TPA Wishlist - The Ultimate 100

[Captain Rumwood]

According to me, of course... What do you think is missing?

Below the list of released and confirmed tables in black, the remaining 75 are grouped by manufacturer but otherwise in no particular order.

You may notice that this differs a bit from my personal favorites list, but I'm trying to stay optimistic [within reason] on what we can expect to get licensed for TPA.

Would this make a perfect virtual museum of pinball machines, as FarSight has envisioned?

This list basically covers all the tables I want!!! To me, it would definitely be the perfect virtual museum of pinball machines.

I would add Batman (1991), Batman (2010) and Batman Forever (1995). I know the licensing would be a pain, but I believe its worth a shot to try.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

POLICE FORCE
POOL SHARKS

THE SIMPSONS D.E.
ROBOCOP

LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION
1812
for GOTTLIEB

 

[Rudy]

Xenon should be a sure fire bet, partly because of several articles I've been reading about the prime of pinball.

While the video game craze of the late 1970s and early 1980s dealt a severe blow to pinball revenue, it did spark the creative talents within the industry. All companies involved tried to take advantage of the new solid state technology to improve player appeal of pinball and win back former players from video games. Some of this creativity resulted in landmark designs and features still present today. Some of these include speech, such as Williams' "Gorgar"; ramps for the ball to travel around, such as Williams' "Space Shuttle"; "multiball", used on Williams' "Firepower"; multi-level games like Gottlieb's "Black Hole" and Williams' "Black Knight"; and blinking chase lights, as used on Bally's "Xenon". Although these novel features did not win back players as the manufacturers had hoped, they changed players' perception of pinball for coming decades.

All of those tables mentioned are either confirmed or (in the case of Firepower, more likely than not to be in) apart from Xenon. They're all historically significant for one reason or another (no matter how much I HATE Black Hole) and also look pretty amazing.

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

Xenon should be a sure fire bet, partly because of several articles I've been reading about the prime of pinball. All of those tables mentioned are either confirmed or (in the case of Firepower, more likely than not to be in) apart from Xenon. They're all historically significant for one reason or another (no matter how much I HATE Black Hole) and also look pretty amazing.

If FarSight delivers on its promises of "most of the Top 40" and "tables added every month for years to come", we should end up with a very satisfying final product. I agree that Xenon should be an easy bet for eventual inclusion, as should Haunted House, White Water, Fish Tales, The Getaway: High Speed II, and a bunch of other popular requests. I'd also be anxious to see some underappreciated greats like Swords of Fury (reportedly under consideration), Centaur, and TX-Sector. I know we devote a lot of time and discussion to licensing quandaries on this forum, but the non-licensed tables are just as important to me.

But just to address remaining license challenges, it seems to me that FarSight could handle 8-12 licensed tables per year (2-3 needing Kickstarters), depending on their cost. As they gain leverage with TZ and ST:TNG, along with additional profits, this could become a bit easier. I envision the best licensing strategy/timeline to look something like this:

2012 - Twilight Zone / Star Trek: The Next Generation
[no Kickstarter necessary for Elvira x2, Ripley's, CftBL, Monster Bash, or Harley]

2013 - The Addams Family / Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure / Star Wars
[no Kickstarter for Phantom of the Opera, Pirates of the Caribbean, AC/DC, TG:HS2, Starship Troopers, Sharkey's, Monopoly, or Goldeneye]

2014 - The Simpsons Pinball Party / Lord of the Rings
[no Kickstarter for Demolition Man, Dirty Harry, Bram Stoker, Tales from the Crypt, Stargate, Judge Dredd, Last Action Hero, South Park, or Apollo 13]

2015 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day / Doctor Who / Jurassic Park
[no Kickstarter for Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Nightmare on Elm St., Elvis, The Shadow, Tommy, Back to the Future, Mary Shelley, or X Files]

That would cover every single licensed table in my "Ultimate 100" list, without any single year being overwhelming. This would also continue the basic balance of pairing higher-cost tables with a non-licensed table, since the mix would almost be 50/50 between them (slightly more non-licensed than licensed, which is probably smart).

