Senior Contributing Editors:
Jesus Diaz
| AIM | Twitter
Mark Wilson, Reviews
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editors:
Matt Buchanan | AIM | Twitter
Adam Frucci | Twitter
Sean Fallon | Twitter
Jack Loftus | Twitter
John Herrman | Twitter
Dan Nosowitz
Chris Mascari
Kat Hannaford | Twitter
Rosa Golijan | Twitter
Chris Jacob
didn't Uncle Ted have a really cool saying about guns and guitars?
"Guitars have a lot in common with guns. they are both made of wood with little bits of metal in them. they're both loud, and god dammit if i can't get my supper with both!"
I don't "get" The Addams Family, maybe because I never reached Super Bear Kicks or Tour The Mansion mode.
Twilight Zone is the #1-rated game at both Pinside and IPDB and it's easy to see why; wide body, four flippers, a clock, a gumball machine, ceramic powerball, magnetic "flippers" on The Power mini-playfield, etc. When I lit the entire door and its doorknob for the first time and got "Lost in the Zone" mode my mind was blown and I immediately bought the machine from the arcade.
Pat Lawlor designed both TAF and TZ, and Earthshaker was his first design. The other hero of pinball design is Steve Ritchie, known for super-fast games like Black Knight and F14 Tomcat. Both still design games for Stern, the last remaining manufacturer.
@skierpage: TAF is popular because it's actually a fairly easy machine to play. It had some fun gimmicks (Thing Flips, Thing's hand picking the ball up, and the under-playfield "The Power") that still added some challenges, but for the most part it's a pretty easy pin to play, and it flows very naturally.
Lawlor managed to take everything he'd done w/ TAF and blank-check design TZ with some twists. But dear god is it ever a heavy and extremely complicated pinball to maintain. Just getting the wife's machine working again has required several rounds of soldering with 2 more to go in order to fix a burnt GI connector (common problem w/ Williams/Bally pins of the age due to being left on for extended periods of time)...
But, yeah TZ is a one and only. The power ball being ceramic so it plays differently, the fact that it changes the pin's rules when it is in play. The magnetic flippers... Her machine is an early run production version (Original white clock face.) that was shipped to the Netherlands and back.
Too bad getting parts for the machines is getting so damn difficult. Hell, you can't even get 454 flasher bulbs anymore because they stopped making them.
The wife owns a Twilight Zone pin that I've been steadily restoring for her. It was non-working when we moved in together, and now it mostly works. All that's left is replacing the clock board, and the sensor on the gumball machine before it's 100% operational.
@Mac_Pro: Actually, I like the home use code (gold edition) the best. It has new sounds and I think a couple different rules?
I love Twilight Zone because of the hugely nested rules, but my personal current favorite is Monster Bash. Still has nested rules and progressive multi-ball, but it gets away from that artificially inflated scoring system they seemed to keep pushing.
@Alie Disbrow: Because simulated physics and button mashing doesn't come anywhere near the finesse, skill, and timing required to sling a large ball bearing around the inside of a wooden box.
I have the first Indiana Jones Pinball, that was always part of a private collection, so a perfect playing field and cabinet. It is wonderful and I hope to expand the collection with a new Pirates of the Carribean pinball, a Pinball 2000 machine (Attack from Mars), Twister, and of course an Adams Family Machine.
But at a cost of $4,000+ for each collector quality machine, that won't be happening soon.
@Lite: shops smart. He shops at S-Mart.: I guess I should amend this a little. It will be easier to find AFM w/ a good playfield than TAF. After 1993 or so Bally started clearcoating their playfields.
"Neoconservatism is a political philosophy that emerged in the United States. Its key distinction is in international affairs, where it espouses an interventionist approach that seeks to defend what neo-conservatives deem as national interests. In addition, unlike traditional conservatives, neoconservatives are comfortable with a minimally-bureaucratic welfare state; and, while generally supportive of free markets, they are willing to interfere for overriding social purposes."
If you'd actually listened to the man, you'd know that he absolutely despises socialism in any form, especially in the form of a welfare state. McCain and/or GWB may fit the above description, but Ted Nugent certainly does not.
