & Vector. As the original poster said EBD was found everywhere it was in every arcade or club that I went into. It's my favourite pin of all time and id love to own the real thing if I had the room, and I don't think I'd stop playing it if it was released here. But again I've lost hope as it would be been released by now. Shame