Of course, I'm still operating under the assumption of a 4-year/100-table run for TPA, and I'll probably continue doing so until proven otherwise. The more I look at it, the more the Ultimate 100 looks completely feasible.

 

[Kolchak357]

But just to address remaining license challenges, it seems to me that FarSight could handle 8-12 licensed tables per year (2-3 needing Kickstarters), depending on their cost. As they gain leverage with TZ and ST:TNG, along with additional profits, this could become a bit easier. I envision the best licensing strategy/timeline to look something like this:

2012 - Twilight Zone / Star Trek: The Next Generation
[no Kickstarter necessary for Elvira x2, Ripley's, CftBL, Monster Bash, or Harley]

2013 - The Addams Family / Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure / Star Wars
[no Kickstarter for Phantom of the Opera, Pirates of the Caribbean, AC/DC, TG:HS2, Starship Troopers, Sharkey's, Monopoly, or Goldeneye]

2014 - The Simpsons Pinball Party / Lord of the Rings
[no Kickstarter for Demolition Man, Dirty Harry, Bram Stoker, Tales from the Crypt, Stargate, Judge Dredd, Last Action Hero, South Park, or Apollo 13]

2015 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day / Doctor Who / Jurassic Park
[no Kickstarter for Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Nightmare on Elm St., Elvis, The Shadow, Tommy, Back to the Future, Mary Shelley, or X Files]

That would cover every single licensed table in my "Ultimate 100" list, without any single year being overwhelming. This would also continue the basic balance of pairing higher-cost tables with a non-licensed table, since the mix would almost be 50/50 between them (slightly more non-licensed than licensed, which is probably smart).

Of course, I'm still operating under the assumption of a 4-year/100-table run for TPA, and I'll probably continue doing so until proven otherwise. The more I look at it, the more the Ultimate 100 looks completely feasible.

This makes sense to me, and I agree that this is possible other than the non kickstarter tables for 2013. I just don't see Pirates or AC/DC being done without a kickstarter. Even with a kickstarter, they may not be possible. Nice, well thought out list JK.

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

This makes sense to me, and I agree that this is possible other than the non kickstarter tables for 2013. I just don't see Pirates or AC/DC being done without a kickstarter. Even with a kickstarter, they may not be possible. Nice, well thought out list JK.

The only reason why I listed them without a Kickstarter is because Bobby King seems interested in pursuing them sooner than later. If the Kickstarter excess from TAF and IJ gives them a decent head-start, I could see it being applied to PotC (combined with a potential jump in profits from other premium tables), and I honestly don't think AC/DC would be as difficult as the rest. After all, AC/DC's Stern machine is one of the most recent, and a digitally-realized AC/DC table has already appeared in Pinball HD Collection. How hard could it really be? I'm not even sure that it's Kickstarter material, as it would largely depend on fans' love of the band, not the pinball machine.

I also believe it would be logical to discuss the Data East Star Wars licensing at the same time as IJ's negotiation, thus allowing it to be the third Kickstarter for 2013.

 

[shutyertrap]

If FarSight delivers on its promises of "most of the Top 40" and "tables added every month for years to come", we should end up with a very satisfying final product. I agree that Xenon should be an easy bet for eventual inclusion, as should Haunted House, White Water, Fish Tales, The Getaway: High Speed II, and a bunch of other popular requests. I'd also be anxious to see some underappreciated greats like Swords of Fury (reportedly under consideration), Centaur, and TX-Sector. I know we devote a lot of time and discussion to licensing quandaries on this forum, but the non-licensed tables are just as important to me.

