51 replies to this topic

[faralos]

but an extra ball is not a replay per se. a replay to me was just that, an entire game with that famous 'knock' sound of the metal rod inside slamming against that metal plate usually hard enough so that you felt it while playing. And everyone around you knew you 'popped' an extra game on it! An extra ball was just a tease...kind of like a 'titty' bar (ah good ol' NYC in the 70's...sigh...

[marv75]

I say 3 balls for 25 cents, and play well and get re-plays!

[Krellan]

San Francisco is interesting.
3 balls for $1.00, and no replays allowed! (In some locations) Interestingly, these locations are doing quite well, even at this rather harsh pricing.
Josh

is the no replay games set to Extra ball for a replay?

Yes, they're on "add-a-ball": replay and special becomes Extra Ball instead. 1 replay per game. Interestingly, Match is still enabled, so there's a chance of winning a free game by Match!

[Greywolf]

I remember the standard at 3 games/quarter, 5 balls/game JUST at the fringes of my memory. Then it was 2 games/quarter, then 1. Only one game -- Bow and Arrow at the Greenbrae Lanes -- was set for 2 games/quarter, 3 balls/game. No, wait, there was the Country Club (San Rafael, CA) Bowl that had two Spirit of 76 games, one set for 5 balls, the other set for 3.

TRIVIA: Know why Gottlieb had bumpers that didn't have values on them, just the various designs? So that the values were different between 5-ball play and 3-ball play. Typically, they were 100 points/pop on 5-ball, 1000 points/pop on 3-ball. The replay values stayed pretty consistent.

I totally disdain the concept of Special = Extra Ball, especially given Josh's account of the current pricing standards. ewch. I'd be more inclined to allow a replay for Special and to have the score thresholds set to extra ball. Just wish I could coerce my own games to thwack for an extra ball earned by points sometimes. But since I can't, even though they're all technically in free-play mode, they all award replays, because there is nothing nearly as satisfying when playing pinball as hearing that "THWACK!"

[pinball buzz]

You can`t beat the sound of a good old knocker Greywolf
I love to hear that sound of a couple of knockers banging together..................

Buzz

[Bluebook]

Don't forget the UK Will ya? - Ten Pence for 3 Balls (early mid 80's SS) (EM tables were usually 10 pence for 5 balls) , leading on later to 20 pence for 3 balls, and then 30 pence.

[Krellan]

I totally disdain the concept of Special = Extra Ball, especially given Josh's account of the current pricing standards. ewch. I'd be more inclined to allow a replay for Special and to have the score thresholds set to extra ball. Just wish I could coerce my own games to thwack for an extra ball earned by points sometimes. But since I can't, even though they're all technically in free-play mode, they all award replays, because there is nothing nearly as satisfying when playing pinball as hearing that "THWACK!"

Many modern games fire the replay knocker for Extra Ball, when in "add-a-ball" mode (no free games). So, you end up hearing the THWACK more often, because you get it for every Extra Ball, as well as for every score threshold. Doctor Who is especially good at this: the THWACK into the inlane for a lit Extra Ball is perfectly synchronized to happen as the ball physically drops into the lane. It's very satisfying, it's like the ball is dropping extra hard into the lane.

Unfortunately this isn't consistent. A lot of games just never bother to use the knocker at all, or they'll only use it for score threshholds (not for Extra Balls). Congo is like this: it will fire the knocker for score threshholds only, in "add-a-ball" mode.

[Wizards_Hat]

I totally disdain the concept of Special = Extra Ball, especially given Josh's account of the current pricing standards. ewch. I'd be more inclined to allow a replay for Special and to have the score thresholds set to extra ball. Just wish I could coerce my own games to thwack for an extra ball earned by points sometimes. But since I can't, even though they're all technically in free-play mode, they all award replays, because there is nothing nearly as satisfying when playing pinball as hearing that "THWACK!"

Many modern games fire the replay knocker for Extra Ball, when in "add-a-ball" mode (no free games). So, you end up hearing the THWACK more often, because you get it for every Extra Ball, as well as for every score threshold. Doctor Who is especially good at this: the THWACK into the inlane for a lit Extra Ball is perfectly synchronized to happen as the ball physically drops into the lane. It's very satisfying, it's like the ball is dropping extra hard into the lane.

Unfortunately this isn't consistent. A lot of games just never bother to use the knocker at all, or they'll only use it for score threshholds (not for Extra Balls). Congo is like this: it will fire the knocker for score threshholds only, in "add-a-ball" mode.

Talking of the knocker sound - is it just me or is the electronic knocker sound used on modern Stern games absolutley awful...I'd almost not rather have a replay than have to suffer that infernal sound.

Regards,
Dan.

[destruk]

Talking of the knocker sound - is it just me or is the electronic knocker sound used on modern Stern games absolutley awful...I'd almost not rather have a replay than have to suffer that infernal sound.

