Episode 80_Oh the Horror
Spencer, Dan, and Mark talk about their favorite scary, spooky and, or horror themed pinball machines. Dan and mark give a great review on this year's Pin a go go. we talk about the out of left field...
Highlights
- Pinballpalooza had approximately 150-200 games on show, with reasonable crowds even on Saturday afternoon
- Star Wars: Fall of the Empire has a difficult Death Star shot that rattles even when open for lock, requiring multiple attempts to achieve multiball
- The Pro version of Star Wars is adequate for most players and doesn't require Premium/LE investment; most customization happens post-purchase
- Harry Potter is mechanically dense and fun to shoot but visually cluttered ('cotton candy nightmare'), contrasting sharply with Jersey Jack's aesthetic quality
- 60 players competed in the men's tournament; tournament format used 10-round target match play followed by Swiss-tiered Amazing Race format
- System 11 machines used in tournament were 40+ years old, with some issues (Pinbot smoky, Codebreaker failed, Swords of Fury needed service) but held up well overall
- Women's tournament winner was Brandi Thompson; Zhao took second, Amanda took third
- Mark qualified 4th out of 60 players in the men's tournament and made top 16 before the Amazing Race format
Notable quotes
“I think it's relentlessly average, does everything. It felt like some games that Stern was doing back when they were about to go out of business.”
“There's just something about Star Wars pinball where they never quite seem to capture the magic.”
“It's like you look in front of a Jersey Jack and it's like, holy crap, this is gorgeous. And then you look at the other one... cotton candy nightmare.”
“It had that vibe of when they used to have tournaments before Golden State, when they had the pin golf. It had that vibe. It was like everybody was social. Everybody was having a good time.”
“So you're basically walking down memory lane basically... I thought that was really cool.”
“The thing that's so scary about Amazing Race is if you have a bad game, everybody that played to set a score were all ridiculously low.”
Entities
- Jersey Jack Pinball· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Pinballpalooza· event
- Harry Potter· game
- Star Wars: Fall of the Empire· game
- Greater Sacramento Pinball League· organization
- Tilted Sisters· organization
- Alex Lambert· person
- Amanda· person
- Brandi Thompson· person
- Dan· person
- Jack· person
- John Borg· person
- Kendra· person
- Mark· person
- Maurice· person
- Pinball Pirate· person
- Rick· person
- Shannon· person
- Spencer· person
- Steve Ritchie· person
- Winnie· person
- Zhao· person
- Elk Grove Pinball· venue
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