The Pinball Arcade table ratings

[Sumez]

I didn't get into pinball until last year, and Gorgar and Centaur are two of my absolute favourites on TPA. It should have nothing to do with age.

 

[night]

I'm 41 and 80ties tables are my fav, although I am not sold on Gorgar, gave it a 6. HH is one of my top fav. but it's rated low among other users. It has a great flow, just like Space Shuttle and Flight 2000. What I don't understand is all the fuss about MM, it's rated so high.. Trolls and knights, I dunno what's so great about that. And when you plunge a ball it likes to play with itself forever with the bumpers in the top right corner, I can make a cup of coffee in the meantime. But I guess that's a good thing, something for everyone.

 

[Sumez]

Weird, I think HH has really awful flow. It seems like more of a "bells 'n' whistles" table to me, similar to Genie. Maybe I just need to play a RL version of it to "get it".

Night, always hold the left flipper when plunging on MM or AFM, you won't have to wait for the bumpers.

 

[night]

Weird, I think HH has really awful flow. It seems like more of a "bells 'n' whistles" table to me, similar to Genie. Maybe I just need to play a RL version of it to "get it".

Night, always hold the left flipper when plunging on MM or AFM, you won't have to wait for the bumpers.

Thanks Sumez, good tip!

 

[Sumez]

I haven't played MM, but the AFM I played IRL is even worse regarding the bumpers. I think I've had the ball stay up there for more than a minute, giving me a ridicolous bonus multiplier. Really damn boring for anyone else to watch.

 

[shutyertrap]

I see some of the people gave low scores for Centaur and Gorgar. I am 41 now and grew up with these tables i think F.s. did a wonderful job with the 2 and give both a 10.If you disagree ..well it is because you were probably born in the late 80s or 1990s or just a hater of the early 80s tables.There are some tables i do not like but i would not score them a one because of that. That table could be your 10 lol

It all depends on what you base your reason for ranking the tables the way you do. I ranked based off of enjoyment and how often I play any particular table. Under that standard, there had to be a table in first place (a 10), and there had to be a table in last (a 1). Some people are ranking on how well FS built them, others on how well they like them in general, some are mixing real world and digital into the equation.

There's a lot of variables to this survey. Declare what standards you used to rank, then post your results.

 

[Kolchak357]

I based more on the FS version rather than how much I like the real life pin. But the theme and real life pin are still part of the equation in my head.

 

[Sumez]

There doesn't have to be a 1 and a 10. It's a rating, not a priority

I can't think of any TPA table that deserves anything near a 1. Even IRL, I think the worst pin I've played was Stern's Rolling Stones, and even then I was still able to get some enjoyment out of it.

 

[mmmagnetic]

This is fun! Especially rating them all at once. Had to move my selections more than once, seeing them like that.

It´s also the classic problem with ratings in general - is a 5/10 still a solid table, or is it already kinda crappy? To me it´s the former, because while I appreciate certain tables, I have to consider that I enjoy other tables even more or have a more emotional connection with them.

My Pinball Arcade table ratings
——————————
10 — Cirqus Voltaire
10 — Creature from the Black Lagoon
10 — Ripley's Believe It or Not!
10 — Theatre of Magic
10 — Whirlwind
10 — White Water
10 — Attack from Mars
10 — Cactus Canyon
10 — Scared Stiff
9 — Tales of the Arabian Nights
9 — The Twilight Zone
9 — Star Trek: The Next Generation
9 — Terminator 2: Judgment Day
8 — Elvira and the Party Monsters
8 — Firepower
8 — Flight 2000
8 — The Machine: Bride of Pin•Bot
8 — No Good Gofers!
8 — Taxi
7 — Centaur
7 — Space Shuttle
6 — Big Shot
6 — The Champion Pub
6 — Dr. Dude
6 — Funhouse
6 — Harley-Davidson Third Edition
6 — Medieval Madness
5 — Black Knight
5 — Monster Bash
5 — Pin•Bot
4 — Gorgar
4 — Tee'd Off
3 — Haunted House
2 — Central Park
2 — Genie
1 — Black Hole
1 — Goin' Nuts

...I even play the tables I rated 2 or 1 once in a while, and I´d still rather play my low ranked tables than 99% of videogames out there. I ranked Monster Bash or Medieval Madness low because, despite being obviously very well made tables, I personally can´t get into them (while I LOVE AFM - I like shooting the saucer a lot more than the castle).

I also love seeing how big the differences in taste are on these boards. Sometimes I do complete 180s on tables - at first I thought F2K was nonsensical trash, but these days I really enjoy it. Funhouse was very high on my list, until I suddenly got very bored with it. I also always play at least 3 tables in heavy rotation, it´s very rare that I play a single machine exclusively for more than 2 or 3 days at a time.

