Favorite Pinball Machine?

[Niode]

I don't like playing the real ones as much, one of the reasons is that I can't nudge / tilt it properly (maybe it is lack of practice, or I'm afraid of damaging it).

There's definitely a knack but a lot of places tighten the front struts to stop this kind of use. That may go some way to explaining why you can't nudge it, in fact it goes some way to explaining why a lot of pinball machines get damaged, because people will just shove harder there for causing more damage in the long run. If they just loosened the struts so there was a little bit of play then the damage wouldn't occur in the first place. In a lot of games a good nudge strategy is essential, especially games where the ball has a tendency to go down the outlanes or straight down the middle quite often, knowing how to recover your ball from these situation is the difference between a poor score and really great one. The longer you keep your ball alive the more bonuses you get when the ball eventually does go.

Attack from Mars is a brilliant pinball machine. I think Huddersfield is definitely great for pinball enthusiasts. At one point we had an Indiana Jones, an Attack from Mars AND a Twilight Zone machine. Now we have a TAF in my Local, a Spiderman in Vox, a Family Guy in Zephyr, a Twilight Zone (in bad condition ) and Demolition Man in the Lazer Zone (which coincidentally has a Point Blank and Time Crisis 2 arcade machines and is literally five minutes walk from my house ). The TAF is the only one worth playing though (despite how much I love TTZ, this one is in bad condition). I was gutted when I found out Vox had replaced their Attack from Mars with a stupid Spiderman table. We spent an entire evening playing Attack from Mars once, 7 guys huddled round a pinball table putting credit after credit into it. I think the fast past action/mission orientation of it just makes it incredibly addictive. Based more on skill shots than any other pinball machine I've ever played.

(if you haven't guessed I freaking love Pinball, I wish I had the room in my house for one)

[CRTGAMER]

Anyone going to Vegas?

Pinball museum there ........

Yes you can "Test" the Exhibits!
http://www.pinballmuseum.org/

[RokstaEnSweden]

Best pinball machine I've ever played is Tales of the Arabian Nights. Looking around online, it seems like a fairly popular pick, and I can understand why. The theme of the game is awesome and the table itself has enough gadgets to keep it interesting, but it's not horribly crowded or confusing either. Luckily, I live right down the road from the bar which houses it, so it's an easy walk from my place to go play it!

[xxstatic]

Love Pinball, owned an Eight Ball machine a few years back, had to sell it when I moved..


All Crue fans should own this..

[ejamer]

I used to love pinball in the early 90s, but can't recall any machines that particularly stood out because the chances to play were few and far between. Probably The Addams Family would be my pick by default, with any of Balley's other movie-licensed machines that the local arcade would've brought in being close seconds.

But I have to give a shout out now to the Pinball Hall of Fame video games - the Williams Collection in particular - for bringing new life to pinball lately. Even though video pinball can't hold a candle to real tables, it's an incredible diversion for a few minutes (or hours) at a time. Funhouse and Gorgar are both personal favorites from that disc... and I'm left dreaming that licensing rights might be figured out to bring a disc filled with Balley's tables before long.

[CRTGAMER]

I have the Gottlieb set. Some older classic tables on this one.

Would jump at first chance for that BALLY version if it ever comes out!

[Niode]

OMG I am all over a Bally Pinball collection if they ever sort them out. I guess the licensing for all the movie tie-ins would be hell to iron out.

[J T]

Visual Pinball has pretty accurate recreations of most good pinball tables. If you haven't tried it yet, you should.
You can get hundreds of tables at pinballnirvana.com
Here's one of the best VP recreation guys' homepage.
http://www.gethome.no/jpsalas/

Cool! I did not know about this. Thanks for the links.

[Niode]

Went out for my birthday tonight and found that Zephyr bar has replaced their crappy Family Guy table with a Stern Indian Jones table, it's really cool. Had tonnes of fun playing it tonight. Quite challenging, and plays very similar to Attack from Mars. Plus it has a totally over the top 8 ball multi-ball, it's complete chaos.

[the King]

One of my favorites was always "The Black Knight". I played this quite a bit as a kid.

I love the upper and lower deck design and the whole idea that you're dueling the black knight.

We actually had a Black Knight in our basement growing up. My dad and I helped one the neighbors we do his landscaping and gave it to us as "payment". It eventually broke and my dad couldn't get anyone to come out to take a look at it because we lived in a rural area and no one wanted to make the drive or they were charging too much to just make the drive(which was only probably 45 minutes looking back, if that). I still like the game alot, but just play it through this now,


I always did like Williams park/carnival themed games like Cyclone from the late eighties. I thought the theme really worked well for a pinball game, the ramps are roller coasters, the drop targets are like dart games, etc.

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=548
http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=617

If anyone's into pinball, ipdb.org is a great site to waste an afternoon just looking up old pinball machines.

I have a spot reserved for a pinball in my basement, I have a short list of machines I want to get to fill that spot. I really want a machine with an original theme(not a liscense)from the late eighties/early nineties. I know there are better games out their made after that, but I don't think I'd ever be willing to put out that kind of cash for one plus I want something with a original/generic theme. Gotta get the basement finished first though.