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The Pinball Arcade / Farsight Studios
Top 5-10 Pinballs every made - Pro talk
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<blockquote data-quote="PET3R" data-source="post: 221357" data-attributes="member: 5266"><p>To start the discussion here are some of my observations. </p><p>I have played each table at least 30-50 times.</p><p></p><p>Theatre of Magic (NOT in top 5)</p><p>-----------------</p><p>+ very good ballanced scoring</p><p>+ nice shots and good flow of table</p><p>+ lot of variety</p><p></p><p>- it is one of these tables - complete 4 goals to get wizard mode, which </p><p>are not very interesting. Missions which you can just time out, spell</p><p>thatre, spell magic. There are other games like AFM, MB, MM, CC, SS that in </p><p>my opinion do it much better.</p><p>- this is good layout of the table, however you can find similiar in MM, MB, AFM</p><p>which in my opinion are much more fun games. </p><p>- hitting the trunk all the time, even worse if you going to time out mission</p><p>- if it comes to mission based tables I find TZ or TAF much better. </p><p></p><p>Ripleys Believe it or not</p><p>-------------------------</p><p>Haven't played this much yet. Only part I like is that it forces you to finish succesfully the modes as it always awards you a letter.</p><p>However once you finish all the continents with a good score the strategy seems to be quickly timing out the second round so you will get again the combined score.</p><p>The slot machine does not seem to be very interesting, and I dislike the 2x score as that can make a really huge difference in scoring when timed right. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Arabian Nights (NOT in top 5)</p><p>--------------</p><p>Very nice and fun table however hitting the lamp is the key to high score. </p><p>Spin it 60 times in ball one so the bonus caries over. Always go for</p><p>lamp scoring x3 x3 x3 x3 and get scores that are 10-50x higher than</p><p>playing the modes and beating wizard mode. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Medieval Madness (?)</p><p>----------------</p><p>This is one table I am confused about. Some says it is very overated, some says it is the best table. The more I play it I think the more I am starting</p><p>to appreciate it, but still can't understand the hype. Hitting the castle feels very repetitive and the rest of the table is about hitting the ramps. </p><p>The trolls dont feel fun to hit as it is in CC, and there seems to be nothing else to this table. Hopefully this discussion will make it clear whether</p><p>I am missing something or the table is really popular because of the greatest toy in pinball - Castle.</p><p></p><p>Circus Voltaire (Not in top 5)</p><p>---------------</p><p>I really dont like the layout of this table and the multiball ramp which is hard to hit and can be a big drainer. When someone mentions this table, CC comes immediatelly</p><p>to my mind, which I think is much better done. Instead of ringmaster, you are hitting a Bart. Instead of 9 not very fun goals you have 5 very solid ones. Not very big fan</p><p>of 3 stage wizard mode even though it is very interesting. I find rewarding 30 sec multiball in CC much more fun.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Creature from the black lagoon (NOT in top 5)</p><p>------------------------------</p><p>Spot FILM, find the girl, maximise multiplier for the super jackpot and hit super jackpot. That is pretty much I can see in this pinball. Nothing wrong with it</p><p>but I do not like repetitive shots, maximize super jackpot before hitting it. So you keep shooting this ramp again and again and finally when your multiplier is at max</p><p>you drain the ball. Sorry not fun for me. The other one is creating combo of 16 million before scoring it. Again you keep hitting that one ramp and then you miss the </p><p>shot to score these 16 or 32 million. And if you are good at it you can keep doing it whole day and make a huge score.</p><p></p><p>Monster Bash (Probably no.1)</p><p>------------</p><p>Wish the layout was little different and ramps were more easier to hit like in MM, WW or ToM, but maybe it just want a bit of practice. Appart from that there is nothing</p><p>I would not like about this table. Probably the modes could have little more variety, but everything else shines. You can skip all the animations, and this is the only </p><p>table where I find all the satisfaction from the other tables.</p><p></p><p>TAF, TZ, - play the timed modes but here I can directly start the particular mode I want or need.</p><p>RBION, STTNG - play the modes well to be awarded instrument and get a Monsters of rock.</p><p>MM, AFM, CC, SS - complete loops, achieve 6 different goals, Frank target (saucer, castle, crate) not the best one but seeing progress by body parts must be the best.</p><p> Stacking up different modes and creating interesting strategies, bombs in AFM for collecting instruments.