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The Classic Pinball Podcast
The Classic Pinball Podcast
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#34 Spinner - spinner, chicken dinner

PodcastAnalysis updated 2d ago49 min listenBy George
From the creator

George listens to Keith, Martin and Jeff talk 9 ball. George has questions for Dave about spinners on 9 ball and Stargazer. Other Bally and Stern spinners are discussed. Joe Lemire buys Ice Fever....

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Highlights

  • Nine Ball's spinner is variable and maxed out by hitting the upper three center-top drop targets, worth approximately 2,500 points per spin when maxed
  • Stargazer has three different spinners: left and right spinners worth either 200 or 2,000 points (lit/unlit), and a center-left spinner with variable ladder mechanic tied to drop targets
  • The center-left spinner on Stargazer's ladder mechanic ranges from 5,000 points down to 200 points depending on ladder position, inversely correlated with drop target value
  • Nine Ball and Stargazer are the best spinner representation games from Stern
  • Fathom (Bally) has a 1,000-point unlit spinner and 5,000-point lit spinner with excellent sound effects
  • Flash Gordon (Bally) has 100 points unlit and 1,000 points lit with an electric guitar sound effect
  • Joe Lemire recently acquired a Future Spa machine and needed a backglass from Paul Ferris; his wife later purchased a second backglass on the open market
  • Joe Lemire and Nick jointly own/operate approximately 28 pinball machines (21 set up, 7 ready to go out)
  • Jurassic Park incorporated spinner mechanics derived from Nine Ball according to Owen (game designer)
  • Hot Hand machines selling for $1,500 on secondary market have playfield planking and thin, brittle backglass paint that isn't worth restoration

Notable quotes

“Definitely Stargazer is definitely up there... I think Stargazer and Nineball are the best spinner representation I think of that”
Dave
“Flash Gordon and Fathom, I think, are the best [Bally spinners]... lit for a thousand points... That thing goes and goes and goes”
Dave
“Right now we have Paragon, Xenon Flash Gordon, Fathom and Eight Ball Deluxe... It's a complete ballet lineup”
Dave
“I think he's doing joint ownership with Nick... from what I understand, he's on a big property somewhere with enough room to collect”
George
“It's a working game, but it's not gone through... I'm not finding the value. I want something a little bit better, and I'll wait for the right game”
George
“You rebuild some target banks. You put a couple of Molexes in. You do the flippers. I mean, you can eat eight hours easy”
George
“Midway took the video game cabinet idea and said, yeah, we can do it to a pinball machine. We can cheap out and do this stuff. That's what they did. It doesn't make it right”
Dave
“inline mech... I compare it to the barrel with the cutout in it... that's not the worst of it, the worst of that is the big hunking piece of slug”
Dave
“We're good in that it's spontaneous. We're bad in that sometimes we're not prepared... I'd rather go lie without a net anyway”
George
“They had El Cheapo LEDs all throughout the game. And I don't like LEDs, and especially El Cheapos, and especially ones that have ghosting and blinky”
Dave

Entities

  • Bally/Midway· company
  • Stern· company
  • Catacomb· game
  • Eight Ball Deluxe· game
  • Fathom· game
  • Flash Gordon· game
  • Future Spa· game
  • Hook· game
  • Hot Hand· game
  • Jurassic Park· game
  • Kings of Steel· game
  • Nine Ball· game
  • Paragon· game
  • Stargazer· game
  • Xenon· game
  • The Classic Pinball Podcast· organization
  • Dave· person
  • George· person
  • Joe Lemire· person
  • Keith Elwin· person
  • Nick· person
  • Owen· person
  • Paul Ferris· person

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