Category: news & gossip

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news & gossip

Pinball Question: Buying your first machine

What advice would you give to a pinball enthusiast who is interested in buying their first machine?

Jeff Groper: Encourage them to hold out for a title they actually want. I’ve seen too many people buy something dull because they had a boner to buy their first machine. Keep it local and take someone who owns pins so when it’s time to kick the tires, even if they aren’t a repair whiz they should be able to spot red flags. Use pinpedia.com to sanity check pricing, and if you’re leery at all, ask the WPC list.

Aaron McAbee: Look over the table on youtube.com to view what it looks like in good working repair and full sound. Also, have a well-lit area to get a good view of every part of the table inside and out.

Kathy Gagno: Definitely bring someone who knows the mechanics of pins to help decide whether it is a good deal or not.

Charlie Martin: My 2 cents would be to buy from a collector, not a [pinball machine] flipper, and play at least 5 games on it after looking it over very closely. A good seller will always point out the pin’s flaws. They will also offer help when it breaks or some sort of limited warranty.

Rodney Olsen: The most important is to make sure you know what you’re getting. Take someone with you that knows pinball. Check all coils, switches, and lamp flashers.

Bobby Conover: Have him/her take a crash course! Buy one cheap, dirty, and broken, and fix it up. Great way to learn how a machine actually works, and if he wants to own pins long-term he can apply the knowledge to all future machines.
Rod, you really sit there checking every lamp when you buy a game? 🙂

Rodney Olsen: I check all of the lamps not because I care about changing a bulb but because you may have one section of GI out which could point to board issues.

SS: What does “GI” mean?  Is it an abbreviation for some pinball expert lingo?

Rodney Olsen: GI means General Illumination. Modern machines will have the GI separated into sections. This allows the designer to turn on and off certain GI for effects. Because of this you could have areas where there isn’t GI because of board issues. I could show you how this works.

Dan Halligan: I bought a dead ’80s Craigslist deal for my first pin and it was a great way to learn about cleaning, repair and upkeep on a less complicated game. But it really depends on what you’re looking for, one killer game for your home (in which case, hold out for a game you really really want), or to start a collection and get into the hobby. There’s something to be said for starting with an older game, it’s much easier to learn on.

Keith Nelson: Here’s a list of questions I have emailed to people in the past…….  of course there are many other questions that could be asked.

How much are you asking for it? Is there any playfield wear? What would you rate the playfield on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being best)? Are there any broken or missing plastics? What would you rate the plastics condition? Are there any broken targets? Do all the mechanicals work? Have there been any modifications to the mechanicals? Do all the spinners work? Are the spinners in good physical appearance? What would you rate the mechanical condition? Are there any missing mechanical pieces? Do all the sounds work? Is there any humming on the sound? Do both speakers work? Are there any missing dots, digits or is there anything wrong with the display(s) in general? How bright are the displays? Is the battery case corroded? Are there any missing chips from the electrical boards? Has the machine ever been rewired? Is the plunger spring or tip in need of repair? What would you rate the cabinet art’s condition? Has the machine ever been laid on its side? Do all the lamps work? Are there any missing electrical boards or wiring from the backboards? Have there been any modifications to the electronics on the machine? Have there been any modifications to any part of the machine that you haven’t already mentioned? Are there any holes or scratches in the backglass? Overall, what would you rate the machine on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being best?

Cayle George: I think there are a lot of guides on the web. Google it up 🙂

Dale Garbutt: That’s a very good question. Unfortunately there are so many questions that should be asked that it’s impossible to list them all.  My best advice is for them to educate themselves. The more you read, the better a buyer you will be.  Fortunately, the internet is a vast resource of info.  There is no substitute for experience when it comes to purchasing a complicated machine like a pinball, much like buying a car, but you can make yourself better prepared. If they or you know of any local pinhead, it would be well worth contacting them to see if they can take a look before you buy, much like getting a car inspected.

Ryan Gratzer: I don’t buy games, so I’m not very experienced with this stuff.
I would definitely recommend looking in the backbox to see if any of the boards have corrosion.

Avout: I always look for a good playfield and plastics, as well as a decent-to-good backglass. Coils, circuit boards and so on are relatively easy to fix, [but] artwork not so much, you will always be able to tell. If there are some wear and tear issues with the artwork, the game’s selling price should reflect that. Use the classifieds section at MrPinball.com for reference. You can always shell out top dollars if you really, really, really need to have THAT game, but it doesn’t hurt to at least educate yourselves a little before you go spend that money. And oh, stay with the big 3 (Bally, Williams and Gottlieb) if you can. Or maybe even Chicago Coin. After that, it might get hard to find parts.

