Pinball thread

Hey Yancy, are you going to buy one of these Wizard of Oz tables?

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/doers/2013/01/jersey_jack_pinball_wizard_of_oz_pinball_is_dying_can_arcade_entrepreneur.html

No, for a variety of reasons. Too expensive, not a fan of the theme, cut & pasted licensed artwork, cheesy music, far too garish all around (ruby slipper flippers, ugh). Miniature upper playfields with cramped shots at the expense of traditional ramps & orbits. Biggest minus is the clunky, poorly flowing main playfield design.

I playtested it with minimal software at Pinball Expo last fall, not fun. Usually with a widebody machine you expect more shots, due to the increased playfield real estate, but WOZ has a single tiny ramp buried in the back that doesn't return the ball to the flippers. That's what we in the hobby call a lack of "flow," which is usually a dealbreaker for me. I like my pinball fast, fluid, and hectic. WOZ is more like Pong; slow & horizontal, not fast & vertical.

All that said, I'm more than happy to give the finished product another shot. Its only potential saving grace is Keith Johnson, the software engineer who's designing the ruleset. He's responsible for what are widely regarded as the "deepest" games ever, including one of my all-time faves Lord of the Rings. If anyone can wring fun out of a clunky playfield, it's Keith.

Two of my friends are getting one, including a guy who sells pinball parts and is doing seven figures of business with Jersey Jack, the game's manufacturer. So I'll get to play my fill of WOZ for free.

yancy wrote:guy who sells pinball parts and is doing seven figures of business with Jersey Jack

I wish that we had a reason to auto-correct somebody's name to this.

Yancy, is this an empty trend piece by a bored entertainment writer or is there something to the mini-resurgence in barroom tables?

http://www.redeyechicago.com/entertainment/restaurants-bars/redeye-headquarters-expansion-the-latestand-biggestin-citys-pinball-explosion-20130528,0,6260018.story

“It’s great,” said Messaros, 36, of Wicker Park. “I really like the physicality of it. It’s not like a video game where it’s just a series of ones and zeroes. Everything that’s happening is real.”

oh no, gaming rockism

Seems like more a logical expansion of arcade nostalgia: three out of five of the places mentioned were already arcades.

there's a local bar near me that has a 24 (the former television show) themed pinball machine in the bar. seems like a logical extension of the hipster fascination with the retro and the millennial fascination with being overstimulated everywhere you go.

raj gibson wrote:Yancy, is this an empty trend piece by a bored entertainment writer or is there something to the mini-resurgence in barroom tables?

There's definitely something to it. For as long as I've lived near Chicago until a couple years ago, there was basically nowhere to play in the so-called pinball capital of the world. Now there's Galloping Ghost, Brixie's, Gameworks, No Limit, Enchanted Castle (all in the 'burbs), and perhaps more noteworthy, Emporium, Headquarters, and Logan Hardware in the city. It's more significant to me to see pinball on location in the city, because the 'burbs are full of exactly the kind of middle-aged, upper middle class white guys drawn to the game.

Most of the places I listed fall under general '80s arcade nostalgia and happen to include a few pinball machines, but I'm most surprised by Beercade and Enchanted Castle, which have huge rooms dedicated solely to pinball. Nothing like that has existed here since Galaxy World in the mid '90s, way the fuck out in Carol Stream.

All that said, these huge destination arcades aren't necessarily signs of a cultural resurgence. They could be a total fad and close next year. What would really impress me is a Portlandesque scene where dozens of bars each have a couple or more well-maintained pins because their customers expect it. It adds up to hundreds of public pins in a not-huge city, and no one establishment closing can put a dent in it.

jasperness wrote:the millennial fascination with being overstimulated everywhere you go.

There used to be a time when you had to frequent pubs to get any stimulation, because no one had games at home (or in their pocket), and you had to leave the house for social interaction. If anything, bar pinball is desperately hanging onto its old role as a neighborhood's communal entertainment device, not being brought in to sate millennials' appetite for stimulation. I've never seen anyone under the age of 30 put away their phone to play pinball (outside of like, a destination arcade).

I just enjoyed this read: http://www.metafilter.com/129547/Thats-the-spirit-Thing-lend-a-hand#5063779

Been playing the shit out of this since I opened it a week ago. Great game, and the software isn't even close to finished yet.

Yancy have you ever played this one?

dogs from childhood wrote:Do you know any pinball people in Lemont? I was driving down my street tonight and one of the neighbors had his garage door open and inside there were pinball machines wall to wall.

yancy wrote:Pretty sure I don't know any pinball people in that neck of the woods. You up for breaking into a garage anytime soon? I can break down & load a pinball machine pretty quick.

Walked past this house again yesterday while fiddling with my ipod, accidentally opened my Internet browser and it brought up a list of available wireless networks. One was named Pinball.

What I'm trying to say is that I think I live close to an enthusiast.

Played a Wizard of Oz machine at Replay a few weeks back. Instead of the classic scoreboard they had an LED(?) monitor showing videos of Scarecrow dancing and stuff. I'm no connousseiur but I could do without this.

reuben wrote:Yancy have you ever played this one?

Oh yeah, several times. Most recently in a private semi-secret pinball club outside of Detroit a few weeks ago. Pretty good game for its era.

Duff... wrote:Played a Wizard of Oz machine at Replay a few weeks back. Instead of the classic scoreboard they had an LED(?) monitor showing videos of Scarecrow dancing and stuff. I'm no connousseiur but I could do without this.

I'm a connoisseur, and I can definitely do without that stupid video screen. The game is happening down there on the wood. Wizard of Oz is a pretty terrible game all around, but try telling that to the eager beavers who pre-ordered it for 6 or 7 thousand bucks.

Tipped over my Breakshot in the driveway last night while unloading a 20 foot box truck full of pinball machines & a jukebox. Tempered playfield glass exploded into a pile of shiny gravel, but it looks pretty much okay otherwise. Won't have time to lift the hood & inspect it for further damage anytime soon.

Every longtime pinball collector I know has shattered a playfield glass at some point. Guess I'm finally part of the club.

Yancy, is this Predator game as awesome as it looks? http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/10/the-custom-pinball-machines-of-chicagos-pinball-expo-2013/

It's not awesome yet. A few of my friends had custom games in that section of the Expo, and said there was a stink about Predator showing up a day or two late, and not working.

Just found out this guy is a massive pinball enthusiast.

He's always been my 'one gun, one bullet' choice for that album cover. It's not even close.

The new Logan Arcade (former Logan Hardware location) is pretty great. Do not hesitate to get your booze or game on there. I drank too much post-brunch beer there today, played a lot of pinball, and a little Gyruss.

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140314/logan-square/logan-arcade-host-tournament-help-pinball-legend-battling-cancer

Yeah, I'm probably hitting that even though I've already contributed to Python's gofundme campaign. Good excuse to visit Logan Arcade, and a good cause. Last month they had a pre-opening party with a donation bucket for Barry Oursler, another pinball designer with health-related financial woes.

Barry & Python designed several games together, including PinBot, which is the game that hooked me on pinball.

have you ever played this?

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1904

Yeah. There's one at Logan Arcade, although I haven't played that one.