got to play the following pins for the 1st time this wknd

vintagegamer

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got to play the following pins for the 1st time this wknd

At the Crabtowne event over the weekend, I got to play the following pins for the first time ever:

1. KISS
2. Fish Tales (really liked this one)
3. Pinbot (pretty cool)
4. Twilight Zone
5. Space Invaders (belongs to _sentient_ )

I also got to see and hear Black Knight 2000 get played, but I did not play it myself. I was hoping they would have an Evel Knievel but no luck.
 
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Pretty good variety! I love pinbot, and really enjoy Fish Tales too. I'm not a fan of BK2000, but do love the original. What was the Crabtowne event?
 
Pretty good variety! I love pinbot, and really enjoy Fish Tales too. I'm not a fan of BK2000, but do love the original. What was the Crabtowne event?

You need to play BK2K really loud and start singing along with it....then you will love it. :)

YOU GOT THE POWER! (BWAHAHHAHA!) YOU GOT THE MIGHT! (NO WAY!) GET READY FOR BATTLE! (GIVE ME YOUR MONEY!) BEAT THE BLACK KNIGHT!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

:)

If you haven't experienced this awesomeness, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUTgj90iB7M
 
I intended to watch 30 seconds of that video...I watched the whole thing. I fully understand its appeal and now really want to play one.
 
I intended to watch 30 seconds of that video...I watched the whole thing. I fully understand its appeal and now really want to play one.

Yay! Yeah, I didn't really get the game either until I got one and shopped it out. Playing a 100% fast, furious BK2K is SO fun. And man...I just LOVE that music...hehe. I know some people hate it, but it totally immerses me into the game.
 
I can't watch the vid at the moment but I will. I think it was Wick who was playing it when I started hearing the music, we both agreed it sounded like the soundtrack from Flash Gordon. Now I either have to go back to Crabtowne to play it myself or start looking for another pin!!! Sonofa..
 
So what did you think of Twilight Zone? Pat Lawlor did an interview with Clay @ This Old Pinball and he made a funny comment that they made a big mistake with that game. Apparently someone stepped up to play and walked away from the game stating that they didn't know what to do! They thought they made the game TOO complicated.

I'm curious to see if you thought the same thing.
 
So what did you think of Twilight Zone? Pat Lawlor did an interview with Clay @ This Old Pinball and he made a funny comment that they made a big mistake with that game. Apparently someone stepped up to play and walked away from the game stating that they didn't know what to do! They thought they made the game TOO complicated.

I'm curious to see if you thought the same thing.

I did kind of get that impression actually, then again I get that with alot of the newer pins that have 8 bajillion things going on with them. The sound was down low too, so you couldn't really hear what was being said. I can understand games being hard to hear when there are people playing games near you but, there was noone near me when I was playing TZ.

I only played it the one time.
 
So what did you think of Twilight Zone? Pat Lawlor did an interview with Clay @ This Old Pinball and he made a funny comment that they made a big mistake with that game. Apparently someone stepped up to play and walked away from the game stating that they didn't know what to do! They thought they made the game TOO complicated.

I'm curious to see if you thought the same thing.

That's why it's a great collectors game and a bad location game. That's the difficulty in designing pinball. Do you make it for the hardcore pinball fans, for the newbies, or somehow a combination of both?

Even though I'm into pinball, TZ confuses the shit out of me! However, I haven't just played one in a quiet room....I think that's what I need to do in order to "get" that game....buy one. Heh. Playing it at parties ...it's too hard to figure out.
 
I never found Twilight Zone to be confusing at all. I pay really close attention to DMDs and flashing inserts though, so I tend to pick up on rules fairly quickly. It's definitely deeper than Addams Family, but Simpsons Pinball Party is much deeper, for reference.
 
Twilight zone is pretty complicated compared to Adamms Family, and harder. I would say it's also less intuitive... Anyway, I think that's what Lawlor is usually referring to when he talks about the complexity. "Why didn't TZ sell like Adamms?"

But games that came out afterward are equally if not more complicated. I was playing whodunnit and I have no frggin' clue what is going on in that game or how to maximize scoring. And everyone else I know that's played it is in the same boat, and these are people who play a lot of pinball. Casuals would be totally clueless.

