What is Digg?107 Comments
- Cancerkitty, on 04/25/2008, -0/+44Someday I'm totally buying a pinball machine.
- JavertHolmes, on 04/25/2008, -0/+23"'The thing that’s killing pinball,' Mr. Arnold added, 'is not that people don’t like it. It’s that there’s nowhere to play it.'"
I disagree, what killed pinball for me is getting punished for trying various machines at a random arcade/pub/wherever multiple times in a row. Whether it be a faulty coin slot, an upper level flipper that doesn't work, lower level flippers that don't have enough power to get the ball up the ramps anymore, ball drops that don't detect the ball and get the game stuck in an endless loop of table cleaning, machines that tilt 0 seconds into your game with you doing absolutely nothing, I feel like it's just not worth it.
I'm assuming that part of the reason for this is that the machines don't make enough to have regular maintenance, so it's an endless downward spiral. - seantubridy, on 04/25/2008, -0/+15We're losing Polaroid, we're losing pinball. What next?
- ran24, on 04/25/2008, -0/+14Anytime I see a pinball machine, I play if I have time. And then, on the rare occasion that everything actually works, it's like heaven for me. I wish there were more *working* ones around nowadays, spending an hour on them for like two or three bucks is great.
- trotskyist, on 04/25/2008, -6/+20Ever since I was a poor boy, I played the silver ball.
- copypastry, on 04/25/2008, -1/+13TWILIGHT ZONE was an awesome table. I love pinball.
- sockpuppets, on 04/25/2008, -0/+10BALLS OF STEEL.
- cynic573, on 04/25/2008, -4/+12Pinball games were awesome until the electromagnets that dragged your ball right down the center.
- paulisnotdead, on 04/25/2008, -0/+8Pinball Rules,
Sincerely,
Someone from the most recent generation
PS Space pinball sucks. - gtluke, on 04/25/2008, -0/+7stern's games are AWESOME
medieval madness and mars attacks are the best pinball games i've ever played. - Gabaduce, on 04/25/2008, -0/+7There is a pinball museum in Las Vegas, all of the machines are playable, and they have a wonderfully large and diverse collection. I highly recommend going if you are ever in the area.
- NonLeftistDiggr, on 04/25/2008, -0/+7I commend the photographer for taking some of the most boring pictures possible in one of the coolest plants I've ever heard of.
Learning how one of those worked internally (in detail) would be a sweet Discovery show. - trevorjez, on 04/25/2008, -0/+6pinball is coming back. at least in the pacific northwest, especially portland.
- bigredsk10, on 04/25/2008, -0/+6In my opinion whats killing pinball and arcades is the bump in price to $1 per play. To me, quarters are expendable and dollars are not. Ill play a pinball game on impulse any day if its going to cost me a quarter. But Im going to think twice before pulling out my wallet to pay a dollar for a game that probably isnt going to last me more than 5 minutes. Its probably more a psychological thing than anything.
- getoffmybridge, on 05/05/2009, -0/+5I wasted tons of money on Pinbot as a kid. I also remember the Jurassic Park pinball game being pretty exciting, one of the first I recall having a really killer speaker setup. "Ian....freeze!!!"
- jaxcs, on 04/25/2008, -0/+5What I don't get is why pinball isn't in those new fangled arcade parlors like dave and buster's. The food is ok but it's the food/game combo that you go for. Neither the food nor the games are cheap so why not have a larger nostalgic section for older gamers with money. They always stock the ubiquitous ode to classic gaming like pacman but pinball was a large part of that era too.
- dalittle, on 04/25/2008, -0/+5Pinball is tons of fun. Wish there were more out on the street. A bar that had 5 or 10 working ones would get a lot of business from me.
- zyklon, on 04/25/2008, -1/+5Pinball is the best way to connect with my dad, a really bitter man. It brings out the kid in him.
- lunachique, on 04/25/2008, -0/+4Safecracker was so much fun. Somewhere I have bunch of the tokens it spit out.
- GothAlice, on 04/25/2008, -0/+4Related: http://digg.com/gaming_news/A_Look_Inside_the_Last ...
- Bernie, on 04/25/2008, -0/+4One the who Pinball seems to be on a bit of an upswing, probably related largely to two things...
Stern's making great games, many on par or better with the best of Bally/Williams. The rulesets lately are lots better than anything Williams had. Many of the best designers and software people from Bally/Williams are now working with Stern.
And the player community is definitely working hard to keep pinball flipping... Lots more player run leagues, shows, tournaments etc than anytime in memory.
If you're in the Baltimore/Washington area and want to play, check out the Free State Pinball Association league site: http://fspazone.org/ . Besides our Maryland and Virginia leagues, we also have a list of all the places locally where machines can be found and pointers to other pinball leagues around the world.
For pictures of local shows, check out: http://pinball.rocket9.net/
Few pictures of my machines are on: http://rocket9.net/ - ryborg, on 04/25/2008, -0/+4When did Bally stop making pinball machines? Attack From Mars, Adams Family, and Theatre of Magic were some of the best pinballs ever!!
- ScottDaMan, on 04/25/2008, -0/+3Yeah, $5,000 for pinball game awesomeness? Yeah, I'm going to buy one. http://www.sternpinball.com/
- getoffmybridge, on 05/05/2009, -1/+4Or those ***** spinning magnets.
