5 rings of men!
(Topic ID: 180877)
Linked Games
Jurassic Park (Pro)
Stern, 2019
Topic Gallery
Kernersville, NC
Quoted from chuckwurt:5 rings of men!
ooops!
I think a B+ is spot on. Know one really mentioned the long ball times. I have owned lotr twice and sold it twice due to that issue. Seemed if I didnt have a half hour to play I would just walk by it. Did I ever finish the game no but it seemed I got to destroy the ring every game. Fun game to visit but not a long term keeper for me.
Now if they vaulted it and really worked on the art I may just pick another one. Stern knows when the time is right Tron and Lotr vaults will be huge just ask anybody, everybody loves it, amazing not supreme but superb none the less. (Last part in my best Trump impression for Zack).
Quoted from ZMeny:Welcome to the club buddy!!! Thanks for watching the show and chiming in with us. Our sincerest apologies for the early episodes haha. We’ve considered pulling them because new viewers may start with episode which we feel is not a reflection on our current work.
nah. the early shows were fine. obviously the camera/mic setup wasn't as good but the content is well worth keeping up on the channel.
also wondering if maybe a 0-10 scale would be better suited on the reviews. might give you guys a bit wider of a gradient than the letter grading system. and you could always do a re-rate on the old reviews to freshen them up. update 10 in an episode or something minus the long-form discussion on each table. free (easy) content!!!
either way. look forward to the shows!
LOTR for the time it was made is probably an A pin. However as time goes by it gets harder for it to keep that grade. It excels in incorporating sound/callouts, dots with toys that lend authenticity to the theme. The layout and rules are really secondary to the reason why this pin is a classic. Think about it, the sword ramp, Planatir eye, the tower, Balrog, the POD, the ring itself...etc. It just catches the theme nicely. If I had one issue with it, it would be the right orbit with the post that caught ball one of five times.
PS: Nice shine on that playfield Zach, the ball must've pounded it all really flat 
Quoted from anathematize:nah. the early shows were fine. obviously the camera/mic setup wasn't as good but the content is well worth keeping up on the channel.
also wondering if maybe a 0-10 scale would be better suited on the reviews. might give you guys a bit wider of a gradient than the letter grading system. and you could always do a re-rate on the old reviews to freshen them up. update 10 in an episode or something minus the long-form discussion on each table. free (easy) content!!!
either way. look forward to the shows!
We are working on fine-tuning the rating system.
Ohhh and sneak peek, new recording sess will be of a new SDTM segment that Greg and I are gonna try out. Stay Tuned, excited for this one.
I literally just put mine on a truck to be shipped to a buyer on the west coast today. I’ve owned it for about 6 years. The long ball times kept me from playing it a lot, but whenever I did play, I always loved it. I too was getting to dtr almost every game, but I rarely completed it. Got to TABA a few times, never close to valinor. It really is a masterpiece and represents a lot of what’s great about pinball. Since I added the shaker and updated to 10.02 roms, which was around 2014, audits show just 118 plays. So, I wasn’t playing it much and it was time for a change. It will be missed for sure. My grade is an A. I have still have TSPP, which is similar in terms of depth and longer ball times, but that one will never be sold.
Simple fix is to just have the total/overall rating be whatever you give it instead of bound by some averaging of the individual scores.
A pinball machine is MORE (or less) than the sum of its parts. 
Quoted from Fytr:Simple fix is to just have the total/overall rating be whatever you give it instead of bound by some averaging of the individual scores.
A pinball machine is MORE than the sum of its parts.
I dunno about that, it needs to be broken down so we can tell how we arrived at the score.
Quoted from ZMeny:We are working on fine-tuning the rating system.
0 -10 rating =11 total positions
A+ - F- rating = 15 total positions
So what you going with Gold Stars?
Quoted from kvan99:I dunno about that, it needs to be broken down so we can tell how we arrived at the score.
Yes you still score the individual categories, but you can then apply your own subjective overall rating.
So maybe the Art is C on this game, but it's still an overall A game, because the other aspects more than make up for the shitty art.