But just to address remaining license challenges, it seems to me that FarSight could handle 8-12 licensed tables per year (2-3 needing Kickstarters), depending on their cost. As they gain leverage with TZ and ST:TNG, along with additional profits, this could become a bit easier. I envision the best licensing strategy/timeline to look something like this:

2012 - Twilight Zone / Star Trek: The Next Generation
[no Kickstarter necessary for Elvira x2, Ripley's, CftBL, Monster Bash, or Harley]

2013 - The Addams Family / Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure / Star Wars
[no Kickstarter for Phantom of the Opera, Pirates of the Caribbean, AC/DC, TG:HS2, Starship Troopers, Sharkey's, Monopoly, or Goldeneye]

2014 - The Simpsons Pinball Party / Lord of the Rings
[no Kickstarter for Demolition Man, Dirty Harry, Bram Stoker, Tales from the Crypt, Stargate, Judge Dredd, Last Action Hero, South Park, or Apollo 13]

2015 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day / Doctor Who / Jurassic Park
[no Kickstarter for Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Nightmare on Elm St., Elvis, The Shadow, Tommy, Back to the Future, Mary Shelley, or X Files]

That would cover every single licensed table in my "Ultimate 100" list, without any single year being overwhelming. This would also continue the basic balance of pairing higher-cost tables with a non-licensed table, since the mix would almost be 50/50 between them (slightly more non-licensed than licensed, which is probably smart).

Of course, I'm still operating under the assumption of a 4-year/100-table run for TPA, and I'll probably continue doing so until proven otherwise. The more I look at it, the more the Ultimate 100 looks completely feasible.

You might wanna apply the info Bobby gave to the Spooky Pinball podcast. You can find my summation in that thread, but here's the short version...

T2 will probably be the next kickstarter. AC/DC, Rolling Stones, tables that basically have a reliance on songs, you're not gonna see them at all. He said the music licenses are just way outta control too expensive. Any license that Warner Bros. or Disney owns, those are gonna be a bear. They don't wanna play nice like Universal and CBS did.

So when I look at your no kickstarter needed list, I actually see quite the opposite. Demolition Man, Dirty Harry, Tales from the Crypt, LotR, those are all Warners. Just sayin'. With as thorough a job you've been doing making these lists, you're gonna wanna listen to that podcast and revise further.

By the way, I enjoy your speculation!

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

You might wanna apply the info Bobby gave to the Spooky Pinball podcast. You can find my summation in that thread, but here's the short version...

T2 will probably be the next kickstarter. AC/DC, Rolling Stones, tables that basically have a reliance on songs, you're not gonna see them at all. He said the music licenses are just way outta control too expensive. Any license that Warner Bros. or Disney owns, those are gonna be a bear. They don't wanna play nice like Universal and CBS did.

So when I look at your no kickstarter needed list, I actually see quite the opposite. Demolition Man, Dirty Harry, Tales from the Crypt, LotR, those are all Warners. Just sayin'. With as thorough a job you've been doing making these lists, you're gonna wanna listen to that podcast and revise further.

By the way, I enjoy your speculation!

Good to know. It's always more fun speculating when I've got more information to base it on. I don't think the podcast info will change my Ultimate 100, but the Kickstarter projection I just listed would certainly need some revision in terms of timing and which ones would need KS funding...

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

In light of the podcast and other insights from the last week, I've performed another update to the Ultimate 100. This time, it's an overall reduction of tricky licenses, especially those from Warner, Disney, and Marvel. I've also removed AC/DC, Elvis, and The Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard because of their reportedly outrageous cost.

On the plus side, that means some other non-licensed favorites have taken their place -- Big Guns, Devil's Dare, Cue Ball Wizard, and Mata Hari are especially noteworthy.

 

[Kolchak357]

It's not like we would even be trading down. I really want to see the tables you just added.

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

It's not like we would even be trading down. I really want to see the tables you just added.

Well, yeah, I'd personally prefer Big Guns and Devil's Dare over AC/DC and PotC anyway, as an example, but I don't expect everyone to feel that way, especially not the younger players on this forum. But either way, reduction of the unlikely licensed tables would make it even easier for FarSight to achieve a 100-table run. I still want to see The Addams Family at some point, regardless of how costly and complicated the licensing may be, but I think we're all in agreement on that.

Like I posted in a different thread, I'd be just as happy if FS declared 1966-2005 as the viable 40-year pool and focused its efforts on those tables, maybe going so far as to release a 2-table pack of Central Park [Gottlieb 1966] and NASCAR [Stern 2005] as timeline "bookends". It would even obey the licensed/non-licensed, PHoF/non-PHoF, old/new scheme that many previous packs have followed. Point being, there aren't many tables that would suit TPA before 1966, and anything after 2005 seems to either suck or cause too many problems in licensing. But again, that's just my opinion. I know a lot of players just don't want to let go of the idea of Transformers and Spider-Man eventually showing up...

