PinPals - Pinball Hub Thread (OPEN BRAINSTORMING)

[D Hulk]

Fun surprise from the middle of the Japanese countryside

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A pretty old Gottlieb Pioneer hanging out in an America-themed bar. I don’t think I’ve ever played an old pinball machine like this (other than Hercules,) but it was fun. I think I still prefer the newer goal-oriented games.

Ooh, a 1976 machine! Very nice!

You & I are dissimilar people. I prefer the minimalist simplicities of the vintage 70s and 80s pins. The one in my garage is Gottlieb’s 1981 Mars.

I found some newer Stern pins at the Contemporary yesterday (Star Wars, GOTG), and didn’t much care for them. Didn’t help that they were all slightly busted. Slanted, stick flipper, et cetera.

 

[JokersWild]

Ooh, a 1976 machine! Very nice!

You & I are dissimilar people. I prefer the minimalist simplicities of the vintage 70s and 80s pins. The one in my garage is Gottlieb’s 1981 Mars.

I found some newer Stern pins at the Contemporary yesterday (Star Wars, GOTG), and didn’t much care for them. Didn’t help that they were all slightly busted. Slanted, stick flipper, et cetera.

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Totally fair. As I'm sure you can remember from SA, I really like goals and modes. I just find them more engaging than playing solely for points. I also just plain don't like how weak the older flippers are.

Pioneer played pretty perfectly for such an old table in such an obscure place. One of the flippers stuck once, but other than that I had zero issues in the many games my drunken self played.

 

[Miru]

So, I had an interesting thought for a pinball machine: Cuphead.

So, that game is really known for its use of old 1930s animation styles. Well, what if we used 1930s pinball styles in conjunction with modern pinball tech? I know old-school pinball was much more pure luck, with no flippers and the player just shooting balls out onto the table to sink in holes for points. Well, we keep the modern elements like flippers for skills and accessibility, but maybe have a raised "boss fight" table where you try to sink the ball into different cups to score damage against the bosses.

Using a more old-fashioned style for bosses really emphasizes their status as boss fights, and makes the gameplay more different and unique. I feel like a few bosses that were either deleted or are indigenous to the pinball machine would be a nice touch to add to the game.

SpongeBob has also only had one arcade pinball machine made for the series; I feel like another could be neat. Theme-wise, perhaps have it be a sort of Bikini Bottom fair similar to the Simpsons Pinball Party?

 

[Imagineer Brandon]

i love pinball and have designed a few tables myself! this is a great thread.

 

[ThemeParkPriest]

When in Vegas…The Pinball Museum (http://pinballmuseum.org/)
I might experience this in the coming days…

 

[D Hulk]

The weekly local pinball tournaments resumed last week down at Walt’s Bar. The second game is tonight, and I’m hoping to go all the way. Three strikes and you’re out bracket.

I had to forfeit the tourney last week because I had midnight tickets to see Edgar Wright in person introduce Last Night in Soho, but in the four rounds I did play I didn’t have a single strike.

 

[D Hulk]

I placed fifth

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[Lizzy May Bee]

I placed fifth

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Tragic

 

[ThemeParkPriest]

 

[ThemeParkPriest]

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[D Hulk]

In this week’s big pinball tournament (23 players), I placed 3rd! Better than 5th place two weeks in a row. And I’m the only one who gave the winner a strike. Gunning for him now!

 

[D Hulk]

Walts' Bar pinball tournaments have resumed in the past two weeks, after a lengthy pause for omicron. Last week, I placed 4th. Tonight, I placed 2nd. WHOOHOO!

This Sunday is Walt's 4th anniversary tournament, which tends to see 4x the weekly turnout. In the previous anniversary - which preceded covid in 2020 - I placed 2nd out of ~65 players. It'll be interesting to see how things play out this time...

 

[JokersWild]

This was announced a few days ago!

 

[D Hulk]

Updates on the last month’s worth of pinball tournaments.

There were 65 players in the anniversary bonanza. I placed 5th overall.

Then in the regular Wednesday tournaments afterwards, I placed 1st three weeks ago out of 19, then 5th last week out of 16, and then 1st again tonight out of 27. I was in rarified form tonight! Won $70. Huzzah!