Found 13 ratings (with comment) on this game

Finding a good example of this game to spend some time on was definitely worth the wait.

One might think Time Fantasy would be boring at first glance -- no ramps, no locked balls, no spinners, no drop targets, etc.

I found that I did not miss those things while playing. The mushroom-horseshoe and tunnel-standup shots were both a challenge and rewarding. Lighting up the rest of the rollovers and standups filled in the gaps.

Hearing the bell ring for Snail Time is very satisfying.

Best of all is the artwork on the playfield and back glass. It is colorful, absurd, and nonsensical. . . and yet it is perfect.

I am sure this game was unappreciated in the past, but certainly deserves some attention and recognition today.

This has to be one of the coolest classic 70's acid inspired pins. Everything about it is trippy and perfect and it's also actually super-fun to play with some very original playfield design by Ousler. Would love to have one of these in my house; beautiful unique art and very playable too.

Shocking to me how low the rating on this oddball, but extremely lovable game is here on Pinside. Time Fantasy is without a doubt one of the most unique games ever built. Tough to get to Snail Time, but so worth it. Beyond Snail Time though is the artwork which is a trip, and the solid gameplay which is ever challenging. The horseshoe/U-turn shot could be the whole game, but it is not. True, once you dial it in you can hit it all day to max it out at 100K, but trying to dial it in from scratch is a side-drainer's nightmare. Overall Time Fantasy is an awesome tournament game, and a great one for the player who likes to mix it up.

One of the most unique pins ever produced. Great art, color, theme and play. Find one and play ten games.

I'm still kicking myself that I didn't buy this game when I had the chance, but I'm grateful there is still one available to play at Cactus Jacks in Oklahoma City. Yes, it's a weird psychedelic theme with a giant snail, but it's somehow charming instead of a bad trip. Maybe the rule set isn't the deepest but it just works. You always have a choice of several shots that can advance your scoring progress: Do you go for the all-or-nothing "Snail Time" strategy? If you do, should you go for 99 seconds or settle for what you have? Do you try to build up your "horseshoe" shot to 100K per? Or, do you try to build bonus and multipliers and complete rollover lanes in single-ball play? The sounds are simple, but again they just work. The bell when you get snail time is a pavlovian reward, not an annoyance. The repetitive sounds as you build your snail time and as it ticks down are likewise just right. I think this game would be more popular if there were more copies, but on the other hand such an esoteric theme rationally should never have gotten green lit in the first place so I'll just be grateful it exists at all.

This is a game that's impossible to pass by when you see it: a friggin' LSD snail on the backglass? OK what's that about?

Well, it truly IS about effing with your head, because they used they same sound package as Firepower. With 17,000 of those made just 3 years earlier, it's almost guaranteed anyone who played Time Fantasy in 1983 was familiar with FP. And what a mindfeck that is!

As a game, it's a pretty basic layout without too much going on. However the Time Tunnel is a tough, tight shot and the fact that it only spots a letter if you hit it when the same letter is lit, makes the multipliers tough to earn. The horseshoe shot offers an interesting "subtractive" shot penalty - Barry Oursler would use the same scoring gimmick in Joust the same year. It's a fun game - not a standout player, but worth a few rounds if you get the opportunity. I kept coming back to it just because the sounds kept messing with me.

But the art. Man, the art! Friggin' awesome.

This is a strange machine that you don't see everyday. I was able to 6 or 8 games on one at the SFGE, and I really liked it. I'm sad that I passed up an opportunity to own one.

This game is fun, but damn near impossible to figure out the rules/scoring for. Played this in a group, and a few times myself and we were impressed with the layout, gameplay, but the ruleset was hard to figure out.

Art is out of this world, literally. But the game isn't one you want to play over and over, at least not me.

I like this game a lot.

I fell in love with TF at the Southern Fried Gameroom Expo, and added a bgresto backglass (highly recommended). The rules are dead simple, and I'm surprised someone complained that it's hard to understand. Basically: (1) Spell TIME in the tunnel to start "Snail Time"; (2) inlanes and "1" rollover add time, (3) complete rollovers to increase the multiplier during "Snail Time". You can also spell FANTASY to increase the normal bonus multiplier.

TF has cool "Defender"-like sounds, unusual rules and great Oursler layout. The artwork is zany and trippy - perfect for my black light art room. Only 608 were made, so not many people have had the pleasure of playing it.

A very unusual game, both in gameplay and artwork. The artwork has caused this game to get the nick-name of "Acid Trip Snail". You have to see it to believe it! This game was made when pinball was suffering to the video game craze so only about 600 were made. The gameplay is super unique. There are 5 rollover lanes at the top that can be steered with the right flipper. When you achieve "snail time" you get a timed mode with a continuous ball saver. The goal during that time is to plunge the top rollovers, let the ball drain, and plunge the rollovers again. You continue to do this until snail time is up. Really different, and quite fun!

Time Fantasy game really surprised me. I happened to play a mint copy of this game at a friend's house. I thought, "meh: when I walked up to it, but once I got into the game, I really liked it. Kind of an EM throwback, simple, but not easy. At the time it was designed as an (quote from the flyer) "Good old fashioned pinball at a good old fashioned price." Barry and his team certainly fit the bill.

The Pros: This deck is much much faster than expected. Strategy requires you to build your bonus with targets. I wonder if drop targets were considered for this design? The u-turn on the right increases the next score when you hit the lit side of the loop, hit the wrong side and it decreases... skills! Oursler tm outlanes make sure you keep on your toes with this deck. Poor flipper control means loballs flying towards the sides of the deck at high speeds. Classic firepower sounds work perfectly with this game. This game is all about building your "snail time" and then hitting the t_i_m_e target to start your invulnerability. Get those top lanes to get your multiplier maxed and shoot your score through the roof. This requires a "Drain the ball on purpose" strategy!!! How so much play can be packed into such a simple package?... utter pinball brilliance.

The Cons: No Multiball. Curses, foiled again...

The Takeaway: A simple ruleset and a great shooters game. The sounds are perfect for this table too. Some people don't like snail-dude (what would you call him), but he has tons of character and that means a lot in my book. Just take a look at data east photo bg's in comparison, yuck! Not this artwork though, it's a real trip. Now I can see how some people think it has a drug induced theme... but it's not a caterpillar on a mushroom smoking a hookah either. I'm rather surprised that Barry didn't team up with Python on this table, he'd be perfect for it. Seamus McLaughlin did a great job with the Art package and I think it's his best work in the industry. Solid all around and a great example of doing more with less.

Update:
I recently found a copy for a great price and after playing a game on it, I passed. I know that I could have made the game nastier and less forgiving, but I just didn't like playing the game enough to buy it. There are many other games that are better laid out and playable than this deck from this vintage. Yes... Snail time is cool, but it is so cool that the horseshoe loop is ingnorable and many of the FANTASY targets come to you as the ball bounces around. I respect the gameplay but the breakdown is:
1) light the 1-5 lanes up top to get the snailtime bonus maxed.
2) Spell time from the ramped target lane
3) skillfully plunge/nudge/lanechange.
4) Max out lane scores.
Rinse and repeat.

This is a good game with an interesting and unique ruleset, but ultimately... it didn't speak to me well or loudly enough for me to buy it at a great deal price. Scores reduced accordingly.

Theme and artwork colorful and always worth some smiles (shrooms). Gameplay is straight forward, demanding timed and precise shooting for completing the main feature. Instead of the usual Extra Ball you can get unlimited Balls for up to 99 time units, collected while playing "normal" balls. Rare machine!