jfre81's ratings
Pinsider jfre81 has rated 4 machines.
This page shows all all these ratings, and forms jfre81's personal top 4.
Rating comments
8.404/10
6 years ago
Chicago, IL
Played on location for the first time today.
Mid 2000s Stern so my expectations weren't too high. PF at this location was a little worn in spots too. But for 50 cents? Fuhgeddaboutit, let's play.
This a pretty @$!# good pin, capisce? Designed by George Gomez, the MB influence is there a little bit, but more in the rules - the shots make it feel a little bit more like AFM with the safe in the middle.
It's slow to start, kind of like when you get involved in "our thing" and you have to do some dirty work, but the shots are smooth and the drain factor is moderate. Inlanes are narrow and the ball comes through with a bit of friction, giving you a second to measure up a shot and flip.
I played this in a family-kiddie mini/golf and batting cage type place so the callouts were definitely censored, but they have the feel of the show as you make shots and work your way up the ranks. Art isn't particularly eyecatching but it does the job, like a good associate.
Just like AFM's Martian ship or MM's castle, that middle shot is key, but like in Gomez's previous work it's no one-shot game. Ramps are well placed and failed shots don't go back down STDM so often.
Solid build for a standard Stern cab. Didn't slide around so easy. Some Sterns feel like a high-end kid's toy pinball.
Head down to the Bada Bing and give this underrated table a flip. It may not be the boss among pinballs, but by no means does The Sopranos sleep with the fishes.
Mid 2000s Stern so my expectations weren't too high. PF at this location was a little worn in spots too. But for 50 cents? Fuhgeddaboutit, let's play.
This a pretty @$!# good pin, capisce? Designed by George Gomez, the MB influence is there a little bit, but more in the rules - the shots make it feel a little bit more like AFM with the safe in the middle.
It's slow to start, kind of like when you get involved in "our thing" and you have to do some dirty work, but the shots are smooth and the drain factor is moderate. Inlanes are narrow and the ball comes through with a bit of friction, giving you a second to measure up a shot and flip.
I played this in a family-kiddie mini/golf and batting cage type place so the callouts were definitely censored, but they have the feel of the show as you make shots and work your way up the ranks. Art isn't particularly eyecatching but it does the job, like a good associate.
Just like AFM's Martian ship or MM's castle, that middle shot is key, but like in Gomez's previous work it's no one-shot game. Ramps are well placed and failed shots don't go back down STDM so often.
Solid build for a standard Stern cab. Didn't slide around so easy. Some Sterns feel like a high-end kid's toy pinball.
Head down to the Bada Bing and give this underrated table a flip. It may not be the boss among pinballs, but by no means does The Sopranos sleep with the fishes.
8.651/10
6 years ago
Black Hole Gottlieb, 1981
Black Hole was born the same year I was, but I know I climbed up on a chair and played it somewhere as a youngster because you'll never forget this one. Most of my experience with this is on The Pinball Arcade...
...where Black Hole chews me up and spits me out regularly. It's so hard to find the real thing in the wild now, maybe because of the lack of durability in many Gottlieb SS's like it, or because you've got to be good to get anywhere with it. I've watched videos of real BH's in action and I think I'd be better at the real thing than the TPA rendition of this classic player-hater. Or not, I might still be missing on the left flipper shot at the targets along the right side re-entry tube and firing it right into the right side outlane.
Certainly a slow PF on the real thing will make all the shots even more difficult. Real or virtual, precision is needed on every shot, and you have to try and maintain control as best you can. The left side has no proper inlane, and the pop bumper on that side can lead to chaos when you try to trap there. The right side loop can only be shot directly with the upper left flipper, and many things can go wrong if you misfire with it, like instant outlane death. Then there's the loop going up to the rollovers up top that are necessary to drive the multiplier, which is the only way to have a worthwhile score for your efforts, as well as the black hole itself. You need enough force on your shot to get it in either lane without much side-to-side action, which the spinner can even cause on a slower ball, or one that doesn't hit it cleanly. Anything that doesn't get up and over is likely to head STDM. Pure cruelty.
The bumper in the upper middle also likes to send balls hit straight to it back STDM, so watch the angle at which you hit it, but it also can help with the B-L-A-C-K H-O-L-E drop targets that you need to hit to drive the lower level playfield bonus. This should be your first priority. There is little to gain and a lot to lose going down in this cabinet's bass-ackward bizarro world torture basement without the ability to get the points it's worth in advancing the lower level multiplier, which gets its own numeric readout on the PF itself. It does have the only capture spot for the multiball, which is pretty much "wizard mode" for BH. Even worse, the drop targets you need for the lower bonus multiplier have to be hit in order. You have to shoot the "B" and the "H" first. Hitting any other letter makes the entire bank have to be dropped and then the next letter flashing has to be hit before any of the others to its right. Absolutely evil stuff.
