Pinball General

[Anonymous No.5285252]

I made a little CYOA thing. It's my first one. The next one will be better.
Topics of discussion:
What is your dream theme?
Do you like tournaments? What's your IFPA ranking?
Do you have any ideas for pinball innovations you'd like to see?
Are there pinball places near where you live? How are they?
If you live outside the US, what's the scene like in your country?
Etc.

[Anonymous No.5285271]

Beatles was my dream theme, and then it came true. I'm happy with how it turned out. Scott Pilgrim would be cool. Even if it was just a digital table.
I'd like to see a pinball machine with music like in Tetris Effect, where your actions alter the song.

[Anonymous No.5286263]

Over where I live there just is no pinball. I've looked everywhere. When I was about 6 there was an Indiana Jones(the good one) nearby but that's long gone, and when I was about 15 I found an Attack from Mars but that one's gone too. If I want to play real pinball I pretty much have to leave the island I live in, as far as I know. So I just play Pinball Arcade or vpinball more than anything hoping I can someday manage to buy one. I even started getting dreams that I got pinball tables for Christmas lol
As for a dream theme, I'm not really sure. I notice most of the tables I really like tend to have a theme I wouldn't usually be interested in otherwise, but it's just worked in so well that I love it. World Cup Soccer is one of my favourites yet I don't care about soccer in the slightest. As long as it plays well and the theme is well integrated you could make me play a pinball based on tax rates.

[Anonymous No.5286541]

REMINDER THAT PINBALL IS THE PINNACLE OF HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT IN ENTERTAINMENT

[Anonymous No.5287041]

>>5286263
Have you checked the pinside map? https://pinside.com/pinball/map
Are there private collectors? What's the island? Is it Nauru? Maybe my research will find something that yours didn't.
The new Pirates of the Caribbean pin has a video mode where you play Liar's Dice. I'm going to practice Liar's Dice until I'm unbeatable, and then I'll be unbeatable at the pinball machine too.

Here's a video of what Heighway Pinball's Playboy might have looked like, if they hadn't gone out of business.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAfVUHro3sQ
What are your most pined after unproduced pinball machines?
Mine are Pinball Circus, Playboy, and Kingpin. Wizard Blocks is cool.

[Anonymous No.5287179]

Not one, but TWO Japanese companies are manufacturing pinball machines. They're both head to head cabinets though. On is space invaders-themed. Good for you, Japan! I always knew you had it in ya
https://arcadeheroes.com/2019/01/10/bandai-namco-begins-testing-super-panic-ball-in-japan/

[Anonymous No.5287301]

>>5287179
That's pretty dang wild.
That playfield looks pretty bare though.

[Anonymous No.5288092]

>>5287041
Not Nauru, nowhere near as remote actually. Though that'd be pretty baller if I could post on flag boards with the flag of Nauru. Either way I'm in Mallorca, and surprised to find out that there's two dots on the map that I didn't find last time I checked. Must've been a while ago, huh. Thanks a bunch for the reply, I'll see if I can PM and find out if their tables are available to play, there's some real gems there. I'd kill to give Indy another spin.

[Anonymous No.5288113]

>>5286263
I got to play this at Pinball Madness in Banning California last year. It was good, though the absolute best one I think was the new Star Trek. And I have not even watched the movies or show.
>>5287179
Also at the same place there was a Joust pinball machine that was two players where you could knock balls to the other side. It was pretty fun.

[Anonymous No.5288171]

>>5288092
I'm also seeing a group on facebook called "Mallorca pinball". If the collectors hold tournaments, that's probably where you can find out about them.

[Anonymous No.5288265]

>>5288092
Also, I'm seeing that there's a place in Palma that has or might have a Cue Ball Wizard
https://findapinball.com/en/venues/start-games/
findapinball is another map of pinball machines outside of the United States. Good luck!

[Anonymous No.5288456]

>>5285252
I will play all $9 on Joust pinball and try to buy it from the vendor.

I shit you not I played this about 6 times in a Walmart in rural Iowa as a kid. I had no idea how fucking rare it was.