The thing about Adamms is you can do a whole lot with just two shots: center ramp and electric chair. So it's very rewarding like that. And putting the lock shot next to the center ramp was very smart. The occasional missed center ramp shot goes in the lock. FH has the same basic idea with the lock and mirror shots.
 
Twilight zone is pretty complicated compared to Adamms Family, and harder. I would say it's also less intuitive... Anyway, I think that's what Lawlor is usually referring to when he talks about the complexity. "Why didn't TZ sell like Adamms?"

But games that came out afterward are equally if not more complicated. I was playing whodunnit and I have no frggin' clue what is going on in that game or how to maximize scoring. And everyone else I know that's played it is in the same boat, and these are people who play a lot of pinball. Casuals would be totally clueless.

The thing about Adamms is you can do a whole lot with just two shots: center ramp and electric chair. So it's very rewarding like that. And putting the lock shot next to the center ramp was very smart. The occasional missed center ramp shot goes in the lock. FH has the same basic idea with the lock and mirror shots.


I played TZ at a bar in Myrtle Beach. Most of the GI was out, and the volume was turned WAY down. It was quite a suck-tastic experience so I can't judge the game on that. Modern era pins are WAY better with the sound jacked up.
Take the Pirates of the caribbean I had for a while. In the home environment with the sound jacked up, the game became considerably more enjoyable. My wife gets on me because I keep the pins turned up 'too loud' according to her.

As for Whodunnit, it is a very difficult game to explain to gameroom newbs. I always try to explain it, but it is a wasted effort - it's not like they will actually make the combo shots to catch the killer. ;)
Luckily the game has plenty to do for the ball slappers and hands out plenty of multiballs even if you have no clue what's going on.
 
Yeah, a big strength of Who Dunnit? and Twilight Zone is that even if you're just smacking the ball around, it looks like you're doing awesome stuff thanks to the sounds, toys, and DMD animation. Get the Powerball out on the field in TZ and it's sure to have people laughing at the speed of the ball and the angry voice telling you "give it back".
 
Powerball mode on TZ is pretty amazing. Really surprised me the first time I saw that mode at the arcade.
 
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I played TZ at a bar in Myrtle Beach. Most of the GI was out, and the volume was turned WAY down. It was quite a suck-tastic experience so I can't judge the game on that. Modern era pins are WAY better with the sound jacked up.
Take the Pirates of the caribbean I had for a while. In the home environment with the sound jacked up, the game became considerably more enjoyable. My wife gets on me because I keep the pins turned up 'too loud' according to her.

A busted TZ can be not unlike torture. All the flippers are important on that game. Like I play an Adamms family with a broken Thing flip and it really doesn't detract too much. But a TZ with a bad piano flipper? Forget it.

I couldn't agree more on the audio comment. I had the same experience with Pinball Magic. Used to think it was very mediocre but now I enjoy it quite a bit.

Regarding audio, one solution would be to install a wireless speaker system. I'm not familiar with the audio-out options on most pins, but my guess is there aren't RCA outs on most games. So you would need a high level to low level converter, and then from there into a wireless system. That would run 150-200, I would guess.

Maybe there's a wireless system that takes high level (speaker wire) inputs but I don't know of one...

On the upside, some convertors will split the signal too, so you could have speakers... everywhere... :D


As for Whodunnit, it is a very difficult game to explain to gameroom newbs. I always try to explain it, but it is a wasted effort - it's not like they will actually make the combo shots to catch the killer. ;)
Luckily the game has plenty to do for the ball slappers and hands out plenty of multiballs even if you have no clue what's going on.

[/quote]

Yeah, very confusing pin to get "the big picture" of what to shoot for. Once you're in a mode it's pretty good about saying "shoot spin to complete slot" and all that, but so much happens I've had a hard time coming up with an overall game strategy.
 
For those who have never read it, here is the Whodunnit backstory. Without reading this, you can get confused by the interrogations. When I first started playing, I said "Who the hell is Walter? Who is Tex? WTF is going on here?". :D
 

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