</p><p>SS - start all the modes but dont have to finish them - you will get Monster Bash multiball.</p><p>CC, MM, Stoker's Dracula - pop up targets or moving ball - Drac moving from side to side, Standing up Frank</p><p>Harley davidson - 4 different multiballs, Pit, Frank, Monster Bash, Monsters of Rock</p><p></p><p>To top this up, this table also includes lot of bonuses - great theme, sound, art, music, call outs, humor.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Scared Stiff (Yes - top 5)</p><p>------------</p><p>Very well done crate target. It is like Saucer or Castle but without the feel of being repetitive. It is quite easy to hit, just like the left ramp, but when it</p><p>comes to wizard mode, suddenly you have difficulty to hit them as you loose the timing. I love it - excelent. Very easy rules, and full use of every feature of the table.</p><p>Deadheads, lab, beast, coffin, crate, leapers (bumpers, multipliers, ramps, crate, stading targets). Very good and balanced scoring. Simple requirements, no need for </p><p>super jackpot like in AFM, therefore you get the wizard in every game, but every time it becomes more difficult as you need to hit more labs, coffins, crates...</p><p>Multiball does not feel very chaotic but you can very well control the balls. It is really good that the jackpots alternate between ramps, however this is not the case</p><p>in wizard which I cant decide whether I like it, as you can hold 2 balls on one flipper and then just do loops with the other one. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Twilight Zone</p><p>-------------</p><p>Even though it is an excelent table you will immediatelly compare it to TAF, which for me is more elegant, original and better made table. </p><p>Layout is not as great as in TAF. Not good use of space. The gumball takes lot of space, together with powerfield. Those 3 bumpers are not very well placed,</p><p>and whole table looks very cluttered. I appreciate that Pat wanted to put more stuff into pinball, but that's how it exactly feels. Fit in as much as you can.</p><p>There are more modes in here but I find them less interesting. You have 2x clocks, which is hitting the drop target. Greed again involves hitting drop targets.</p><p>One of the modes is skill shot which does not even have to be collected from the piano as it can be achieved at the beginning of the ball. The rest is about hitting </p><p>1 target or collecting some awards. Even though the powerfield is fun I am not a big fun of these toys which takes your attention from the main playfield, as well as</p><p>I am not a fan of video modes (it is more acceptable when they are very short). Ceramic ball is nice touchm however not a big use of it and it feels more like a gimmick.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Star Trek Next Generation (Yes - top 5)</p><p>-------------------------</p><p>I like the concept of this pinball and the layout of the table. The whole table is about hitting ramps and accuracy, and if you miss, well, you drain</p><p>as this table is very punishable. I love how it encourages you to play well the modes as these have a great impact on the wizard mode. Some of the modes</p><p>could be probably more fun or little different but overal I am happy with this table. I know lot of people complaining about the hungry outlanes, but the fact is -</p><p>if you never miss a ramp you will never drain. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Attack from Mars (not in top 5)</p><p>----------------</p><p>Very good table. I like the variety of the modes and hitting saucer is much more fun then hitting the castle due to angled opening - returning of the ball is more varied. </p><p>Also you need to hit first the shield which gives different feeling. In castle you hit always castle. </p><p>You see the health on the display which makes it much more fun destroying the saucer compared to counting how many more times you need to hit the castle.</p><p>Very good balanced scoring, even thogh these billions- trilions are silly and unnecessary. Constant hitting of the saucer can become very repetitive.</p><p>What kills this game for me is the requirement for super jackpot and 5 way combo. You might have a perfect game but be unlucky in achieving one of those which results in </p><p>loosing 5 billion points. To me that is no fun. I would love this table if these 2 requirements would be changed - start the multiball, 10 way combo the way it is in CC.</p><p>I feel there is nothing wrong with achieving the wizard mode quite regularly, specially when you playing for score. This way I know I will beat my score only once I again </p><p>rule the universe which might not be very soon. I need to feel that I can beat my high score any day, unfortunatelly that is not the case here, becasue even if i am having </p><p>a perfect run, that one super jackpot might stop me from beating my score. This is great game, but with these rules feels more like, I played it, I beaten it, cant be bother </p><p>to go through that again.