It was a damn fun game and really shone when you played it 2 players, you shot pinballs through the center at the other side if that makes sense. It was basically 2 playfields that sloped away from the center. Single player only used one side. You would hit an "egg level" and it would drop out like 10 or more balls on the playfield. It was absolutely insane action for a pinball game.

Artwork is top notch in the joust style.

I own a Joust and a Joust 2 arcade machine. I can't justify the $3-4K price that the pinball table goes for, so I am stuck with it as a memory.

Look a this and other videos for a glimpse of the insanity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgoDryiZHY8

[Anonymous No.5288502]

>>5288456
My idea was that the Joust costs $3 to own, not to play. The idea is that you would build a fantasy collection using 9 dollars. Maybe it would have been clearer if I said "3 points".
Japan is manufacturing two new head to head pinball cabinets, the first time pinball has been manufactured in Japan since the late 70s. No word on if they'll make it to the US.
For more simultaneous multiplay pinball, check out this picture for an unproduced Total Recall pinball machine. Definitely in my top ten unproduced pinball machines of all time.

[Anonymous No.5290272]

How to find pinball tournaments in your area:
US, Canada, Australia, Japan
https://pinballmap.com/
Worldwide:
https://pinside.com/pinball/map
Europe:
https://findapinball.com/en/
Tournaments:
You can find most on facebook.

[Anonymous No.5291504]

>>5288171
>>5288265
Hey, thanks so much for the replies. I wasn't able to send a PM until recently because of a restriction on Pinside but surprisingly, both the Cue Ball Wizard and a pinside map guy are both just 5 minutes away from where I work. I went to one but couldn't find anything, so I'm waiting for a reply. I'll go see the other when I have time.
I don't use facebook but I checked the group you said and it seems nobody's posted there in two years. If I don't get a reply to my PM then I'll try messaging someone there.

>>5288502
That table seems like such a cool concept. On the top playfield, would one player manage the left flipper and the other one the right? Or would only one player be allowed up there at a time. I wonder if anyone's tried recreating something like that in vpinball or futurepinball or such.

[Anonymous No.5292621]

I'm really impressed with the Pinup Player packs that are being put out, and frankly I'm surprised something like this took so long to be developed

[Anonymous No.5293387]

>>5291504
I wish I knew how Total Recall was supposed to play. I don't know if the info is online.

[Anonymous No.5295541]

How is this a fan table?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6bGTiUVFts

[Anonymous No.5296283]

>>5285252
>IFPA ranking
6431st. Admittedly I don't really participate in tournaments except those held at a local arcade. The owner's very passionate about pinball, so he has a pretty decent selection of pins to choose from. I just wish he'd get a JJP someday.

[Anonymous No.5296289]

>>5285252 (OP)
>IFPA ranking
6741st. Admittedly I don't really participate in tournaments except those held at a local arcade. The owner's very passionate about pinball, so he has a pretty decent selection of pins to choose from. I just wish he'd get a JJP someday.

[Anonymous No.5296291]

>>5285252
>IFPA ranking
6741st. Admittedly I don't really participate in tournaments except those held at a local arcade. The owner's very passionate about pinball, so he has a pretty decent selection of pins to choose from. I just wish he'd get a JJP someday.

[Anonymous No.5297035]

>>5295541
Real question is, how did they put all this effort into it and it still requires a hacked up ROM to run properly?

[Anonymous No.5297594]

>>5297035
Probably just as a shortcut to having to script all the triggers.

[Anonymous No.5297812]

>>5295541
For those who don't know, this is a retheme of Hollywood Heat, which is ranked #325 on Pinside's list. That's very near the bottom.
I've never played it, but from watching the footage it seems to me that the mini-playfield on the left is too easy to get to, goes on too long, and isn't that fun while you're there.

Woman-lib had swinging targets that were shaped like protest signs. Someone should retheme it to be about anti-pinball legislation. That would have sold better than Woah Nellie. Maybe.

[Anonymous No.5297842]

>>5297812
I played it, it's fun but ball drains are way to frequent and something is wrong with the ramp cause even when you hit it dead on it will not make it up. The layout is completely different than Hollywood Heat which is neat and there's a ton of table animations but the Tom and Jerry table needs a little more work.

