whoa, that’s gotta be the find of the decade! 
I might have let out little yelp when I saw that yesterday. It’s already rare enough to find a NIB STTNG, but to get Michael Dorn’s personal, CUSTOM pin?? Good lord, that’s amazing.
Qapla!
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Our NWPAS preview with Dan Halligan. Learn some history about the NW’s finest pinball show, and look forward to our recap in a few weeks.
You guys have talked about pinball parties at people’s houses and visiting private collections - what’s the entry point for this kinda stuff? There’s such a vibrant community here in Seattle, should I just turn up for a folding party and say hi?
Also, hope everyone who went to the NWPAS had fun! I loved the stoner-themed homebrew. Blew up Safecracker, but sadly no coin! 
Hey there! Sorry for the delayed response.
Private collections 9 times out of 10 are because of Seattle Pinball League. Our monthly matches are always at another member’s home and have about 50 players each time. Todd’s house is the exception. He draws a lot more folks out to his awesome spot on Bainbridge.
Anyway, the best way to get involved in that is to email wapinball@gmail.com (Dave primarily runs this) and say that you want to get on the list serve about events. Mind you, this means you’ll be getting emails about nearly every pinball event in the Seattle area worth mentioning, but you’ll also get details about our private matches within SPL.
But yes, you should also just turn up at our folding parties because they’re loads of fun. Start coming out to tournaments too. You’ll meet many folks who have pins at their homes.
If you’re in the Seattle area and still chasing that Safe Cracker coin, there’s one on route at Shorty’s now. I got 3 coins in one day! And they’re good for 2 for 1 well drinks at the bar. Woo hoo!
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As our friend returns to Pittsburgh, we wish a fond farewell to Tim Tournay! We’ll always have the tilts.
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I enjoy listening to you guys. I really, really suck at those sound bites. I never get any of them right and I play a lot of pinball. The “flip, part, keep” segment was pretty cool. Really made me think about what games I like and dislike. Keep up the good work!
I can’t believe Kayluh would “kill” TWD!
I’ve been doing a kind of catch-up. Just finished Episode 24. (I listen to this podcast as I drive. However, I fractured my right ankle several weeks ago and recently healed enough to be able to drive again. I wasn’t sure where I was, so I just picked updirectly where I left off.)
A couple of thoughts regarding that episode:
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This is incredibly cynical and I doubt it happens often, if ever, but without a limit per person on how many spots for later, bigger tournament one can win, another reason why someone might want to hoard them is to block other people from getting in, especially if the number of spots is limited. (I don’t know if it is or not.) I have observed people doing this in some competitions I’ve attended (not pinball), where the environment is utterly cuttthroat. For some of these competitors, if they can find a way to prevent their opponents from even entering, they’ll take it, as it basically means they’ve won before even playing. For non-invitation ones, for instance, something I’d see them do is bring all their friends in as dummies, of sorts, to crowd out the available spots in the competition, who will all throw matches if they’re up against their designated winner (but will still at least pretend like they’re trying). In the worst cases, some of these friends have infiltrated the judges and referees.
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I have never been to an arcade with any seating for the purpose of waiting or relaxation except for events. Then again, I’ve also only ever been to one arcade that hosts any sort of competition organized by someone who runs the place. (This is not counting restaurant and bar areas.) The idea of having benches and such never even occurred to me until that podcast. But I guess I don’t live in a place with any major arcade competition scene, and arcade owners kind of want their patrons to come in, play, and get out.
I don’t remember the podcast context for this but I don’t think there’s a major pinball place in the Seattle area that isn’t a barcade (besides Full Tilt, which is an ice cream parlor), so seating is common.
The context was that a new place had opened up or was under new ownership (forgot the name) that, according to the discussion taking place, had a good balance between seating and machines.
But I guess part of the reason it stood out to me is that it’s the total opposite where I live: To my knowledge, only one barcade exists in my general area (not counting Dave & Buster’s), at least ever since the nearest 1-Up went out of business, and instead there is a small and scattered but pretty stable traditional arcade scene, most of which seem to be aimed at children. Incidentally, that’s why it’s also a bit jarring listening to the podcast and hearing there being so few locations that let people under 21 in that they have to be named individually.
Whaaat? Given the other two choices, The Walking Dead is a dead machine walkin’! I’ve never been great at it, and in near two years time have never gotten a very good handle on it.
I enjoy listening to you guys. I really, really suck at those sound bites. I never get any of them right and I play a lot of pinball. The “flip, part, keep” segment was pretty cool. Really made me think about what games I like and dislike. Keep up the good work!
They’re not easy, that’s for sure. And this last episode Graham played the sound bites backwards! That was extra tough. Glad you’re still enjoying them!
@SunsetShimmer, sorry to hear about your ankle! That healing process is long and tough. Glad you’re able to drive again.
- It’s been so long since we recorded episode 24… I’m not really sure what you’re referencing. Herb style Pump and Dump tournaments?
- We don’t have straight up proper arcades in Seattle. We have barcades, ice cream shops, pinball bars, and so forth. I think the Seattle Pinball Museum is the only place with out any seating at all. There’s a huge sense of community here so it’s nice to have a spot to sit between games with friends. Especially when we’re picking games for our next round in the bar league! Definitely need a table to sit at for that.
I forgot to post a link to our latest episode! Here’s our run down of the NWPAS show with Brad and Gordon again. We diverge into some other topics after our show report filled with impressions on The Big Lebowski and Iron Maiden pinball. Enjoy!
