Tron Legacy Pinball

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu May 16, 2013 11:07 pm

More soon.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Fri May 17, 2013 6:09 am

She's a beaut!

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri May 17, 2013 9:24 pm

Now that the legs are on, I can talk about it. I bought one of these and it made its way downstairs today.

Also, I installed a mod! The pin has one shot that has an arcade game on top. Well, that arcade game looked like shit. A dude made a real scale model Tron cabinet and figured out how to get the attract code running over a small LCD screen on it. I know. I know!

I installed it tonight. Here is how it looks:

CLick to EMbiggen!

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Fri May 17, 2013 10:05 pm

I want you to admit that this pinball thing with you is new. There is no way you were interested in PINS while you were collecting your unholy brood of Zookeepers, Pac-Men and Messers Do.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri May 17, 2013 10:15 pm

Yes, sir. It is new.

Here's what made it all finally click for me:

- Dayna and I got a "lesson" on The Black Hole from an operator a few years ago so we knew how to play it.

- I grabbed the rules to one pin from the Internet Pinball Database, tried to memorize one or two things and then went to an arcade and did those things. At that point, I wasn't just banging the balls around.

- The goddamn "starter" levels on Ms. Pac-man and Zoo Keeper and so many other games that are a boring waste of time before those games get good.

Black Hole opened my eyes as to what the language of pinball could be.

Whatever game I read the rules for, Twilight Zone or Addams Family, that opened my mind

And then your comment about how each pinball game is different. This is partially your fault for putting it together like that.

So yes, the pinball thing is new. At the moment I would trade them all for pins.

Also, the fact that the early boards of Robotron are NOT a waste is why that is the greatest arcade game in my opinion.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri May 17, 2013 10:16 pm

Also, can I state that not having to deal with monitors coursing thousands of x-rays through my body at all times down there is a plus? That is a plus.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Fri May 17, 2013 10:22 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:Also, the fact that the early boards of Robotron are NOT a waste is why that is the greatest arcade game in my opinion.

1. Defender wants a piece of that.

2. But yes, you make a good point. Pinball games are fun from the first to the last.

Yo-- you have WON this round. Wow.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri May 17, 2013 10:26 pm

Oh yeah, Defender is fun and hard right away.

JONSEY'S LIST OF FUN AND HARD RIGHT AWAY ARCADE GAMES:

Robotron
Defender
edit: Stargate
Spy Hunter
Track n' Field
Ghosts n' Goblins
Mypenis

Izzat it? Izzat it?

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Fri May 17, 2013 10:28 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:Oh yeah, Defender is fun and hard right away.

JONSEY'S LIST OF FUN AND HARD RIGHT AWAY ARCADE GAMES:

Izzat it? Izzat it?

Watching YOU play them, I'd have to say "all of them"! Haha! Ha! Ha ha ha!

Sorry, that wasn't fair.

Asteroids is fun and hard right away, though, judging b-- well, let's just say Asteroids is fun and hard right away.

I'll hang up and listen.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri May 17, 2013 10:29 pm

I would include that one, but I wasn't sure if you felt it Asteroids was hard at the beginning.

Sure, they are all rather difficult for me. I am not good at them. I am better at pinball, I think.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Fri May 17, 2013 10:32 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:Sure, they are all rather difficult for me. I am not good at them. I am better at pinball, I think.

How much of "pinball skill" is "knowing the rules" vs. "knowing how to operate the flippers"?

Thanks for taking my call.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri May 17, 2013 10:39 pm

I can now say that knowing the rules is eighty per cent.

Flipper skill, well. It has to do with real-life physics. So you don't have to worry about some Japanese coder that we getting yelled at by his wife one day and decided to make it so that the plumber's hat can cross the top of the girder and let you die that way and he just says "fuck it" and buys underwear on the tram.

Real-life physics never gets yelled at by its wife. It's not that I am better with that, but I don't anthropomorphize real-life physics.

I feel that you would be a world class pinball player if you knew the rules to a game or two.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Fri May 17, 2013 10:42 pm

See, here's the thing. The ball is coming down, either directly between your flippers, or into the "drain" thing on the sides. Whatever you pin guys call it.

That's really what it comes down to, doesn't it? Somehow getting a ball that is going out of play to stay in play?

No matter how much you don't know the rules, if you can keep the ball in play, you will break the all-time scoring record.

How do "pro" pin players look at losing a ball? "Well, it just happens", or is that where the hardcore shit comes in?

