Your Dream-Themes For Tables That Don't Exist

[HotHamBoy]

Hey folks. Seeing tables like Oz, Alien and Lebowski made me think about other themes and licenses that would make awesome pinball tables. What do you dream of when you think of tables you wish existed?

Here's some of mine:

Twin Peaks - so many ideas! Lots of characters and locations for a table that represents the town, tons of great sound bytes and events from the show for callouts and modes! A rustic, wood-aesthetic. Great music. It's all there!

'66 Batman - Again, great theme! Missions based around the Rogues Gallery: Joker, Catwoman, Riddler and Penguin. Tons of awesome music and sound bytes, a vintage Batmobile playfield toy, a hurry-up where you have to get rid of a bomb, a TAF-like bookshelf with a winding wireform ramp to a Batcave lower playfield, that red phone that lights up when a mode is ready, some beautiful hand-drawn art of the actors...

Ren and Stimpy

Mystery Science Theater 3000

Harry Potter - it blows my mind that it doesn't already exist

Toy Story - of all the Pixar films, this one seems like the best candidate for a pinball table and one that really gets my brain racing with possibilities.

Gorillaz - When it comes to pins based on bands, Gorillaz seems like a perfect choice due to the "story" created for the fictional characters and albums. Hewlett's art would make a gorgeous table, especially if he designed the playfield art himself, and a WoZ-style LCD screen could show-off original animation.

Toho Godzilla - Become the king of the monsters! The table would be Tokyo, with collapsable buildings and several Monster bash toys...

I could go on but I'm curious what others have in mind...

 

[invitro]

What do you dream of when you think of tables you wish existed?

That's easy... an original theme, aka a theme that doesn't exist yet.

 

[HotHamBoy]

If we are talking completely original, i'm also surprised that there hasn't been a pin based on "hacking" into a computer network. Maybe a table inspired by Neuromancer.

 

[Extork]

If we are talking completely original, i'm also surprised that there hasn't been a pin based on "hacking" into a computer network. Maybe a table inspired by Neuromancer.

Hack the planet!!! Mess with agent Gil mode. The plague multiball. Razor and blade (2 ball multiball). Yeah maybe it's not normal for me to love the movie Hackers so much. Never heard of neuromancer, sounds cool.

I want my Beast Wars themed pin. I'll even donate some toys. Megatron as a dragon makes me feel all tingly inside. The show had good story lines too. Just check out the episode where Dinobot goes crazy killin erybody, and dies in battle. Code of a hero is the episode I think.

 

[Nomorestalker]

Mst3k would be an awesome theme as a life long junkie of terrible movies. Deadwood would have made a great MA rated table and my girlfriend always says they skills gave done a nightmare before Christmas table. It could be an interesting build.

 

[invitro]

If we are talking completely original, i'm also surprised that there hasn't been a pin based on "hacking" into a computer network. Maybe a table inspired by Neuromancer.

Well if it's inspired by a commercial product then I guess it isn't completely original . Maybe I meant unlicensed. I was thinking FH, ToM, WWind, WWater, CV, etc., etc. I am hoping that the Jersey Jack from Lawlor is actually original as it's claimed to be. ("It will be an original theme - without a licence - something for which many pinball fans have been calling": http://www.pinballnews.com/news/jjplawlor.html)

 

[HotHamBoy]

I was originally thinking of hacking as an unlicensed theme but then Neuromancer sprang to mind.
[MENTION=2241]Extork[/MENTION] Neuromancer is an 80s Sci-fi novel about a hacker/junkie who is recruited for a virtual heist against an advanced AI's security network. The novel coined the term "cyberspace" and was a major inspiration behind The Matrix as characters in the book "jack in" to cyberspace with their minds, entering a virtual world.

It also was a big inspiration for Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash, pub. in 1992, which is another fantastic dystopian sci-fi cyberpunk novel that is credited for having the first use of the term "avatar" to mean a digital representation of oneself, specifically online.

 

[Johni3w6]

How about a Monty Python themed table?

 

[HotHamBoy]

Yeah, Python is another fantastic choice. Certainly Holy Grail comes to mind but MM kinda ruined that. Just a bunch of nods to sketches and a table filled with Gilliam art would be awesome, though.