- SanTe, on 04/25/2008, -0/+3For Portland, Ground Kontrol ( http://www.groundkontrol.com ) is probably the best place to go. I'll be there this weekend. :)
- inactive, on 04/25/2008, -0/+3Pinbot, EarthShaker, Space Shuttle
- Doitdifferently, on 04/25/2008, -0/+3You're just not cool enough to appreciate the awesome of pinball. :P ;)
- tacom8, on 04/25/2008, -0/+3my pinball machine (Gottlieb's High Hand) never survived my last move, going to have to take er apart and see whats wrong.
I would love to build a full size pin mame cabinet someday, would be cool to build in real buttons with tilt sensors and the whole show... - zydeco, on 04/26/2008, -0/+3Too bad those were both games by Williams/Bally.
- pezjohnson, on 04/25/2008, -0/+3OMG! There's a new Indiana Jones pinball coming soon. The Williams machine from 1993 was one of the best.
- SeventhSon, on 04/25/2008, -0/+3If Osama bin Laden played more pinball, he wouldn't be evil.
- hathewj, on 04/26/2008, -0/+3I used to go into an arcade with 50 cents and my friends would have 5 dollars. I would still have credits up when they were broke from playing arcade games. I was good.
Snif - Doitdifferently, on 04/25/2008, -0/+3*packs bags* Portland you say? *loads up moving truck* :D
- gonegirlgone, on 04/26/2008, -0/+2quick, everyone, grab your quarters and go out to the nearest arcade! we need to SAVE THE PINBALL MACHINES!
- UcIc, on 04/25/2008, -0/+2Regular maintenance is a pain in the ass with pinball machines, but it's well worth the effort. My dad is a pretty avid collector of machines and makes sure to keep the flippers, bumpers, etc strong and in proper working condition. I can barely even stand to play machines in arcades anymore because they are never tuned whatsoever. Certain pinball machines are still some of the most challenging games out there, it's just that most people don't have the patience to play it long enough to figure out all of the unlockables and features.
I'm much younger than people who were around when pinball was really booming, but I'll definitely be buying a few once I have the money to do so. - Bungleboss, on 04/25/2008, -0/+2I had a Williams Cyclone machine about 7-8 years ago that was bought for £150. Wish I still had it but it got sold for peanuts during my divorce.
- zydeco, on 04/26/2008, -0/+2You mean like this one?
http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=4334 - greensky, on 04/26/2008, -0/+2Thanks! I'll check it out sometime.
- Doitdifferently, on 04/25/2008, -0/+2OMG!!! I loved that one! *sighs dreamily* I want one.
I could seriously spend hours and tons of money playing pinball. I suspect he's right and that he will be able to make in roads in countries like India, Russia, and China which will spark a boom back here again. At least that's my hope because I love pinball. - NuclearWookie, on 04/25/2008, -0/+2Sell them to bars. Seriously. One of the bars nearby has one, and I bet I've put $15 into it in the last couple of weeks.
- greensky, on 04/25/2008, -0/+2Where are some good places to go in Portland to play pinball?
- RandyFithian, on 04/26/2008, -0/+2But I ain't seen nothing like him in any amusement hall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball. - ferndave, on 04/26/2008, -0/+2Please. Emulated pinball on a computer is like having sex with a blow-up doll. The same motions are involved but it sure as hell doesn't feel the same.
- rlutterb, on 04/26/2008, -0/+2Two words: Medieval Madness.
- nanded, on 04/25/2008, -0/+2Outside of Boston is a place called Good Times Emporium which has over 100 video games with games, old retros like pacman and centipede, and new retros like TNMT, Simpsons, virtua cop and similar. The place also has indoor go-karts, batting cages, laser tag, basketball court, and a sports bar with alcohol. Yet for all this, they don't have one pinball machine.
I like pinball. The game is never the same each time. I can still remember the few times when I entered pinball zen and I played a single ball for 20 minutes straight. For what it's worth, pinball is one of the few games left which you can play on your own terms, rather than the game's terms. I hate how the latest crop of games all have some bastard mechanic to make you lose as quickly as possible like timers, or bastard enemies who require too much skill to be warranted on the first level. It was a more intellectual game, requiring mastery of the field, rather than playing the game over and over until you know the location of every enemy by rote memorization.
Pinball - Not as clumsy or as random as a light gun game. An elegant game for a more civilized time. - StrawberryMacaw, on 04/26/2008, -0/+2The last two Williams pinball machines were called Revenge from Mars and Star Wars, Episode One. They were the only two machines using the last-ditch system design called "Pinball 2000", which featured a video monitor that reflected off the upper half of a special playfield glass.
Ironically, the Pinball 2000 system never made it to the year 2000. Bally/Williams pinball division went out of business in 1999. - inactive, on 04/25/2008, -0/+2Future Pinball: Free, fabulous, fun, a complete construction set, great tables and Duke Nukem stars! For real.
http://www.futurepinball.com/ - Hobofuzz, on 04/26/2008, -0/+1It's the same damn article.
- noclss2000, on 04/26/2008, -0/+1It's a shame that the pinball machines are fading away, I would play them for hours as a kid.
We had a original Evil Knievil pinball machine at our office with Valerie Bertenelli on the glass, that we used to play on ocassion until we sold it to make room. - zydeco, on 04/26/2008, -0/+1Already been done twice, there was a "Made in America" episode and a "How It's Made" episode both filmed inside the Stern factory. While they don't go into detail about internal operation of a game, they do cover the design and manufacturing.
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