[Deptheads] Pinball Arcade tournament - need some outside input

Mon Sep 29 13:22:36 PDT 2014

Here's the list <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pinball_Arcade#Published>
of tables that are currently available for Pinball Arcade. I expect that
they'll have 2 to 3 more tables (starting with Phantom of the Opera)
available before February, but I don't want to rely on tables that aren't
available right now - ones released between now and then will be new enough
that there might be unfixed bugs in the code.

And yes, I agree that even the best virtual pinball tables lack the feel of
real pinball tables*, but it's getting harder and harder to find them, and
more and more expensive to buy them. At this point, there's only one
pinball company, Stearn, that is still making new tables (although there's
a new up-and-comer called Jersey Jack that is apparently making some hot
tables, starting with an awesome Wizard of Oz, but they're specifically
targeting enthusiasts and run $8k and up). *Pinball Arcade comes pretty
damn close, though!

Farsight, the guys making Pinball Arcade, have actually made some exciting
announcements recently, including the fact that they've gotten in touch
with some of the big-name pinball designers from the past, and gotten them
interested in making entirely new virtual tables that may possibly be made
into physical tables if there's enough interest/demand down the road.

On Mon, Sep 29, 2014 at 1:11 PM, Eric Aldrich <ealdrich at mac.com> wrote:

> Ahh, that makes more sense. Is there a list of what tables are available
> for Pinball Arcade?
>
> Darn -- there is no substitute for the feel of a real pinball game table.
> But yeah, I was wondering how you planned to move them, much less acquire
> them.
>
> Eric
>
> On 29 Sep 2014, at 13:06 , Nekojin <nekojin at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I think we're having a breach here. I'm also talking about that same
> Addams Family machine, but I'm not talking about bringing the original,
> physical tables into the convention. Even getting the ONE table a few
> conventions back was difficult, to say the least.
> >
> > What I'm talking about is Pinball Arcade, a computer program available
> on pretty much every platform, that digitizes those classic pinball
> machines and makes them fully playable, which is fabulous for people who
> can't find their favorite classic games. A physical Addams Family machine
> in good condition would cost upwards of $5k these days (and possibly much
> higher - I haven't checked pricing in months), while getting the digitized
> version is somewhere on the order of $10 (although I've pledged more).
> >
> > Pinball Arcade seems a good choice for Video Gaming tournaments, since
> it's turning classic pinball into a video game (of sorts).
> >
> > Mike: Junkyard is possible - that's on Pinball Arcade's Season 3. I
> haven't had a chance to play it myself, as I haven't bought Season 2 or 3
> yet.
> >
> > On Mon, Sep 29, 2014 at 12:46 PM, Eric Aldrich <ealdrich at mac.com> wrote:
> > I was referring to the Addams Family pinball machine -- it came out in
> the 1990s.
> >
> > Eric
> >
> > On 29 Sep 2014, at 12:42 , Nekojin <nekojin at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Thinking of mid 1980s at a minimum, moving onward. I'd love to have
> Addams Family involved, but the Kickstarter for that still has 12 days to
> go, and I doubt they'll finish coding it by February, even assuming the
> Kickstarter finishes successfully (it's at 76% right now).
> > >
> > > On Mon, Sep 29, 2014 at 12:33 PM, Eric Aldrich <ealdrich at mac.com>
> wrote:
> > > How recent of digital do you want? 1970s? 1980s? 1990s?
> > >
> > > For some reason Addams Family comes to mind immediately, though I'm
> partial to older titles like Meteor and Spirit of '76. You could do
> something weird like Black Hole.
> > >
> > > And yes, we could do a slightly tweaked payout scheme. Say $5 for
> table high score.
> > >
> > > Eric
> > >
> > > On 29 Sep 2014, at 11:56 , Nekojin <nekojin at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > I'm planning to run a Pinball Arcade tournament at Orccon (and
> further on, if it does well). I've already figured out that, given the
> average play time of playing pinball, the sweet spot for doing a tournament
> would be an "Ongoing" theme for three tables. I have now have two questions
> to resolve.
> > > >
> > > > The first, which I'm mostly going to have to do myself, is to find
> three tables that are truly tournament-worthy. I'm going to be avoiding the
> pre-digital tables (those with purely physical tables), because there isn't
> any goal in those machines - the "goal" is simply to keep the ball from
> passing the flippers. Beyond that, though, it gets more complicated. I've
> already crossed Bride of Pinbot off the list for a couple of reasons, but
> could use some more suggestions for tables that are exceptionally good or
> bad for tournament play.
> > > >
> > > > The second, which I particularly want input from here, is whether it
> would be appropriate to do a different payout scheme - in addition to (or
> instead of) the classic First / Second / Third payout, would it be
> worthwhile to also give per-table awards - say, give an extra 3 DD for
> someone who was the top scorer of Table 1, even if they didn't end up being
> the top overall player?
> > > >
> > > > Any thoughts or input are welcome.
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > "Would you like another drink, sir?" asked the bartender.
> > > > "I think not," replied Descartes, and promptly vanished.
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> > > --
> > > "Would you like another drink, sir?" asked the bartender.
> > > "I think not," replied Descartes, and promptly vanished.
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> > --
> > "Would you like another drink, sir?" asked the bartender.
> > "I think not," replied Descartes, and promptly vanished.
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-- 
"Would you like another drink, sir?" asked the bartender.
"I think not," replied Descartes, and promptly vanished.
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