Kansas City, MO
Quoted from dudah:Backstory: I was born in 1985, which makes me 30 as of today. I remember pinball and classic arcades from being a kid. My parents never let me have a Nintendo growing up, so I never really got into video games. I got into pinball about 4 years ago, collecting shortly thereafter. I loved the physical aspect of the game. Being an electrical engineer with some borderline OCD tendencies, I quickly fell in love with cleaning/fixing/restoring/modding games. Arguably more than playing them
Having bought and sold a few games, and kept on to some favorites; these days I seek modern SS games with deep rulesets and beautiful artwork. RBION is the latest addition, my profile will reflect the rest.
I see tons of EM's on craigslist. I know even more are out there rotting in some guy's garage.
From my perspective EM guys seem to be a whole and mostly separate part of the pinball community.
I have a deep respect for the history of pinball and how we got here today.
The artwork and electrical design is a snapshot of Americana long gone, which I get.
But as for the gameplay - I just don't get it.
I assume for older guys that enjoyed these games when they were young, it's a lot of nostalgia.
From my point of view, they're heavy, slow and difficult to fix dinosaurs.
On top of that, there are SO MANY titles, with very similar layouts, how does one determine what's a "good" game?
I've only played a couple of EM's at expo/MGC and quickly grew bored and moved onto something else.
So please tell me what I'm missing.
As Clay said, playing them at shows doesn't mean much. It depends on the upkeep/restoration level of the game. Playing a properly maintained game, you'll find it's not necessarily slow. Are they slower than DMDs? Pretty much, but there's still plenty of games that have plenty of speed to them, and they are more challenging than you might think they are.
But in the end, if you need convincing, you don't get it, and you probably never will.