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Cactus Canyon (Yes - top 5)</p><p>-------------</p><p>One of the tables where you need to achieve 5 goals. Prefer it to AFM as you dont need to hit super jackpot (motherload is easy to achieve) and 5 way combo (10 way combo</p><p>accumulating). The pop up targets and duels are probably the most fun it can get in pinball. Yes the outlanes are hungry but if you play controled pinball usually the ball</p><p>stays in game for quite a long. And similiarly as in STTNG if you dont miss the ramps your ball should not really drain. I love the 30 sec mutliball with pop up targets</p><p>probably my favourite of all. I can feel here the other pinballs - CV, MM, AFM but I enjoy this one and the rules the most. </p><p></p><p></p><p>White Water (not in top 5)</p><p>-----------</p><p>One of my top tables. I really love this table and its features however 5x playfield and those jackpot rules ruin it for me. </p><p>Feel like the whole game is about making succesfully 3 shots to 3x your jackpot and then just hitting jackpots.</p><p>You can have an amazing game but if you fail to 3x your jackpot, specially when it is very high seems like your high score</p><p>is 1/3 of what it could have been. Vacation jackpot requirements are also frustrating - class 6 river together with 3 locks. </p><p></p><p>Terminator 2 (not in top 5)</p><p>------------</p><p>Probably the only game that rewards you for keeping all three balls in play and locking them. Briliant idea.</p><p>However you need only 2 balls to be able to get the super jackpot, and then it is all about the gun.</p><p>Gun, gun, gun. You loose 50 million because you did not aim well enough. For me the pinball skill is </p><p>about flippers and how well you can keep ball in game, not about gun. Therefore this cannot be in the top list. </p><p></p><p>Addams Family (Yes - top 5)</p><p>-------------</p><p>In my opinion the best layout of the table out there with 4 flippers, that feels more like 3. I know many of you</p><p>consider MM as best layout but to me they are just loops of ramps around the table. </p><p>Nice variety of modes that use every single part of the table. Bumpers, ramps, tunnels, </p><p>probalby best ballanced table out there. Perfect example of what I think multiball should be.</p><p>Not the easiest to start and you need a skill to hit and relight those jackpots. I hate the tables</p><p>where the first thing you do is go for multiball because it gives the most points and you just keep </p><p>hitting jackpot after jackpot. I dont mind it as a reward like a wizard in MB or TZ but having it as a regular</p><p>multiball it looses all the magic. Can't really think of the negatives. I like that after tour the mansion you can play it again</p><p>only after you drain the ball. So if you are really good it forces you to make the most out of each mode as there will be not much left</p><p>to do once you tour the mansion. Very interesting shots, nice variety. Not sure I am fan of powerfield and I dont like that you can time it out.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="PET3R, post: 221357, member: 5266"] To start the discussion here are some of my observations. I have played each table at least 30-50 times. Theatre of Magic (NOT in top 5) ----------------- + very good ballanced scoring + nice shots and good flow of table + lot of variety - it is one of these tables - complete 4 goals to get wizard mode, which are not very interesting. Missions which you can just time out, spell thatre, spell magic. There are other games like AFM, MB, MM, CC, SS that in my opinion do it much better. - this is good layout of the table, however you can find similiar in MM, MB, AFM which in my opinion are much more fun games. - hitting the trunk all the time, even worse if you going to time out mission - if it comes to mission based tables I find TZ or TAF much better. Ripleys Believe it or not ------------------------- Haven't played this much yet. Only part I like is that it forces you to finish succesfully the modes as it always awards you a letter. However once you finish all the continents with a good score the strategy seems to be quickly timing out the second round so you will get again the combined score. The slot machine does not seem to be very interesting, and I dislike the 2x score as that can make a really huge difference in scoring when timed right. Arabian Nights (NOT in top 5) -------------- Very nice and fun table however hitting the lamp is the key to high score. Spin it 60 times in ball one so the bonus caries over. Always go for lamp scoring x3 x3 x3 x3 and get scores that are 10-50x higher than playing the modes and beating wizard mode. Medieval Madness (?) ---------------- This is one table I am confused about. Some says it is very overated, some says it is the best table. The more I play it I think the more I am starting to appreciate it, but still can't understand the