Step 1: Got husband addicted to pinball on the virtual tables on Pinball Arcade.
Step 2: Found/bought JP.
Step 3: Played virtual pinball while waiting for JP; put money towards Twilight Zone kickstarter.
Step 4: JP arrived. Decorated pinball area then played nonstop when not sleeping, working, or lurking Pinside.
Step 5: Got all excited about MM, FH, Bride of Pinbot, etc on virtual pinball. Began countdown to 6/26 release date, happily contemplated how much money I was saving over the real things.
Step 6: Went home from work yesterday, tried to play virtual MM. Screamed "What the hell?!?" at the TV a few times because suddenly now the physics are all off, the flippers are delayed, and all I could do was get the ball in the other flipper lane. Realize virtual pinball sucks.
Step 7: Threw down controller. Went back to real pinball. Fed T-Rex (his name is Chompy) a few goats.

(Step 8: Looked around house wondering what I can sell to eventually get a real MM or TZ...)

I'm playing on a PS3 with wireless controllers, which has a big delay. I'm sure I can get used to it, eventually. Husband has it on his PS Vita and it seems to react immediately, but it's a tiny screen and I don't know the tables, so would much rather watch it on the 82".

I'm totally on your 8-step program, only I forgot to decorate my pinball area!

Decorating is half the fun. As soon as I paid for JP, I started ordering posters and little dinos. I'm looking for a shelf to hold my DVD statue (on the top right for now) and a can of Barbasol, and maybe another tree/plant or two. Will have to rethink decor if/when I get another pinball though, so not going too crazy with it for now.

Jurassic_Park.JPG

Husband is the electronics expert... so I just tell him what I want to play and let him set it up. It takes a super programmed LED remote to turn everything on and I think he's got it set to change over to the right modes, but I really don't know. I'll ask him about this though, and thanks a bunch for the suggestion. It may just be the way it is, and I'm expecting too much. It seemed fine when I didn't have a real one to compare it to.

Oh I still love the virtual, and appreciate being able to play these games that I otherwise probably will never be able to play in real life, much less own at this rate. It was just way more fun before I had the real thing to compare it to. I'll get used to it. I just won't rely on it to fulfill the pinball collecting disease that seems to have taken over.