(Topic ID: 330279)

Pinball machines you just don’t get

By Trond

1 year ago


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    There are 137 posts in this topic. You are on page 2 of 3.
    #51 1 year ago
    Quoted from NPO:

    *checks collection..... response checks out*

    *Avoids answering question...replies with deflection*

    #52 1 year ago

    GnR is not fun and I own the machine!
    Godzilla is an awesome game but I HATE the theme!
    GB I don't enjoy. Maybe because there is a mile and a half between the flippers.

    #53 1 year ago

    Black Rose. The she man on the back glass, the bad call outs. Bad art and colors. Reminds me of poop. Brown stinky poop. One of the few I didn't ever regret selling.

    #54 1 year ago

    This may get some down votes, keep in mind I am not saying they are bad games, but Medieval Madness and Monster Bash. I think the castle in Medieval Madness is freaking awesome but outside of that I just don't have any fun playing that game. The castle isn't even fun for me but I love the mech and idea. I love Deadpool, LOTR, and BM66 but Monster Bash just doesn't connect with me. I think the code is decent just boring to flip.

    #55 1 year ago
    Quoted from manadams:

    *Avoids answering question...replies with deflection*

    *adds to list*

    #56 1 year ago

    Ghostbusters and Funhouse.

    #57 1 year ago

    GZ. Love the theme, love the layout, just can't get into the code.

    #58 1 year ago

    Roadshow.... found it dull .

    Theater of Magic wash rinse repeat.

    #59 1 year ago

    TOTAN
    yes its pretty-ish

    #60 1 year ago
    Quoted from Aurich:

    For people who didn't get Tron, I really only have one question: could you hear it?

    The two closest collectors to my house both have/had Trons (1 LE, 1 Pro) that I play on league nights and get togethers. Then another local collector has a Pro with some amazing backpanel LCD mod that is the coolest mod I think I’ve ever seen. They’re all Pinsiders and they know how to set up their games and have the sound on full blast.

    Game just doesn’t click with me. Borg bounces, scoop to drain (or tilt trying to save), the same two MBs, and what I think is the worst shooter of the 3 “Funhouse layouts”. The sound is fine, it’s the game that I think is lackluster.

    #61 1 year ago
    Quoted from Yoko2una:

    ...They’re all Pinsiders and they know how to set up their games....scoop to drain (or tilt trying to save)....

    That's a new one.

    #63 1 year ago

    I didn't have an answer to this question until you mentioned TOTAN. I don't get the love for that game at all. For that matter, I don't really get CV either. I've really tried on both of those games, but they do nothing for me.

    #64 1 year ago

    I mean, I get that some pinball themes are mesmerizing and hilarious but gameplay... I don't see it with these. I have a hard time wanting to play these titles when there are so many other great machines:

    TOM, TOTAN, Spectrum, Fish Tales, Jurassic Park (DE), CV, Scarred Stiff, Junk Yard, BKSOR, Ghostbusters, Spooky games.

    #65 1 year ago

    Twilight Zone. I want to like it, I wish I liked it, but I don't

    I used to play TZ to see if I would start to like it .... nope. I gave up and filed TZ under the "never want to own or play again" folder. There are very few games that are in that folder

    #66 1 year ago

    Reading this thread just made me realize I generally don't like Pat Lawlor games. Other than Whirlwind and maybe Ripley's, I'm fine without the rest.

    #67 1 year ago
    Quoted from Trond:

    Ooh! I forgot CFTBL. I like the theme, but could never really enjoy it for some reason.

    For me, it's because that ramp blocks my view of half the playfield.

    Biggest one I don't get is JJP Pirates of the Caribbean, I have no idea what's going on with that game and haven't even been able to find a good rulesheet to explain it.

    #68 1 year ago
    Quoted from Knxwledge:

    Addams Family (callouts annoy the hell out of me, not a fun shooter)

    Played an outstanding example up in the Western Mass Pinball Club, was fun. I played lesser examples and I can see where people would be turned off by the game with a bad setup.

    #69 1 year ago

    Twilight Zone is my main “I don’t get it”. I love most Lawlor games, but I just never have a sense of where the ball is going or should go in TZ. I haven’t seen every episode, so most of the references are lost on me. I don’t know what gumballs have to do with anything. I feel like I can’t really do anything fun or functional with the magnetic flips.

    Dredd - Looks cool, but again - just not sure where anything is going or why. The music is grating.

    CFTBL - I’ve just never had a satisfying game on it. Another where I’m just not sure what to do….and the audio is just horrid, and I usually like B/W audio of that era.

    Goatf***ers - Absolutely unplayable horrid design that sucks the fun out of the best theme. Legit still shocked that so many people still go to bat for it. Theme is ultra powerful.

    Definitely seems like I have anti-Trudeau bias…but I love Congo.

