Quoted from rai:Maybe you guys can help me out with this.
I’ve mostly played modern games the oldest pin I’ve owned was BOP. I’ve played some 70/80s pins but not a lot. I recently played Centaur and really liked that. But I’ve not played Fathom ever. But it’s something I’ve thought that I’d love to own because of its reputation and the art is great. But I’ve really been shy from buying old pins and love the new stuff (remakes) love AFM how it is old school but has modern touches. Now Fathom will have both old and new code that’s something I really love.
I’m asking if I should take the chance and order one never having played a Fathom. Now it’s rare so maybe if I don’t love it that’s not a huge deal to sell it.
I’m getting Alien and was thinking about a new Stern but that’s the same story, I can always get a Stern later they will run them for years, but the Fathom is super rare.
I guess my pros / cons
Pro
-Beautiful game (unlike the rest of my collection)
-Rare
-Game is a classic (one of the better 80s games)
- Two sets of rules
Cons
-Never played it
-unknown new company
-Kind of expensive
I’m just curious especially for folks that have owned or played Fathom a lot if it’s a great game? Any advice? I’ve played Beatles and Whoa Nelly (not the biggest fan of Whoa Nelly but liked the Beatles more).
Thanks.
I'm a HUGE 80s Bally fan. I love me some 90s B/W and newer games too, but there's so much more uniqueness to the early Bally stuff. That's why despite continuing to modernize my collection, I keep a row of Ballys. Partly due to that, and partly due to the fact that all of my Ballys are awaiting restoration, it makes "upgrading" to the 2.0 models much easier decisions for me. I've been hoping for someone to release newer code for years.
I'd like to universally recommend that you take the leap, but 80s stuff is a different play style than contemporary machines. If you have not really played any, it's hard to say whether you will like them or not.
That said, you mentioned that you liked Centaur. Fathom and Centaur are the 2 most typically revered games of this era, although they play VERY differently. They're popular partly due to good play, but also due to cool aesthetics and theme. While I like Centaur, the OG rules can get repetitive since you can keep multiball going forever. However, the theme is so cool. Fathom is a harder game than Centaur, and not the multiball-fest. You have to work a lot harder to get multiball with lighting the saucers and then knocking down all the drops.
To me, neither game is worth $9K for just the OG rules, but with original AND new 2.0 code, I feel like at least these 2 are no-brainers. If you like drops at all, and in particular in-line drops, then Fathom should be fun for you. It plays slower than what you're probably used to, but I've heard that the Haggis dimple-free playfield, combined with modern flippers, will make the game play much faster than originals. That sounds fun.
If you have not read the explanation of the rules (high level overview) then you should do that. To me, the new rules sound fun, and they hint at diversifying what you shoot for around the playfield.
IF...and I mean IF, Haggis can pull off the execution, I can't see not recouping your money if you go in on the Mermaid edition and don't like it. I don't like to tell people how to spend your money, but this seems like a fairly low risk proposition for something that seems really cool and has a lot of upside for fans of this era of games.
Just as a point of comparison, in the last several months I've gotten AIQ Prem, ST Comic Prem, JP Prem, STh Prem, Rick and Morty, and I have RAZA (hopefully) and EHOH on the way. I'm more excited about this Fathom release than any of those. Not saying I'll deem it the best game of the bunch, but I'm super pumped to get reimagined versions of these classic games.