Yes Dan it is horrible. However, option 24 can be changed in most of the Stern games to fire a real physical knocker device. I do that for all my cabinet games on my machine.

[Scrooloose]

I am also from the era of 5 balls for a dime and a quarter for 3 games.

[Harakiri]

During the nineties i remember playing 1 credit for 50 "escudos" (former Portuguese currency).

50 escudos was the equivalent for 25 cents. (Disregarding the inflation)



100 escudos (50 cents) was 2 credits, maybe 3 credits if the operator wasn't a total prick was nice enough...

Edited by Harakiri, 06 March 2010 - 08:27 AM.

[gir]

the day that the majority of the arcades start to put bill units on pins, is the day I start hunting out old arcades or pins in stores/laundromats etc and staying away from any bill-hungry pin put into the newer (better?) parlors ["To help offset their being here when I could have a neat action machine drawing bills"!]
I also remember going to the Jersey shore (in the USA) and playing the real old em's at 3 balls for a dime. You could only get a high score on these. and some were flipperless. This was 12 years ago. I hope some of those parlors there still exist, they are a part of pin history.

I remember when the first pinball machine to come with a factory installed bill validator (Vector, but not all models had them), and even later when machines came with doors designed to accommodate bill validators.

[Green909]

I recall 5 Balls for 25 cents growing up in Rhode Island, USA in the mid 60s through the70s. Those were much lower scoring tables back then too as we all know. I really enjoyed it that high scores were all about exceptional nudging skills and recognizing a ball-line developing towards where you'd get those aggravatingly consistent left and right drain-aimed-kicks down bottom. There are times I'd still prefer it that way. I'm not a big fan of having to hit ramp and trap combos over and over again. Still, I do like the more modern tables for the tasks sets and "story-lines" it is possible to progress through. I don't like the idea of tables with the 3 and 5 ball options - I'd prefer they go one way or the other. My personal opinion is that the 3-balls for a quarter machines from the early - mid 80s were a perfect combination of old-style skills; open playing fields; ramps and tasks; stacked extra-balls and score based specials ... and of course - multi ball! The obtainable or reasonable scores were more meaningful to me back when they hovered at 500K-2M than the 1B+ fields now ... really ... 10-15 minutes on an 80's era table like Comet would generally yield 1-4M points, a special and an extra ball or two. The same play time now will get me 900M-1.5B+, maybe an extra ball, and probably be short of the score special .... oh well ... to each his own ... it is mastering the table and winning back those quarters that matters most! Green909

[ChainZaw]

Here in Puerto Rico all tables are just a quarter (we use american currency) unless you go to the Namco's TIME OUT wich are 50 cents. All tables are 3 balls, never seen a 5 ball in my life.

[glassmanipulator]

pinball for as long as I can remember has always been 3 balls.

Pinball is a 3 ball game. I have never seen a machine in the wild set to 5 ball play, you people are crazy !

pfft with 5 balls I could Grand Champ just about any machine I wanted, thats way way way too easy.

[ChainZaw]

There are tables like ACE HIGH that have a 5 ball as default couse its really a hard table to play.
You have to be a nudge expert to keep that ball alive.

I think someboody should recreate ACE HIGH on VP9, one of my fave old school tables.

[rudy111]

i remember when EVERY single pinball machine, back when i was a kid in the 90s was always 25 cents, sometimes 50, new machines from the 90s (like addams) and old old ones (funhouse, and bad cats) were always a quarter, if there was a 50 cent one it would have the deal of 5 games for 2 bucks
it wasn't until stern had a big boom that they jumped to 50 around when lord of the rings came out, when it did, only some had that

now the only things i can find are, 50 (PERIOD) or 50 for 1, 75 for 2, $1 for 3, and some 5 for $2 and now even 75 cents because stern thinks YEAH LETS RAISE THE STANDARD UP TO 75

its rare to see one priced at a quarter a game, sad too

[warlord]

pinball for as long as I can remember has always been 3 balls.

Pinball is a 3 ball game. I have never seen a machine in the wild set to 5 ball play, you people are crazy !

pfft with 5 balls I could Grand Champ just about any machine I wanted, thats way way way too easy.

In early 80's all pinballs (Mr.& Mrs. Pac Man, Centaur, Six Million Dollar Man, Time Line, James Bond 007, Black Out,.....) was set 5 ball play.

[DedRok_V]

Sometimes you only need three ball games when you show it whos boss.

Around the start of solid state ,it changed to 3 balls 20c.

Then newer machines came out, EBD, Centaur and so on, they jacked the price to 40c 5 ball games.

Most of the time you could play all day for 40c, even sell some games and go home with $5.

Or turn it off with games left on it and be back waiting the next morning & play for nothing.

[Pin-Pete]

It was long long time ago.....But I still remember my teenager years.2 Finnish Marks/5 balls per game.Gottlieb/Mylstar Ready..Aim..Fire
bowling alley at Kerava.Nowadays I think it's 1€/3 balls.