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Can This Man Save Pinball?

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Re: Can This Man Save Pinball?

#21

Post by darknoon »

chiph wrote: post #10
cpeterso wrote: post #3

If you like pinball and live in the Bay Area, I highly recommend visiting Lucky Juju (aka the Pacific Pinball Museum) on Alameda. $15 admission for unlimited free play on dozens of pinball machines, including many vintage machines. http://www.pacificpinball.org/

If you live in, or are passing through Austin, take a look at Pinballz Arcade. They have over 100 machines. http://www.pinballzarcade.com/games-to-play/pinball-games

Portland, OR has a ton of machines all over town. Just found http://www.pinballmap.com, which shows machines in various places around the US.

Re: Can This Man Save Pinball?

#22

Post by dasil003 »

mynameishere wrote: post #13

I remember playing pinball when the state-of-the-art video games were such Atari 2600 titles as Adventure and Yars' Revenge. Pinball, even then, could not compete. They are as obsolete as 78 RPM gramophones.

Incorrect. The high water mark of pinball was 1993's Twilight Zone. Aside from the physicality of it which still hasn't been equaled by digital games, the ruleset complexity of late 80s and early 90s pins started to explode. An order of magnitude more complexity than any Atari 2600 game; several orders more than Yars' Revenge (ugh that game was boring).

Re: Can This Man Save Pinball?

#23

Post by dasil003 »

> Even so, he intends to keep pressuring his rival: Jersey Jack’s next licensed game, The Hobbit, is scheduled for 2014, to coincide with the final movie in Peter Jackson’s trilogy.

This is quite interesting because Stern's Lord of the Rings is one of their best (and most complex) games and would create a natural comparison, but it will be quite hard to outdo compared to taking on more recent (read: cheaper) Sterns.

On that topic I wish I could find a fully functional LoTR as I came late to it and now everyone I find has critical flaws. There's one in the Minneapolis airport that is broken, and I've played one in London that mostly works except the ring sensor is broken so you can't destroy the ring, which you only discover after an epic game. Apparently there is a setting compensate for this, but the operator won't turn it on. Incidentally, I almost beat Martin Ayub's (he's mentioned in the article) high score of 350M on this machine, and were it not for this fault I certainly would have. And of course without that it is also impossible to reach what is reputed to be the most difficult-to-reach wizard mode in the history of pinball: Valinor.

Re: Can This Man Save Pinball?

#24

Post by datr »

dasil003 wrote: post #23

> Even so, he intends to keep pressuring his rival: Jersey Jack’s next licensed game, The Hobbit, is scheduled for 2014, to coincide with the final movie in Peter Jackson’s trilogy. This is quite interesting because Stern's Lord of the Rings is one of their best (and most complex) games and would create a natural comparison, but it will be quite hard to outdo compared to taking on more recent (read: cheaper) Sterns.…

Where in London? I'd love to give it a go.

Re: Can This Man Save Pinball?

#25

Post by lmm »

It's always a pleasure to see a hard thing being done well by someone who really cares about the craft.

But at the same time pinball is... not very fun. And expensive. I fully expect it to go the way of the music hall, and on a larger scale I'm happy about that.

But I'm also sad to see a craft disappear. Not sure what to think.

Re: Can This Man Save Pinball?

#27

Post by mattdeboard »

lmm wrote: post #25

It's always a pleasure to see a hard thing being done well by someone who really cares about the craft. But at the same time pinball is... not very fun. And expensive. I fully expect it to go the way of the music hall, and on a larger scale I'm happy about that. But I'm also sad to see a craft disappear. Not sure what to think.

We're very different people. I love Pinball. That said there are some really great pinball machines and some that are just super-boring. Maybe it's a function of my age as I still played pinball in arcades and whatnot (I'm in my early 30s). I'd really like to get a shot at this Wizard of Oz machine.

Re: Can This Man Save Pinball?

#28

Post by jdietrich »

No. Pinball machines are phenomenally expensive to maintain, and don't yield good revenues for operators. Most arcade operators have little interest in buying new video game cabinets, because the new generation of Amusement With Prizes/Skill With Prizes machines (Flamin' Finger, Barber Cut, Stacker etc) are an order of magnitude more profitable.

Re: Can This Man Save Pinball?

#29

Post by dasil003 »

datr wrote: post #24
dasil003 wrote: post #23

> Even so, he intends to keep pressuring his rival: Jersey Jack’s next licensed game, The Hobbit, is scheduled for 2014, to coincide with the final movie in Peter Jackson’s trilogy. This is quite interesting because Stern's Lord of the Rings is one of their best (and most complex) games and would create a natural comparison, but it will be quite hard to outdo compared to taking on more recent (read: cheaper) Sterns.…

Where in London? I'd love to give it a go.

This one: http://www.pinformer.co.uk/details.pl?action=display&id=...

Re: Can This Man Save Pinball?

#30

Post by aubergene »

cpeterso wrote: post #3

If you like pinball and live in the Bay Area, I highly recommend visiting Lucky Juju (aka the Pacific Pinball Museum) on Alameda. $15 admission for unlimited free play on dozens of pinball machines, including many vintage machines. http://www.pacificpinball.org/

New York City

Satellite Lounge http://www.satellitelounge.net/

Reciprocal Skateboards - http://www.yelp.com/biz/reciprocal-nyc-new-york

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