The lower PF has you shooting at obscured targets and is more an exercise in preventing a drain than measuring a shot. Ball control is even harder than it is on the upper level. But keep it alive and hit the three drop targets and you can re-enter the playfield while building the bonus that is the way to get high scores, if you haven't already drained out and quit by then to go play Dig Dug instead.
The theme is simple, and it looks more like a 1960s EM pinball machine designer's concept of what a futuristic pin would be than an actual product of the 80s. But it was, in the midst of the arcade boom with Pac-Man and Donkey Kong and Galaga making pins have to push the envelope to compete for quarters. The sound is minimalist electronica like most early SS's, with a Wizard of Wor-like voice (but without as many lines).
This is not the best table for a beginner to play to get good at pinball. It will probably make you hate pinball first. I'd probably not like it to be my only pin at home (but it'd be better than none at all like it is). But if I ever get my dream playroom with 10 pins it'd probably be one of them, because I'd need one that puts me in my place after I've mastered the others. You don't see this at tournaments because of its relative rarity of BH tables in tourney shape, but also because it's truly a pin that separates weak from strong. And even the strong can find themselves flailing helplessly.
But if I would see one on the road somewhere and it looks like it's anywhere near playing condition, I would dare enter the Black Hole, knowing I probably won't escape.
...where Black Hole chews me up and spits me out regularly. It's so hard to find the real thing in the wild now, maybe because of the lack of durability in many Gottlieb SS's like it, or because you've got to be good to get anywhere with it. I've watched videos of real BH's in action and I think I'd be better at the real thing than the TPA rendition of this classic player-hater. Or not, I might still be missing on the left flipper shot at the targets along the right side re-entry tube and firing it right into the right side outlane.
Certainly a slow PF on the real thing will make all the shots even more difficult. Real or virtual, precision is needed on every shot, and you have to try and maintain control as best you can. The left side has no proper inlane, and the pop bumper on that side can lead to chaos when you try to trap there. The right side loop can only be shot directly with the upper left flipper, and many things can go wrong if you misfire with it, like instant outlane death. Then there's the loop going up to the rollovers up top that are necessary to drive the multiplier, which is the only way to have a worthwhile score for your efforts, as well as the black hole itself. You need enough force on your shot to get it in either lane without much side-to-side action, which the spinner can even cause on a slower ball, or one that doesn't hit it cleanly. Anything that doesn't get up and over is likely to head STDM. Pure cruelty.
The bumper in the upper middle also likes to send balls hit straight to it back STDM, so watch the angle at which you hit it, but it also can help with the B-L-A-C-K H-O-L-E drop targets that you need to hit to drive the lower level playfield bonus. This should be your first priority. There is little to gain and a lot to lose going down in this cabinet's bass-ackward bizarro world torture basement without the ability to get the points it's worth in advancing the lower level multiplier, which gets its own numeric readout on the PF itself. It does have the only capture spot for the multiball, which is pretty much "wizard mode" for BH. Even worse, the drop targets you need for the lower bonus multiplier have to be hit in order. You have to shoot the "B" and the "H" first. Hitting any other letter makes the entire bank have to be dropped and then the next letter flashing has to be hit before any of the others to its right. Absolutely evil stuff.
The lower PF has you shooting at obscured targets and is more an exercise in preventing a drain than measuring a shot. Ball control is even harder than it is on the upper level. But keep it alive and hit the three drop targets and you can re-enter the playfield while building the bonus that is the way to get high scores, if you haven't already drained out and quit by then to go play Dig Dug instead.
The theme is simple, and it looks more like a 1960s EM pinball machine designer's concept of what a futuristic pin would be than an actual product of the 80s. But it was, in the midst of the arcade boom with Pac-Man and Donkey Kong and Galaga making pins have to push the envelope to compete for quarters. The sound is minimalist electronica like most early SS's, with a Wizard of Wor-like voice (but without as many lines).
This is not the best table for a beginner to play to get good at pinball. It will probably make you hate pinball first. I'd probably not like it to be my only pin at home (but it'd be better than none at all like it is). But if I ever get my dream playroom with 10 pins it'd probably be one of them, because I'd need one that puts me in my place after I've mastered the others. You don't see this at tournaments because of its relative rarity of BH tables in tourney shape, but also because it's truly a pin that separates weak from strong. And even the strong can find themselves flailing helplessly.
But if I would see one on the road somewhere and it looks like it's anywhere near playing condition, I would dare enter the Black Hole, knowing I probably won't escape.