hype. Hitting the castle feels very repetitive and the rest of the table is about hitting the ramps. The trolls dont feel fun to hit as it is in CC, and there seems to be nothing else to this table. Hopefully this discussion will make it clear whether I am missing something or the table is really popular because of the greatest toy in pinball - Castle. Circus Voltaire (Not in top 5) --------------- I really dont like the layout of this table and the multiball ramp which is hard to hit and can be a big drainer. When someone mentions this table, CC comes immediatelly to my mind, which I think is much better done. Instead of ringmaster, you are hitting a Bart. Instead of 9 not very fun goals you have 5 very solid ones. Not very big fan of 3 stage wizard mode even though it is very interesting. I find rewarding 30 sec multiball in CC much more fun. Creature from the black lagoon (NOT in top 5) ------------------------------ Spot FILM, find the girl, maximise multiplier for the super jackpot and hit super jackpot. That is pretty much I can see in this pinball. Nothing wrong with it but I do not like repetitive shots, maximize super jackpot before hitting it. So you keep shooting this ramp again and again and finally when your multiplier is at max you drain the ball. Sorry not fun for me. The other one is creating combo of 16 million before scoring it. Again you keep hitting that one ramp and then you miss the shot to score these 16 or 32 million. And if you are good at it you can keep doing it whole day and make a huge score. Monster Bash (Probably no.1) ------------ Wish the layout was little different and ramps were more easier to hit like in MM, WW or ToM, but maybe it just want a bit of practice. Appart from that there is nothing I would not like about this table. Probably the modes could have little more variety, but everything else shines. You can skip all the animations, and this is the only table where I find all the satisfaction from the other tables. TAF, TZ, - play the timed modes but here I can directly start the particular mode I want or need. RBION, STTNG - play the modes well to be awarded instrument and get a Monsters of rock. MM, AFM, CC, SS - complete loops, achieve 6 different goals, Frank target (saucer, castle, crate) not the best one but seeing progress by body parts must be the best. Stacking up different modes and creating interesting strategies, bombs in AFM for collecting instruments. SS - start all the modes but dont have to finish them - you will get Monster Bash multiball. CC, MM, Stoker's Dracula - pop up targets or moving ball - Drac moving from side to side, Standing up Frank Harley davidson - 4 different multiballs, Pit, Frank, Monster Bash, Monsters of Rock To top this up, this table also includes lot of bonuses - great theme, sound, art, music, call outs, humor. Scared Stiff (Yes - top 5) ------------ Very well done crate target. It is like Saucer or Castle but without the feel of being repetitive. It is quite easy to hit, just like the left ramp, but when it comes to wizard mode, suddenly you have difficulty to hit them as you loose the timing. I love it - excelent. Very easy rules, and full use of every feature of the table. Deadheads, lab, beast, coffin, crate, leapers (bumpers, multipliers, ramps, crate, stading targets). Very good and balanced scoring. Simple requirements, no need for super jackpot like in AFM, therefore you get the wizard in every game, but every time it becomes more difficult as you need to hit more labs, coffins, crates... Multiball does not feel very chaotic but you can very well control the balls. It is really good that the jackpots alternate between ramps, however this is not the case in wizard which I cant decide whether I like it, as you can hold 2 balls on one flipper and then just do loops with the other one. Twilight Zone ------------- Even though it is an excelent table you will immediatelly compare it to TAF, which for me is more elegant, original and better made table. Layout is not as great as in TAF. Not good use of space. The gumball takes lot of space, together with powerfield. Those 3 bumpers are not very well placed, and whole table looks very cluttered. I appreciate that Pat wanted to put more stuff into pinball, but that's how it exactly feels. Fit in as much as you can. There are more modes in here but I find them less interesting. You have 2x clocks, which is hitting the drop target. Greed again involves hitting drop targets. One of the modes is skill shot which does not even have to be collected from the piano as it can be achieved at the beginning of the ball. The rest is about hitting 1 target or collecting some awards. Even though the powerfield is fun I am not a big fun of these toys which takes your attention from the main playfield, as well as I am not a fan of video modes (it is more acceptable when they are very short). Ceramic ball is nice touchm however not a big use of it and it feels more like a gimmick. Star Trek Next Generation (Yes - top 