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Pinball at PAX?
PinballWyzard
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
I am heading out to PAX for the first time this year. I am really excited to hang out with other gamers and see what people up to.
Pinball is one of those gaming experiences I love most. I rarely have exposed someone to pinball without them loving it - especially other gamers. Once people get a chance to dig in a little, learn the rules and goals of a game it becomes that full gaming experience. Its not just a ball bouncing around randomly. I still think many people are clueless about the mechanics, and how to play a pinball machine.
My question is: Does pinball have a presence at all at PAX outside of virtual representation in software?
I even sent an email to Stern pinball today to ask them to check this out.
So what does everyone think? I think PAX (from what I have gathered) would be the PERFECT place for pinball exposure.
Pinball is one of those gaming experiences I love most. I rarely have exposed someone to pinball without them loving it - especially other gamers. Once people get a chance to dig in a little, learn the rules and goals of a game it becomes that full gaming experience. Its not just a ball bouncing around randomly. I still think many people are clueless about the mechanics, and how to play a pinball machine.
My question is: Does pinball have a presence at all at PAX outside of virtual representation in software?
I even sent an email to Stern pinball today to ask them to check this out.
So what does everyone think? I think PAX (from what I have gathered) would be the PERFECT place for pinball exposure.
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There were some pinball machines at pax05, none have been back since
If it suddenly and inexplicably disappears soon after, I have nothing to do with it, I swears.
And I'll use my equally sudden and inexplicable back injury as proof that I couldn't have. <_<
I'm not very good, and have been known to get blisters from playing, but who cares?
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"The power of the weirdness compels me."
Also pinball. Although, I might never leave that room if that were the case.
Or, if you happen to be in town on Thursday, join us at the Pre-Pax drunkard extravaganza
Shorty's curently has the following pinball games:
Addams Family
Champion Pub
Evel Knievel
Family Guy
Fathom
Junk Yard
Lord of the Rings
Medieval Madness
Monster Bash
Pirates
Revenge from Mars
Speakeasy
Spiderman
Star Trek the Next Generation
Surf Champ
Wheel of Fortune
It's all about Whirlwind
The only game badass enough to add a fan, to blow away the stank. From the hardcore player that play for hours.
Increase speed to warp factor 9.2 and Engage! (Translation: I'm all over that)
YES!! Jurassic Park pinball is the best!!
I manage Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade down in Portland, and we were bouncing around the idea of trying to put together an arcade room at PAX. However, we haven't gotten beyond the initial introductory emails.
While we love the _idea_ of bringing our arcade games and pinball tables to outside venues and events, it's kind of a PITA to execute. Still, for the sake of the experience, we may still pursue this. Not sure. We're all really busy and I'm looking forward to PAX as a vacation more than anything.
I'd like to see Shorty's get involved in PAX, since they're so close. I think if something like this ever happened, Shorty's would be a great choice to supply the pinball end of things, and someone else could supply the vids. You'd have to get some sort of maintenance tech on-site for the whole thing, because even something as simple as a stuck ball can be a show-stopper for a pin.
So, anyway, I agree that having some arcade/pinball at PAX would be awesome!
You guys can always take a day trip down to Portland and check out GK! I'd be happy to work out some PAX discounts for anyone who wanted to flash their badge.
Portland's really into pinball, and it seems to be steadily growing. You can find a quality table in most decent bars (and I gotta say, if your bar doesn't have pinball, I'll get bored quick.)
also, art, tell me that you guys have the Twilight Zone machine.
Not sure if there's one in Portland right now... the last one I saw was at a bar/venue called Berbati's Pan, but it was in awful shape.
The one game I'd personally like to get is Monster Bash! Shorty's has one.
The last one I saw was in somebody's private study during a wedding announcement party. It was in absolute perfect condition. I played for the entire duration of the party while my girlfriend got me beers.
I'd like to point out that your link to the IPDB has brought me into a world of Pinball that I never imagined. I've wasted the last 3 hours of my life reading, in detail, about the technical terms for various parts of the machine, techniques for hitting/slapping the machine to save your ball, and how to activate the features of the pinball games that I've loved but never understood the logistics of...
for example, I never actually knew *how* to start a mission in ST:TNG. As far as I was concerned, it happened randomly. After reading a lengthy article at IPDB though, I feel strangely enlightened. Why didn't anyone tell me that a site like this existed before?
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I agree! Because in all honesty, I knew that there was some kind of logic to the bells, whistles, point scoring etc... but without some form of instructions, it was exceedingly difficult to determine. I never realized how many parts of the pinball game I was missing (or not even ATTEMPTING to do) because I didn't even realize that the game *could* do it, much less how you could get it to do so.