8.448/10
6 years ago
Genie Gottlieb, 1979
Tables like Genie made me appreciate pinball when I was still small enough I needed to stand on something to play, and I wasn't going to be nudging a table this big. It's because it's simple - it's a big playfield with something to shoot at everywhere, and most everything you do advances the bonus, which is not EOB if you're playing it right. Or it advances the multiplier, and this game forces you to focus on maxing out the multiplier if you're going to get a score worth talking about.
It's slower than more modern tables, and is one of the SS tables with the most EM feel to it outside of the minimalist, proto-electronic sounds in place of the mechanical reel clicks and bells and 70s design sensibilities. That slower pace may not be for those who grew up with the faster-flowing 90s pins, but it means it's perfect for getting good at pinball. Learn how to trap a ball with fairly low risk of sending up and over into the outlane, then how to identify the shot that best suits your needs in the situation which is easy thanks to Genie's simple scoring. Then you execute the shot. The left outlane under the pop bumper, which adds a lot of unpredictability to balls that wander there or leave the upper left mini-playfield, is a perfect teacher in the basics of nudging. This big table is built for it. Just don't hurt yourself.
The upper left PF is a lot faster-paced and it's not easy to keep it up there, but shooting the drop targets is the only way to light up the bonus hole and collect your bonus without losing your ball. Best of all, your multiplier remains, so go back to reloading the bonus and do it again to be the Genie champ. If you only take your bonuses at EOB, even scoring an extra ball or two, you're probably not going to finish with much more than 500-600K points. Turning it over requires that bonus spot, it's not the easiest shot to make, and most frustratingly it's the kind of place your ball tends to go when you don't need it to. But when it gets there and you watch your bonus counter in the center PF wind down and your score shoot through the roof - it becomes worth it.
It can be a little easy for advanced players, like many of the simpler EM machines that came in the years before Genie. I'm glad I got to see it again in Gottlieb Pinball HoF and The Pinball Arcade, which brought me back to that big pinball with the colors and the spinner with the lamp that I played as a kid, and was the first table I remember doing somewhat well at.
It's slower than more modern tables, and is one of the SS tables with the most EM feel to it outside of the minimalist, proto-electronic sounds in place of the mechanical reel clicks and bells and 70s design sensibilities. That slower pace may not be for those who grew up with the faster-flowing 90s pins, but it means it's perfect for getting good at pinball. Learn how to trap a ball with fairly low risk of sending up and over into the outlane, then how to identify the shot that best suits your needs in the situation which is easy thanks to Genie's simple scoring. Then you execute the shot. The left outlane under the pop bumper, which adds a lot of unpredictability to balls that wander there or leave the upper left mini-playfield, is a perfect teacher in the basics of nudging. This big table is built for it. Just don't hurt yourself.
The upper left PF is a lot faster-paced and it's not easy to keep it up there, but shooting the drop targets is the only way to light up the bonus hole and collect your bonus without losing your ball. Best of all, your multiplier remains, so go back to reloading the bonus and do it again to be the Genie champ. If you only take your bonuses at EOB, even scoring an extra ball or two, you're probably not going to finish with much more than 500-600K points. Turning it over requires that bonus spot, it's not the easiest shot to make, and most frustratingly it's the kind of place your ball tends to go when you don't need it to. But when it gets there and you watch your bonus counter in the center PF wind down and your score shoot through the roof - it becomes worth it.
It can be a little easy for advanced players, like many of the simpler EM machines that came in the years before Genie. I'm glad I got to see it again in Gottlieb Pinball HoF and The Pinball Arcade, which brought me back to that big pinball with the colors and the spinner with the lamp that I played as a kid, and was the first table I remember doing somewhat well at.
9.420/10
6 years ago
Medieval Madness Williams, 1997
It wouldn't seem likely that the greatest pinball of all time was designed by a programmer who wrote pinball software who was not a pinball designer, as such. But with Medieval Madness, Brian Eddy's background may have been just what it took to make a game that anyone can play and understand, but deep enough for the best players.
In the DMD era, a good layout can be canceled out by unbalanced scoring and rules just as much as a bad layout can cancel out a well-programmed game (think Popeye). Brian Eddy seemed to have studied Steve Ritchie's best tables to make a handful that flows with the greatest, and in MM the shots come fast and furious.
Some call it a one-trick pony, just shoot the castle and rack up points. Well, good on you if you play like that, but the game is balanced to where you will never see what it has to offer just pounding the castle gate. Also, that shot isn't particularly easy, with that odd angle of the drawbridge, where you have to get it in there with enough momentum to get through to blow it up. Then, just shooting at that, you'll never play Royal Madness, you'll never get Barnyard Multiball, you'll never Battle for the Kingdom. You must joust, catapult, save damsels and lead peasant revolts against the King of Payne to make his kingdom yours.
