NCAA Pinball Table Tournament

As you can probably gather from the thread title, I have started work on a "best-pin-of-all-time" tournament. When I finish drawing it up, I plan to hold it on this very forum! It's still a work in progress (I'm still drawing up the conferences, with 16 conferences of 16 tables each being the goal), but here's what I've come up with so far (the conference themes are in parentheses next to the conference names):
Argent Defender (People's Choice):

Avenging Revenant (Handheld & mobile pinball):
Age of Pinballs
Arcade Pinball (Pinball HD Collection)
Devil's Due Pinball
ESPN Pinball
Frogger Pinball
Kirby's Pinball Land
Metroid Prime
Monster Pinball
The Pinball of the Dead
Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckon
Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire
Revenge of the 'Gator
Revenge of the Rob-O-Bot
Sonic Pinball Party
Super Robot Pinball
Undead Attack! Pinball

Cosmos' Heart (Non-Big-Six solid-states & other oddities):
Airborne (Capcom)
Big Bang Bar (Capcom)
Breakshot (Capcom)
Cactus Canyon (Williams)
Champion Pub (Williams)
Devil Riders (Zaccaria)
Farfalla (Zaccaria)
Full Throttle (Heighway)
Joust (Williams)
Kingpin (Capcom)
Pinball Magic (Capcom)
Predator (Skit-B)
Revenge From Mars (Williams)
Safe Cracker (Bally)
Superman (Atari)
Wizard of Oz (Jersey Jack)

Golden Engine (New Stern):
AC/DC
Batman (The Dark Knight)
Elvis
Family Guy
Iron Man
Lord of the Rings
Metallica
Monopoly
Pirates of the Caribbean
Ripley's Believe It Or Not!
Roller Coaster Tycoon
The Simpsons Pinball Party
Spider-Man
Transformers
TRON: Legacy
X-Men

Grim Jester (Gottlieb):
The Amazing Spider-Man
Big Hurt
Black Hole
Class of 1812
Cue Ball Wizard
Genie
Haunted House
Joker Poker
Q-Bert's Quest
Spirit
Stargate
Street Fighter II
Super Mario Bros.
Tee'd Off
TX-Sector
Wipe Out

Harlequin Blitz (Console pinball):
Alien Crush
Battle Pinball
Crüe Ball
Devil's Crush
Dreamlands (Digital Pinball: Necronomicon)
Flipnic
Galactic Pinball
Gladiators (Digital Pinball: Last Gladiators)
Jaki Crush
Midnight Magic
Pinball Quest
Ruiner Pinball
Showtime (Super Pinball 2)
Sonic Spinball
Time Cruise
Wizard (Super Pinball: Behind the Mask)

Hurricane Cannon (Williams alphanumerics):
Bad Cats
Big Guns
Black Knight 2000
Cyclone
Diner
Earthshaker
F-14 Tomcat
Fire!
FunHouse
High Speed
Pinbot
Rollergames
Space Station
Swords of Fury
Taxi
Whirlwind

League of Thunder (Best of the rest):
The Avengers
Civil War (Marvel Pinball)
Da Vinci Pinball (Pinball HD)
Demolition Man
Doctor Who
Freddy: A Nightmare On Elm Street
Ghost Rider (Marvel Pinball: Vengeance & Virtue)
Lights...Camera...Action!
Monday Night Football
NBA
No Fear: Dangerous Sports
Operation: Thunder
Pro Pinball: The Web
Rocky
Who Dunnit?
WWF Royal Rumble

Mage's Revolution (Bally/Williams DMDs):
The Addams Family
Attack From Mars
Cirqus Voltaire
Creature From The Black Lagoon
Fish Tales
Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure
Medieval Madness
Monster Bash
No Good Gofers
Scared Stiff
The Shadow
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Tales of the Arabian Nights
Theater of Magic
The Twilight Zone
Whitewater

