Archive: 17 posts

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I've always been a fan of pinball, and I used to play all kinds of different machines when I was little. I went to work with my dad, who is an arcade machine vendor/service worker and we would go to all kinds of places in my area and work on machines. I've played classics like the Addams Family, Whirlwind, Jurassic Park, mainly the older machines. It seems that pinball as a whole is starting to make a comeback, as people have realized that without more attention, these games would dissappear forever. Today you're seeing all kinds of pinball discussions and videos on the internet, which are very interesting. Collectors are constantly looking for anything rare or valuable they can get their hands on. So what's your pinball history? What's your favorite machine, if you have one? Let's talk about pinball!

2011-01-08 16:43:00 Author: Unknown User

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wow... I love pinball!! In fact I made a pinball machine in the Beta that was pretty successful and want to recreate it and add a whole bunch more when LBP2 the real version comes out. I used to love Haunted House and Black Hole, and Eight Ball Deluxe back in the dayI would spend quite a bit of time at the arcade playing those as well as video games around that time. I guess those would be considered sorta old, but still the newer multi level and extended mission table types. I have no clue what a newer machine would be like.

2011-01-08 16:55:00 Author: jwwphotos Posts: 11383

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I mainly grew up playing the late 80's and early 90's machines, but it doesn't really matter when it comes to age. We actually have an Addams Family at our local laundromat, along with 2 other pinballs along the same wall. Looks pretty slick!

2011-01-08 18:21:00 Author: Unknown User

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I think that is when Haunted House and Black Hole came out. It was sometime in the mid 80's I think? http://woody.typepad.com/Pictures/haunted_house_pinball.jpg

2011-01-08 18:25:00 Author: jwwphotos Posts: 11383

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Black Hole actually came out in 1981, and Haunted House in 1982. Here's a bunch of gameroom videos from some avid collectors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67uGZUsYrNg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzrK3B-uu-Y&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1FlDsJZNQ8&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4puwfCnT0M&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYT9o0LENb8&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jODaJf83tOs

2011-01-08 19:00:00 Author: Unknown User

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Very cool! I always wanted one, but don't have the room yet. A friend of mine has an older one from the 1960's, but can't remember the name. ..do they even make pinball machines anymore? I kinda hope so, but haven't seen any for quite awhile.

2011-01-08 19:04:00 Author: jwwphotos Posts: 11383

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Good luck with getting a room going! Although I'm much too young to even consider something like this, I have spent time in the past working on machines in the back of my dad's shop, and there I've gotten the chance to really check out some cool games and begin to understand things like parts, maintenance, and the general inner workings. There are 2 main reasons why you don't see hardly any pinball machines anymore. One, pinball's popularity really began to slide downhill over 15 years ago. Past 1992 and 1993, pinball's peak in popularity, people began to lose interest in the industry. Manufacturers weren't producing as many as to be careful of surpluses, but the good side to that is the later ones really got some awesome design and marketing innovations. The second reason is the fact that virtually every pinball producer (Williams, Bally, Gottlieb, etc.) were absorbed by Stern some odd years ago. Yes, EVERY single company. It's a massive hit to the industry, and now all you see are Stern machines. Go to Daytona Lagoon in Florida, see a Stern Harley Davidson machine. Go to your local Chuck E. Cheese's, see a Stern Roller Coaster Tycoon machine. Unfortunately this is the way things are now, and if you do happen to come across anything else, they're either old or from older stock. Now we have all these copyrighted franchise machines such as Shrek, Iron Man, and tons of others to look forward to.

2011-01-08 19:33:00 Author: Unknown User

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Ahh.. no wonder I started seeing Stern everywhere after a time. ...too bad as those were usually not my favorite machines.

2011-01-08 19:53:00 Author: jwwphotos Posts: 11383

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I don't have much experience with the actual machines to be honest, but I loved playing on the computer. My grandfather (Except I call him "Opa" - coz that's German for grandfather, and he's German) had this pinball game called TDK on his laptop. We used to play it a lot against each other - trying to beat high scores etc. Loved it. Anyone heard of TDK Pinball?

