Thanks! I'm still amazed that when I tried to log in today there wasn't another six months added to the ban.

I like the cockroach image. Very appropriate -- can't kill O-Din!

What did you do to get the ban hammer?

Couldn't say. After I deactivated I tried to log back in after a couple days and it said I had to wait seven. After seven days it said I had to wait thirty. Never received a message regarding any of this. It's all good though. I got a lot done.

Odin!!!! WELCOME BACK FRIEND!!!!

I think the rules are 1st deactivation = 7 days
2nd = 30 days
3rd = done forever/ go make a new account

maybe you drank the kool-aid?

Hmm I never thought of that. He does seem...diff'rent....more "Pinsidey!"

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That's exactly the rules. So next time you wanna smash a hammer at you screen out of frustration and deactivate......DON'T DO IT! Just walk away and forget about pinside for a few days and come back.

The rule, which was implemented during O-din's deactivation time frame, was added to minimize abuse of the deactivation option.

The current deactivation rule is ...

1st Deactivation = 30 days until you can sign into your account
2nd Deactivation = 60 days until you can sign into your account
3rd Deactivation = 90 days until you can sign into your account AND you have to get permission from Pinside Staff.

Code was added that simply calculated the days based on the number of times a user has deactivated.

The code did not "grandfather" any existing user who was currently deactivated. Instead, the code adjusted the login date for every deactivated person using the new formula based on their deactivation date and the number of deactivations.

So while O-din was affected by the code change, he was not specifically targeted.

If anyone would like to discuss the deactivation code and rules associated with deactivation, please open a moderator feedback.

Thanks.

Marcus

When I logged out there were no such rules.

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This is true. When you deactivated, the rule was different. However, during your time away, the rule changed and new code was implemented to deal with the change.

So your date/time stamp for allowing you to log back into Pinside changed to match the new rule.

If you have any additional questions regarding your experience with the deactivation option, please open a moderator feedback thread to discuss.

Thanks.

Marcus

I have read that these changes came about because some were using the de-activate feature to slam the door on an argument. Those most have been some bad people. Although I'm not sure who they were because I was busy trying to get to Tahiti.

Back on topic. That's one nice Fireball you have there Rat.

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That's rough!

I hope your next self-deactivation goes more smoothly.

It actually went better than I had hoped. If it wasn't for a night of heavy drinking and a slow day at work, I might have stayed off for another month or two.

It shall be named 'Odin's law' henceforth.

Rock and roll!

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What about the NOSington Frontier for the love of 1980 Bally's....

Dude that Frontier is one sexy beast!

Thank you for selling it to me to make all the magic happen.

No problemo sir! Still enjoying the games I got in trade.

I read a lot of opinions about why Fireball has a certain aura about it. Some say they read about it in a magazine. For me it was walking into the local bowling alley when I was 10 in 1972 and there it was! Not with the other games, but outside the entrance to the game room all by itself. Right where you couldn't miss it. It was like no pinball machine I had ever seen before. And it was tough! So it's no wonder it was on top of my EM wishlist when I started buying machines. After having three now I feel OK that I have passed the torch so you and others can enjoy it.

Hey, Odin,

Yes................ I read the article. They called Fireball the best game out there, unfortunately they were comparing it to the new Williams "Super Star," and Gottlieb, "King Rock," (I believe).

Like Fireball was for you, the Bally Game that was over-the-top for me was Capersville, having appeared on the scene 6 years earlier, at a time when most games still manually fed the ball to the shooting lane. It was the first Bally Game I ever saw, having many of the options Fireball has, (minus that friggin' spinning disc). If I have it right, Capersville 1-ups Fireball in that it has a sequence where by using score reels, counts how many times EACH PLAYER completes it, reminiscent of a single-player game long objective per player. This was the game that wow'd me. On Fireball, I had gotten past the gimmicks by the middle of game 1.

Capersville is an awesome game and I will own one at some point.

I missed the article. Hard to believe I never saw it. But that magazine was full of good advice. And Capersville is OK in my book.

I can not believe I have spent the last 45 minutes reading this entire thread (enjoyed the heck out of it) and I have nothing to say. It was all said.

De-activating? Really? What, is that Pinside hari-kari or something? Bizarre.

If I get tired of being on a message board, I just don't go on it. I certainly don't "de-activate" or self immolate or anything like that.

Anyway, welcome back.

King Rock is hands down worst 5 EM

Some of us just don't have your willpower chief. But thanks for the thought.

It's kind of the pinside version of the "Stupid Goodbye" post, where you state your grievances, how much you don't care about the affronts you have suffered, and how you shant return. The rest of the board is then forced to mock the stupid goodbye poster, and all is quiet till a couple days to weeks later when the it turns out the OP ain't goodbye at all and was just joking.

Deactivations were much cleaner, leaving only a cloud of mystery.

Unfortunately they've kind of thrown a monkey wrench into the works now with this forced banning kind of thing, so I'm guess we'll see more stupid goodbye posts and fewer deactivations from now on.

I welcome this new era of increased stupid goodbye posts and the threads that follow. They are pretty awesome, and deactivations simply don't have as much to offer us as a whole.