Larry Reid: Obviously ask: how much? 

A late model Williams in decent shape can fetch $2,500 or more. Less for Bally and Gottlieb. Make sure it comes with the “book”. New Sterns are 4 grand, and aren’t much fun to play after a while, if ever.  Old electromechanical machines are wonderful, but high maintenance. Expect a lot of downtime.

Lift playfield and remove backglass to inspect for mildew (a sign the machine has been stored in damp quarters – bad.) Also look for any sign of scorching or lingering scent of electrical burning. (Common, and also bad.) If it doesn’t at least power up, don’t buy it. It could be toast. Ideally the machine will play well. Cosmetic damage is to be expected, but playfield plastics should be intact. (Aftermarket replacements are really expensive.) My advice is to spend the cash up-front for a nice Williams. Medieval Madness, Monster Bash, Cactus Canyon, and Attack from Mars are likely too pricey. But you can usually find a Fun House, Fish Tales, Addams Family, Twilight Zone, Creature From the Black Lagoon  – that era – for somewhere around $2,000.

Dominique: Are they planning on working on it? They should be.

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news & gossip

Skill Shot #17 News & Gossip

Originally published in Skill Shot 17, February 2011

The 13th Annual Shorty’s Pinball Tournament was once again big fun this year. Lots of players from Vancouver, Portland and (even) Spokane (Anthony) made the trip to Seattle to try their skills against the hometown crew. Host Larry Reid presided over the event in his typical manner (ie: a loud microphone and  seemingly disorganized paper score sheets) and as usual the CFF gang from Portland had a pretty solid showing, as did Robert Gagno from BC, who placed third. The final match was Levi Lowe vs. Cayle George, with the final win going to Levi. This seemed to surprise a lot of people, who considered him an underdog despite winning 3 previous tournaments. In another upset, Skill Shot’s Gordon won Most Enthusiastic Contestant over an exuberant Cheeseboat and previous champ Timmy Smith. Go Team Skill Shot!

The Seattle Pinball League (SPL) finished 2010 with tournaments held at Andrew Nunes’ in October, James and Janice Eades’ (LYWAH) in November, and Jeff Groper’s new house in December. The December tournament was the SPL’s 2010 Finals with the top 12 players battling it out Round Robin style. SPL probably won’t do the Round Robin tournament again anytime soon, since this one began at 1 PM and lasted until after 11! Robert Gagno did better this time, taking 1st place, with Raymond Davidson in 2nd and Jamie Beth in 3rd.

Robert was recently featured in an article in the Seattle Weekly written by Caleb Hannan. Although it was a nice article about Robert, it was less so for some of the others mentioned. Of course we think the article could have been improved with mentions of the Seattle Pinball Museum (SPM) and Skill Shot. Along with the bruised feelings, apparently the Weekly’s photographers made a nuisance of themselves at the November SPL Tourney, and Caleb was asked not to attend the December Final. Ouch!

In other tournament news: The first annual Canada/USA Pinball Border Brawl happened on January  15th. The contest included the top 12 players from the SPL and the Vancouver Regional Pinball Association (VPRA), which was interesting as both groups have some of the same members. The USA was victorious! The Seattle Pinball Museum has begun having monthly tournaments on the second Thursday of each month. While we haven’t made it to one yet it, it sounds like they are bringing in some different contestants than other tournaments. Way to go! The SPM will be hosting the next SPL tournament on February 5th, and SPM’s next Thursday tournament is Feb 10th.

The Sunday Tournament at Shorty’s has changed to a monthly format that includes a potluck brunch and an earlier starting time (3PM). The Sunday Tournaments had been suffering from a lack of participation for a number of months and this format has breathed new life into it. Hosted by Paul and Jawn the next Sunday tournament is Feb 6th. Shorty’s bartender Jawn has also been organizing the Ballard Pinball Tournaments for a while now. These are roaming tournaments that take place at a number of locations (including Headley and Claire’s apartment!) and the format usually depends on the number of participants. Unique and fun! The next Ballard tournament is Feb. 21.

Other upcoming tournaments: Dorky’s Valentine Day Couples Tournament on Feb 14th; The 3rd Annual Georgetown Open on March 13th; the first Greenwood Pinball Open on April 20th; and Shorty’s bi-annual Powder Puff Tournament on May 22. Anatomically female only!