5) ------------------------- I like the concept of this pinball and the layout of the table. The whole table is about hitting ramps and accuracy, and if you miss, well, you drain as this table is very punishable. I love how it encourages you to play well the modes as these have a great impact on the wizard mode. Some of the modes could be probably more fun or little different but overal I am happy with this table. I know lot of people complaining about the hungry outlanes, but the fact is - if you never miss a ramp you will never drain. Attack from Mars (not in top 5) ---------------- Very good table. I like the variety of the modes and hitting saucer is much more fun then hitting the castle due to angled opening - returning of the ball is more varied. Also you need to hit first the shield which gives different feeling. In castle you hit always castle. You see the health on the display which makes it much more fun destroying the saucer compared to counting how many more times you need to hit the castle. Very good balanced scoring, even thogh these billions- trilions are silly and unnecessary. Constant hitting of the saucer can become very repetitive. What kills this game for me is the requirement for super jackpot and 5 way combo. You might have a perfect game but be unlucky in achieving one of those which results in loosing 5 billion points. To me that is no fun. I would love this table if these 2 requirements would be changed - start the multiball, 10 way combo the way it is in CC. I feel there is nothing wrong with achieving the wizard mode quite regularly, specially when you playing for score. This way I know I will beat my score only once I again rule the universe which might not be very soon. I need to feel that I can beat my high score any day, unfortunatelly that is not the case here, becasue even if i am having a perfect run, that one super jackpot might stop me from beating my score. This is great game, but with these rules feels more like, I played it, I beaten it, cant be bother to go through that again. Cactus Canyon (Yes - top 5) ------------- One of the tables where you need to achieve 5 goals. Prefer it to AFM as you dont need to hit super jackpot (motherload is easy to achieve) and 5 way combo (10 way combo accumulating). The pop up targets and duels are probably the most fun it can get in pinball. Yes the outlanes are hungry but if you play controled pinball usually the ball stays in game for quite a long. And similiarly as in STTNG if you dont miss the ramps your ball should not really drain. I love the 30 sec mutliball with pop up targets probably my favourite of all. I can feel here the other pinballs - CV, MM, AFM but I enjoy this one and the rules the most. White Water (not in top 5) ----------- One of my top tables. I really love this table and its features however 5x playfield and those jackpot rules ruin it for me. Feel like the whole game is about making succesfully 3 shots to 3x your jackpot and then just hitting jackpots. You can have an amazing game but if you fail to 3x your jackpot, specially when it is very high seems like your high score is 1/3 of what it could have been. Vacation jackpot requirements are also frustrating - class 6 river together with 3 locks. Terminator 2 (not in top 5) ------------ Probably the only game that rewards you for keeping all three balls in play and locking them. Briliant idea. However you need only 2 balls to be able to get the super jackpot, and then it is all about the gun. Gun, gun, gun. You loose 50 million because you did not aim well enough. For me the pinball skill is about flippers and how well you can keep ball in game, not about gun. Therefore this cannot be in the top list. Addams Family (Yes - top 5) ------------- In my opinion the best layout of the table out there with 4 flippers, that feels more like 3. I know many of you consider MM as best layout but to me they are just loops of ramps around the table. Nice variety of modes that use every single part of the table. Bumpers, ramps, tunnels, probalby best ballanced table out there. Perfect example of what I think multiball should be. Not the easiest to start and you need a skill to hit and relight those jackpots. I hate the tables where the first thing you do is go for multiball because it gives the most points and you just keep hitting jackpot after jackpot. I dont mind it as a reward like a wizard in MB or TZ but having it as a regular multiball it looses all the magic. Can't really think of the negatives. I like that after tour the mansion you can play it again only after you drain the ball. So if you are really good it forces you to make the most out of each mode as there will be not much left to do once you tour the mansion. Very interesting shots, nice variety. Not sure I am fan of powerfield and I dont like that you can time it out. [/QUOTE]
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Top 5-10 Pinballs every made - Pro talk
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