My point being, the total game exerience is more (or less) than the sum of its parts (art, rules, etc.). A game can be incredibly good/fun and still be ugly or have some other aspect that's poor.
Also wanted to comment that the LotR in this video was immaculate. Super nice!
...which made the fact that the color DMD was set to the abysmal "hi def" mode a friggin' crime. 
Dot matrix art depends on the display artifacts of the spacing between the dots to provide some of the boundary effects on the indivual pixels in the image. Without that it loses the intended textures and some of the implied detail that the gaps between the pixels provided (similar to how a classic arcade game benefits from a real CRT monitor with scanline artifacts). The art was drawn with these effects in mind.
Set the display to "Dots XL" or "Dots" and you can thank me later.
(Ref: Compare your crappy display to this:
).
Quoted from Fytr:Also wanted to comment that the LotR in this video was immaculate. Super nice!
...which made the fact that the color DMD was set to the abysmal "hi def" mode a friggin' crime.
Dot matrix art depends on the display artifacts of the spacing between the dots to provide some of the boundary effects on the indivual pixels in the image. Without that it loses the intended textures and some of the implied detail that the gaps between the pixels provided (similar to how a classic arcade game benefits from a real CRT monitor with scanline artifacts). The art was drawn with these effects in mind.
Set the display to "Dots XL" or "Dots" and you can thank me later.
(Ref: Compare your crappy display to this: ).
That does look nice
Quoted from anathematize:nah. the early shows were fine. obviously the camera/mic setup wasn't as good but the content is well worth keeping up on the channel.
also wondering if maybe a 0-10 scale would be better suited on the reviews. might give you guys a bit wider of a gradient than the letter grading system. and you could always do a re-rate on the old reviews to freshen them up. update 10 in an episode or something minus the long-form discussion on each table. free (easy) content!!!
either way. look forward to the shows!
Letter grades with plus and minus provide more granularity than 1-10. Assuming A-D, and F is always just F, that’s 13 possibilities vs 10.
Quoted from andrewket:Letter grades with plus and minus provide more granularity than 1-10. Assuming A-D, and F is always just F, that’s 13 possibilities vs 10.
WTF did I say on post #2763. Let me go back and read it again.
Quoted from Beebl:Why do these numbers have to be round... 9.5 is a thing.
Now everyone's a winner. 
And 9.25
Quoted from andrewket:Letter grades with plus and minus provide more granularity than 1-10. Assuming A-D, and F is always just F, that’s 13 possibilities vs 10.
i realize the potential for more possibilities but it seems like the letter grade system trends towards A=90+ B=80-89 C=70-79 D=60-69 F=59 and below and rarely does something get an F just because its associated with "FAIL." Whereas a 5 in a 0-10 scale is just an average middle-of-the-road rating... so more of the range actually gets used vs. a letter grading system.
hopefully that makes sense. either way works fine as long as the full range of options is exercised.
Quoted from Spiderpin:WTF did I say on post #2763. Let me go back and read it again.
I hadn’t reached your post when I replied. I was agreeing with you...
You asked, we listened! SDTM Greg and Zach debut a new segment where they battle it out, best of 3 games, LOSER faces a nasty little consequence (muahaha).
Check out those scores for Game 2! Blowing that machine up!
Quoted from ZMeny:You asked, we listened! SDTM Greg and Zach debut a new segment where they battle it out, best of 3 games, LOSER faces a nasty little consequence (muahaha).
Check out those scores for Game 2! Blowing that machine up!
Oh yeah, we wanted it and we got it, baby! Watching now .. it’s a battle. We demand a battle and battles have consequences!
Quoted from ZMeny:You asked, we listened! SDTM Greg and Zach debut a new segment where they battle it out, best of 3 games, LOSER faces a nasty little consequence (muahaha).
Check out those scores for Game 2! Blowing that machine up!
Wow, those were serious scores man! Nice work, it was like a workout.
Wow, killer scores. It's official...I suck at Houdini. Looks like the game was set on Easy since you only had to hit the target for the Milkcan shot?
Great games guys.
