So, I’m in a position to buy another pinball machine. Here are the ones I’m looking at:
The Simpsons Pros: really fun; newer and less prone to breakdowns Cons: most expensive on the list; the busy playfield means sometimes you don’t know where the ball is.
Space Shuttle Pros: cheap compared to the other; easy to hit the multiball; easy to keep track of the ball in spite of the busy playfield Cons: It’s a Williams, not a Bally. Doctor Who Pros: clear playfield; DH likes it Cons: also spendy; kind of a one-trick pony.
Black Knight Pros: It’s a legendary game, but it’s still not terribly expensive, as an older game; multiball is also easy to hit Cons: I’d have to wait, as this one isn’t actually ready yet.
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How long of a wait will it be for the Black Knight? You’re probably going to get years of enjoyment out of a good game; it seems like that means that it’s worth waiting a while for the best one.
Not enough of an aficionado to have an opinion on the OP, but I wanted to pimp the California Extreme expo for anyone in the CA Bay Area. They just held one about a month ago, so it’s close to a year until the next one, but it’s a ton of fun–basically every classic pinball/arcade machine that you can think of (and plenty of newer ones, not to mention some really old ones), all free to play. Basically $30 for a day of unlimited classic gaming.
Same here. I can play it almost every day, and do. Never gets old.
It’s also the one I can rely on working when the others go Tits-Up.
Hey, if you do go with Black Knight, be sure to get all the fancy modern up-grades, like power boards, lighting and low-power score read-outs. All out there, reasonable cheap and makes the game even stronger!
I was a power generator mechanic in the Army, so I’m really good at trouble-shooting circuits, and usually fix anything on a pinball machine, but the older machines blow out solenoids, amd things like that, whereas newer machines just blow fuses.
The wait for The Black Knight is six weeks to three months.
The thing is, there’s the possibility it might not work out. The guy is building one machine out of two, and if for some reason it doesn’t come off, the other machines I’m looking at could be gone-- of course, something even better could come in.
I might offer to put down a deposit on The Black Knight, and see if the builds a fire under him. Maybe he can have it ready sooner than later.
Speaking as a guy who used to make a living operating pinball machines, I’d say the newer games ARE somewhat more reliable than the older ones. Two big factors were the use of optical switches over mechanical, and the migration of the solenoid flyback diodes from being coil-mounted to board-mounted. But all games break, and need regular maintenance, that’s true.
I’d also agree that Williams is preferable to Bally. In terms of excitement per dollar (and earnings per week) Williams left Bally in the dust starting with High Speed in '86. And Indiana Jones was a fantastic Williams game, but it was one of many great games that Williams made around that time.
Has anybody here seen the virtual pinball machines that you see on eBay? I’d really like to take one of those for a test drive.
Anyway, out of those choices, I’d vote for The Simpsons.
Bally’s The Lost World from 1978, the one that has no relationship whatsoever to Jurassic Park, and Bally’s Star Trek. We also have a cocktail table-style Pac-Man.
When you finally buy a game, make sure to get a User Manual dedicated to that game. Reading it, you’ll see that a number of game features are user-programmable, such that you’ll either have direct or indirect control of how often you’re able to achieve multiball play, how long the average game lasts; things like that.
Your preference for Bally is actually well-founded, IMO, but based on their output from the late 70’s to early 80’s, when Bally was king, and their games were far more reliable and fun to play.
One of the drawbacks of older Williams games, (possibly including Black Knight) was that their flippers (and perhaps bumpers and kickers, but my memory isn’t clear on this point) got progressively weaker as the years (months, really) went by. Turns out they were using cheap (aluminum, IIRC) wiring, and to get the power back, you’ll need to replace the wiring that carries the 43V solenoid current, if somebody hasn’t done so already. It’s a bit of work, but worth every minute.
Of the Williams games that pre-date 1986, Black Knight is the only one I’d consider owning today. Space Shuttle was kind of a boring game, and the cash box proved it.
Minority of 1 at the moment, but I voted Space Shuttle. It’s the voices and the scream of the doomed astronaut that do it for me. Plus it’s easy and fun to play, can rack up loads of points and stay on it for ages. I find Black Knight a bit difficult…
I voted for Simpsons because it’s the only one in the list I know for certain that I’ve played. It is indeed very fun and I have fond memories of it. Which is saying a lot because I generally don’t remember many pinball machines, but I remember spending lots of money on this one.