We can only assume that when Stern’s new Rolling Stones machine is released there will be a launch/tournament like they’ve had for previous pins. The Avatar launch/tournament was held at the Waterfront Arcade back on Oct 15th, which was a curious place to hold it since we’re sure not many locals go there often. Ultimately the Arcade proved to be too cramped for the large crowd that showed up. We can only hope that the next one is held at Gameworks again where there is plenty of room (and beer). Yes, if you hadn’t already heard, the next Stern machine is going to be Rolling Stones and not TRON like almost everyone was hoping. It’s quite ugly from what we’ve seen online, and we love the Stones!

Skill Shot 16 actually debuted at the Avatar event and we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped us fold (especially KSH, CAD and LLD who folded 500 copies!) and distribute each and every issue. If you ever visited our Myspace page to look at the online version of our Pinball List, you can stop now as we have finally given up on Myspace. Look for our newly redesigned website to launch in February (www.skill-shot.com) where we will have not only the Pinball List, but also past and future articles from the zine, comics, featured online content and other fun stuff.

If you have been following our The One To Beat (TOTB) challenge lately you have noticed that there has been some confusion since DOC’s GC score on the T2 at Al’s. We contemplated making the Highline’s Attack From Mars or Canterbury’s White Water the next TOTB but decided against it because of the unreliability of those pins. Instead, the new TOTB is the Batman at Shorty’s that has been reset back to its factory settings. We hope that this pin will stay TOTB for a while. Look for updates on our website!

Pinball Tidbits: Madison Pub may have finally fixed their broken Iron Man! They sent it to the shop so lets hope it now works; The Grizzled Wizard’s Black Knight 2000 is the saddest pin in Seattle because the DMD has been broken since last October and you can’t see any scores; Pink Gorilla no longer has any games because they had a fight with Bobby; Marv’s Broiler briefly had a second pin (Aztec) and then suddenly no pins (we smell a mystery); Olympia has a pinball zine called Slam Tilt, find them on Facebook; Did you see the CFF/Robocop pin in a film at the last HUMP Festival? We missed it too; There’s a new pinball manufacturer, Jersey Jack Pinball! Their first game will be based on The Wizard of Oz.

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news & gossip

Skill Shot #16 News & Gossip

Originally published in Skill Shot 16, October 2010

The Folding Party we had for Skill Shot 15 was a big success and we would like to take the opportunity right now to thank everyone who came out to The Lookout and helped fold zines. It was awesome that a bunch of people that we’d never met came by to help out and the owner of the bar even stopped by and folded a few. Naturally, PBR was drank, pinball was played and new friends were made. Sweet! And speaking of The Lookout, their Harley Davidson keeps malfunctioning (as if it ever worked right to begin with) and Kiki the manager is promising to replace it with something more reliable. Go! Kiki! Go!

Not all Seattle Pinball events actually happen in the Seattle city limits. August 14th took us to Keith and Dave’s annual Summer Tilt BBQ-Pinball Birthday Party out in the wilds of Redmond. It was a neat party with around 20 pins available to play, and some of them outside on the deck. Our favorite was the Data East Star Trek that was a tough game, but since we had never seen one before, we loved it. We also love Hasbro for driving us to the party.

Birthday boy Keith was one of the organizers of the First Annual Pinball Swap Meet that happened on August 22 in the parking lot of Specialty Coin in Kent. The swap meet was created to give people a chance to trade or sell any extra pinball machine parts and accessories they might have. There were around 40 people selling stuff out of their cars and vans, with a couple of whole pinball machines available also. Specialty Coin even opened up their showroom so that people could come in and play the games in there. Everyone seemed to go away happy so look for it to happen again next year.

Other happenings that you needed a car for were the last two Seattle Pinball League tournaments. The one in August was in Renton at Byron’s house and the September tournament was at Todd Mac’s out on Bainbridge Island. So many people attended the meeting at Todd’s last January that he requested the number of people be limited to around 40 this time. This caused a bit of a scandal with some of the members of the SPL because not everyone got invited to the tournament. We think that it’s interesting that pinball is so popular in Seattle that people are being turned away from “sold out” events. Nice!

Another nice thing that has happened recently is the opening of Dorky’s Bar Arcade in Tacoma. We haven’t made it down there yet, but we keep hearing good things about it. They currently have 8 pins (including Bride of Pinbot and Dirty Harry!) and a bunch of arcade games. Food and beer is coming soon, so until that happens, Dorky’s is all-ages. Les the owner keeps telling us that the bus ride there from Seattle isn’t so bad. Dorky’s is located at 9th and Pacific.

