Vintage Flipper World (Ann Arbor Pinball Museum)

[Zombie Aladdin]

I thought those were supposed to be cougar growls or something of the like on El Dorado. Well, I guess it goes to show how bad the audio was.

Did you play Viper? That game seems to be more famous for its artwork than for the gameplay, and I know nothing of how it plays.

I can say that air balls sare rather frequent on improperly-maintained Strange Science tables though, as the scoops are designed in such a way that if they wear down too much, they become tiny ramps instead, and there are ramps with short but steep inclines, like the anti-gravity ramp and the plunger lane. That hop to the outlanes must have been frustrating though. I've had that too, though not with Strange Science.

 

[Crawley]

I thought those were supposed to be cougar growls or something of the like on El Dorado. Well, I guess it goes to show how bad the audio was.

The growls only happen when you hit some of the targets. The drums are playing constantly. And to me its really annoying as it doesn't really sound much like drums and is the same quick loop over and over.

Did you play Viper? That game seems to be more famous for its artwork than for the gameplay, and I know nothing of how it plays.

It was just so-so. Basically there's a round "cannon" in the center of the table where you can load the ball. When the ball is loaded the cannon starts rotating. You use a second set of flipper buttons to line up the cannon where you want your shot to go. Problem is the cannon never stops rotating so you constantly have to adjust it. And I couldn't tell when it was going to fire - it may have been an audio clue I couldn't hear over the noise of the place. That was the main gimmick of the table. The rest was pretty standard for an early 80s table.

 

[Shaneus]

Only a Joust in the back room. There was a father/son having a blast playing it and it was kinda fun to hear how excited they were.

Ah, nice. I played Nate from C2C on that in Texas. Beat him Some awesome photos here too, dude. I'm glad you didn't skimp on them, it looks like there are some *insane* ones there.

I like your anecdote about Solar Fire, too. That's what I enjoyed most about TPF, was that you get to play all these games that people tell you are good or bad, and you can judge for yourself. I never would have discovered two of my favourite games at the show for ages (if not ever), Earthshaker and Night Moves (that cocktail I mentioned earlier).

 

[ZREXMike]

Oh man, vintage pinball heaven! Did they have a SO76?

 

[Crawley]

Oh man, vintage pinball heaven! Did they have a SO76?

Actually no they did not. I haven't seen that table since I was kid.

I don't think I've seen that table at any of the other Expos either, which is a bit odd as I see there were over 10k of those made.