130 replies to this topic

[mbecks]

Im the odd ball here. I didnt discover my love for pinball until I was 31, Im now 32. I live near a pinball ball and sometime I have a good game and think hey Im pretty good, and then I look at the local high scores they have on the wall and realize Im several 100 million short, and realize, well at least I had fun.

[PunkTiger]

I've been playing pinball since a young age. My skills are mediocre, but there are times when I get in "THE ZONE" and it feels like I can do no wrong. That happens nowhere near as often as I would like. Friends have observed those moments when I'm "THERE," much to their amazement.

 

Under normal circumstances, I don't/can't play competitively. Whenever I play competitively, I stink on ice. I mean abysmal plays... balls drain instantly, all the bounces are wrong, every flipper shot either goes down the middle, or bounces to the side drains. I did manage to make it to 4th place in a charity event once on a Williams' "Congo."  After the competition was over, I managed to blow the doors off that machine and got all-time high score, twice, much to the amusement of the event holder. I just smiled and said, "I can't use my powers for self-gain."

 

Granted, I don't "practice." Every game I play is just for fun (aggravating fun more often than not, but fun nonetheless).

[wiesshund]

I suck
If there is a table that i have i high score one, it is because i have found like 1 or two repeatable shots, that i can just do over and over again for hours.
with out losing the ball.

If you keep hitting 5 points for 18 hours, eventually you get the high score

[batch]

Posted 23 April 2021 - 05:42 AM

 

A message from the past, Wiesshund ?

[wiesshund]

Posted 23 April 2021 - 05:42 AM

 

A message from the past, Wiesshund ?

 

No idea, i saw this appear yesterday too, but i didnt do or change anything in the thread
ghosts in the machine?

[TallaNasty312]

I'd say I'm pretty decent at pinball. I left 4 replays on a "Ripley's Believe it or Not!" at a family pizza restaurant, and my parents near had to drag me to the car back in the late 2000s.

 

 addicted to pinball at age 4 on my great uncle's Bally "Freedom", which led to me making cardboard machines, which led to finding my lord and savior Randy Davis's website.

Got my own EM project in high school (which plays great now and is in my profile picture), but did the classic "college pinball hiatus" which led to awful times, which led to better choices, which led to a sustainable tech occupation and a place to live, which led to the rekindling of my forever burning passion for pinball.

 

I swear I'm not a bot. I just really love pinball, and am hopeful that some in my generation will still have working EMs in 2070.

Edited by TallaNasty312, 25 July 2021 - 04:59 AM.

[garnel]

I was four years old the first time I played pinball. It was in the early 1950's. I was with my Dad and two Uncles when they decided to visit the "Four Corners Bar" just South of Kalispell, MT, for a few beers. Didn't know what I was doing but enjoyed pulling the plunger and watching the balls bounce around. All of the sudden a bunch of Nickels came pouring out of the front of the machine. My Dad came over, collected the nickels, and let me play it until they finished their beers. He gave me a brand new Silver Dollar for the Nickels. Later, when in Jr. High I would go to "Marvin's" in Kalispell after school and watch kids with more $ play their machine. When my Mom found out she got really mad and chewed me out. She associated it with drinking and gambling in taverns.

Anyway, I've loved pinball ever since, and have spent the last year building and playing my full size virtual machine. My scores with favorite tables are improving, but vary from day to day.

Edited by garnel, 31 July 2021 - 05:30 PM.

[BoltBait]

When I was a kid, I'd go to the local bowling alley and using a single quarter rack up a ton of games... then sell them to the next kid in line for a profit.

[Sir Random]

I guess I was high skill in the 70's, not so sure now. I grew up in a seaside town with 4 Amusement Arcades just a few mins walk from my house. My first summer job at 13 (1973) was in Star Amusements and I spent most of my wages on pinball, I can't remember the tables.

In 1976 a new pool hall opened (Cool Pool) with 8 pinball machines and they offered £5 for the highest score every week, that first week was the easiest £40 I ever made.Then there were head-to-head knockout tournaments on Sundays too, with some epic battles in best-of-3 finals. Playing against an opponent can be way more stressful than casually trying for a high score. Then along came Space Invaders....

Over the years I played casual pinball wherever I found a table, and in 1993 I found Super Mario Bros in Fiddler's pub, Amsterdam and I held the High Score there for a year and played for beers on a daily basis 

 

There are still tables in one arcade near where I live, but the atmosphere is all wrong.

Edited by Sir Random, 16 November 2022 - 05:50 PM.

[tombo12354]

Can't say I'm that good, sometimes I get a good game going, others feels like 3 gutterballs, lol. Not a lot of pinball machines in my area, even fewer that aren't pay-to-play. Didn't get really into Pinball until I went to the Roanoke Pinball Museum. With a lot of games all set to free play, it's a lot easier to get into different machines.

I've considered buying a real machine to try and get better, but the cost and maintenance have scared me off (for now!). Hoping VP will help me get better to make it more worth it when I see a machine in the wild!

[Robsoie]

While sometime i get lucky and things go my ways so i can keep the ball in play for some time, i am very good at ... losing the ball in the side drains or in the middle between the flips
Probably why i like so much the Flash Gordon table, it always complement my "oops that's in the drain again" skills very well

Edited by Robsoie, 19 May 2025 - 11:05 AM.