Anyone play pinball?

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 10:10 am

..it's been my addiction lately. Asides from the Record of Lodoss War on the Dreamcast.

Post by **3DOKid** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 2:26 pm

They aren't the easiest thing to find in the UK any more. Funnily enough, after your post on FaceBook I spent some time looking for my favourite machines, namely:

- Harlem Globe Trotters
- Twilight Zone

Post by **3DO Experience** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 4:06 pm

Yes I love pinball. We actually had three machines when I was growing up. Dad had bought them cheap off of someone in non-working order and had a friend of his get them working. Plus we had some of the old gambling versions that were balls and pins.

BryWI · Post by **BryWI** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 4:58 pm

I play Pinball Wizard on my guitar!

I used to play pinball as a kid but I don't ever see any machines anymore. I also never get out though too. I am the stay at home type of person.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:57 pm

Ah, very cool, glad to see I'm not alone here.

Arcades have been dead around here for a while now so I never really had access to real pinball machines in the past. Even the coorporate Namco-run arcades that we used to have didn't stock pinballs. Never understood why. Needless to say though when I did run into one, I had the tendency to bat the ball around until it drained. Never really understood the game, but I always liked the flashing lights and neat playfields (who doesn't?).

I do have fond memories of some PC and console pinball titles (Last Gladiators, Hyper 3D Pinball, Epic Pinball, etc), spent a lot of time with them in long gaming sessions, but I can't say I played them on an even remotely regular basis. At least not anytime in my recent years anyway.

A few months back I ran into an Avatar pinball machine stuck in an unmanned hole-in-the-wall arcade that opened in the last year or so (it's a really, really bad "arcade". I shouldn't even call it an arcade). Just a few games in I was hooked. What I think solidified that though is picking up the Williams Pinball Hall of Fame collection on the modern-day platforms. It's a great compilation that recreates real tables. There's also an instructor commentary available in the game telling you what everything does and how each table works, what the goals are, etc. Perfect for any pinball noob (like myself).

After that I discovered that there's a hole-in-the-wall bar nearby that houses 13 or so machines. Like I said, arcades are basically dead around here so I never expected to find a place with a pinball machine, let alone this many. I've been going there every weekend for about a month and a half now, plunking a lot of money into the machines. There are some great tables there--The Adams Family, the new Rolling Stones 2011 machine, Monster Bash, The Getaway, and Jack*Bot, a spin-off of Pin*Bot. Oh, and 3DOKid, they have the Harlem Globetrotters pin, too! Unfortunately it seems a lot of the lights on the playfield do not work though. When I get a working phone again, I will take a picture of it.

I also recently found there's a Pinball Museum just over the state line in DC. As they are closing down in the next week or so (location issues, supposedly, they are planning on reopening somewhere else), I finally made my way out there yesterday (I've been holding off as I hate driving to and in DC). It was pretty interesting, showing off where the industry started and what it spawned from, and there is also naturally a pay-to-play area that I spent most of my day in. I got to play the Twilight Zone for the first time, as well as some other classics like Fun House and Whirlwind that are on the Williams Pinball HOF console collections.

Anyways, total addiction. I think what's not helping is that I'm getting a lot better at the game. I can bounce the ball from one flipper to the next at-will (depending on the table) in order to have near full control over the ball, and I'm learning the tables pretty well.

Man, the more I talk about this here, the more I wish the 3DO had a great, traditional-style pinball game.

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:07 pm

I'm a pinball fan.

I have a ton of video pinball games, but nothing quite replaces playing on an actual machine.

Austin, if you like the Williams collection, have you also checked out the Gottlieb one?

mattyg · Post by **mattyg** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 10:02 pm

Back in the day the Dr. Who & Addams Family machines were my weapons of choice ....good times

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 10:20 pm

Trev wrote:Austin, if you like the Williams collection, have you also checked out the Gottlieb one?

Yeah, something about the physics, tables and sound design didn't click with me. I think I may try the 360 version to see if I like it more, as the only ones I had were the GameCube and Wii versions.

pitsunami · Post by **pitsunami** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 6:41 am

I am a big fan of pinballs,my collection is about thirteen machines...

I love to repair them and play them!

http://www.pinballowners.com/pitsunami

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 10:40 pm

Nice! I am envious of those that have machines, let alone 13! I definitely plan on having at least one machine down the road, but I don't know anything about fixing up electronics, which I know pinballs need a lot of.

Post by **3DO Experience** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 4:25 am

I've always wanted to make/mod my own. I was going to get the last one that was in the garage at my parent's house (the other two being sold) and just paint over the floor and have a new backboard done for it but my father donated it to a museum.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 12:03 am

I meant to post these months ago. For the 'Kid:

[/img]

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:25 am

Cool.

sneth · Post by **sneth** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 5:05 am

Love Pinball
We have a few arcades around me that still stock Pinball. There's a guy who built a set of garages with 60+ Units. Once a month you can pay a flat fee and pay all of his machines.

I'd love a Taxi or Theatre of Magic. I'm trying to avoid it because I have too many hobbies at the moment.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 5:55 am

Sneth, I'm jealous! I'm glad to have these 12 machines or so here at this local bar, but they are not in the best shape (some outright do not work) and some I don't really feel like playing. It would be nice to have more options.

And as far as getting into it as a hobby, I understand, too. One thing that keeps me from doing it now is space and money, but also maintenance. I've barely done any kind of modding on videogame systems, and toying with the internals of a pinball machine seems like it would be even more complicated.

Post by **3DO Experience** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 9:26 pm

They are crazy mazes of wiring!