Fatsquatch
Active member
With 14 people total (most in their late-20s), our party this year was a tad smaller than usual. It lasted around 5-and-a-half hours, and as expected, the expanded "pin row" (up 4 machines from last year's get-together) was a tremendous hit. (And worth noting, I had no technical issues of any kind. Yay!)
Here's a rundown of how the games fared:
* Pinball Magic & Bram Stoker's Dracula -- Both of these machines were constantly in use. It wasn't until the end of the party, when people started leaving, that these tables got to rest.
* Jurassic Park & The Simpsons -- Saw a great deal of action throughout the evening, but nowhere like the two previously mentioned machines.
* Mary Shelley's Frankenstein & Freddy: A Nightmare on Elm Street -- These two tables had the most downtime in pin row, but still, they were hit very heavily. At last year's party, these were the only two pins that I had, so they probably suffered a bit from not being oh-so-fresh.
* Pac-Man cab with 60-in-1 -- This machine had maybe 14 to 16 plays on it total. Ms. Pac, Frogger and Qix were the only games I noticed being played.
* OutRun & Star Wars Trilogy Arcade -- Nobody seems to have given a crap about either of these. (OutRun usually does great every year.) Each game couldn't have had more than 4 or 5 plays on it.
* SportStation (NFL Blitz 2000 / NBA Showtime) -- This saw a decent amount of action...with the guys only. Other than my wife (who played one game of NBA Showtime with me), no ladies paid it any attention at all. And for everyone that DID play it, the game of choice was NFL Blitz 2000.
* CarnEvil -- Like Star Wars Trilogy, the unlimited continues and continuation of scores seemed to be a downer with all who played it, but that still didn't keep the game from getting played quite a bit. While, for the most part, it seems like I could have taken vid row outside and set it on fire without anybody noticing or caring, CarnEvil was the exception. (Only with the guys, though. I never saw a single lady giving it a try.)
So, as expected, the pins ruled the day -- with the worst performing pin garnering loads more interest than the best performing vid. Still, though, I was surprised at just how little interest there was in the vids overall, and I really expected Star Wars Trilogy Arcade to do FAR better than just 4 or 5 plays -- especially with all of the Star Wars fans that were in the house.
(Someone REALLY needs to make some custom chips for this game that allows continues to be limited or turned off. The same goes for CarnEvil, too. Just a few more options in the gameplay setup would make these machines go from being damn good, to damn GREAT.)
Here's a rundown of how the games fared:
* Pinball Magic & Bram Stoker's Dracula -- Both of these machines were constantly in use. It wasn't until the end of the party, when people started leaving, that these tables got to rest.
* Jurassic Park & The Simpsons -- Saw a great deal of action throughout the evening, but nowhere like the two previously mentioned machines.
* Mary Shelley's Frankenstein & Freddy: A Nightmare on Elm Street -- These two tables had the most downtime in pin row, but still, they were hit very heavily. At last year's party, these were the only two pins that I had, so they probably suffered a bit from not being oh-so-fresh.
* Pac-Man cab with 60-in-1 -- This machine had maybe 14 to 16 plays on it total. Ms. Pac, Frogger and Qix were the only games I noticed being played.
* OutRun & Star Wars Trilogy Arcade -- Nobody seems to have given a crap about either of these. (OutRun usually does great every year.) Each game couldn't have had more than 4 or 5 plays on it.
* SportStation (NFL Blitz 2000 / NBA Showtime) -- This saw a decent amount of action...with the guys only. Other than my wife (who played one game of NBA Showtime with me), no ladies paid it any attention at all. And for everyone that DID play it, the game of choice was NFL Blitz 2000.
* CarnEvil -- Like Star Wars Trilogy, the unlimited continues and continuation of scores seemed to be a downer with all who played it, but that still didn't keep the game from getting played quite a bit. While, for the most part, it seems like I could have taken vid row outside and set it on fire without anybody noticing or caring, CarnEvil was the exception. (Only with the guys, though. I never saw a single lady giving it a try.)
So, as expected, the pins ruled the day -- with the worst performing pin garnering loads more interest than the best performing vid. Still, though, I was surprised at just how little interest there was in the vids overall, and I really expected Star Wars Trilogy Arcade to do FAR better than just 4 or 5 plays -- especially with all of the Star Wars fans that were in the house.
(Someone REALLY needs to make some custom chips for this game that allows continues to be limited or turned off. The same goes for CarnEvil, too. Just a few more options in the gameplay setup would make these machines go from being damn good, to damn GREAT.)