how to tell a vid person from a pin person?

vintagegamer

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My sister will play my Sorcerer pin for hours before she'll touch any of my arcade games. I'm just wondering what personality traits make the 2 gamer types different from one another? She is also 5 years older than me, and I remember when we would go to the beach with family, she'd play the pins on the boardwalk. By the time I was coming up, vid games were all over, so I straddled the line between pins and vids.

Is age the main difference between the 2 worlds, or is it something else?
 
I've always noticed that older people (ages 30-up) would play the shit outta my pinball, but wouldn't touch the vids. My mom, my dad, etc,etc. Hell, even my wife and her friends that would come over.

I also believe that many females will play games that won't have a competition style play. Pinball, pac-mans, pengos, anything that plays one player at a time. They hate to compete head to head on. That's their nature. They don't care about beating something, they just want to play a game because it's fun.

Ever try to perform a head shot on Halo against your girlfriend? Yup, me too. And yeah that was the last time she ever played a game with me.
 
I've always noticed that older people (ages 30-up) would play the shit outta my pinball, but wouldn't touch the vids.

What? 30 - 40 lived through the video craze; I think you need to up the age for the pinhead crowd. I guess you grew up in the Mortal Kombat era then?
 
What? 30 - 40 lived through the video craze; I think you need to up the age for the pinhead crowd. I guess you grew up in the Mortal Kombat era then?

im 28, mortal kombat craze was my era , for sure not really any pinballs to speak of mostly at that point.

I am totally a pinball junky, though i like all the classics, ms pac gotta love it! killer instinct, and MK2 aint no slouch!

my favorite pinball machines are late 70's to 81ish gottlieb system 80 games, I love them! i was born in 1981, maybe my mom played em when she was preggers? iono lol
 
What? 30 - 40 lived through the video craze; I think you need to up the age for the pinhead crowd. I guess you grew up in the Mortal Kombat era then?

naw. I'm 30 this week. Stand by my statement.

Although most that age bracket was the 50 years old crowd, most the chicks as well as some of my older buddies between 30-35 would always hit up my pin.

Even though our age group was heavily influenced by vids in the arcade, there was usually 3-5 pins in most arcades I went into in late 80's early 90's (up until fighting games claimed all the floor space).
 
Pinball is the most popular of my games.

I think part of it is that you have to figure out what to do in the vids, or else your game ends fast. With pins, even if you don't know the rule set, it's still easy to start a game up and have fun just keeping the ball in play, making it more appealing for the non-collector to just play a casual game or two.
 
im 28, mortal kombat craze was my era , for sure not really any pinballs to speak of mostly at that point.

I am totally a pinball junky, though i like all the classics, ms pac gotta love it! killer instinct, and MK2 aint no slouch!

my favorite pinball machines are late 70's to 81ish gottlieb system 80 games, I love them! i was born in 1981, maybe my mom played em when she was preggers? iono lol

The first System 80 game was Spider man in 1980. Maybe you're thinking of System 1?
 
I started out on pins in the late 70's, became a full-fledged "vidiot" when Space Invaders became available everywhere, and now find myself going back to becoming a pinball fanatic -- so much so, that I can see whittling my video collection down even further for more pin tables. (I just turned 40 yesterday.)

As for other people's interest in pinball, in my experience, I find that really young kids (10 and under) couldn't care less about them. However, when we have parties/get-togethers, the pins are played literally non-stop -- by a range of people from their early 20's to late 50's.
 
I think pins will always be popular with a diverse crowd just because of the simplicity. You hit the ball and keep it going. Video games can be all different, pinball is nice and easy; anyone can handle it.
 
HAPPY BDAY to those who have had a recent bday! I'm right there with you guys, i'll be 39 next month..
 
There is usually a split at my parties. The olders (>30) will play the pin & the slot machines primarily and some will play the video games. The youngers (<15) will usually play the pin and whine because I won't turn the Wii on. The tweens (<30 & >15) usually want the PS3 to be turned on and will play the vids if I won't.

ken
 
naw. I'm 30 this week. Stand by my statement.

Although most that age bracket was the 50 years old crowd, most the chicks as well as some of my older buddies between 30-35 would always hit up my pin.

Even though our age group was heavily influenced by vids in the arcade, there was usually 3-5 pins in most arcades I went into in late 80's early 90's (up until fighting games claimed all the floor space).

Your crowd is different from my crowd... My buddies are pretty much all 35 to 45 and all of them love vids. Thats the group that lived right through the Golden Age at pretty much the perfect time to savor it. Most of the occasional visitors want Ms. Pac and Galaga. The hardcore want stuff like Robotron and Defender.
 
Your crowd is different from my crowd... My buddies are pretty much all 35 to 45 and all of them love vids. Thats the group that lived right through the Golden Age at pretty much the perfect time to savor it. Most of the occasional visitors want Ms. Pac and Galaga. The hardcore want stuff like Robotron and Defender.

Exactly - I would think the 45+ crowd would be more inclined for pins, as they are older and don't get the whole computer thing. These guys calling the 30+ crowd older apparently weren't around the for the REAL arcade experience, so they can't relate...
 
I like playing pins better than vids but I like working on vids a hell of a lot more than pins.
 
At my house, here is what happens (or at least did, a few years ago when I had both):

1) Everyone gravitates to the vids.
2) They get bored with a vid and I suggest a pin.
3) They try it, get frustrated, and I try to explain the pinball concept usually with a demo.
4) People of all ages - 4 to 90 - somehow "get it" and want to master the pinball machine.

Additionally, when I introduced my kids ranging from 2 to 23 to pinball machines, they ALWAYS preferred the pins. 3 girls and one boy (man) would rather play High Speed, Target Alpha, and Pin*Bot over Wizard of Wor, Star Wars, Ms. Pac Man, and Centipede.

The one Achilles Heel in the whole works?

Bubble Bobble. Females cannot resist that game. (Cannot blame them - good game.)

Kids love that heavy steel ball wreaking havoc on a well designed playfield. Pins are no different than vids in terms of design - a poorly designed pin gets played a few times but a well designed one gets repeated play from everyone.

Nothing beats the feedback you get from the SMACK of a steel ball bouncing hard against a tempered glass cover on a pin.

When little kids *click* and instinctively understand the individual flipper buttons, it's cool. They go from randomly banging flipper buttons to starting to use each button individually.

OK, rant off, in summary pins get repeat play when available here, and vids are popular, but that silver ball draws them in again and again.
 
The older I get the more I gravitate towards pins(37 yrs old). I still enjoy playing the new pins whereas I never play a vid newer than 1986. And that sorcerer is surprisingly addictive. I picked one up about 10 years ago for $175 and still enjoy playing it. One of my favorites. Must be the buzzer.
 
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