[RANT] This is the worst table in TPA

first of all the aesthetics are gaudy and just very gauche. the table is culturally insensitive and borderline racist.. made in 2003.. really? nothing like cultural elitism to go well with pinball. the accents of the foreign people are just cartoon like in their stereotyping.

the weirdest thing about africa are generic idols... really? and gravestones in europe, how strange!! I mean, out of the entire history of europe the oddest thing to exist there are gravestones.... believe it, or not!

ok lets talk about the gameplay.. a cluttered mess of a playfield with a useless ball save.. thanks. then we have tons of random modes that are completely worthless... WOW u managed to drop the ball in a hard to reach place.. BOZO time... BIG POINT time.... 100,000 ... no.. no.. no... next prize hold bonus **** YOU MR RIPLEY.

road trip is like an anti-award.. basically here's 20 seconds where you can not advance at all and the prizes are crap.. have fun.... no.

i share some of your thoughts. but it's not THAT bad. i am warming up to it little by little. is it ever gonna be in my top 3 machines? probably not.

Didn't care for it myself at first.

Now I've probably logged a couple dozen hours playing it.

And like most tables... FarSight nailed it!

In regards to your first two paragraphs, I think you're taking it too seriously.

TripleT said:

Didn't care for it myself at first.

Now I've probably logged a couple dozen hours playing it.

And like most tables... FarSight nailed it!

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Same here. Unlike BOP, this one actually plays close to its real life counterpart (though the shots are easier to make on TPA).

The Doctor said:

first of all the aesthetics are gaudy and just very gauche. the table is culturally insensitive and borderline racist.. made in 2003.. really? nothing like cultural elitism to go well with pinball. the accents of the foreign people are just cartoon like in their stereotyping.

the weirdest thing about africa are generic idols... really? and gravestones in europe, how strange!! I mean, out of the entire history of europe the oddest thing to exist there are gravestones.... believe it, or not!

ok lets talk about the gameplay.. a cluttered mess of a playfield with a useless ball save.. thanks. then we have tons of random modes that are completely worthless... WOW u managed to drop the ball in a hard to reach place.. BOZO time... BIG POINT time.... 100,000 ... no.. no.. no... next prize hold bonus **** YOU MR RIPLEY.

road trip is like an anti-award.. basically here's 20 seconds where you can not advance at all and the prizes are crap.. have fun.... no.

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Not sure where you come from , Europe or American ? But Robert Ripley was a actual explorer and chronicler of the unique across the globe, a sort of PT Barnum of safaris . For years , cartoons called Ripley's Believe it or Not ! ran in syndication in newspapers . In Southern California in Anaheim , near Disneyland , they actually have a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum. It was also a serialised show on network TV chronicaling bizarre findings , and human oddities , hosted by Jack Palance and later by Dean Cain (of Lois and Clark Superman fame). This pinball is what it is, a salute to Ripley's Believe it or Not , a museum of human oddities , many of the facts used in the game are from that museum and those newspaper cartoons .

Fun fact: the fertility statue in the museum , has had a miraculous rate of potency , to such a degree they had to move it out of reach of the public , as over the years several woman attested to it's abilities , some were quite suprised, that after years of failed pregnancies, the statue works all too well.

Sinistar said:

In Southern California in Anaheim , near Disneyland , they actually have a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum.

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Actually, there are 32 of those museums (and they really are called Odditoriums). I've been to the one in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, but I don't remember much about it - I was only 8 or 9 at the time - and it's been destroyed by fire and rebuilt since, so the one there now is not the one I saw.

As far as gameplay goes, while I admit I too get ticked when Bozo gives me 100K and calls it big points, I also admit I'm tickled pink when he comes up with Special or a Ripley's letter.

Sinistar said:

Robert Ripley was a actual explorer and chronicler of the unique across the globe, a sort of PT Barnum of safaris .

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i bet you ripley was a fun guy, and a must have at any party.

I enjoy the game.

I recommend playing the Ripley's pinball machine in Ripley's (Florida).



Recognize this guy?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...lorida_2008/Florida_08-08-Day08_Ripley-36.jpg

Didn't Bobby say on his interview that Ripleys were putting RBION on iPads at their museums? That's cool.
I don't love the table-especially as TPA version experiences slooooowdown on my iPhone 4.
But some people say the RL Table is Poor Man's TZ!

The Doctor said:

first of all the aesthetics are gaudy and just very gauche. the table is culturally insensitive and borderline racist.. made in 2003.. really? nothing like cultural elitism to go well with pinball. the accents of the foreign people are just cartoon like in their stereotyping.

the weirdest thing about africa are generic idols... really? and gravestones in europe, how strange!! I mean, out of the entire history of europe the oddest thing to exist there are gravestones.... believe it, or not!

ok lets talk about the gameplay.. a cluttered mess of a playfield with a useless ball save.. thanks. then we have tons of random modes that are completely worthless... WOW u managed to drop the ball in a hard to reach place.. BOZO time... BIG POINT time.... 100,000 ... no.. no.. no... next prize hold bonus **** YOU MR RIPLEY.

road trip is like an anti-award.. basically here's 20 seconds where you can not advance at all and the prizes are crap.. have fun.... no.