The reason why this is the best isn't the theme, the callouts, the flow - it's that anyone, even the first-time pinball player, can put a couple quarters in it and make something happen. They can flip both flippers simultaneously and randomly noob-style, shoot the ramps a few times, then shoot Merlin's saucer, all the easier shots in the game, hit a multiball, feel good about themselves for the few seconds they keep the balls from draining. Then they'll get better and this game will still have something to offer them, even if they come into the disposable cash to buy their own. Which I will probably not have happen anytime soon, unfortunately.
But then there's that theme, integrated perfectly in artwork and audio that probably encapsulates the 1990s arcade scene better than any other work, with "Toasty!" and "Boomshakalaka!" shouts to Dan Forden's other works in the arcade. Gruel-deprived peasants will roast weenies over the smoldering ruins of the castle, but only after you save the damsel in the tower. And since something different is happening all the time on this table, it won't get too repetitive, unless you just really like the same shot over and over again, and that's on you.
There's a lot of toys, so a lot of maintenance, and particularly the trolls get bashed hard, as do the posts, which have a way of punishing missed ramp/joust shots and redirecting them straight to the outlanes. It's frustrating, but this is how MM keeps from being too easy. It's one of the more challenging multiballs too. Detaining isn't particularly easy as the ramps quickly bring balls back to the flipper, and a hard shot to the joust loop will sail past the jet bumpers where you have the only place to put a ball out of the center playfield for a bit. You're really just hoping one of them finds its way back there, still earning points and multipliers while you smash PF targets with the other two. Tou can stack the peasant/damsel/joust/catapult multiballs, and when activated properly you're hitting jackpots on every shot racking up points without even shooting the castle.
The only real downside? Again, I can't afford my own, and there's only one location I know anywhere near me, and it's not accessible much of the time. The Pinball Arcade will have to do.
This might not be your favorite table too, or even in your top-(x), but if you cannot get into this table, I don't understand how you got into pinball at all.
In the DMD era, a good layout can be canceled out by unbalanced scoring and rules just as much as a bad layout can cancel out a well-programmed game (think Popeye). Brian Eddy seemed to have studied Steve Ritchie's best tables to make a handful that flows with the greatest, and in MM the shots come fast and furious.
Some call it a one-trick pony, just shoot the castle and rack up points. Well, good on you if you play like that, but the game is balanced to where you will never see what it has to offer just pounding the castle gate. Also, that shot isn't particularly easy, with that odd angle of the drawbridge, where you have to get it in there with enough momentum to get through to blow it up. Then, just shooting at that, you'll never play Royal Madness, you'll never get Barnyard Multiball, you'll never Battle for the Kingdom. You must joust, catapult, save damsels and lead peasant revolts against the King of Payne to make his kingdom yours.
The reason why this is the best isn't the theme, the callouts, the flow - it's that anyone, even the first-time pinball player, can put a couple quarters in it and make something happen. They can flip both flippers simultaneously and randomly noob-style, shoot the ramps a few times, then shoot Merlin's saucer, all the easier shots in the game, hit a multiball, feel good about themselves for the few seconds they keep the balls from draining. Then they'll get better and this game will still have something to offer them, even if they come into the disposable cash to buy their own. Which I will probably not have happen anytime soon, unfortunately.
But then there's that theme, integrated perfectly in artwork and audio that probably encapsulates the 1990s arcade scene better than any other work, with "Toasty!" and "Boomshakalaka!" shouts to Dan Forden's other works in the arcade. Gruel-deprived peasants will roast weenies over the smoldering ruins of the castle, but only after you save the damsel in the tower. And since something different is happening all the time on this table, it won't get too repetitive, unless you just really like the same shot over and over again, and that's on you.
There's a lot of toys, so a lot of maintenance, and particularly the trolls get bashed hard, as do the posts, which have a way of punishing missed ramp/joust shots and redirecting them straight to the outlanes. It's frustrating, but this is how MM keeps from being too easy. It's one of the more challenging multiballs too. Detaining isn't particularly easy as the ramps quickly bring balls back to the flipper, and a hard shot to the joust loop will sail past the jet bumpers where you have the only place to put a ball out of the center playfield for a bit. You're really just hoping one of them finds its way back there, still earning points and multipliers while you smash PF targets with the other two. Tou can stack the peasant/damsel/joust/catapult multiballs, and when activated properly you're hitting jackpots on every shot racking up points without even shooting the castle.
The only real downside? Again, I can't afford my own, and there's only one location I know anywhere near me, and it's not accessible much of the time. The Pinball Arcade will have to do.
This might not be your favorite table too, or even in your top-(x), but if you cannot get into this table, I don't understand how you got into pinball at all.