[Anonymous No.5297850]

>>5297842
Here's the Hollywood Heat playfield for comparison

[Anonymous No.5298238]

>>5297842
>>5297850
Apparently I don't know what I'm talking about. I just read that it was a re-theme of Heat, so I assumed it closely followed the playfield.

Here's the flowchart for Pirates of the Caribbean (2018). I'm planning on maining Davey Jones and becoming as good at Liar's Dice as Negreanu is at poker.

[Anonymous No.5298321]

>>5298238
I need to try out PotC more intensively at MGC this year. I just couldn't really get a good feel for it last time. Overall though I love JJP's work and I can't be happier with my Hobbit.

[Anonymous No.5298338]

>>5298321
And a flowchart for Hobbit. The code updates have been a godsend for this game.

[Anonymous No.5298446]

>>5298238
Yeah that's one thing that I think is really cool about visual pinball, as long as everything is scripted right you can completely change the layout of a retheme.
I still haven't gotten the chance to play any of the Jersey Jack games yet but every time I look at how they are innovating every aspect of pinball I'm blown away.

[Anonymous No.5299391]

>>5297594
Well someone pushed a new beta of pinMAME so you can actually give the ROM a unique name, but really, just code the rules yourself in VBscript, it's not like Hollywood Heat is that complicated.

[Anonymous No.5299398]

>>5297842
>something is wrong with the ramp cause even when you hit it dead on it will not make it up
I admit it's a hard shot, but bugged and impossible? Nah, I got it up there several times.

[Anonymous No.5299403]

>>5298338
How often do they update? Is it like Stern rapid firing updates all over?

[Anonymous No.5299412]

Would you let Jack Bot™ Jack You™?

[Anonymous No.5299468]

>>5299398
I didnt say impossible but it is not smooth

[Anonymous No.5299481]

>>5288502
That looks cool as fuck. How would that even work?

[Anonymous No.5299550]

>>5299481
Supposedly it would have two players at once for head-to-head competitive play. Of course there were other head-to-head pins that actually made some fucking sense (Joust, etc.) so this was really just someone's fever dream.

https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1316

[Anonymous No.5299554]

>>5299403
It comes in waves. They are more frequent about new releases so Dialed In and PotC are getting all the attention atm. Wizard of Oz is all done and had a ton of updates and Hobbit is feature complete after getting 2 massive overhauls in the past 2 years. All that's left for that one is some bugfixing.

[Anonymous No.5299606]

>>5288265
Found it!!
It's in a sorry state, the cue stick is missing, the slingshots barely work, the flippers are so pathetically weak that the ramp shot is almost impossible. But it's still crazy fun. Without being used to real tables, the knocker scared the shit out of me, it was great. Thanks again for the advice. Unfortunately the other people I saw on the maps sold their collections. I'll keep looking, though.

[Anonymous No.5299625]

>>5299606
Nothing left to do but learn to repair it yourself! Or not. I certainly don't know how to do pinball repair. Some people find repairing enjoyable/engaging.

Next time I make this thread I'm going to rememeber to put two things in the OP:
1. The pinball maps that let one find pins in their neighborhood.
2. The free digital tables. Pinball Arcade, Stern Pinball Arcade, and Pinball FX 3 all come with a free digital table.

And maybe I'll include a link to This Week In Pinball, too. #1 pinball news site.
https://www.thisweekinpinball.com/

[Anonymous No.5301476]

>>5299625
I looked into the repair of that table a bit but I don't think I'd be cut out for that stuff. Besides, there was just so much wrong with that unit that I didn't even mention that I don't even think it's worth it. The most I can repair is my crappy PC.
You might want to add Zaccaria Pinball to the free digital table list. It's been a while but I think you can get 2-3 for free there.

[Anonymous No.5301556]

Friendly reminder that demons tilt is almost out on early access. It's a spiritual sequel to the naxat video pinball games of the early 90's.

Here's the site for the game:
https://www.demonstilt.com

And if you want to know more about the games it takes inspiration from, this is a pretty good video:
https://youtu.be/ehyqbe4SZDk

[Anonymous No.5301839]

>>5301556
Watched Deadflip stream it, looked pretty intense. Hard to control the ball with all the creatures and bullets flying around though.

[Anonymous No.5303028]

>>5301476
Thanks for the tip, vis a vis Zacccaria.