Click to expand...

Its an ugly table, I'll give you that. Those early Sterns, Ripleys and Rollercoaster Tycoon and Monopoly, in person they looked like hastily put together machines with exposed electrical wires and cheap toys.

As for the stereotyping...what a bland, boring, unfunny world this would be if everything had to be politically correct. Ripley's celebrated the odd, let the table have its fun.

And what would you rather have for Europe, Nazis? The plague?

Now, as for gameplay. This truly is one of those tables that grows on you. It rewards your diligence, and there are all sorts of ways to increase your scores. I played this table for 2 months solid when it first came out, could barely get past the 100 million mark on a good day. This past week, inspired by a different thread here, I started playing once again. Using some of the tactics I read, suddenly the game opened up for me and I recognized how to score. Here's a hint, it isn't with BOZO! And yes, road trip sucks, but once you learn how to control your shots, you rarely wind up with it anymore.

Ripley's certainly doesn't have the style, polish, music, or design that say MM has. Its every bit as challenging though. And its got much more complex strategy involved. It is also nowhere near the worst table in TPA.

Jeff Strong said:

In regards to your first two paragraphs, I think you're taking it too seriously.

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first paragraph definitely but it still kind of irks me if/when I play it... second paragraph is serious though..

I've been to the Ripley's Odditoria (lol sounds great) at Niagra Falls (not sure which side it was on lol.. I think canadian.) as well as the one in Tokyo Tower... the museums are fun..

I remember the one in Niagra had a mirror that prompted you to make goofy faces at it along with some typical museum type sign... this was at the beginning of the tour and when you got near the end you found it was a two-way mirror and are now looking at people making faces.... it's pretty fun..

got no problem with Ripley just this table..

Sinistar said:

Not sure where you come from , Europe or American ? But Robert Ripley was a actual explorer and chronicler of the unique across the globe, a sort of PT Barnum of safaris . For years , cartoons called Ripley's Believe it or Not ! ran in syndication in newspapers . In Southern California in Anaheim , near Disneyland , they actually have a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum. It was also a serialised show on network TV chronicaling bizarre findings , and human oddities , hosted by Jack Palance and later by Dean Cain (of Lois and Clark Superman fame). This pinball is what it is, a salute to Ripley's Believe it or Not , a museum of human oddities , many of the facts used in the game are from that museum and those newspaper cartoons .

Click to expand...

I'm well aware of the adventures of Robert Ripley, and I have no problem with the factoids in the game, that's one of the parts they nailed... I just think in other ways the license wasn't used to its full potential... I mean gravestones and idols are pretty generic, they could have done something a little more... odd. Penguins are kind of plain too but at least they ice skate lol...

Fun fact: the fertility statue in the museum , has had a miraculous rate of potency , to such a degree they had to move it out of reach of the public , as over the years several woman attested to it's abilities , some were quite suprised, that after years of failed pregnancies, the statue works all too well.

Click to expand...

Believe It... or Not!

The Doctor said:

first of all the aesthetics are gaudy and just very gauche. the table is culturally insensitive and borderline racist.. made in 2003.. really? nothing like cultural elitism to go well with pinball. the accents of the foreign people are just cartoon like in their stereotyping.

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I gotta say, I agree with this. It's in keeping with the Ripley's theme, though: the old newspaper cartoons often had lazy stereotyping in them too, though not unusually much for the eras in which they were written.

Still, I figure they could have done a little more work to pick some genuinely weird, less ugly and less generic stuff out of the Ripley's archives. The theme is where this game falls down, for all the classic Lawlor gameplay.

shutyertrap said:

It is also nowhere near the worst table in TPA.

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What is worse? I'll admit to Black Knight but ONLY from a re-creation standpoint, as it looks and sounds horrible compared to the real tabe

The Doctor said:

What is worse? I'll admit to Black Knight but ONLY from a re-creation standpoint, as it looks and sounds horrible compared to the real tabe

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From a game play outlook, I personally think BK, BH, Gorgar, but then I'm not a fan of those tables in general.
From a physics engine perspective, I think Ripley's comes behind CFTBL, FH, BoP, and is dead even with MB, with every other table coming after.
From theme and audio, I hate CFTBL, BK and BH have horrible sound, CV starts to annoy me after too long.
From the perspective of tables I most play, its MM, CFTBL (ironic considering my hate!), MB, BoP, and Ripley's. That's a long list behind it.

I think Ripley's is a better than average table. From whatever perspective I look at it, it isn't the worst in TPA. And that's just my opinion, but I'm willing to stand up for the table because I have a lot of fun with it.

Robert Ripley was born in Santa Rosa CA.

The Doctor said:

compared to the real tabe

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Darn right! The real Tabe is AWESOME!

Tabe

Personally, I don't care for RBION. I think the table itself is ugly, with poor choices for colors. The layout is sort of a confused mess. And so on. When I first got TPA, I actually kinda liked the table but I've definitely soured on it since then - and I've always thought it was ugly, appearance-wise.

Tabe