We did make it down for the grand opening of the Seattle Pinball Museum on Saturday Sept 4th. They had a nice turnout with many folks we don’t see together often like Mark O’Farrell, Dominique and Destiny, James and Janice Eades, Nycole Hyatt, Julie Gray, Mitch, Les from Dorky’s, Headley and Claire. Headley recently moved to Ballard, so his Capitol Hill after-hours pinball party apartment is sadly no more. His new space isn’t as spacious and his pins are loaned out, with two of them (Future Spa and Laser War) currently at the SPM.

Speaking of Ballard, The Ballard Pinball Tournament (BPT) on Sept 5th was success of sorts. The way the tournament was set up, the maximum number of players was 16, but since 17 people showed up it made for an awkward moment and maybe some hurt feelings. Then even more people showed up! We are not sure if this has been a problem in the past, but host/organizer/Shorty’s bartender Jawn Wakefield has promised to have a different format that will accommodate more players if it happens again. The next Ballard Tournament begins on Monday Oct 25, 7PM at Snoose Junction.

The big news at Shorty’s is the departure of Matt, who along with Avout and Josh, did most of the repairs on the pins. Stepping up to the plate will be bartenders Dino and Deuce who are now learning the trade. Deuce’s pinball repair career was almost nipped in the bud when his motorcycle bit off his finger. Apparently the bone was sticking out of his hand and blood was squirting out like a Japanese horror movie. Gross!

In more cheerful Shorty’s news: It’s almost time for the Annual Shorty’s Pinball Tournament, and like last year it will be two days. Avout says there’s an Avatar on order, so maybe it will be there by then. There’s no word on what game will be leaving when the new pin arrives but most likely it will be one of the recent Stern machines. (Bye-bye NBA?) There’s also no word yet on whether or not there will be a Powder Puff Tournament next spring. We think all you ladies should start practicing, just in case.

The weekly Sunday Pinball Tournament at Shorty’s is still going strong. Despite what you might have heard, the tournament isn’t really starting any earlier than it usually does. Even when organizer Paul says 5:30, everyone still shows up at 6:30. We wonder what will happen when daylight savings time begins? The first Sunday of the month has a little extra cash as part of the prize bank, but you’ve got to play to win it. We did!

Have you been following our The One To Beat challenge? Last issue the game had changed to the Terminator 2 at Al’s Tavern, where Geoffro had the high score. Since then, it’s been a three way battle with DOC, MAK and ELF each topping the other only to be beat later. Ultimately DOC came out on top, but that’s because the pin is now broke. So for next issue TOTB is going to be the Attack From Mars at the Highline. We’ve asked Mark from Space Age Amusement not to reset the high scores.

That Space Age frequently resets the high scores on their machines is something that perplexed us and others. Apparently he didn’t realize that people care about them and he actually reset ELF’s high score right before his eyes at the Highline. We don’t see Elijah mad very often, but that will do it. In other Space Age news, the Doctor Who at the Redwood, which was causing so much trouble and discussion on our Facebook page, was ultimately fixed by getting replaced it with an almost equally broken Monster Bash!?? Gnarly!

Pinball Tidbits: Add Motor Works in Fremont is once again open for pinball, but only during normal business hours (so far); Gameworks moved their pins to the bottom floor, which is cool because you can see the table action from the balcony; Jamie Beth had a birthday and changed her name to OJ; the next Stern will most likely be TRON; the creators of www.pinballmap.com now have Apps available for both iPhone and Android that include the Seattle area; and Shorty’s now accepts credit cards!

Don’t forget to let us know if you see a new location or game change! We’re still slowly working on a website that will have past articles and covers. If anyone knows Word Press and wants to help us, please get in touch.

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news & gossip

A Pinball Museum Comes to Seattle

Originally published in Skill Shot 16, October 2010

by Gordon2

The Pacific Northwest has always been a great place for pinball and now it’s even better with the recent opening of the Seattle Pinball Museum.

The Seattle Pinball Museum (SPM) is the creation of Charlie and Cindy Martin of Federal Way WA, who first began forming their plan for the museum back in February. By mid-summer, Charlie had created a Facebook page announcing the museum and soon after, the Martins hosted a BBQ/meeting to gauge community interest. Needless to say, the pinball community responded positively and the Martins began searching for a space to rent.