I would imagine that's where the hardcore shit comes in, and people start arguing about the various "tilt" sensitivities and shit on different tables.

It's a whole world I know nothing about, and one where I feel if I knew more about it I'd probably enjoy it less.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri May 17, 2013 11:42 pm

pinback wrote:See, here's the thing. The ball is coming down, either directly between your flippers, or into the "drain" thing on the sides. Whatever you pin guys call it.

That's really what it comes down to, doesn't it? Somehow getting a ball that is going out of play to stay in play?

Part of me wants to say that when I am playing well, there's never any risk of the ball draining.

No matter how much you don't know the rules, if you can keep the ball in play, you will break the all-time scoring record.

Ehhhhhhhhh... I don't know, man. Some of these games have "wizard mode." That sounds like it would be worth a lot of points.

How do "pro" pin players look at losing a ball? "Well, it just happens", or is that where the hardcore shit comes in?

I do see some idiots who feel they need to slap at the table and rock it around like they are idiots. These people play a little longer than you or I, but not much longer. They are also quite loathsome and I'd like your commitment to loathe these people.

On Funhouse, I played enough games to know that there was one shot that, if I missed it, was going to result in the ball draining down the middle. I had plenty of time to do something about it, but I knew that x would cause y which would result in a drain.

I became... average, I guess? At not doing the things that would most likely cause a drain? I would ask myself what I was really trying to accomplish.

I feel that moving the table violently, however, is equivalent to how you feel about hyperspace in Asteroids. It is there and it is an option but if you are doing it, you're not going to be doing very well to begin with.

Tron and Funhouse have similar layouts. I feel that there is one place - on the right and left drains - where nudging the table is beneficial. The ball will bounce around a little bit before deciding on a lane. You have a lot of time to affect it. If the ball was headed down the middle, though, I grew to accept that as my fault.

(Older games were brutal - most new ones have a timer to save your ball under any circumstances.)

I would like to interview a pro player, however, to see if any of my instincts about this are correct.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Fri May 17, 2013 11:47 pm

I don't think you have the slightest fucking idea what pro-level pinball looks like.

I really don't even think you've watched a YouTube of it.

Tell me I'm wrong. I want to be wrong.

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Sat May 18, 2013 3:10 am

I read this when I was in middle school and it explained and helped my pinball appreciation quite a bit. I recommend it highly!

Think of it as the Mr. Do strategy guide but for pinball in general.

THE
RULE BOOK
AARDVARK

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun May 19, 2013 10:26 pm

So, the game came with a mini arcade cabinet on it.

A guy made a mod that has a realistic-looking cabinet running MAME code for the attract screen from Tron on a tiny LCD.

Oh here is a picture. I bought one and installed it. You can click on it for a larger picture.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun May 19, 2013 10:27 pm

pinback wrote:I don't think you have the slightest fucking idea what pro-level pinball looks like.

I really don't even think you've watched a YouTube of it.

Tell me I'm wrong. I want to be wrong.

You're wrong!

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Mon May 20, 2013 3:08 am

What made you decide on this particular table?

What are your thoughts on a photographed backglass vs. a painted silkscreened backglass?

Do you find the later tables to be overly cluttered nowadays?

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Mon May 20, 2013 12:37 pm

What made you decide on this particular table?

Good question. I don't normally care for licensed theme tables, because the shit I like does not make it to be a licensed theme. Even when they do (there is a "Transformers" pin) it's polluted (it's the awful, awful Michael Bay versions).

The sort of music I listen to ain't making it as a pinball table. If Stern makes a dubstep pin I would be in. I don't like rock music enough -- wait, one correction. If lethargic gets contacted you can consider me IN, because he is the only guy making rock music that I like any more.

So that leaves pins from before, say, 2005-ish and I couldn't get one of those new. (I should say that the idea here was to get a new in box pin.) It came down to Family Guy or Tron, and I don't think there are FG pins new anywhere.

What are your thoughts on a photographed backglass vs. a painted silkscreened backglass?

Great question. Tron is one of the few photographed backglasses that I like. Kevin Flynn is possiby the greatest fictional character to star in a movie and not have that movie's title reference him directly. So Flynn's scowling face on the glass is fun. Jeff Bridges deserves an ongoing film franchise.

There are three backglasses, apparently. If I were a younger man I would get the one with the two girls on it.

Vark, what is YOUR take on painted vs photographed?

Do you find the later tables to be overly cluttered nowadays?

Just the opposite, friend! I like having all manner of crazy shit to do. I also appreciate that I can complete a goal while trying to complete another goal on accident.