And on that note, I still don't have any interest in this concept of original tables or sequel machines for TPA, not unless they're willing to go all out by having the Stern boys create a real physical table to go with it. We already have Zen, Pinball HD, Pro, Age of Pinballs, and a variety of other digitally-realized collections for that. TPA should stick to what has made it popular with both gamers and real pinball enthusiasts, don't you think?

 

[phreaker47]

Do you have Strange World on that list? That is a great table...a real "ball buster" so to speak

I was just thinking that, looking at that Krull image... "what is that awesome psychedelic thing next to it??"

I remember in the late 70s, i was at a roller skate rink (yeah showing my age..haha) ... I remember "Eight Ball" (not deluxe) was the hot new machine and we all lamented about how now we didn't get TWO games for a quarter, but wow hey, DIGITAL SCORING... the beginning of the "1 play 1 quarter 3 plays 2 quarters" era... anyway, off in the corner was this strange little pinball game that must have been from the 60s. I believe it was called "Blue Cheer" (having no idea at the time it was an LSD influenced band from about a decade prior). You could play it for a dime! Or, 3 games for a quarter. At this moment I tried to find some info on it, or youtube video or something... but I can't find anything!

Can anyone, for my useless amusement, help me remember what game this might be? I'm not even sure that was the title. Sorry I can't give more details... but it definitely showed a rock band on it, and it was definitely an acid trip.

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

Blue Note?

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=328

 

[phreaker47]

Blue Note?

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=328

Good guess with "Blue" in the title but no way that was it... hah... that's looking more "Josie and the Pussycats" than something actually psychedelic... haha! But I will comb that database as well.

 

[phreaker47]

It could have actually been "Far Out"
http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?any=p...e&search=Search+Database&searchtype=quick#823

Wish I could remember for sure. I was about 8 or 9 years old when I saw this thing.

My whole thought of it being "Blue Cheer" could have easily been my own acid-induced false memory

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

I know FarSight is doing great to average two tables per month, but sometimes it feels so long between announcements...

When was the last time we heard any new additions to the schedule? I'm still seeing the same seven (Dr. Dude, Space Shuttle, Attack from Mars, Pin*Bot, Victory, Twilight Zone, and Star Trek: The Next Generation). Those are all well and good, but we knew about all of them months before the Elvira reveal.

 

[Jeff Strong]

I know FarSight is doing great to average two tables per month, but sometimes it feels so long between announcements...

When was the last time we heard any new additions to the schedule? I'm still seeing the same seven (Dr. Dude, Space Shuttle, Attack from Mars, Pin*Bot, Victory, Twilight Zone, and Star Trek: The Next Generation). Those are all well and good, but we knew about all of them months before the Elvira reveal.

TZ was officially confirmed in June (Kickstarter completed).

Victory was confirmed in July.

No Good Gofers was confirmed in August.

ST:TNG was officially confirmed in Setember (Kickstarter completed).

EATPM and SS were both announced in September.

So it really hasn't been that long, but we should be due for some new announcement fairly soon.

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

Alright, I have updated the list with Genie and Cactus Canyon in the confirmed section. A couple months ago, I actually removed Cactus Canyon because none of us thought it was realistic to expect such a rare collectible to make it into TPA. I'm pleased to see that FarSight has some serious tricks and surprises up their sleeves. Keep it up, guys!

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

I just put Elvis and Tommy back in, too. Funny that FarSight keeps proving us wrong on the ones we assumed would never work out...

I haven't had a chance to listen to the whole Bobby King interview. Was Firepower confirmed or just mentioned?

 

[Rudy]

He said within the next six months or so, so it's confirmed.

He also mentioned that he's trying to get all the PHOF tables into TPA, but we knew this already. Whether he actually meant them all or just 'the good ones' is anyone's guess.