While investigating spaces in Pioneer Square they became aware of Storefronts Seattle, an organization involved in revitalizing the Pioneer Square and International District neighborhoods. Storefronts Seattle matches artists/art with unused retail space and gets them free rent for a limited time, with the hope that the increased foot traffic the art brings in will improve the neighborhood as a whole. Realizing the potential of the Seattle Pinball Museum, Storefronts Seattle made them one of the first ten art projects accepted into the program.

The space was finalized at the end of August, and the Seattle Pinball Museum had one week to move in and open up for the First Thursday Art Walk, which happens each month in the neighborhood. Many people volunteered to make this happen by donating and delivering pinball machines, cleaning, advertising and other thankless tasks the museum needed done. On September 2nd the SPM had 10 pinball machines (and a few pachinkos) up and running for the Art Walk. Two days later they had an official grand opening with 13 working pins.

The SPM is located in a retail space on the bottom floor of a hotel in the International District/China Town of Seattle. It’s a large space that has big windows and a long wall of pinball machines. Above each of the games is a placard giving some facts about the pin, including the date it was manufactured. Almost all of the pinball machines are in working condition and available for the public to play. The machines are also lined up in chronological order with a flipper-less 1936 Bally Bumper being the closest to the front door, and Galactic Girl (2010), built by Seattle’s own Dominique Nick, holding up the rear.

The museum is an active space and while people playing pinball, often pins are being worked on. Go there during the day and you’re likely to see someone trying to coax a machine back to life, or giving one of the games a tune-up. There have been some interesting donations to the SPM recently, including a Tropics bingo-machine (1953) and a KISS (1978), neither of which were in working condition when dropped off. There’s also a lot of comings and goings, as pinball machines are added to the museum roster on a weekly basis. Charlie says that they have the space for 28 games.

The Seattle Pinball Museum is currently open Thursday – Sunday. Admission includes unlimited free-play. They also plan on opening for special events and tournaments. Check out their Facebook page for further details.

Seattle Pinball Museum, 508 Maynard Ave S, Seattle WA

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news & gossip reviews

100 Pinball Game Equation

An Interview with Math Professor Luke

BB:   X = a player. Z = the number of games played. Y = the number of games needed to win. Can you write this out in math? Basically, for the best two out of three, three out of five, etc.  This is for a two player pinball tournament article in Skill Shot.

Luke:   Hey skipper! I can do my best. Let’s see here. You want to play an odd number of games, so things can’t end in a tie, so for some number n, Z = 2n+1. (That is, we can let n be any whole number we want, and then Z will be the n-th odd number; if n=1 we get Z=3games, if n=2 we get Z=5 games, and so on.) So then it’ll takeY=n+1 games to win. I introduced n as a convenience, but we can easily remove it now. As we see, Z = 2Y-1, or equivalently, Y = (Z+1)/2.  Does that help?

BB:  AWESOME!!!

Luke:  I’m glad all those years I spent in grad school weren’t wasted after all! How’s it all going, mister?

BB:   It’s going great. Working on Skill Shot 16.  So Gordon and I played a 2-player 100 game pinball tournament. It took about a week, and he won 71, I won 29.  Afterwards, we played a 10 game tournament, and I won 6, he won 4. So 100 games or 10, we’re still close in skill. How’s your life?

G2:  Hi Luke. We need another pinball equation for determining a fraction or percentage of a pinball tournament where it is possible to have a tie score.  For example: If player X and player Y played 100games of pinball, the equation would express the results as percentages. The equation could also be used in a tournament of 8games or 7 or whatever. We’re thinking about calling the article “Percentages”. It would help people rank themselves.

Luke:  Hey Gord! Let’s see here. Suppose you play a total of T games (100, or 8, or 7, or whatever) and win X of them. Then you’ve won100*X/T percent of your games. We can turn any fraction into a percentage this way, just by multiplying by 100: 0.6 or 6/10 is the same as 60%, etc. Just type 100*X/T into Google and press enter (replacing X and T with the actual numbers, of course) and it’ll even do the computation for you. I freaking love Google.

BB:   Hey Luke, one more question. Do these equations apply to tournaments with more than 2 players?

Luke:   Oh! Good question! The percentage one, definitely. In a tournament, if there are T games played in all, and a certain player wins X of them, he’s won 100X/T percent of all games in the tournament. If a certain player wins X games and that same player plays a total of say D games (maybe he doesn’t play every single game in the tournament; if there are a total of say 30 games in the tournament but this player only plays in 10 of them, then T=30 butD=10) then he’s won 100X/D percent of the games he’s (or she’s) personally played.

