From Soho down to Brighton

[austin_dern]

The good news: An impulse trip to Pasir Ris brought me to a newly-added pinball. The bad news: It was Striker Extreme, one of many efforts to make a soccer-themed pinball game. The game seems above average, though I suspect arcade owners have a service that dirties up playfields, adds extra balls (baffling the computer), and disables upper flippers. The intended Challenge, I think, was getting past a defender, but the it moved so little the shot was easy. My first game scored 32,514,940, getting a replay; my high was 39,379,680. I tend to do better my first game ever than I do the couple right after that. I'm also better when I haven't played in a while.

Manufacturers keep trying sports-themed pinballs, despite the theme never working. I don't know why they don't stick to natural strengths, like amusement parks (Funhouse) and roller coasters (Cyclone). B Movies can inspire good work (Strange Science), though media tie-ins are a toss-up. For every Addams Family or Creature From The Black Lagoon, you get something like P-p-y-. One I'm curious about: In 1974 Williams made a Skylab pinball game. I don't know how you could do that.

Singapore's not a great pinball city, and I suspect somebody closes any arcade I find a good game in. I bet someone's opened an arcade with Secret Service, and Jack-Bot, and Twilight Zone, and Dr. Dude, and Fish Tale, and Tommy, just so they can close it on me. Probably with The Machine: Bride of Pin-bot and Monopoly too.

Trivia: The Primary Avionics Software System for the Space Shuttle General-Purpose Computers is approximately 500,000 words of memory long. Source: Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System: The First 100 Missions, Dennis R. Jenkins.

Currently Reading: Science and Method, Henri Poincaré.

Comments

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

When I think of classic pinball, I think of Cyclone and Comet. The former was in the bar where we used to hang out when I was a grad student at Miami, and the latter was in a tavern where we used to eat during family vacations as a kid. I can't recall much about the gameplay, but in terms of the art, Cyclone is obviously very derivative of Comet. My brother and I used to remark on the similarity of the backglass art -- but thanks to the pinball database, I now know that it was done by the same artist. Cyclone has the same evil-faced coaster train, odd structureless track, and fireworks, but I don't think the art is quite as classy. Sure, it's got Ronald and Nancy Reagan sitting in the front seat, so that's a point in its favor -- but it lacks the neat upside-down perspective of Comet, the riders' expressions aren't quite as wild, and the composition is generally less dynamic (probably a consequence of having to make room for the Mystery Wheel).

The odd thing about both is that they take the names of classic wooden roller coasters, but the art clearly shows a steel looping coaster. The IPDB claims that Comet was named after the one at Chicago's Riverview Park (closed in 1967), and I assume Cyclone is named for the famous Coney Island coaster -- both old-time wooden coasters.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Ach! I can't believe I forgot Comet, particularly since it was evoked in Cyclone. But it's hard to remember all the marvelous games out there, even just looking to the late 80s/early 90s. I had the good luck to attend Rutgers University, with five (count 'em) student centers, each with a lineup of from two to six games each ... yes, there was a lot of duplication of machines, but there were also eccentric choices like Bugs Bunny's Birthday Bash (a noble if flawed effort) or Gilligan's Island (a well-meant flop) or Black Knight 2000 (one of the best).

The wood versus steel roller coasters is ... whoops. I imagine the artists were hypnotized by the metal rails on the pinball machines and didn't think about the original roller coasters. I'd be embarrassed, at least; I hate it when I overlook things like that.

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

Well, the names evoke a certain nostalgia, but for most of the kids who would have been playing the machines, "roller coaster" would have been synonymous with the latest steel coasters. In the 80s, that meant an Arrow looping coaster with black horsecollar restraints and a pointy-nosed train. So I guess it's only natural that they depicted that in the art. (I do wonder what's going on with the Comet's wheels, or lack of them. It appears to slide down the rails instead of rolling! I can't decide if the artist was making an intentional stylistic decision, or was just too lazy to work from a reference.)

Pinball-like but...

[argon-centaur.livejournal.com]

I've never been any good playing pinball but, for obvious reasons, I do know about the Centaur (http://www.premier-md.com/pin_centaur.html) pinball machine (Scroll down linked page to see images). It has an image of a "centaur" on the top panel. It's a demonic looking guy who is blended with a motorcycle. It looks about as much like a classic centaur as Mozdoc (http://www.prismfx.com/pixel/images/mozdoc.jpg) does.

Actually, the pinball centaur is a closer match. And the heads on all the bodies pictured on the pinball machine are visible.

To wash the taste of that image out of your mind, here's a nice G rated image (http://www.centaursite.com/anna-karin/companions1.jpg) of Mavra and I by the talented Anna-Karin Larson. It should be colored soon.

Re: Pinball-like but...

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I've never had the chance to play the pinball Centaur (http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=476&raise=), though I've actually heard rather good things about it and its sequel (http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=477&raise=). I've also never seen Party Animal (http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1763&raise=) in, ahem, the wild either, come to think of it.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

It's a fair question whether they meant to overlook the wooden roller coasters or not ... if this were a few years ago I could tell you at least some of the game's designers hung around rec.games.pinball and might be able to tell you, or ask the artists (if the artists remembered), but I haven't hung around those parts in a very long time. Too depressing reading of all the mistreatment of machines out there, you know ...

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

As for me, I never liked Pinball much growing up.. until 12 grade. I had a job at a Burger King, and to wait for a good half-hour to an hour every day after work for a ride from the Mom'goose.. so I'd head to the bowling alley next door, and play Street Fighter II, and Addams Family. Mmm. Still my favorite pinball, though Twilight Zone is good as well, and Medieval Madness.

--Chiaroscuro

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Oh, boy, Addams Family and Twilight Zone -- I had the good fortune to start playing pinball just as they were placed everywhere, roughly speaking. I'd had some good games in the area before -- Strange Science and Secret Service (it was a ``spy show'' theme, with elements from Secret Agent Man, Mission Impossible, and Get Smart; how can you go wrong?) -- but these were just best-of-all-time caliber games.