CftBL, for example, might not actually be that great of a table layout (though I LOVE Move Your Car and the tense multiball), but the theme is so incredibly well crafted with both the movie theme AND the 50s drive-in atmosphere, it just is my go-to "feel good" table.

 

[shutyertrap]

See, Creature is a perfect example of a table I placed high in my list, and yet I don't really care for it! I hate the music, don't find it funny in the least, think the voice acting is bad, and think the table art is too busy. And yet I play it, A LOT. I recognize Taxi as being a really good table, but I never play it and therefore it got ranked low.

What's kinda funny is this is how I rank most things. Take movies for example...the movies I rank as my all time faves are those that I get pleasure out of watching every single time. Most would never make a movie poll's list of top 100 movies of all time. That's because people tend to rank based on quality over enjoyment. There are some musicians I listen to who's artistic merit is rather low, yet I enjoy the crap out of their music.

I think this whole thread could serve as an interesting psychological snapshot of how we all interpret the game in general.

 

[neglectoid]

Thanks Sumez, good tip!

whoa, you didn't know about the super skill shot? you can increase your scores/advancement using this. play a few games and see if it helps you.

 

[Mark W**a]

10 — Attack from Mars
10 — The Twilight Zone
10 — Star Trek: The Next Generation
10 — Medieval Madness
10 — Theatre of Magic

9 — Centaur
9 — White Water
9 — No Good Gofers!
9 — Tales of the Arabian Nights
9 — Cirqus Voltaire
9 — Ripley's Believe It or Not!
9 — Creature from the Black Lagoon

8 — Elvira and the Party Monsters
8 — The Machine: Bride of Pin•Bot
8 — Pin•Bot
8 — Taxi
8 — Terminator 2: Judgment Day
8 — Monster Bash
8 — Scared Stiff
8 — Whirlwind
8 — Dr. Dude
8 — Funhouse
8 — Genie
8 -- Class of 1812
8 -- Victory

7 — Space Shuttle
7 — Black Hole
7 — Big Shot
7 — The Champion Pub
7 — Cactus Canyon


6 — Haunted House
6 — Firepower
6 — Flight 2000
6 — Black Knight
6 — Central Park

5 — Gorgar

3 — Harley-Davidson Third Edition

2 — Tee'd Off

1 — Goin' Nuts

 

[Mark W**a]

See, Creature is a perfect example of a table I placed high in my list, and yet I don't really care for it! I hate the music, don't find it funny in the least, think the voice acting is bad, and think the table art is too busy. And yet I play it, A LOT. I recognize Taxi as being a really good table, but I never play it and therefore it got ranked low.

What's kinda funny is this is how I rank most things. Take movies for example...the movies I rank as my all time faves are those that I get pleasure out of watching every single time. Most would never make a movie poll's list of top 100 movies of all time. That's because people tend to rank based on quality over enjoyment. There are some musicians I listen to who's artistic merit is rather low, yet I enjoy the crap out of their music.

I think this whole thread could serve as an interesting psychological snapshot of how we all interpret the game in general.

I was the same way, but Creature grew on me. I love tables where super jackpots really are super jackpots, and determines whether or not you have a good score. It's a wizard mode without being insane to get to, and proportionally it's worth more than most wizard modes in the grand scheme of score for the table.

I was writing off Victory due to youtube vids but now that I know it's a John Trudaeu table (sorry misspelled that) and so is Creature IIRC, I'm interested.

 

[night]

whoa, you didn't know about the super skill shot? you can increase your scores/advancement using this. play a few games and see if it helps you.

Of course I didn't know about the super skill shot, hello, do you think I play pinball all day long? I have 27 children and a cat to feed.

 

[Sumez]

 

[Jan Duin]

Of course I didn't know about the super skill shot, hello, do you think I play pinball all day long? I have 27 children and a cat to feed.

Wrong priorities!