The formula for the number of games required to win will still work in a multi-player tournament, *if* a single player has to win more than half of all games to win the tournament. If you just have to win more games than any other player it’d become a lot more complicated! I’ll have to think about that one.

BB:  Anyway, this type of tournament isn’t really all about winning, it’s more of a way to rate your skill against other players. I mean, winning is great, but every game has to be played, even after one player has won the number of games required to beat the other(s). In the 100game tournament, Gordon and I played all 100 games, long after he had already won the tournament by winning 51.

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news & gossip

Stern vs Stern

Big Buck Hunter or Iron Man? What is it that makes you like one more than the other? They seem fairly similar at first glance. War Machine = Ram, The Big Buck moves and Iron Monger rises, they both have similar skill shots. Is it more an aesthetic thing or are the games that different?

The following comments are edited responses we received from Facebook

Brian Hasbro: I prefer Iron Man. The buck in Big Buck Hunter is often fidgety and takes a good thwack to register a hit on it, plus the track going right across the field changes the ball’s path, which is annoying. I really wanted to see the whole ‘aim for the bucks and avoid the does’ translated into pinball, the designers were just lazy and made a crappier version of the Scarecrow Crane from Batman. I’m not incredibly impressed with Iron Man either; the ramps should do more than they do, and Whiplash Multiball is a joke. You have to hit it 5 times and each time, it threatens to throw your ball directly into the drain and for what… 2 ball multiball? Psh. The 50 mil skill shot after completing everything in 1 ball is nice though, good money shot to aim for each game.

Jamie Beth: I haven’t really played either extensively, but I really don’t like BBH and I’ve enjoyed the handful of times I’ve Iron Manned. BBH is too drainy with a crappy flow. IM is way more funner and playable… and spinners are the bombdiggity..

Julie Gray: I’m not into hunting Bambi so I would prefer to play Ironman, but I feel that BBH is a better game with the unique Elk Multiball in that you hit and re light the left loop, and the skill shot is that interesting right extended target, and bird and ram shots that make it more intriguing. However, Ironman has a really great flow that makes you feel like you know how to play pinball because it is going so long. If someone said, “you could pay $100 to win either of these games”, I would pick Ironman. Downside, the ball often gets stuck on the middle playfield toys, and stops all of the wonderful flow.

Matt Brehe: I’m not crazy about either. However, when I have to, I play BBH over IM because it has a more interesting playfield. The lower playfield has double in-lanes on the right, which moves the flippers off-center a bit. There is also a lot more going on in the mid-field. Iron Man on the other hand is all focused on the upper playfield, and just overall feels overly symmetrical.

Weird Iron Man factoid I just learned from IPDB: “The four drop targets on the left-side represent the letters I-R-O-N and… the three drop targets on the right side represent M-A-N. David Thiel explains that the reason those letters do not appear on these targets is because it is a requirement of the license that the two words “IRON MAN” must never be shown separated from each other.”

4th Place Andy: At least it’s not like Shrek vs Family Guy. Yes, some games have very similar strategy+layout, see for example Attack From Mars vs Medieval Madness and Twilight Zone vs Addams Family. Bottom line is if it’s fun to play, there’s no reason to not have a similar game.

Jesse Thurston: IRONMAN!!!! So much more fun, better story and progression, and better general flow.

Anthony Brown: I prefer the Iron Man theme, and I enjoy blasting War Monger way more than shooting at a deer.

Aaron McAbee: Vegan. So, Iron Man.

Steve Cartoon: That depends on which one makes the more impressive SMASH after being pushed off a ten-story building…OK, it’d be Iron Man in my case. Killin’ thangs just ain’t my bag.

Maka Honig: Iron Man has two high-scoring “wizard” modes that require varied shots and a modicum of skill. That alone keeps me coming back for more, challenging = fun. BBH has a ruminant-toy that slides around. You’re supposed to shoot that thing, a lot. Completely unappealing theme (for me, anyways). I really tried to give Big Buck a chance but I can safely say I despise it now. Hail Iron Man!

Aaron Bendickson: Big Buck Hunter is definitely a fun game and I wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to play one. However, when it comes to the game that I want to have in my home, the game my kids are going to be begging to play, Iron Man definitely has the advantage. It’s a combination of theme, aesthetics, audio/music & game play. The game just oozes excitement. It’s the total package.