    #70 1 year ago

    I agree with 60% of the above:
    I don’t get TZ, Dredd, or CFTBL
    But, I love Gophers and hate Congo - hate is a strong word, but if given a choice of playing or not playing, I’ll pass on Congo and TZ.

    #71 1 year ago

    Terminator 2, Slow snooze fest to me.
    Dialed in, just don't get it at all.

    #72 1 year ago
    Quoted from Pyromedic:

    Dialed in, just don't get it at all.

    Oh yes same here. I think Shevett here in the forums summed up the theme of the game pretty well (even though he ranked it high) "Computers and internet and phones and oh my!"

    #73 1 year ago

    I don't get the love for Stranger Things. I love the theme and remember being excited to play one when it first came out only to be completely underwhelmed. Everyone I talked to thought the game was a complete turd after playing it early on.. It kind of plays like an AFM pretender but with a cheap feel to it due to the plastic ramps. It also has that unsightly large ramp that comes out of the playfield and the Demagorgan bash toy which balls mostly just bounce off of. And I don't think the game's artwork is anything special either as it kind of harkens back to the early 2000 Stern photoshop days. I've gone back and played it since then on a few occasions and the code has gotten a lot better but the game design still feels poorly executed and I'd still rate it as a B- or C+ level Stern title.

    #74 1 year ago
    Quoted from Pyromedic:

    Terminator 2, Slow snooze fest to me.
    Dialed in, just don't get it at all.

    I had dialed in for two months.
    Yes i get it. start disaster manage em and get sim card. Rinse etc etc.
    Why am i shooting spiders, sparkplugs? The cool semicircular targets next to the drones? They look cool. What do they do? Anything?
    How come they put the two ugliest figurines ever in the game(electric boy and scissor girl)?

    This is a mess. Well the kids liked the selfie mode.

    #75 1 year ago
    Quoted from MikeS:

    ....It kind of plays like an AFM pretender but with a cheap feel to it due to the plastic ramps. ...

    Ramps don't bother me but I don't understand how you just recycle an all time great layout for the 3rd or 4th time and it by far shoots the worst of them all.

    #76 1 year ago

    Post like these usually que the MM bashers. This crowd is remarkably restrained.

    As always I am dying to love LOTR as I dig the theme.

    I'm probably like the XMEN, and SW bashers who dreamed the game would meet their fantasies. SM was there too for me but escaped somehow thanks to Lyman.

    I just probably need to bring one home so I can play it and hear it and set it up how I like.

    #77 1 year ago

    +1 for Tron and Stern Jurassic Park. Don't see the appeal.

    Tron's build quality is representative of the time when Stern was probably soon to die of (luckily it didn't). But Tron just feels flat...ramps don't feel good like Borg's other titles (TWD, IM, Rush).

    And the lack of assets for Jurassic Park is just a downer...not to mention that various things to hit on the playfield are obnoxious. Especially with a theme as Universal (wocka wocka) as JP, you would want it to be easy to hit shots but hard to master. It seems like Keith fixed that approach with Godzilla.

    #78 1 year ago

    Hopefully, i am wrong...but Scooby Doo. Seems like the top half of the playfield is covered up. Personally, I like to see where the ball is going.

    #79 1 year ago

    Machines without Jet Bumpers like Champions Pub, Junk Yard and Judge Dredd.

    #80 1 year ago

    Funhouse, never understood the love for it, think it plays like crap and not very fun.

    -2
    #81 1 year ago

    I can’t get into Iron Maiden and Guns n Roses. Iron Maiden I just can’t get past the music and satanic/Egyptian stuff. On Guns n Roses I can’t get past the jello handshake shooter plunge.

    17
    #82 1 year ago
    Quoted from DanMarino:

    satanic/Egyptian

    This made me laugh for some reason. What a combo.

    #83 1 year ago
    Quoted from Aurich:

    This made me laugh for some reason. What a combo.

    I think that might be my favorite combination - it is pretty tough to beat both satanic AND Egyptian.

    #84 1 year ago
    Quoted from wellarmed:

    Machines without Jet Bumpers like Champions Pub, Junk Yard and Judge Dredd.

    And The Shadow?!

    #85 1 year ago
    Quoted from DanMarino:

    I can’t get into Iron Maiden and Guns n Roses. Iron Maiden I just can’t get past the music and satanic/Egyptian stuff. On Guns n Roses I can’t get past the jello handshake shooter plunge.

    Haha. Heavy metal, satan, and supernatural Egyptian shit makes me warm and fuzzy inside.

    #86 1 year ago
    Quoted from jackd104:

    Haha. Heavy metal, satan, and supernatural Egyptian shit makes me warm and fuzzy inside.

    Preach it.