Lol, while we're on Gilliam, I could probably comes up with a bunch of ideas for a Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas table... like a hurry-up involving White Rabbit, a toaster and a bathtub...

Two more cartoon tables that would be perfect and popular: Adventure Time and Futurama! I would love to see Zen Studios take a crack at both, if nothing else. They would probably be better virtual tables anyway, given all the rockets and robots and tubes and Jake-morphing and monsters and magic...

 

[ZREXMike]

A new Iron Maiden table, based on the Somewhere In Time album cover.

 

[trunchbull]

Hah, I've spent way too much down-time at work thinking about fantasy pinball tables. I think a Willy Wonka table would be cool and obviously there's a billion things you could do with that - count down the clock to get into the factory, then send off the four kids before taking a ride in the elevator and winning the factory, with assorted fun things along the way (crazy boat trip lightshow, wallpaper-licking, chocolate room multiball, "escape the fan" mode).

Lol, while we're on Gilliam, I could probably comes up with a bunch of ideas for a Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas table... like a hurry-up involving White Rabbit, a toaster and a bathtub...

Gilliam's fantasy films would make terrific tables and totally lend themselves to pinball theming. Time Bandits is probably the easiest given all the different temporal zones and goal-oriented narrative (you could collect map pieces, sink the Titanic, outwit the big troll guy, navigate a labyrinth, and even defeat Evil in wizard mode) but Brazil and Baron Munchausen are both so stuffed full of images and ideas that a good designer could have a field day. Just Brazil alone - think of all the ducts! Or a functioning version of that little decision-making executive toy that Sam gets like thirty of - it could decide whether to award you a bonus or a game goal.

Two more cartoon tables that would be perfect and popular: Adventure Time and Futurama! I would love to see Zen Studios take a crack at both, if nothing else. They would probably be better virtual tables anyway, given all the rockets and robots and tubes and Jake-morphing and monsters and magic...

They're both kind of early in their runs in comparison to Adventure Time and Futurama, but Steven Universe and Rick & Morty would both make great tables.

 

[HotHamBoy]

I agree with all of those ideas! Would love to see Zen strike a deal with Cartoon Network for a CN pack and an Adult Swim pack. Rick and Morty would be shoe-ins, as would Aqua Teens, but my dream AS table would be Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job. It would have to purposefully look terrible, like a modern Stern. Bad photoshop with a Public Access aesthetic.

 

[Extork]

I agree with all of those ideas! Would love to see Zen strike a deal with Cartoon Network for a CN pack and an Adult Swim pack. Rick and Morty would be shoe-ins, as would Aqua Teens, but my dream AS table would be Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job. It would have to purposefully look terrible, like a modern Stern. Bad photoshop with a Public Access aesthetic.

That's a great idea! have you ever seen the tim and Eric million dollar movie? John C (riverdog) Riley is hilarious in it, as is Will Ferrel, with one of his strangest cameos... which is saying something. also on youtube Tim has some awesome cooking videos, my favorite is the chili cookoff.

Another great pin idea is Army of Darkness. And I know for a fact that I'm not the first one to say that lol

 

[HotHamBoy]

Evil Dead 2 would be my choice from the trilogy. The table could be the cabin, with the cellar in the middle that pops open... Laughing deer head and furniture when your ball drains, naturally!

I'm a huge T&E nerd but Billion Dollar was the only thing they've made I actually thought was kind of weak... Have you seen Tim's youtube series for Adult Swim, On Cinema? So ridiculous, sooo dry and dead pan, I love it.

Speed was a terrible movie IMO but in the long-standing tradition of bad movies made into awesome pins, I think a Speed table would be awesome. The gimmick: If the table senses that the ball has stopped moving the flippers go dead and you drain out! That means every shot must be made on the fly! And there would be a ramp that lifts so you have to jump a bridge, of course.

 

[Extork]

Evil Dead 2 would be my choice from the trilogy. The table could be the cabin, with the cellar in the middle that pops open... Laughing deer head and furniture when your ball drains, naturally!

I'm a huge T&E nerd but Billion Dollar was the only thing they've made I actually thought was kind of weak... Have you seen Tim's youtube series for Adult Swim, On Cinema? So ridiculous, sooo dry and dead pan, I love it.