Here's my list, based on the PS3 version

My Pinball Arcade table ratings
——————————
9 — The Machine: Bride of Pin•Bot
9 — Medieval Madness
9 — Pin•Bot
9 — Ripley's Believe It or Not!
9 — Space Shuttle
9 — Terminator 2: Judgment Day
9 — Theatre of Magic
9 — Whirlwind

8 — Black Hole
8 — Black Knight
8 — Centaur
8 — The Champion Pub
8 — Cirqus Voltaire
8 — Elvira and the Party Monsters
8 — Firepower
8 — Monster Bash
8 — Taxi

7 — Attack from Mars
7 — Big Shot
7 — Cactus Canyon
7 — Creature from the Black Lagoon
7 — Funhouse
7 — Genie
7 — Gorgar
7 — No Good Gofers!
7 — Scared Stiff
7 — Star Trek: The Next Generation
7 — Tales of the Arabian Nights
7 — White Water

6 — Central Park
6 — Flight 2000
6 — The Twilight Zone

4 — Dr. Dude

2 — Harley-Davidson Third Edition

1 — Goin' Nuts
none — Haunted House
none — Tee'd Off

 

[Kirill Kirilld]

Great idea.
Additionally, I think there must be some notice like "Please vote a table only if you've played it at least 100 games".
Or maybe add an additional parameter for each table - number of games played. And then somehow use it to calculate the final ratings.
For example, when calculating the mean rating, one vote would be used 10 times if games played >100, 5 times if >50, 1 time if >10 and the vote would be ignored if the voter played <10 times.
That will not allow the player who just doesn't know the table very well, to greatly lower it's rating.
Just like it was on ipdb. Many wonderful tables there were drowned by "players" who played the table just once and then posted bad rating.
And now there's a filter on ipdb that just won't allow to post a rating much higher than mean (which is low due to "one-game-players" votes).

The Rollercoaster Tycoon is a great table. My favourite one actually.
It's so unfair that ipdb just doesn't accept positive reviews with high ratings!
I and a couple of my friends tried to post high rates review and they've never showed on ratings page for RCT.
Actually, for the past 2 years only 5-7 stars ratings were allowed. http://ipdb.org/rate/showrate.pl?gid=4536

 

[smbhax]

The off-mean filter is an interesting idea. I'm not sure it would work well with our relatively low number of participants, and anyway I don't know if there's as much pressure put on virtual table ratings as there is on real tables; also there isn't much stopping players from playing a game more than once digitally, whereas it can be very hard to get a lot of access to real world tables.

I don't think there'd be much point in having a times-played parameter, since there'd be no way to verify it. It would also mean you'd have to keep coming back and updating your play counts if you wanted your voting weight to be accurate (ignoring that everyone else would just be doing like "Medieval Madness: 10 rating, 9999 times played!!! : P"); and besides which, I don't know if others are like me but I have no idea how many times I've played these tables and don't really want to have to worry about keeping track. ; )

 

[smbhax]

Added Class of 1812 and Victory!

 

[JefferyD]

My list:

10 — Monster Bash
9 — Attack from Mars
9 — Big Shot
9 — Cactus Canyon
9 — Firepower
8 — Centaur
8 — Gorgar
8 — Space Shuttle
8 — Taxi
7 — Black Hole
7 — The Machine: Bride of Pin•Bot
7 — Scared Stiff
7 — Tee'd Off
7 — Terminator 2: Judgment Day
6 — Elvira and the Party Monsters
6 — Flight 2000
6 — Harley-Davidson Third Edition
6 — Medieval Madness
6 — Pin•Bot
5 — The Champion Pub
5 — Goin' Nuts
5 — Whirlwind
4 — Genie
4 — Haunted House
3 — Black Knight
3 — White Water
2 — Central Park
2 — Creature from the Black Lagoon
2 — Dr. Dude
1 — Tales of the Arabian Nights

Allowing for only one 10 on my list, I posed this question to myself: “If you won a contest and could pick one table -- and only one -- to have in your garage for 1 year (on loan, so that I couldn’t be swayed by re-sale value) which would you choose?”

I play Firepower the most, but Monster Bash is the most entertaining theme for me, and there is enough depth and variety to it I’m sure I could go a year without being bored by it, or totally frustrated with it; frustration and rage would be a huge problem with FP.

I decided to pick a single table for the 1 slot, too. No fancy make-believe scenario for that one; I simply picked the table that I am least likely to play. I don’t think I’ve ever played two games in a row on Tales of the Arabian Nights. I haven’t connected with that one, yet.

For the rest, it went thusly: “Do I like Taxi as much as Gorgar? Yeah, pretty even. Taxi’s an 8. Do I like Terminator as much as Gorgar and Taxi? Almost, but not quite. Terminator’s a 7.” And so on. It took an embarrassingly long time to get this list to feel right, bumping groups up and down a notch as I went through the list. It probably would look different if I did it again tomorrow, too.

And I do like all the tables down to 3. A ranking of 1 or 2 doesn't imply hatred; I'm just kind of indifferent to them. Hardly ever play them but who knows? I might take a shine to them later. There was a time when Cactus Canyon would have been a 2 on my list, but now it's a super-star.