Paladin's Blade (Marvel Pinball/Pinball FX/Zen Pinball):
Buccaneer (Pinball FX Classic Pack)
Captain America (Marvel Pinball)
Epic Quest (Zen Pinball)
Excalibur (Pinball FX)
Fantastic Four (Marvel Pinball)
Fear Itself (Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles)
Mars (Zen Pinball)
Moon Knight (Marvel Pinball: Vengeance & Virtue)
Pasha (Pinball FX 2 Core Pack)
Plants Vs. Zombies (Pinball FX/Zen Pinball)
Sorcerer's Lair (Zen Pinball)
Spider-Man (Marvel Pinball Core Pack)
Street Fighter II Tribute (Zen Pinball)
Tesla (Zen Pinball Classics Pack)
Thor (Marvel Pinball: Vengeance & Virtue)
World War Hulk (Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles)

Sable Shield (Bally & Williams digital displays):
Barracora
Black Knight
Centaur
Comet
Defender
Eight Ball
Embryon
Fathom
Firepower
Flash
Flash Gordon
Gorgar
Paragon
Skateball
Sorcerer
Xenon

Starlight's Wing (Old Stern):
Ali
Big Game
Catacomb
Flight 2000
Galaxy
Hot Hand
Iron Maiden
Lightning
Magic
Meteor
Nine Ball
Orbitor 1
Seawitch
Stars
Stingray
Wild Fyre

Steel Corsair (Assorted Bally/Williams):
Black Rose
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Corvette
Dr. Dude
Dungeons & Dragons
Elvira and the Party Monsters
Johnny Mnemonic
Judge Dredd
The Machine: Bride of Pin*Bot
Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Mac
Mousin' Around
Party Zone
Red & Ted's Road Show
Space Invaders
Space Shuttle
Terminator 2

Tsunami Nova (Sega):
Apollo 13
Batman Forever
Baywatch
Frankenstein
Godzilla
Goldeneye
Harley-Davidson
Independence Day
Lost In Space
The Lost World
South Park
Space Jam
Star Wars Trilogy
Starship Troopers
Twister
The X Files

Unknown Empire (Data East):
Back to the Future
Batman
Checkpoint
Guns 'N Roses
Hook
Jurassic Park
Last Action Hero
Lethal Weapon 3
Phantom of the Opera
Rocky & Bullwinkle
The Simpsons
Star Wars
Tales From The Crypt
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Time Machine
Tommy

Wild Roller (PC pinball):
3-D Ultra Pinball
Android (Epic Pinball 1)
Crystal Caliburn
Desert Run (Obsession)
Duke Nukem (Balls of Steel)
Enigma (Epic Pinball 2)
Pangaea (Epic Pinball 3)
Party Land (Pinball Fantasies)
Pro Pinball: Timeshock!
Revenge of the Robot Monsters (Pinball Dreams 2)
Rollerball
Space Cadet (Full Tilt! Pinball)
Steel Wheel (Pinball Dreams)
Tarantula (Pinball Mania)
Tristan Pinball
Worms (Addiction Pinball)

Also, I have a few questions for you about this:
1) What do you think about my incorporation of video pinball into the tournament? I knew going in that it would draw some ire, but would it be a deal-breaker for anyone here if I went forward with that approach?
2) Can anyone help me come up with more themes? I already know I want to do a Gottlieb EMs conference and I would really like to do a "people's choice" conference, but what else would you suggest?
3) Which tables will make it to Pinball Power (the postseason tournament for this contest)? There are 96 slots total, with each conference having three auto-bids (conference tournament winner, third place match winner, and regular season champion) and the rest going to at-large contestants. It's a little hard to tell now with the tournament in a very incomplete state, but let me know how you think the conferences I've finished will break down.

Well, that's about all for now. Hopefully, I'll have the rules of the tournament up soon, as well as a complete 256-table lineup.

UPDATE: I apologize for the radio silence on this, but I got really bogged down with holiday preparations, a choral concert at Carnegie Hall and moving to a new apartment. Anyway, I majorly expanded the roster–we're two-thirds of the way to the lineup size I want. There's plenty more where that came from, hopefully at a faster pace than last time!

