They are. AC/DC has a bell and canon, both fitting the theme perfectly. Metallica has the snake and sparky, again perfectly fitting the theme. Star Trek also looks really neat with the ship and I like the wheel on WOF.

It's also reflected in the ratings. AC/DC and Metallica being rated that high has also to do with the great toys and how well they fit the theme.

I really like this thread.

I also think that innovation can come from moving backwards - c'mon WBNJM!

The more I think about it the more I think it's really themes people are missing. Themes that are art and use your imagination.
Everything is licensed and nobody comes up with a new thing.

Open source software from all companies. Plus a modkit.

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More games/modes on a pin. For example;

- tourny mode
- timed mode. Need to finish a mode in time, to go to the next timed mode. Failure = gameover. Or just score as much points in a certain time. That sort of time modes i mean.
- multiball mode a game mode with 1 or 2 minuts of multiball and score the most points. End game after the minut.
- multiplayer mode online speaks for itself.
- 1 ball mode you get one ball, thats it.
- more randomizing modes what you need to shoot. Lets call them the who did it shots.

Off course all modes have their own rankingtables.

Giving each pin several game modes will give us much more gameplay... And fun! And that is why you buy a pin. Look at the games on consoles/pc. They are packed with modes.

Why can 50 euro costing games have multiple modes and an 8k euros pinball always has only one 1 player mode? I know they sell alot more games then pins. Still.... 8 thousand.....

Give us gameplaymodes!

nice thread, a lot of great ideas already.

If Dutch Pinball made Three Angels into a real pinball I'd buy it.

I want to see high score tables for each person. Enter your initials when you start the game. You can always compete with yourself when you can't get the normal high scores. Great for kids. My kids always go back to playing Roadshow because they can always enter their initials on the daily board that it has.

Cool idea! Like the initial/PIN system from NBA Jam, keeping stats for every player that steps up to the game.

lcd display with back up video entertainment. cartoons would be nice. The display in my acdc reminds me of a watch I had back in 1977 where you pushed the button and a red display showed the time in digital, unless you were in the sun outside.

Automatic playfield angle adjustments. Slow/speed up/tilt the playfield for certain events. Drunken multiball!

At least, automatic angle setup. No more crooked tables!

I'm not sure how you'd do it, and I'm sure it'd be super expensive to implement, but I'd like to see a partial or full rotating playfield. I know there would have to be shared space between the two sides of the playfield for mechs and wires and lights and such but essentially it'd be a playfield sandwich with a different playfield on either side.

If it were a partially flippable playfield, maybe only the upper half would flip. You'd do some things, reach an objective, the ball would be held at the bottom area of the playfield while the upper part rotated (flipped). On the other side would be new things to do and shoot for. If it were the whole playfield that flipped then the ball would be held below the game or behind the backboard or wherever, until the playfield could be flipped. You'd then play the other side of the playfield.

There'd definitely have to be some engineering involved to make it flippable and there'd be a host of problems to solve, but I think it would be neat. Wouldn't it be awesome if you made a shot, similar to the ring shot in LOTR and while the ball was being held, the entire playfield changed?

On a more limited basis, even if certain things could change places during the game. At one point there are drop targets on the right that then become stand up targets that then becomes a scoop. On the opposite side you'd have something similar with a couple of different things that could be in that place.

Again, anything like this would probably be expensive to make a potential nightmare in terms of maintenance, but it seems like there's so much more you could be doing to expand the game beyond its traditional elements.

Dave

Yeah, they were already self-tilting playfields with Challenger in the 70s. It wouldn't take too much tech to implement, could use mercury tilt switches or something to have the game determine when it is at the proper angles.

Open source the code. Hobbiests could pool together and get done in days/weeks what it takes stern weeks/months to accomplish. Distribute any updates directly on Sterns website so they know they are not malicious software.
Or consider it "fan" made software. This possibly negates any copywright infringement as long as it is not being sold.

As long as stern releases a game with code and the game is considered finished (no longer in production and no updates planned), what difference does it make what is done with it after that. You paid for the game and its code.
Their money has bern made. And no more will be spent on paying employees to create new code.

Do you think ford cares once your warranty is up and the car is paid for what you do to it.
Turbo, exhaust, performance chip.

Same should go with pinball. Just let code become another mod.