Speed was a terrible movie IMO but in the long-standing tradition of bad movies made into awesome pins, I think a Speed table would be awesome. The gimmick: If the table senses that the ball has stopped moving the flippers go dead and you drain out! That means every shot must be made on the fly! And there would be a ramp that lifts so you have to jump a bridge, of course.

i agree that the premise wasn't that great. who cares if they want to buy a mall? right? still had the randomness that we all love though. and no, i havent seen his utube series. but that'll change in a sec. that speed table sounds like a steve ritchie.

im too lazy to capitalize right now, or punctuate correctly

howbout this though. pinball tables of old nickalodean shows. how is there not a wren and stimpy table? litter box with actual kitty litter in it. toast man multiball. or howbout kablam. not many people remember that show but there's more than enough for a campy/awesome pinball table there. when i was younger i used to reserve the living room for myself every friday night for kablam, make some popcorn and go crazy watching it. you've got prometheus and bob, action league now!, life with loopy, and some other stuff i'm forgetting right now. not to mention in a comic book style. i used to be into making my own comic books as a kid. too bad i didn't pursue that. the types of comics i would make were meant to be funny but could still kick ass. almost like a mockery of real comics. so i had cat boy, wolf-e comics, and ant guy. ant guy lived in a house much like the model house in beeltejuice, along with his sidekicks of coarse, and the bad guys were the humans. but they got swatted at and sprayed and didn't even seem to notice it lol. man, i got way off subject there. catboy was the one i put the most work into though. i even sneaked in fake ads every few pages. and naturally the characters kept evolving and evolving, to the point where it was just ridiculous. it's like how every superhero gets their powers (radiation or whatever). but it happens like every few pages. and if irk the other characters were groundhog guy, hammerhead, seal boy, eagle guy, damn i cant remember the others, but it was meant to be funny, and the humor was self aware humor. in fact, every once in a while they'd make fun of you for reading it.

again sorry for getting so off base, but i just went with it

*wolf-e comics was exclusively jokes without the badassedry. it would make fun of any wives tale involving wolves. so when he came to blow down the 3 little piggies houses, it was all a misunderstanding. cant remember the joke though. cool story huh? hahaha

 

[Extork]

just thought of something, a Twisted Metal pin. lotsa good characters to incorporate into it. sweet tooth, mr grim, thumper, warthog, calypso, the list could go on. the best would be to focus on twisted metal 2. Someone make this pin!!

well there is always the false hope that we could create our own pins. It seems so far away.

 

[HotHamBoy]

Man, creating your own pin... Everything homemade that I've seen looks so bad, unless it was a re-theme. Re-themes seem much more do-able - if you can dis-assemble and re-assemble an entire table...

Ren and Stimpy is definitelya dream-table of mine, but that one seems like a very silly wish. I would even settle for a general Spumco table

Dragon Ball Z was one of my favorite shows in high school, many years ago. While I couldn't care less about it now, I think it would make for a really good pinball game, and it's still popular and relevant to boot. Lots of kinetic action and locations and scenarios. You could have a mini-playfield after life, a Kame-hame-ha ramp combo, lots of bash toys... The main goal, of course, would be to collect all seven Dragon Balls, which would summon a big light-up Shenron and start a 7-ball multiball mode!

Let's see... dream tables based on Video Games....

Castlevania, old-school. The playfield is the castle, divided into zones, with shifting staircases (ramps) and hidden basements, monster and candle drop targets (whip sound effect, duh!), a boss fight with Drac...

Also: Metal Slug!

 

[Robert Misner]

How we've gone this long without Eddie toys all up on a table I'll never know

 

[Antonio Gaeta]

1 moonwalker
2 men in black
3 the crow
4 the fly
5 Mary poppins
6 tremors
7 twilight
8 Alien vs predator
9 freddy vs jason
10 hellraiser
11 saint seiya
12 mortal kombat
13 sonic the hedgehog
14 Superman (new)
15 king Kong (new)
16 scarface
17 the goodfather
18 armageddon
19 ghostbusters
20 van helsing
21 Beverly Hills cop
22 ghost rider
23 first blood
24 Rocky balboa
25 resident evil

 

[Dedpop]

Something about Naildriver and/or The Night Stalker.
Something fun.