<div dir="ltr"><div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pinball_Arcade#Published">Here's the list</a> 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! </div>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. </div><div class="gmail_extra"> <div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Sep 29, 2014 at 1:11 PM, Eric Aldrich <<a href="mailto:ealdrich@mac.com" target="_blank">ealdrich@mac.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">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 <div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"> On 29 Sep 2014, at 13:06 , Nekojin <<a href="mailto:nekojin@gmail.com">nekojin@gmail.com</a>> 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 <<a href="mailto:ealdrich@mac.com">ealdrich@mac.com</a>> 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 <<a href="mailto:nekojin@gmail.com">nekojin@gmail.com</a>> 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 <<a href="mailto:ealdrich@mac.com">ealdrich@mac.com</a>> 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 <<a href="mailto:nekojin@gmail.com">nekojin@gmail.com</a>> 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. > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Deptheads mailing list > > > <a href="mailto:Deptheads@strategicon.net">Deptheads@strategicon.net</a> > > > <a href="https://strategicon.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/deptheads" target="_blank">https://strategicon.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/deptheads</a> > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Deptheads mailing list > > <a href="mailto:Deptheads@strategicon.net">Deptheads@strategicon.net</a> > > <a href="https://strategicon.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/deptheads" target="_blank">https://strategicon.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/deptheads</a> > > > > > > > > -- > > "Would you like another drink, sir?" asked the bartender. > > "I think not," replied Descartes, and promptly vanished. > > _______________________________________________ > > Deptheads mailing list > > <a href="mailto:Deptheads@strategicon.net">Deptheads@strategicon.net</a> > > <a href="https://strategicon.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/deptheads" target="_blank">https://strategicon.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/deptheads</a> > > _______________________________________________ > Deptheads mailing list > <a href="mailto:Deptheads@strategicon.net">Deptheads@strategicon.net</a> > <a href="https://strategicon.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/deptheads" target="_blank">https://strategicon.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/deptheads</a> > > > > -- > "Would you like another drink, sir?" asked the bartender. > "I think not," replied Descartes, and promptly vanished. > _______________________________________________ > Deptheads mailing list > <a href="mailto:Deptheads@strategicon.net">Deptheads@strategicon.net</a> > <a href="https://strategicon.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/deptheads" target="_blank">https://strategicon.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/deptheads</a> _______________________________________________ Deptheads mailing list <a href="mailto:Deptheads@strategicon.net">Deptheads@strategicon.net</a> <a href="https://strategicon.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/deptheads" target="_blank">https://strategicon.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/deptheads</a> </div></div></blockquote></div> -- "Would you like another drink, sir?" asked the bartender. "I think not," replied Descartes, and promptly vanished. </div>