Early EM games from 30s

hawk · Mar 18, 2014

Would you buy a pin or a pack that contains a table from 30s?

Just wondering, are these tables popular, fun to play?

I never had a chance to play them.

Is it a good idea to have more of those in TPA?

Fungi · Mar 18, 2014

No

This comes from experience. I've actually played these things via pinball expos. Seriously, your interest in them runs out by the second ball. The 30s were a time when playing with a stick and hoop was considered fun.

David Pannozzo · Mar 18, 2014

I'm totally with you Fungi, I played a few EM's at the Southern Pinball Festival this year in Orlando. I could only play maybe one or two balls on them, only actual old tables I liked were Old Chicago, and the Early 80's Xenon, otherwise I just played the mid 80's and up to The Wizard Of Oz and Sterns Star Trek.

hawk · Mar 18, 2014

I didn't know old EM pins had so many flippers

Bowflex · Mar 18, 2014

The first gottlieb hall of game collection had a flipper less older style table. It was like playing plinko using a plunger. Very frustrating and monotonous.

DrainoBraino · Mar 19, 2014

Hey let's hear it for hawk! who in the other thread he says he was born in the late 90's, yet he's here practically demanding some old EM's. Who says the younger players will only buy the new fangled flashy pinball machines with more wizard modes than Gandalf himself? They want Log Cabin on mobile.

hawk · Mar 19, 2014

DrainoBraino said:
Hey let's hear it for hawk! who in the other thread he says he was born in the late 90's, yet he's here practically demanding some old EM's. Who says the younger players will only buy the new fangled flashy pinball machines with more wizard modes than Gandalf himself? They want Log Cabin on mobile.

I'm not demanding them. I try to figure out if they are popular so I know what to expect in future releases.

I still believe that younger players prefer modern pins over older ones

Kolchak357 · Mar 19, 2014

I would buy any pinball machine FS puts out there. But my interest fades as you go back beyond the 1960's. I'd still play and enjoy them but not as much as something from the 70's, 80's, 90's, etc.

danivempire · Mar 19, 2014

Not... interested...
^^

kinggo · Mar 19, 2014

no, pinball is not pinball without flippers.

soundwave106 · Mar 19, 2014

Fungi said:
No
This comes from experience. I've actually played these things via pinball expos. Seriously, your interest in them runs out by the second ball. The 30s were a time when playing with a stick and hoop was considered fun.

Well, even then, many people had to add the gambling element to flipperless pinball to make it fun. The flippers are what turned it from a game of semi-luck to a game of skill.

I would see a virtual flipperless pin as pointless as a virtual pachinko machine (or a virtual slot machine or other luck-oriented devices primarily used for gambling these days). Of course, people have made virtual slot machines and virtual pachinko machines, so maybe there's more of a market than I'd think there would be.

This is different from EMs, particularly the popular EMs of the 1970s. (But even Ace High was fun to me in the old Gottlieb collection.)

Espy · Mar 19, 2014

soundwave106 said:
Well, even then, many people had to add the gambling element to flipperless pinball to make it fun. The flippers are what turned it from a game of semi-luck to a game of skill.

I would see a virtual flipperless pin as pointless as a virtual pachinko machine (or a virtual slot machine or other luck-oriented devices primarily used for gambling these days). Of course, people have made virtual slot machines and virtual pachinko machines, so maybe there's more of a market than I'd think there would be.

This is different from EMs, particularly the popular EMs of the 1970s. (But even Ace High was fun to me in the old Gottlieb collection.)

To paraphrase a Zero Punctuation review of Peggle (which is quite similar to flipperless pinball), flipperless pinball is a game of luck, unless you have a degree in geometry from the university of smarta**e.

Gorgar · Mar 19, 2014

kinggo said:
no, pinball is not pinball without flippers.

Wrong. It is called PINball. Not FLIPPERball. Therefor, every table in TPA should be Baffle Ball or something similar.