UPDATE 2: I told you the next update would be quicker! This time, I've added in Starlight's Wing, a conference dedicated to the pre-Data East Stern that older forum members knew and (hopefully) loved. Can they hold their own against the silver ball's finest or will they fizzle like bullets fired at Evil Otto? We'll find out soon enough!

UPDATE 3: Here we are again with another new conference! The latest conference is Steel Corsair, a collection of some of the best Bally & Williams tables from the days of their pinball dominance. Will these cult favorites rise above some brutal Bally/Williams competition or will they find themselves relegated to the B-side?

UPDATE 4: This is another big update–we have two new conferences and a placeholder for our People's Choice conference! First, though, let's turn to the other two new leagues. Harlequin Blitz may not have the most intimidating moniker, but you surely wouldn't want to cross the Crush Pinball fans. The three Crush tables should acquit themselves nicely, but can the rest of the conference keep pace or are they just so many bugs on the windshield? Next up, we have League of Thunder, a collection of the best pins to not get into their respective "native" conferences. Can they go blow-for-blow against the best of the best or will this motley crew find success elusive? As for Argent Defender, I'll have more information in my next post on this thread–stay tuned!

The winner will have a DMD,strong rules ,more units created and toys and ramps oh and multiball so EMs are toast pre-alphanumeric toast you could save yourself the trouble and look at the official pinball owner/players top 100 just sayin.

Just give it to TAF and drop the mike.

@SKILL_SHOT:

That's...disappointing to hear. I feel you might be missing the point of this exercise somewhat—yes, it is nominally about crowning the best pinball table of all time, but that actually (hopefully) turns out to be the cherry on top of a season and postseason of twists and turns, upsets and chokes, unexpected dynamos and unforeseen disappointments. It also seeks to serve as the grand syllabus to the masterclasses that teach the newcomer and remind the old-timer why pinball was and is a great pastime for everyone. To be honest, I think that alone would make it all worthwhile even if I shared your and Fungi's confidence that we already know the greatest pin ever.

Also, which top 100 are you referring to? I know of both Pinside's and the IPDB's lists—are there others I haven't heard of?

Don't be discouraged. I want to see how this actually turns out. TAF is actually not my personal favorite. I do have one, but that would be telling.

I was just saying. By all means DO IT! After all the effort you've already put in don't let 1 sour puss ruin YOUR THING This year at PPE the masses were around the newer games and the woodrails and wedgeheads had barely anybody playing, I seen the tastes of the masses with my own eyes, and I'm just saying maybe break it up into EM and SS games or else EM's cant really compete with basis SS games let alone modern pin's.

I love these field of 64 bracket things. Although I guess this is a field of 256. The people at Pinball Podcast did this a while back with 64 pins and I think Twilight Zone won it (see link below). So many ways to set the brackets (era, manufacturer, theme), that is a big undertaking with 256 pins. Best of luck with it. Looking forward to see what you come up with.

http://challonge.com/PinballMadness2012

You are certainly putting a lot of time into this. I would just take the top 128 from pinside, set up brackets using ratings to set the seeds. Then have it. But I'm lazy like that.

Theres so many variables that can determin a winner like how many tables were produced obviously if youve never played it why would you vote for it or if you have played it it may sway your vote because of nastagia reasons not that its the better table.

I only vote for tables Ive played...I got my hand on quite the variety at PPE this year and another 150 sunday Ive found what I like alot of people do as well.

Kolchak357 said:

I love these field of 64 bracket things. Although I guess this is a field of 256. The people at Pinball Podcast did this a while back with 64 pins and I think Twilight Zone won it (see link below). So many ways to set the brackets (era, manufacturer, theme), that is a big undertaking with 256 pins. Best of luck with it. Looking forward to see what you come up with.

http://challonge.com/PinballMadness2012

Click to expand...

