[Deptheads] Pinball Arcade tournament - need some outside input

Tue Sep 30 15:57:49 PDT 2014

A question: Would Elvira's *Scared Stiff* table be considered too racy for
tournament play at the convention, even with the Family Mode on (which it
is, by default)? It's a fairly high-quality table, all things considered.

On Mon, Sep 29, 2014 at 1:22 PM, Nekojin <nekojin at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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.
>

-- 
"Would you like another drink, sir?" asked the bartender.
"I think not," replied Descartes, and promptly vanished.
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