I de-activated because my friend advised me to. Seems I was ruffling some feathers around here in regards to stupid pinball themes of late and ones I thought would be cool got thrown to the basement like trash. Pinside now decides what should and should not be a valid pinball theme. Good thing is I don't and won't be buying any of them.

So what, you kill your account or something like that? I guess I'm not really clear on what "de-activating" really is. It's certainly not something like when you clear your cache and you have to sign back in.

You basically just de-activate in your settings and you are no longer able to post even if you are tempted to. This is what I felt I needed to do was step back and catch my breath and let the pinside world turn without me for a while.

Like I said, I'm less than enthused about the recent pinball themes but there is really nothing I can do about. I think everybody is entitled to come up with something they would like without the Pinside powers that be deciding which should occupy the front page and which should be discarded. Not everybody is an 80s child and some of us would like to see something different.

I never look at the front page so I guess I missed something. All I ever read is this forum, sometimes the restoration forum, and the odd post if I happen to see something interesting on the Forum front page.

True. Some of us are 70s children.

I'm kind of caught in the middle as much as I like EMs, I still have a couple modern games that I like to play. Not as many as I used to, but Ripleys and Dirty Harry have earned their keep. It seems for the most part people prefer EMs or DMDs and SS. I like to keep up with what's going on and if they ever came up with a theme that would blow me away, I might be tempted to buy it. But nothing from the recent past looks like anything I'd want in my living room.

I go both ways. Totally bi.

Old or new, doesn't matter, I love them all. Part of that is probably because unlike virtually all newbies today, I didn't enter the hobby and decide that my first game had to be a top 10 title, rock or bust.

I searched for months for a game I could AFFORD, and went with a $350 EM that I still have, and went from there. Seems like yer new breed isn't happy unless their first game costs $7,000 and with another $400 in mods on top of it.

Get. Off. My. Lawn.

People are wishing for $400 these days.

That'll get you a topper!

I'll argue for Aquarius that game mucks soose. And Big Ben is a
Blow-fest but it's still better than 90% of most Chicago Coins (Boat Anchors) .

I'll defer to you I don't know a ton aboot Chicago Coins.

They now go by the name "Stern".

Hmmm...It seems the only one I know off hand I have played is "Play Ball."

I am building my collection of pinball machines and want to go after a couple of EM's. I've read a lot of your comments and respect your opinion. If you were going to own 20 EM's, which would they be? (serious question, btw). Thanks in advance for your time in answering my question.

I played a CC Mustang recently. Pretty game and fun for about a minute.

You're in Maine a few AAB have been known to migrated up from NY/CT. If you don't likevAAB then just pick it's replay version

Cowpoke
Pleasure Isle
Diamond Jack
Dimension
Hearts & Spades
Melody
Gold Strike
Ice Show
Flipper Pool
Free Fall
Joker Poker
Astro
Mini Pool
Lucky Hand
Abra ca Dabra
Palooka
King & Queens
Jack in the Box
Big Indian
Trade Winds

Lets start up that "Way Back Machine"

I can remember playing a '72 Fireball still in an Arcade in 1975. A tough game for a kid to play, spinning disc, and small flippers.
I made our pals walk further to the College to play it, when there was an Arcade just a pedestrian overpass away from our neighbourhood.

Then in 1981 that Fireball II came out, and well, aawww, it just didn't have the same draw. Similar artwork, oh and that circle of lights yea! Put my coins into it but no real love.

For 1985 "A New Hope", Fireball Classic. Back to the Spinning Disc, the larger flippers, but the randomness was back. Fun times had returned (sort of).

So to answer the OP's question, Yes, Fireball should rank higher.

Hey, Dooskie,

Shall I include 2" flipper games? Several don't like them.

If you haven't, ask others as well. I'm very opinionated about a lot of EM's, seen damn near all of 'em, but no one has a taste everyone can agree on. My collection might even leave one thinking my taste is a little narrow, and I'd have to agree. I'm basically a Gottlieb 2" flipper guy.

One thing everyone would probably agree on............. If at all possible, don't buy anything without first viewing-playing.

For Gottlieb Games, I would go with '74Delta Queen's list INCLUDING REPLAY GAMES minus the following:
Ice Show
Palooka
Pleasure Isle
Trade Winds
Joker Poker
Kings and Queens, (or SingAlong/Melody)

And Add the following:

Quick Draw
King Pin
Atlantis
Apollo
Heat Wave

You'll have to check with the group for Bally Games.

Bally?

Capersville
Gator
Four Million B.C.
Fireball
Nip-it
Monte Carlo
Wizard!
Old Chicago
Freedom
Night rider

Williams:

Cue-T (Miss-Q)
Post Time (Paddock)
Shangri La
Jackpot (Goldrush)
Fun Fest
Stardust
Pat Hand
Dealers Choice
Space Mission
Strato Flite
Big Deal (1977)

Bit of my personal top 10 (random, not 1 to 10)
Games I actually played a lot "back then"

Not al lot of Gottliebs in those days, our local distributor more liked these brands I guess.
Only Gottlieb machines I played back then:
Jack in the box, Magnotron and Super Soccer, like to play them too, but as I say, not of that many around.

That changed in the ss period (luckily)