Cheese Boat: Iron man! BBH pinball reminds me too much of the original BBH game – it’s too janky. The Ram shoots the ball straight down the drain far too often, the ball save light is too far down the drain to be able to see well, and there is a lot of colorful crap on the play field, but it doesn’t feel like there is a lot to hit. The ‘buck’ is set up in an awkward way across the play field, and the track the buck slides on makes the ball jump up & constantly hit the glass. The only thing to look forward to on the entire game is when you light up several multiballs in a row.

Iron man, on the other hand, has great game-play and can be challenging despite its basic field layout, yet fun for a first-time player. Iron Man does have its own issues, such as the Iron Monger sometimes catches the ball on the edge of the moving piece when it lowers.The issues Iron Man may have are a lot less frequent and annoying than BBH’s. It feels like they spent a lot more time designing Iron Man. Overall Iron Man wins hands down with a better design and more challenging game play. Even though these are the two newest Stern games, I don’t really think it’s fair to compare them. I would rate BBH more in a class with Stern’s Batman.

Aaron Bendickson: Iron Man FTW! BBH isn’t bad, but IM is the total package. Good art, great sound, fast fun & challenging game play.

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news & gossip tips & tricks

DESTROY CENTAUR

by 4th Place Andy

Centaur is a fun classic pinball table. You can hear it taunting you from across the room, saying “Energize Me!” The black and white and red all over table art is beautiful. If you play at Shorty’s it is only 50¢ for 5 balls! So it is overall a very attractive game to practice. However, it probably plays a little different than other games you are used to playing. For starters, there are no extra balls. Bummer! The next difference is that there is no extra scoring for multiball–no score multipliers, like on Fathom, nor any Jackpots, like most multiball-equipped tables. Therefore, I like to think of it that you are ALWAYS in multiball. The reason for this is because you can, at any time (regardless of how many balls you have in play), lock balls or release locked balls or even add a ball! So don’t get too bogged down on how many balls you have, every shot still scores the same. Here are the ways to lock/release/add balls:

To lock a ball– Shoot the O-R-B-S targets, in any order. One of the orange “captive ball” targets (1-2-3-4) will light up to show you how many balls you have locked. When you hit each target once, they reset and can be completed again for another lock, up to a maximum of 4 simultaneous locks. Note: these are virtual ball locks, so you will not see a pinball physically restrained.

To instantly add a ball– either A) Complete the four lower blue lanes (“Guardian Releases Power Orb”) or B) Shoot the O-R-B-S targets, in that order. Orbs… Pinballs… same thing, right? Option B also locks a ball, as mentioned above. Remember, you can add a ball during single ball play to get two balls on the playfield at once, or during a multiball you can add another ball! Option A is great when one of your pinballs is going down the left or right outlane–if you can rotate the lit blue lights so that you roll over and light the last blue light, another ball is launched automatically. What a great way to save your game when you are about to drain your last ball!

To release all captive (locked) balls , there is a little more prep work required. Release Option I: Complete the right bank of drop targets in order (1-2-3-4) to light the orange “Release Power Orbs” shot on the upper right. You can shoot the upper right white stand-up target (with playfield green light) to spot a number, and the middle left white stand-up target (with playfield green light) resets them if you accidentally hit one out of sequence. Once the “Release Power Orbs” light is lit, shoot the upper right shot to release all of your locked balls. The game will say “Orb Release Sequence Activated!” Release Option II: Complete the Queen’s Chamber. This is the mini playfield on the upper left-hand side that can only be accessed by hitting the captive ball hard enough to send it up to collide with the drop targets. Once all drop targets are completed, the top-most stand-up target alternates between “Release Power Orbs” and “Special” for the remainder of your ball. Release Option III: During ball 5 of every game, the top right “Release Power Orbs” shot automatically lights and unlights approximately every 2 seconds. This is a good last chance effort to get a multiball even if you were unable to strike 1-2-3-4 in sequence.

Using the above techniques, it should be pretty easy to start a multiball and keep it going indefinitely! The game scores rather slowly, so be prepared to play for a long time if you want to get a high score. If you are attempting to roll the score over, expect about 30-60 minutes of continuous play to get 10 million points. Good luck destroying Centaur!

Categories
news & gossip

Skill Shot #15 News & Gossip

Originally published in Skill Shot 15, August 2010

For the third year in a row, summer in Seattle began with the NW Pinball and Gameroom Show (PAGS) at Seattle Center on June 11 – 13th. We always have a great time at this event, and this year was even better when we were allowed in the night before the show started to take pictures of Black Hole for the cover! It was fun and interesting to see everything that goes on the night before the show with pins being assembled, leveled, and fine-tuned for the big opening. Naturally, we played a bunch of games and also found more cool pin-art to take photos of for future issues. Big thanks to Rod Olson and James Edes for the VIP treatment!