2011-01-08 20:11:00 Author: standby250 Posts: 1113

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No.. hadn't heard of TDK pinball. ..I played the heck outta the one that came with windows though - Space Cadet pinball. That one was pretty good. Edit: This might be of interest. I got this as a comment on my beta pinball level showing me this site. Looks pretty interesting and looks like you can download different original games. I haven't had a chance to check it out yet. http://www.vpforums.org/

2011-01-08 20:21:00 Author: jwwphotos Posts: 11383

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For me Visual Pinball needs a bit more work before I seriously start to get involved with it. Graphics, logic, ROM emulation, etc. all have problems. But if you don't mind those things then yes, Visual Pinball is awesome. I'd rather stick with the ones I get a chance to play in real life until it becomes more developed. And by the way... http://www.411mania.com/game_article_pictures/10228.jpg Get this game. It is incredible. It has a collection of 13 amazing Williams table recreations with excellent visuals, full in-game sound and dot matrix displays, and very realistic ball physics. Literally the next best thing to the actual tables! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVwC2WRl6nQ

2011-01-08 20:47:00 Author: Unknown User

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I'd really like to do something like go to a pinball arcade, but there simple are none in my area (Tennessee's not the place for gaming). I really enjoy the physical tables more then simulations of course, but I'm really best at the sims simply because I can play them whenever I want. It's really cool to be able to service them and move them to different locations in town, you know you're doing good by keeping the scene alive.

2011-01-20 18:30:00 Author: Unknown User

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pinball iz da bomb!

2011-01-26 16:25:00 Author: jimydog000 Posts: 813

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I still have fond memories of the T2 table that was set up in my local mall as a kid: http://www.ioffer.com/img/item/523/723/21/pinball.jpg I haven't tried the William's game for PS3, but the Pro Pinball series is pretty much the best pinball software I've ever laid hands on. I would kill to have someone build a real Timeshock! table: http://www.ichspiele.cc/assets/images/PC%20und%20Mac/Pro%20Pinball%20Timeshock/timeshock_zwei.jpg I'm revisiting my LBP pinball mechanics as we speak - my first project in LBP2 is going to be a series of tables making use of the new LBP2 features. Plus the option to mod environment physics is simply too enticing. Glad to see there are other pinball fans here

2011-01-26 16:56:00 Author: Thegide Posts: 1465

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lol... funny this got brought back up. I have been working on recreating the table I made in the Beta along with a ton more goodies. Oh and while looking for ideas for tables by looking for pics of old tables, I ran across this site. Sorry if it was already mentioned, but I didn't see it at first glance. http://www.ipdb.org The Internet Pinball Machine Database ? also known as the IPD or IPDB ? is a comprehensive, searchable listing of virtually every pinball machine ever commercially made. It is an ad free, popup free, registration free resource. We do not buy or sell games. (http://www.ipdb.org/faq.html#faq19) The database is constantly expanding, but currently includes 45,717 images of 5,317 games (http://www.ipdb.org/lists.cgi?list=games) and 3,549 other game related files, as well as links to other pinball websites, all arranged by machine. The database also includes pitch & bat baseball games, cocktail table machines, bingos, and payout machines, when they have a pinball theme. It may also include information on some obscure games that are not pinball machines but sometimes are confused as them. The data in this database has been laboriously gathered by the Editors (http://www.ipdb.org/aboutus.html), over many years, from books, photographs, flyers, web sites, pinball manufacturers, collectors' personal records, and of course the pinball machines themselves. Most of the actual photographs in the database came from various collectors ? over 1,541 different contributors to date (http://www.ipdb.org/lists.cgi?list=images).

2011-01-26 17:40:00 Author: jwwphotos Posts: 11383

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Thegide, I'll have to try that game out, looks very good! I also came across another game that looks amazingly realistic, Dream Pinball 3D... http://static.gamesradar.com/images/mb/GamesRadar/us/Games/D/Dream%20Pinball%203D/Bulk%20Viewers/Wii/2008-05-08/DreamPinball_Wii_1--article_image.jpg Hopefully I'll get a chance to try them both. I was also looking at the Stern website the other day and they're only manufacturing 6 different machines right now. Six! And what's even worse is that none of them are original. All of today's Stern games use some licensed icon. They actually have over 20 machines they're not producing anymore as well. And this is the only maker of REAL pinball games on the planet? Give. Me. A. Break.

2011-01-28 03:15:00 Author: Unknown User

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My dad and I actually found an old White Water at the shop, but it has missing electronics and likely doesn't work anyway. Not sure if we'll ever get to that. We're not sending any machines out on location at the moment so we have had a bit more time for the shop. Much to our surprise we got that old Frankenstein that's been sitting there for who knows how long halfway working, had to replace 4 fuses and the power supply somehow got damaged, probably a power surge. It should be an easy swap though and the game isn't in too bad of a shape. Definately needs cleaning and Frankenstein's head gyro was stripped, but we have several extra ones. Should be nice once it's all buttoned up!

2011-03-03 22:43:00 Author: Unknown User

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