Did you know that the ST:TNG pinball game has two mini games that you can play on the actual LCD screen itself? Madness. And apparently, at least from what it sounded like on the website, gently bumping the machine isn't cheating and they expect you to do it (as long as it's lightly). That one in particular blew me away. I never even dared to hit the machine to try and get the ball to move... but apparently they expect it, and in some games they even give you bonuses when the game figures out you successfully pulled off some crazy maneuver because of it. There's a whole underlying science to pinball playing that I not only didn't know exist, but I thought wasn't even allowed!
Last twilight zone I ever saw was at the beach. Not sure if it was out in oceanside (lower washington) Good lord, its a fun one. I've heard some of the parts on a TZ can be a headache when (IF) they break. Last look, they are still 4-5k easily.
I'd love to see ground kontrol come up but I'm not sure if its even doable with fuel costs now but thats for Khoo and company to decide though.
I have a house that people can stay at if this is something they would like (and can) do, although a Penny Arcade Arcade does sound awesome, as well as redundant
NEW ALBUM OUT, NOW WITH 100% MORE SHEEP!, have a listen will ya
Playing any of Nintendo's proprietary pinball games [Pokemon Pinball, Metroid Prime Pinball, and the best of them all, Kirby's Pinball Land!] plays into this factor of shaking the "machine" to get a ball loose or making it move. It's referred to as tilting, I believe. I enjoyed Sierra's 3D Ultra Pinball line as well for PC. In fact, I think I'm a bigger fan of digital pinball than the real deal... probably because it's cheaper :P
I always heard that Expo wasn't very good. I'll have to check it out this year I guess.
Come to Shorty's on Thursday and I'll buy you a drink.
I thought the texas pinball festival is pretty big. But its kind of expensive if you have to fly in now.
looks like more than 100 pins will be there, plus some video games
im so there
IT's all dependent on what your taste is...I'm a huge classic arcade fan, and pinball fan, so it works out for me. That's mainly what they deal in
In simple terms, it's a big room with a bunch of old arcade games, and a bunch of pinball all on freeplay, sor something like 30 bucks for the entire weekend.
NEW ALBUM OUT, NOW WITH 100% MORE SHEEP!, have a listen will ya
sweet zombie jesus, I've never heard of this before but I will be there.
sad...
I have a Die hard arcade, vs. cabinet , and a world rally that I would trade for it If anybody has one in the seattle area.
That sounds awesome.
That rules! Yeah, I've learned a LOT about pinball in the 2+ years I've worked at Ground Kontrol. I was pretty much a n00b when I started. Sure, I'd played pinball, but arcades in general were scarce, let alone quality tables. My game's improved, but I'm far from even hitting the high scores on most of our tables. (Some tables have a "Today's High" that resets every day, that's about as far as I get.)
Learning basic techniques is definitely crucial, but each game has a sort of formula you need to learn in order to really get crazy scores. Definitely read the instruction card on every pin you play (it's under the glass next to the left flipper.) And yeah, giving the table some "english" is totally allowed, it just depends on what the tilt sensitivity (and number of warnings before the game ends) is set to! There's one player who's part of a local pinball "gang" called Crazy Flipper Fingers that I hear has some amazing technique where he kicks one of the table's legs _just right_ in order to make an impossible ball save without tilting.
And the mechanics and electronics are really fascinating, too. The fact that the game is based on REAL physics, not a virtual world w/ arbitrary limitations, makes it impossible to ever _totally_ control.
Anyway... a similar site for arcade games is KLOV.com. Not as informative overall, but still a good resource.
This was definitely one of (if not THE) highlight of my last trip to Vegas. Here'sa picture of me totally psyched in front (I've since cut my hair, but the fashion sense hasn't improved.) I stopped after $10-15 bucks of pinball play, but man, what an excellent oasis from the general insanity of Vegas.
Thanks for the offer! I most likely won't be in town till Friday the weekend of PAX, but I might try to make it. A Shorty's trip will definitely happen that week, and you will find me drunk and glued to Monster Bash.
OK, hope this post looks alright, tried to fit all of my quotes/replies into one.
Wish PAX was next weekend!
I'm psyched to play pinball with all this new knowledge!
... *Cries because he'll be in Arkansas during that time.*
Grah why do I NEVER find out about these things?!
It's bad enough that it took me three years to learn about PAX (while LIVING IN BELLEVUE), and now I almost missed this too.
THANK YOU PA forums!!!
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