If you don’t already know, all the games at PAGS are supplied by private collectors from around the Pacific Northwest. There were lots of great games that we rarely see anywhere else, such as Mousin’ Around, Spectrum, and Banzai Run, as well as local favorites that are usually broken, like Doctor Who and Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure. While some popular pins were missing from the line-up, there were plenty of cool games that were new to PAGS this year, like River Boat Gambler, Ice Fever, and Class of 1812 (featuring a huge beating heart!).

Other games that had neat gimmicks included Hollywood (with multiple kick-outs) and 4 NBA Fastbreak machines, with 2 of them connected together for two-player matches. One of the NBAs was also a raffle prize this year (along with a Congo pin)! Some machines were also for sale such as Super Mario Bros. and Vector (which was purchased by Brian Hasbro). Besides buying pinball machines, a current trend seems to be people making their own games, and Galactic Girl and Cosmic Colony were the examples this year. We’ve seen and heard of others working on their own pin designs, and we expect there to be more of them next year. Right, CIB?

On Saturday, guest speakers such as George Gomez (designer of Lord of the Rings), John Trudeau (designer of Bride of Pinbot), and Steve Wiebe (star of The King of Kong) gave talks, and Headley hosted a spontaneous outside BBQ. The finals of the pinball tournaments were Sunday, with Zoe Vrabel winning the Women’s Championship and Keith Elwin winning the Northwest Pinball Championship after a nail-biting finish against Robert Gagno, Cayle George, and one of the Sharpe Brothers, that lasted well after PAGS was over and people were loading out their games. The whole weekend was a blast and we look forward to going again next year. Thanks Dan!

Meanwhile, The Seattle Pinball League keeps gathering new members and having fun events on a monthly basis. The July meeting/tournament was at Mitch’s house and was a Bally-only event that also incorporated Pinball Golf into the format. It sounded like loads of fun and we are sorry we missed it! (Damn those Saturday tournaments.) The previous month’s meeting was held at Rod’s house and we also missed that, but we did make it to his 4th of July Pinball Party a week later, which had all of the machines still set up. That was a great party with fireworks, hoola hoops, countertop dancing, and lotsa pinball! The Cartoons were also celebrating their 10th anniversary that day and Cathy surprised Steve with the Chicago Coins’ Hollywood pinball machine that we had previously admired at PAGS. What a great gift!

Another great gift was when all the folks came out to the Skill Shot Folding Party we had at The Lookout for our last issue. We played pinball, drank PBR, and watched Sagel beat ELF’s high score on the Frankenstein machine. You might remember that that was our first The One To Beat (TOTB) contest back in issue #11, and until the folding party, no one had been able to Grand Champ ELF’s score. Too bad for DOC that we’ve since moved on and that pin is no longer our featured TOTB machine. Speaking of which, we guess that maybe LWL’s high score on Cactus Canyon at Bandits was unbeatable after all (especially once the ramp stopped registering), and now we’ve moved TOTB to Terminator 2 at Al’s Tavern in Wallingford (sorry, Geoffro).

In other Wallingford news: Sock Monster, the sock store with a The Addams Family pinball machine, is soon to be pinball-less. They had it so briefly that they never even made it on our Seattle Pinball List. We’re pretty sure that that was the game formerly at The Owl and Thistle, whose patrons were so upset when the pin was removed, they created a Face Book page about it. Another notable case of a moved game is the KISS pin that was formerly at The Feedback and now seems to be at Radar Records. We can’t imagine that there is more than one KISS pin on location in Seattle.

Speaking of Face Book, the Skill Shot page has been buzzing with activity lately, with readers posting about broken and/or new pins. For example, Kimberly Morrison went to Stellar Pizza recently to play Demolition Man, only to find one of the flippers broken in half and the machine still on! It’s good to know what the pins are like before you travel across town to play them, so if you have something to report, go to our FB page and share your observations. We also have current news, gossip, and links to other pinball maps.

Pinball Tidbits: Seattle may soon have a Pinball Museum in Pioneer Square; Tacoma will soon have a new spot called Dorky’s Barcade; Centaur has (sort of) been reborn after the Hooverville fire and is now at Shorty’s; a third Ballard Pinball Tournament is planned for August 30th; Add-a-Ball Amusement may return; Matthew is walking; and Stern’s next new game will be based on Avatar. We want TRON!

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