Actually, the brackets only come at the very end—there's going to be a 30-week regular season first, then conference tournaments, then the big bracket of 96 at the end. Also, in order to focus discussion a bit while I continue work on the lineup, I've randomly selected one of the current conferences for your perusal:

Sable Shield (Bally & Williams digital displays):
Barracora
Black Knight
Centaur
Comet
Defender
Eight Ball
Embryon
Fathom
Firepower
Flash
Flash Gordon
Gorgar
Paragon
Skateball
Sorcerer
Xenon

Myself, I tend to think that Sable Shield will end up around the middle of the pack once we know what the rest of it looks like. Black Knight and Gorgar will be the ones to beat here, but Firepower and Sorcerer should get their licks in, too. One table that I think will prove something of a wild card is Defender. If there is a lot of crossover between Williams' video game fandom and their pinball fandom, Defender could do very well, but if not, then it could be in for a long season. The rest of the conference is going to end up being pretty dreary in terms of win-loss differential. For my part, my way-too-early predictions here are Black Knight, Gorgar & Sorcerer for auto-bids and Defender and Firepower getting at-large berths.

Don't underestimate Centaur, Eight Ball, or Xenon. They get a lot of love around here. Lots of good pins in there.

Kolchak357 said:

Don't underestimate Centaur, Eight Ball, or Xenon. They get a lot of love around here. Lots of good pins in there.

Click to expand...

Indeed! I just heard that Centaur had been mentioned as an upcoming TPA release, so that should help it out even more. Also, would you like to be involved with this project as an analyst? I'm actually fairly new to the silver ball, so I could use somebody with a little more experience helping me out with this. In any event, here's the next conference to go under the microscope:

Grim Jester (Gottlieb):
The Amazing Spider-Man
Big Hurt
Black Hole
Class of 1812
Cue Ball Wizard
Genie
Haunted House
Joker Poker
Q-Bert's Quest
Spirit
Stargate
Street Fighter II
Super Mario Bros.
Tee'd Off
TX-Sector
Wipe Out

I'm not sure what to think about this one. Haunted House regularly gets love on these forums (not to mention how the multiball mod has made it into a conversation starter) and Stargate has some...forceful partisans, but there is some dross here–I can't see anyone getting fired up about the likes of Tee'd Off or Big Hurt. Black Hole will also do well and Genie's upcoming addition to TPA will give it a major boost, but overall, the Bally/Williams-centric conferences thoroughly outclass Grim Jester. As for postseason predictions, give me Stargate, Haunted House and Black Hole for auto-bids & Genie and SFII for at-large berths.

Haunted House is one of my personal favorites. That is #1 for me from this group. But there are some strong tables in this group too. Class of 1812 is a great pin and Black Hole is so impressive when you play it in person. Joker Poker and Tee'd also seem pretty popular. Super Mario gets a lot of mention (but I don't know why). I don't know to much about the others. Could be an interesting group.

Kolchak357 said:

Haunted House is one of my personal favorites. That is #1 for me from this group. But there are some strong tables in this group too. Class of 1812 is a great pin and Black Hole is so impressive when you play it in person. Joker Poker and Tee'd also seem pretty popular. Super Mario gets a lot of mention (but I don't know why). I don't know to much about the others. Could be an interesting group.

Click to expand...

I really wanted to be able to say better things about this conference, but Gottlieb solid states have a very poor reputation amongst hardcore pinheads from what I've seen (which I can't understand, as many of them look like great fun, particularly Freddy: Nightmare on Elm Street, which I kind of regret not putting in here). The best explanation I can come up with is that Gottlieb designs tended to be more basic than B/W's output, which meant fewer groundbreaking innovations like FH's Rudy or TZ's gumball machine. That said, this seems less...prominent at IPDB than at Pinside, so I'll reverse my call on Stargate and say that it should make the field of 96. Joker Poker looks like it could be a contender, but Tee'd Off always struck me as a weaker NGG (not to mention that somebody posted a thread about finding a Tee'd Off on eBay and nobody seemed to recognize it) and Super Mario mostly gets talked up for having the face of video games as its theme (though I still want one as one of my first 10 IRL pins). In short, the pins here aren't bad, but Haunted House is the only one I can see holding its own against MM or TZ in this type of contest.