    #87 1 year ago

    This thread has really exposed the secret underground hate for Funhouse! Poor Rudy had no idea.

    #88 1 year ago
    Quoted from Aurich:

    This made me laugh for some reason. What a combo

    I am still laughing.

    #89 1 year ago
    Quoted from jackd104:

    This thread has really exposed the secret underground hate for Funhouse! Poor Rudy had no idea.

    IDK if I see hate.. just people not getting the recent and quick rise in valuation/demand perhaps.

    #90 1 year ago

    I like Rudy, but the space he takes up does make the playfield feel a bit pinched.

    #91 1 year ago
    Quoted from Aurich:

    This made me laugh for some reason. What a combo.

    I’m old fashioned. Give me cowboys, cards, pool, or clowns. Haha.

    #92 1 year ago

    Pinball is very personal.

    Some machines just speak to particular people.

    A lot of machines for me need a tip of the hat because of their place in history. Is the Addams Family the best pinball every made? Yes. And having said that to give the machine it's due... I've played enough Addams Family that the machine doesn't have anything to show me anymore.

    The game was designed around a perfectly balanced progression that was suitable for coin op, playing maybe twenty games at 50 cents a pop. In a home environment, playing 1000 games? Nope.

    Way before you've put a thousand plays on the machine you're going to be done.

    That doesn't stop it from being the best game ever made... It just means that in the modern environment, the machine plays like a piece of pinball history. Give it it's due... and move on.

    I FIRMLY believe that some of the ambivalence, or mild dislike, or even active loathing might have been because the player was put in front of a machine that either wasn't working, wasn't working right, or wasn't tweaked to be a good example.

    Or maybe not. One of the nice things about Funhouse is that it can be fairly off-level, fairly poor mechanically, and it still delivers a 'Funhouse' experience. (Shrugs). I like it, but I get why people don't. It's another game like Addams that it's fairly easy to master all the shots if you are a skilled player, and then there isn't that much there. It was an astonishing play experience when it was released.

    So pinball is very personal.

    You end up liking the machines you like, you end up disliking the machines you dislike. That's OK.

    The pinside top 100 list is a popularity contest, and almost any player will enjoy machines in the top 20 or 30... particularly if they've been there a while. But that's ALMOST everybody. Maybe not you.

    On my retail showroom I really like to have a dozen or more pinballs in great repair, tweaked to bring out the best this particular machine can be. I keep them on free play, and I want a potential buyer to play the machine they are thinking of buying... because what one person loves, another person isn't impressed by. And how are you going to know unless you not only play the machine, but play a good example of the machine?

    I like pretty much all pinball.

    Except Popeye. That machine sucks.

    #93 1 year ago

    Hear! Hear!

    Except for the part about Addams Family. I don't get that game.

    #94 1 year ago
    Quoted from PinRetail:

    Pinball is very personal.
    I like pretty much all pinball.
    Except Popeye. That machine sucks.

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    #95 1 year ago

    GnR and Rick and Morty

    #96 1 year ago

    I understand pinball is subjective but I don't get the fascination with all the Elvira machines. I tried to get into them but the theme absolutely kills it for me. I have lots of friends and associates that have all the Elviras in their collection and she does zero for me. I think EHOH is a fun layout but the connection is lost.

    Monsterbash I tried to like because I do like the theme, but it got old quick and just did not have any magic for me and I don't get why people love it so much. Cutting cookies with Monsters I guess

    Stranger Things I thought I loved the franchise. When they announced for Stern I was excited. Then after playing it-it just did not do it for me. The modes were repetitive and I decided I am not as big of a fan of the franchise as I thought I was. Now I see what they are selling for and I just don't get it. I am over the franchise-so that is probably the main reason.

    Dialed IN tried to get into having in the home for months and just could not make any connections whatsoever

    #97 1 year ago

    I actually like Popeye. The modes are really fun, for me. I never had a problem with seeing the ball or shots. I like the upper playfield and Item multiball is really fun. To each their own, I guess. One of the only games in my lineup that I bought twice. IMO the game don't suck.

    #98 1 year ago

    The ice is just too slippery for some people.

    #99 1 year ago
    Quoted from KJL:

    Post like these usually que the MM bashers. This crowd is remarkably restrained.
    As always I am dying to love LOTR as I dig the theme.
    I'm probably like the XMEN, and SW bashers who dreamed the game would meet their fantasies. SM was there too for me but escaped somehow thanks to Lyman.
    I just probably need to bring one home so I can play it and hear it and set it up how I like.

    #MM - really do not get why it's so popular.

    #centaur - rented it for 3 months, hated every day of it...

    #100 1 year ago

    OG Indy Jones by Williams. The gameplay is just so lame in general despite how cool it all looks.

    There are 137 posts in this topic. You are on page 2 of 3.

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