Crawley · Mar 19, 2014

30s may be a bit too far back. But would probably buy an EM pack from 60-70s. Would like to check out Abra Ca Dabra, Wizard, Centigrade 37 and Atlantis. A 4 pack would probably be good enough to satisfy.

canuck · Mar 19, 2014

Oh man, wasn't central park enough torture...that monkey with the bell haunts my dreams.

mikehg · Mar 19, 2014

It seems '47 was when the flippers appeared.

http://www.pinballhistory.com/pinfirsts.html

I can't see them doing many before that, and if they do they couldn't spend much time on them, because they won't sell for much...

superballs · Mar 19, 2014

Espy said:
To paraphrase a Zero Punctuation review of Peggle (which is quite similar to flipperless pinball), flipperless pinball is a game of luck, unless you have a degree in geometry from the university of smarta**e.

Yahtzee is my hero when it comes to game reviewers

canuck said:
Oh man, wasn't central park enough torture...that monkey with the bell haunts my dreams.

Central Park is hardly representative of EM tables, and it's a strange configuration. Big Shot is a much better representation of the era I think, though there were some strange configurations, the two flippers at the bottom was more of a standard than anything else.

Three EMs I'd be over the moon to see would be Royal Flush, Triple Strike and Strange World (another strange configuration but an interesting table).

I would buy any table that they put out because i get a decent amount of enjoyment out of everything they've put out so far. I like EM tables because they bring a different experience to the table and allow for shorter games, but have that "I can do better", or what I like to call the Tetris effect, of

Clawhammer · Mar 20, 2014

From the 30s? No. They are interesting to see in person as part of the larger history of pinball, but would get very old, very quick in digital form. I also think FS would have trouble marketing any flipperless pinball machine. If they are going to put more EMs in TPA, they are probably best off going with games from the 70s with 3 inch flippers (with the possible exception of Fireball due to its popularity). Anything prior to that and luck becomes too much of a factor to be fun for many people, especially as nudging can never be totally simulated by any pinball game.

Espy · Mar 20, 2014

superballs said:
Yahtzee is my hero when it comes to game reviewers

Central Park is hardly representative of EM tables, and it's a strange configuration. Big Shot is a much better representation of the era I think, though there were some strange configurations, the two flippers at the bottom was more of a standard than anything else.

Three EMs I'd be over the moon to see would be Royal Flush, Triple Strike and Strange World (another strange configuration but an interesting table).

I would buy any table that they put out because i get a decent amount of enjoyment out of everything they've put out so far. I like EM tables because they bring a different experience to the table and allow for shorter games, but have that "I can do better", or what I like to call the Tetris effect, of

In my view, the stranger the better. That's part of the appeal of older EMs, they were still trying to figure out the best way for flipper placement etc. I love Central Park because you have to play in a completely different way to keep the ball alive.

soundwave106 · Mar 20, 2014

Clawhammer said:
From the 30s? No. They are interesting to see in person as part of the larger history of pinball, but would get very old, very quick in digital form. I also think FS would have trouble marketing any flipperless pinball machine. If they are going to put more EMs in TPA, they are probably best off going with games from the 70s with 3 inch flippers (with the possible exception of Fireball due to its popularity). Anything prior to that and luck becomes too much of a factor to be fun for many people, especially as nudging can never be totally simulated by any pinball game.

Central Park is kind of an exception, something like World Fair is more typical of the early 1960s era EM in my opinion. The flippers were smaller, but they were more of a "standard" configuration with 2 flippers on the bottom, outlanes on the side, etc. Of course, even popular old EMs had exceptions (Slick Chick has a "standard"ish configuration, but no outlanes and a gobble hole for instance).

I do agree one of the problems with digital versions of older EMs, is that nudging is a *lot* more a part of the game with the smaller flippers and often fairly wide gaps between the flippers. Nudging is not as easy to simulate in a digital game.

Early EM games from 30s

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