P.S. Class of 1812 does look fun from what I've seen on Pinball.org—perhaps we'll see it on TPA in a Halloween or two?

P.P.S. Hurricane Cannon is next, but I need to look through the conference more closely first.

Gottlieb pins seemed to lose favor after the 1970's. I guess they didn't move forward fast enough. But anyone that has played Haunted House, Class of 1812, or Devil's Dare will tell you about the artwork and interesting game play. Don't pass them by if you get a chance to play them.

Class of 1812 is FUN! got to play one at PIN EXPO Im not sure if its because it had 2 foot legs on it and you had to play on your knees but the shots felt good as it flowed very nicely and the horror themed was cool!

Your Hurricane Cannon division will be a blood bath. There are a lot of classic pins there that people feel very strongly about. I know we have people on here that own some of these. I played almost all of them. Not a dog in the bunch.

I've taken a look at Hurricane Cannon and here's what I came up with:

Hurricane Cannon (Williams alphanumerics):
Bad Cats
Big Guns
Black Knight 2000
Cyclone
Diner
Earthshaker
F-14 Tomcat
Fire!
FunHouse
High Speed
Pinbot
Rollergames
Space Station
Swords of Fury
Taxi
Whirlwind

Kolchak wasn't kidding when he said this would be a bloodbath–any of these pins would be a respectable member of the Silverball Sixteen. I also am intrigued by the clash of design philosophies that will define many conference match-ups, as we have 4 pins designed by Steve Ritchie (Black Knight 2000, F-14 Tomcat, High Speed and Rollergames) and 3 designed by Pat Lawlor in our lineup (Earthshaker, FunHouse and Whirlwind). I think the Lawlor tables will win the overall series, but Black Knight 2000 should come out on top in its matches against Team Lawlor (you can't really compete with the table that invented wizard modes). As for the rest of the conference, Taxi will be extremely tough to beat, both Big Guns & Swords of Fury are fan favorites on the board, Pinbot should get a huge boost from its confirmation for TPA's early 2013 release schedule and Diner enjoys broad support across the forum. If you forced me to pick a weakest contender here, I'd probably say Bad Cats, but these are all excellent decks, just like Kolchak said. Look for Black Knight 2000, FunHouse and Whirlwind to win the auto-bids and Big Guns, Diner, Earthshaker, High Speed, Pinbot, Swords of Fury and Taxi to receive at-large berths (yes, I am saying that more than half the conference will make it to the big tournament).

We take our first look into the wide world of video pinball with this next conference:

Avenging Revenant (Handheld & mobile pinball):
Age of Pinballs
Arcade Pinball (Pinball HD Collection)
Devil's Due Pinball
ESPN Pinball
Frogger Pinball
Kirby's Pinball Land
Metroid Prime Pinball
Monster Pinball
The Pinball of the Dead
Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckon
Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire
Revenge of the 'Gator
Revenge of the Rob-O-Bot
Sonic Pinball Party
Super Robot Pinball
Undead Attack! Pinball

The inclusion of video pinball was bound to be a controversial move, but Avenging Revenant's lineup can certainly help show that it was also a good one. Revenge of the Rob-O-Bot is the table to beat here, but Kirby's Pinball Land, Metroid Pinball and Pokemon Pinball should also be strong contenders and both Frogger Pinball and Sonic Pinball Party should hold their own. Age of Pinballs, Arcade Pinball and The Pinball of the Dead are interesting wild cards, but there's not too much else to see past that. Revenge of the Rob-O-Bot, Metroid Prime Pinball and Kirby's Pinball Land will take the auto-bids and Sonic Pinball Party, Arcade Pinball and maybe The Pinball of the Dead will be favorites to win at-large berths.