Spoiler Alert:
If I were an operator it would cost you two $3.00 a game. At one point I was wondering how many total balls did Zach have on his last game. Then the answer came to me. About as many as Greg got smack in replays, Zach trying to take Greg's Face Off!
Great podcast. Head 2 Head on Houdini. If that is tournament settings, both you guys are players and slightly better than me. Haven’t watched the entire thing yet, but wonder if you might revisit your previous ratings, and based on your experience and faceoff -> would either of you want to change any part, and if so will you be adjusting it? Label the updated review as revisited or revised. If no change, then no change needed and mark it revisited. If change is needed, make it and mark it revised. Reviews youve completed but haven’t faceoff’d on yet are marked with the original reviewed. 
I’d love to see you podcast best of three on EVERY game you’ve rated followed by a revisit of the ratings. Work your way through the list to truth check your gut feeling and apply a hardened rating criteria. And there better be a trophy for the winner to hold each week.
Houdini is a great game! Winning an extra ball from scaling cards is a great feeling and it marks a successful game imo. I see you both focus on starting and completing modes more than me. I focus on films, jail escapes and missions about equally. But your scores are better so I am going to switch strategy.
Wow. The winner left no doubt. Well done. Anyone thinking this games shots are too tight, PLAY BETTER. This video shows nicely how this game is capable of shooting.
That was a awesome show. I got to see some good pinball skills, got a good look at Houdini, and laughed my ass off several times too! That may be the best show you guys have ever done, if not the best its near the top for sure. After watching that show it kind of makes me want a Houdini! Im not going to give away any spoilers but man i laughed my ass off at you guys big time lol....especially there at the end! Great show guys for real!
Quoted from chuckwurt:Wow. The winner left no doubt. Well done. Anyone thinking this games shots are too tight, PLAY BETTER. This video shows nicely how this game is capable of shooting.
Quoted from Who-Dey:That was a awesome show. I got to see some good pinball skills, got a good look at Houdini, and laughed my ass off several times too! That may be the best show you guys have ever done, if not the best its near the top for sure. After watching that show it kind of makes me want a Houdini! Im not going to give away any spoilers but man i laughed my ass off at you guys big time lol....especially there at the end! Great show guys for real!
Thanks guys yeah we were able to slay it and no bullshit it was the only two games we played. Wasn’t like we played a ton to get the best action or scores, that was it
Quoted from Goronic:It was a fun show to watch. But I usually play for money, unless it is with the wife - then we play for uh....
Hilarious ending none the less. I think Greg really wanted that win...maybe next time sucka!
Greg’s still bitter. Poor guy put up 6+ mil on Houdini and still couldn’t hang. We just had fun playing and competing against one another. Thanks for the feedback Goronic
Quoted from ZMeny:Thanks guys yeah we were able to slay it and no bullshit it was the only two games we played. Wasn’t like we played a ton to get the best action or scores, that was it
Not surprised. I feel like when I go to play a game for a while, my best game is always within the first couple tries.
Now i gotta admit that maybe a few three stooges clips of them slapping the shit out of each other might have been pretty funny in this show here lol.
That was some pretty funny stuff! I dont think Greg liked that Ass kicking too much, especially since it was on video for the world to see! 
I will have to say I was pretty bitter about the whole thing! I thought I had that second game in the bag.....
Quoted from Hollywoodbone:I will have to say I was pretty bitter about the whole thing! I thought I had that second game in the bag.....
Don't feel too bad Greg, not many people could have beaten Zach the way that he blew the game up like he did. I don't know if that kind of play is the norm for Zach or not but if it is he needs to play some tournaments.
I don’t usually enjoy watching videos of other people playing pinball but that was truly excellent. Watching that really makes me miss my Houdini and all things considered I’d say Greg was a pretty good sport about it. Him being salty made the video hilarious. I wish I could subscribe to your YouTube channel more than once because you guys deserve it with content that just keeps getting better.
Quoted from Hollywoodbone:I will have to say I was pretty bitter about the whole thing! I thought I had that second game in the bag.....
I thought Zach was toast on the 2nd game too. I couldn't believe he was going to try and catch you.
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