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news & gossip reviews

Sure Shot Classics

By Geoffro

Originally published in Skill Shot #4, Summer 2008

Maybe you’ve got a Jones for some pinball but you’ve already been down to Shorty’s three times this week. Or maybe you want to shoot a game or two and it also happens to be time for your once-a-month departure from Capitol Hill. Maybe you’re looking to drift back to a time before games took $5 bills and scored in the bazillions. Or maybe you’re just bored, dammit. In any case, a trip to the U-District for some pinball is never a bad idea, and the first games to head for are the 3 vintage pinball machines tucked away in the back room of the Sureshot Cafe.

You’ll find this coffee shop just off the corner of 45th and University. After purchasing a cup of Joe, wander on back to the game room. It is home to a number of classic arcades, as well as the occasional extra table or chair, but the centerpieces are definitely the pinball machines. On the far left is Wizard, originally manufactured by Bally in 1975. And yes, it is based on the movie Tommy. Wizard’s stand-out features are 4 flip flags on the right side of the playfield. The general idea is to flip these flags, primarily by hitting their corresponding stand up targets. After flipping as many flags as possible, shoot for the kick-out hole in the upper area of the playfield. Then merrily watch as it punches the ball down the right lane, resetting the flags and activating their various bonuses. Just one little quarter gives you 5 chances to do this as much as you can! Up to 4 pinball wizards can play at a time.

To the right of Wizard is another game by Bally from 1975, Hocus Pocus. It’s the only 2 player game in the room, and also unlike its counterparts, yields just 3 balls per game rather than 5, but it is possibly the most fun. The goal in Hocus Pocus is quite straightforward. There are 4 lit lanes in the upper playfield – A, B, C, and D. Once the ball has rolled down a lane, the letter goes out (various switches and targets accomplish this as well). Get A, B, C, and D all unlit and they reset, while you collect your prize. This can often be an extra ball or even a replay! A particularly satisfying feature of Hocus Pocus is going “over the top” (scoring 100,000 points), and listening to the machine buzz loudly for 5 to 10 seconds. Simply magical!

The third machine in the room is Space Mission, made by Williams in 1976. The central feature of Space Mission is obvious. It’s the “swinging target” plopped smack dab in the middle of the playfield, and the game revolves solely around it – like the earth around the sun… Also somewhat unique to this machine are the two ball kickers just outside of each flipper. Any ball that falls in one of these is immediately shot back out towards the swinging target, for better or worse. At times, hitting the target will cause “Extra Ball” to become unlit. Most of the time, however, hitting the target – without draining – yields positive results. Mastering this is the key to Space Mission.

All three games are nicely restored and, generally speaking, very well maintained. They’re refreshingly simple, and there’s something very pleasing about their primitive ticks and dings. In a city of ever-breaking and disappearing machines, it’s nice to know that these 3 relics continue to stand the test of time.

Sureshot Café is located at 4505 University Way NE

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reviews

Free Spin, Use It Or Lose It!

By Bernard Blvd.

What do Pat Sajak, buying vowels, and a generous “Free Spin” ball saved feature have in common? Wheel of Fortune pinball, that’s what! WoF is a recent addition to the Stern repertoire, and man, is it ever fun! It is a lot like the television show, which is fast-paced and exciting without being too cheesy… Well, maybe it is a little cheesy, but hey! Who cares when it is so flippin’ addictive?

The playfield is bright and colorful, and, of course, has a huge spinning prize wheel near the top. There are 3 contestants in the middle of the game towards the top, named Keith, Maria, and Lonnie. When you hit one of the characters, they make an attempt at solving the current puzzle by guessing letters, and the results are displayed on the screen. The best contestant is Maria, who is from California and shouts her letters like she is screaming at her mischievous kids. When she says “A!” it sounds like someone across the room is yelling “HEY!!!” Pretty funny.

The aforementioned Free Spin ball saved feature is awesome. The Free Spins are located under each side drain, and there are 2 on each side. That’s 4 possible saved balls! To light the Free Spins, you have to hit a drop down target or make the mini ramp when Free Spin is lit. If the ball goes down one of the side drains, if one or both of the Free Spins are lit and the ball rolls across that switch, you get another ball! This creates great suspense when one Free Spin is lit, because there is a rubber post that, if you shake the machine just right, can bounce the ball over the switch with the lit Free Spin. But WoF giveth and WoF taketh away: The center drain has a column of rubber posts right in the middle, and while it is useful for bouncing the ball back into the playfield, this feature creates a slightly larger drain hole between the flippers, and leaves 2 chances for the ball to go straight down the playfield and into the drain. This happens a lot when hitting the contestants straight on from the flippers. Unique feature, but is it fair? You decide.

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pinball sez

pinball sez #3

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news & gossip

Skill Shot #3 News & Gossip

Originally published in Skill Shot issue 3, Spring 2008

The first Northwest Pinball and Game Room Show will be at the Seattle Center June 6 – 8. Word is that there will be over 100 games (all set on free play!). Tournaments, special guests and more! Check out their web site for more details: (nwpinballshow.com/)

While we are on the subject of web sites, be sure to check out the Skill Shot page on mySpace. We’re posting most of our reviews and such there, but more importantly, this is the place to find our most up-to-date Seattle Pinball Guide!  myspace.com/skillshott

The new Stern pin Wheel of Fortune made it’s much anticipated debut at Shorty’s recently! It is loads of fun and quite challenging to play. We have got to give props to Shorty’s for creating a unique pricing scale for this game, since it is a lot tougher than the similarly priced Spiderman.  Its 75 cents per game, 4 games for $2, and 11 games for $5!  Sweet.

