Author Topic: It's ALMOST TIME, once again!  (Read 6222 times)

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Offline ndiniz

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It's ALMOST TIME, once again!
« on: August 18, 2013, 03:05:04 AM »
It's almost time, my friends, for yours truly to GO B A C K in time, yet again. It's almost time for me to participate in my pinball league's fall 2013 tournament! I can tell you that I have been quite busy physically exercising my whole body, and not just my fingers, so I can be spiritually, mentally, and physically fit for what will be one of the toughest battles a pinball competitor can go through! Will I pull off yet another 5 game win in one single night? Will I win once a week for sure? What pinball machines will I come across that I have yet to play in real life? Those, and many more questions, my friends, have yet to be answered!
At this point in time, I have no idea of how long it'll be before the league starts up again, but I estimate at this point in time that I have almost less than a month, if not less than a month and a week, before the whole thing happens.


If it weren't for my idea to take things from a scientific standpoint (which is what I should've done during the league's "FREE PLAY" opportunities at my friend Mark's house, I probably would've gotten 3rd place, or worse, in my division, and I also couldn't have done it without you guys, and all my friends at the VPU chat room. You guys are awesome!


So stay tuned! This is going to be O N E WILD RIDE! :Wink: :Wink: :Wink:

Offline Pintrepid

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Re: It's ALMOST TIME, once again!
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2013, 11:05:14 PM »
Well, coooool, Nate! As they used to say in the Southland, "TEAR it UP!!!"  :Green:

Some PICTS would be cool. Grab a cam and let's see how it goes this time. "Enquiring Rogue minds want to know!"  :Cool:

So anyway, which era tables do you play in the tourneys? EMs ('70 - '75), Early SS ('75-'80), Pre-DMD Eighties ('81-'87), Advanced DMDs, Ramps & Toys Era ('88-2000), Late Model Stern Era (2000-present)? Probably the DMDs I would think ... Lord of The Rings, Funhouse, Theater Of Magic, Addams Family, that sort?

Personally, pinball is late EM/early SS era. Royal Flush, Capt Fantastic and Space Odyssey for EMs, and Eight Ball, Mata Hari, Flash, Meteor, for early SS. The height of the SS era for me was 1980 ... Silverball Mania, Space Invaders, Firepower, Blackout, Big Game, Star Gazer, etc.

Really, that was the Golden Age in Arcade Days, IMHO. New and better pins came and went like the intense art and music of rock bands in those days. Every time I went into my local game room, some tables were gone to make way for the latest and greatest. For instance, Space Invaders took over a long standing spot where Eight Ball had been for almost 4 solid years!

Ahh .. miss those days, for shore.

What were the Glory Days of Pinball for you?
-PeterMac


Offline ndiniz

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Re: It's ALMOST TIME, once again!
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2013, 07:27:25 PM »
Yeah, most of the pins I play in the league's tournaments are usually mostly early era DMDs. However, I have had my fair share of playing the old pins that have Alphanumeric displays as well, like Transporter: The Rescue, Black Knight 2000, Time Machine (Data East), Swords of Fury (made in 1988 I believe, and it's one of my favorites), and a few others.


I am actually living in my glory days of pinball. The Swords of Fury pin actually is now at a local comic book store. Dr. Who is also there, as well as a Konami X-Men video game (4 player), and all 3 are owned by my friend Mark, who is on the league. I have to mention that he has some of THE BEST pinball machines you could ever find! He has a house that our league goes to several times within the 10 week time span that we do the tournaments, and I always eat pizza before I head to his house.

Offline GSGregg

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Re: It's ALMOST TIME, once again!
« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2013, 06:36:20 AM »
Good luck in your time travels indiniz

May you be Morlock to your opponents' Eloi!

(Grrrrrr).

Offline ndiniz

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Re: It's ALMOST TIME, once again!
« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2013, 05:15:05 PM »
Short practice update: Went back to the comic book store, played Dr. Who, which had a replay score of 73 million, and within quite a short amount of time, I was able to beat that replay score thanks to getting the dalek jackpot during multiball! 50 million points! I was already on ball 2 when that happened! I don't know how long it's been since I've played Dr. Who, but man, it felt great to win a free game, especially if I hadn't played that particular table for a while.

Offline ndiniz

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Re: It's ALMOST TIME, once again!
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2013, 12:31:16 AM »
(As Lt. Cmdr Data) "I am curious..... have any of you here on Rogue gone though a length of time where you've played a particular pinball machine, decide to take a rest, say, a month or two, and when you come back to the machine, and on your very first try, you get a replay during the game, or a match at the end? The reason why I am asking this, is because I had just experienced this nearly half a day ago"
« Last Edit: August 21, 2013, 12:34:41 AM by ndiniz »

Offline Pintrepid

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Re: It's ALMOST TIME, once again!
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2013, 02:27:53 AM »
(As Lt. Cmdr Data) "I am curious..... have any of you here on Rogue gone though a length of time where you've played a particular pinball machine, decide to take a rest, say, a month or two, and when you come back to the machine, and on your very first try, you get a replay during the game, or a match at the end? The reason why I am asking this, is because I had just experienced this nearly half a day ago"

Why, yes, my Dear Mr. Data, I used to have that all the time.

I remember when Atari's Middle Earth came to our local game room. It had some very nice electronic sounds to the gameplay in that strange Atari way. But the really weird part about this table was that the flippers were not level. The right flipper was below the left flipper and to the side a bit. At first it looked like that would be an advantage that might potentially save balls from draining. But as it turned out, this had the opposite effect, making the game very frustrating to play. WAY too many THROATkills, as I called it, straight between the flippers!

But then, after several weeks without playing this table, I came back to check it out because I remembered that it had some really cool and unusual sounds to it. This time around, I had a run on the game that lasted for quite some time. As the gameplay kept on going, I expected to lose the ball at any moment, but it kept going on and on. I actually scored enough points to earn a replay on the very first ball!

Oh yes, it's quite interesting, indeed, isn't it, my Dear Mr. Data? One might think these machines have their own personality. They give you freebies and replays like this so you'll fall in love with them all over again and you'll start playing them over and over again, just like before ... but in no time at all they start giving you less and less until they just won't give you anything anymore, no, nothing at all! Sadistic bastards, these tables! Sometimes I think I can hear an electronic snigger or laugh behind the backglass there, really, I do!!

The greatest aggravation I've ever had on a pinball machine was actually on Atari's Middle Earth. I had three balls in a row which all drained in the outlanes without ever giving me a single shot with the flippers! Such a WASTE of a quarter!!! And it was my LAST quarter of the day that day! That was it, that was the last straw ... I never played that table again ...

 :Pinball:
-PeterMac


Offline ndiniz

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Re: It's ALMOST TIME, once again!
« Reply #7 on: August 21, 2013, 06:06:54 PM »
(again, as Lt. Cmdr Data) I completely agree with you Mr. Pintrepid. Some pins are easier to play physically, and on Visual Pinball than others. I must admit that there are some games I'm extremely good at, while there are also others that tend to snarl at me as if they know what my main mission in life is, and they do all they can to prevent it from happening!