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The Classic Pinball Podcast
The Classic Pinball Podcast
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Episode 10: The Classic Pinball Podcast-Centaur

PodcastAnalysis updated 2d ago59 min listenBy George
From the creator

The guys have their normal discussion about all aspects of Centaur. Sometimes taking a detour, but staying true to their roots discussing classic pinball. They attempt to play a few games to show off...

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Highlights

  • Centaur was designed by Jim Patla with artwork by Paul Faris
  • Paul Faris appeared on the backglass of Centaur as a motorcycle, along with his wife
  • Centaur featured five-ball multiball, which was innovative for its time
  • Bally was the only manufacturer in the early 1980s to use a dual-CPU architecture with a high-end Squawk and Talk soundboard alongside the main MPU
  • Centaur's soundboard had over 30 unused spoken phrases that weren't utilized in the game
  • The auto-attract mode (all five balls on playfield when idle for 15 minutes) caused excessive playfield wear, leading many owners to disable it
  • Centaur has color-coded inserts: red for bonus, amber for orb feature, green for sequence targets, blue for guardian feature
  • George purchased his Centaur for $900 when a friend (Jack) bought it from a divorcing woman who needed cash

Notable quotes

“Half man, half motorcycle. They're pitching motorcycle insurance.”
George
“You snooze you lose, man. You just lost one great game.”
George
“This is the only game I've bought out of the 13 or 14 games that actually worked after we got it home.”
George
“They actually pushed the envelope. It just seems like, and we'll conclude with this, that this was a great game for its time, overlooked for a time.”
George
“Bally was the only one that used that high-end CPU soundboard. They had two MPUs in the game.”
Dave
“They were like, it's kind of like the Williams D&D of the '90s, their pinnacle in the '90s.”
George
“It's the poor man's Eight Ball Deluxe.”
George
“I have a Centaur 2 and I got a Centaur original which one am I going to keep... I have to go with the uniform big back glass of course you do”
George

Entities

  • Bally· company
  • CPR· company
  • Gottlieb· company
  • Innovative Concepts (ICE)· company
  • Stern· company
  • Williams· company
  • Ball's a Puppet· game
  • Centaur· game
  • Fathom· game
  • Quicksilver· game
  • The Classic Pinball Podcast· organization
  • Bill Davis· person
  • Dave· person
  • Dave Matrando· person
  • Eric Stone· person
  • George· person
  • Jack· person
  • Jim· person
  • Jim Patla· person
  • Joel· person
  • Mike· person
  • Paul Faris· person
  • Stu· person

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