@imTheKing: Of all the criticism I have heard leveled at B. Hussein Obama, race has not entered into it...
How EXACTLY does an entertainer get away with president/presidential candidate to suck on his machine guns without getting a visit from the secret service?
02/08/09
"Guitars have a lot in common with guns. they are both made of wood with little bits of metal in them. they're both loud, and god dammit if i can't get my supper with both!"
yep...
02/08/09
Twilight Zone is the #1-rated game at both Pinside and IPDB and it's easy to see why; wide body, four flippers, a clock, a gumball machine, ceramic powerball, magnetic "flippers" on The Power mini-playfield, etc. When I lit the entire door and its doorknob for the first time and got "Lost in the Zone" mode my mind was blown and I immediately bought the machine from the arcade.
Pat Lawlor designed both TAF and TZ, and Earthshaker was his first design. The other hero of pinball design is Steve Ritchie, known for super-fast games like Black Knight and F14 Tomcat. Both still design games for Stern, the last remaining manufacturer.
02/08/09
Lawlor managed to take everything he'd done w/ TAF and blank-check design TZ with some twists. But dear god is it ever a heavy and extremely complicated pinball to maintain. Just getting the wife's machine working again has required several rounds of soldering with 2 more to go in order to fix a burnt GI connector (common problem w/ Williams/Bally pins of the age due to being left on for extended periods of time)...
But, yeah TZ is a one and only. The power ball being ceramic so it plays differently, the fact that it changes the pin's rules when it is in play. The magnetic flippers... Her machine is an early run production version (Original white clock face.) that was shipped to the Netherlands and back.
Too bad getting parts for the machines is getting so damn difficult. Hell, you can't even get 454 flasher bulbs anymore because they stopped making them.
02/07/09
Which, is about $180 in parts. =|
02/07/09
That Pinball ROCKED!!!!!
02/07/09
It was a very good game, and the first ever to use electro-magnets in the playfield.
02/08/09
better check black knight, and the old machine based on the disney movie the black hole
02/08/09
02/08/09
02/08/09
I love Twilight Zone because of the hugely nested rules, but my personal current favorite is Monster Bash. Still has nested rules and progressive multi-ball, but it gets away from that artificially inflated scoring system they seemed to keep pushing.
02/07/09
02/08/09
02/07/09
02/08/09
02/07/09
But at a cost of $4,000+ for each collector quality machine, that won't be happening soon.
02/08/09
02/08/09
Where's the edit button? :)
02/08/09
But you shouldn't have to pay $4000 for AFM or AF to be quite honest. Just take your time when looking, and don't go through vendors/eBay to get them.
I don't know PotC is selling for, but typically ~6 months after a new Stern comes out you can pick a HUO (Home Use Only) pin for $4k-ish?
02/08/09
02/07/09
i own the kiss one a friend gave me when he moved out of town.
but if i was rich i'd buy that nugent one just to smash it GOD I HATE THAT GUY!.....
02/07/09
02/07/09
02/07/09
02/07/09
This just reaffirms my hatred of Ted Nugent.
02/07/09
02/08/09
@se7a7n7: Like the Facebooker said:
"Neoconservatism is a political philosophy that emerged in the United States. Its key distinction is in international affairs, where it espouses an interventionist approach that seeks to defend what neo-conservatives deem as national interests. In addition, unlike traditional conservatives, neoconservatives are comfortable with a minimally-bureaucratic welfare state; and, while generally supportive of free markets, they are willing to interfere for overriding social purposes."
If you'd actually listened to the man, you'd know that he absolutely despises socialism in any form, especially in the form of a welfare state. McCain and/or GWB may fit the above description, but Ted Nugent certainly does not.
@imTheKing: Of all the criticism I have heard leveled at B. Hussein Obama, race has not entered into it...
02/09/09
He's a NUTJOB..... regardless of political views.
[www.liveleak.com]
How EXACTLY does an entertainer get away with president/presidential candidate to suck on his machine guns without getting a visit from the secret service?
02/07/09