While it doesn’t look as if Madison Pub is going to get a WoF after all, at least the Lord of the Rings is (mostly) fixed. Just watch out for the bum Balrog!

Capitol Hill has recently gained three more pins this winter with the openings of the (new) Elite and King Cobra. King Cobra is partly related to the recently closed Kincoras and we were really hoping that No Fear was going to relocate along with many of the employees, but no such luck. At least the Fun House isn’t turned up to a disturbing volume like the one at Jules Maes!

Speaking of Jules Maes, we were shocked to find out that the beloved White Water had been replaced with Fish Tales! However, we were happy to see the Redwood has replaced their broken Fish Tales with a working Attack from Mars.

A big thumbs up goes to the Hurricane Café for fixing the dot-matrix display on their Terminator 3! Meanwhile, their South Park is often on the fritz, sometimes giving 30 credits on a non-stop 6 player game, complete with surprise (and undeserved) multi-balls! Crazy!

Finally, according to www.pinballnews.com, there will be a new Shrek pin coming out in March.  It’s geared towards kids, but is built exactly like Family Guy, including the small playfield in the top corner. Sounds like fun!

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Categories
news & gossip

Skill Shot #2 News & Gossip

Originally published in Skill Shot issue 2, Autumn 2007

A sad day here at Skill Shot, two games are leaving the hill; Monster Bash, and No Fear (which just replaced Elvira’s at Kincora’s). As they begin to tear down that whole block on Cap Hill we can only hope that No Fear finds a new home at Redwood. After all Fish Tales has seen better days. If that wasn’t enough, the word on the street says Twilight Exit is closing. Bye bye Med Madness and Junk Yard.

Ran across a pin at Gameworks the other day, High Roller Casino. For a fancy place like that it’s a shame to see a classic game in such disrepair. Come on game owners get those pins fixed. Nothing is worse then a broken game, unless you count The Hurricane’s South Park. Which gave us unlimited multi-balls, and no tilt (not for lack of trying).

Mad Pub finally fixed LOTR, only to have it break again. No matter those that are in the know say they will be getting a new pin soon. Can you say porcelain Dalmatian for $500?

Hey there’s a Pin Ball Machine at the 12th Ave Laundry on Capitol Hill: Taxi, one of the few games accessible to the under 21 crowds that’s actually fun to play.

Don’t forget to contact us if there is a game in your area, because knowledge is power!

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reviews

A Family Affair

By Bernard Blvd.

“It seems today that all you see is violence on movies and sex on TV…” And in a pinball game! It’s Family Guy pinball, distributed by Stern. If you are familiar with the show that the game is based on, you are in for hours of fun with Family Guy pinball. If you aren’t familiar with the show, watch Fox on Sundays to see new episodes of the show that got cancelled and returned years later due to the demand of fans. The whole Griffin family is here: Peter, Lois, Meg, Chris, Stewie, and Brian. Many other characters show up to play, even Quagmire. Giggity-giggity!

The playfield is fun and very animated, with each family member represented by a plastic model that denotes their area of the game. Lois stands next to a ramp entrance that has a spinning picture of her face. Peter stands on a bumper behind Brian, who is on top of a Pawtucket Patriot beer can. Chris is directly next to his dad, behind the ramp that threatens to start the “Evil Monkey” feature. Stewie of course stands near Lois and Meg is alone on the left side, and if you hit the target beneath her, she usually gets hit in the face with something on the display and whines about it.

The game has four main features: TV modes, Beer Can modes, Fart Multiball, and Stewie Pinball. The TV modes are shown directly above the flippers, and include “Sexy Party” and “Chicken Fight.” These are activated by spinning the Lois picture and then sinking the ball into the TV “scoop”. The Beer Can modes are displayed directly below Brian on his beer can, and include “Happy Hour” and “Lard Multiball” (two balls). Hitting the beer will get these modes going. Fart Multiball (three balls) is activated by knocking down the four drop targets that spell out “FART” three times. Family Guy’s skill shot is hitting the “F” in “FART” after pulling the plunger, so practicing this skill shot helps to advance you toward Fart Multi-ball.

Stewie Pin-ball is the best feature of the game, utilizing a second, smaller playfield located in the top right corner. To get to this mode, you have to hit the two trapped balls that border the TV, or hit the scoop itself. When the lights that spell out “PINBALL” are all lit, putting the ball in the hole activates Stewie Pinball, and the regular play-field is temporarily turned off. To advance you hit the ramps or targets to spell out each family member’s name. Be careful, because the flippers are shorter, and the ball tends to jump over them into the drain, especially after rounding the Lois ramp. There is a 15 second “shoot again” limit, which can be extended if you hit the somewhat hidden Stewie targets before hand (look for them next to the word Stewie!). If you can keep the last ball in play, you have no time limit and once all the family members are lit, you have activated Stewie Multiball! This is a four ball multiball that incorporates both playfields, although it is wise to concentrate only on the main playfield and flippers. This feature looks like a lot of fun, but since I have yet to get to it (not for lack of trying…a lot), I have to rely on both of my talented Skill Shot collaborators to “show me how it’s done”.

The features, modes, and jackpots are plentiful. The music and sounds are a direct reminder of the reason this game is so much fun, which is Family Guy: the little TV show on Fox that could.

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pinball sez

pinball sez #2

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pinball sez

Pinball Sez #1