[quote=“kayluh, post:133, topic:595, full:true”]@SunsetShimmer, sorry to hear about your ankle! That healing process is long and tough. Glad you’re able to drive again.
- It’s been so long since we recorded episode 24… I’m not really sure what you’re referencing. Herb style Pump and Dump tournaments?
- We don’t have straight up proper arcades in Seattle. We have barcades, ice cream shops, pinball bars, and so forth. I think the Seattle Pinball Museum is the only place with out any seating at all. There’s a huge sense of community here so it’s nice to have a spot to sit between games with friends. Especially when we’re picking games for our next round in the bar league! Definitely need a table to sit at for that.
[/quote]
For the first point, I actually meant Episode 23 (Dave Stewart). I wasn’t entirely clear on the tournament style, as this format is entirely new to me, but I heard mention of the prizes for winning or placing high in some of these earlier tournaments being entries to later, bigger tournaments that you’d normally have to pay more to enter. (Unless I misinterpreted or had forgotten something.) There was also mention of a limit of 2 entries an individual can win (from winning 2 of the smaller competitions, I’m guessing), under the idea that if there were more, some people would hoard these entries to give to their friends.
That’s why I threw out the more sinister possibility of people hoarding entries to a tournament to block other people from entering. When he talked about reasons why there is a cap of 2 entries, that’s what immediately sprung to mind as I had experienced that practice myself. The people who did that were incredibly unfriendly jerks though. (They were also obviously no fun to play against–they were VERY serious and disgruntled-looking people who would attempt to psychologically provoke you into making mistakes.) The impression I get from pinball competitions in Seattle is that they are all friendly events with friendly competitors, and anyone who behaves as selfishly as that will likely not last long and be rejected from the community as a whole.
For the second point, thanks for the explanation. Yeah, it confused me about seating, if it meant bar seating or something else. To be honest, prior to pinball, many of the competitions of various things I entered were more like what I described above. If there were communities, they were cliques, who behave condescendingly to non-members and will do anything to let one of their own win. That’s why I was so shocked to see pinball competitions so full of nice people. They will even teach people how to play these games! And they’ll teach them right! And frankly, I have difficulty adjusting to this difference. I have been so accustomed to closely guarding everything I know and putting up mental defenses against gamesmanship techniques. There’d be nowhere to sit to spectate and chat because the people who run these tournaments are well aware of the nature of their competitors (and they’ll just sit on the floor or something regardless).
There’s a minor thing I want to say about Episode 28 (Dan Halligan), and it is just a really small thing. Dan refers to, if I recall correctly, River City Ransom as a fighting game. Technically, it is a beat-em-up game, not a fighting game. A beat-em-up game has the player character fighting large amounts of weak enemies, and occasionally, stronger boss characters, and the goal is usually to get from Point A to Point B. Multiplayer in beat-em-up games are almost always cooperative. Examples, in addition to RCR, are The Simpsons (the Capcom game), Bad Dudes, God of War, and Dynasty Warriors. A fighting game, on the other hand, has the player character fight one single opponent of comparable strength in a small self-contained space, with the goal being to win a certain number of rounds by depleteing the opponent’s health before the opponent can do the same. Multiplayer in a fighting game is usually head-to-head, though cooperative multiplayer comes up pretty often. Famous examples of fighting games include Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, Mortal Kombat, Soul Calibur, Tekken, and some will say Super Smash Bros.
An easy way to distinguish them is as such: Can you play as most or all of your enemies? If so, it’s a fighting game. Otherwise, it’s something else.
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Welcome, to my home.
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The Pinball Museum actually does have those tables with barstools, which I’ve knocked over multiple times because I’m an awful donkey-kicker.
Got to listen to the BSD episode, finally! I totally didn’t get that game for like, months, until I did the right thing and sat down and looked at the PAPA rulesheet and it all made sense (in my defense I was playing it mostly on Pinball Arcade, which is not the most legible). Stacking the multiballs and getting all those 30m jackpots is such a thrill, as well as all the multipliers on the rest of the table, so if you start Bats during multi-multi-multiball you can get like 150m if you somehow nail it right away. I didn’t know about the DO HO, but I do like that if you press the start button when Dracula’s eyes cross on the DMD you get an (almost worthless) easter egg.
I’ve seen bits and pieces of the movie, but I wanna finish the book before I see the rest. It’s funny that such a dour film would be made into a pinball, but I’m glad they took the chance. The movie’s gimmick is that all the effects are practical, so if that’s your thing then it’s definitely worth checking out. Awesome shoutout to Vampyr! I hope Graham saw it by way of the Criterion release, and not some awful scratchy public domain DVD because it looks terrific.
It’d be cool to see you two cover Dr Who, which is by the same designer (and Bad Cats, which makes three for three for games with difficult far-to-the-left shots). I love the theme but every time I play it I completely fumble the ball because I have no idea what’s going on. It’s too bad Olaf’s is so out of the way by bus because theirs is so nice, and their BSD too (those LEDs are so spooky). And count me in for Skillshot Dracula movie night! 
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What part of Seattle are you in? Maybe we’ll make a movie night happen!
New ep is up. I’ve got things to say about Pinburgh, DC, and Maryland, plus Graham just got back from Portugal and Spain! Check it.
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Hey K, I wanted to say hi at Pinburgh but dang you’re so popular, you had a baby swarm around you at all times. We’ll make it happen next year!
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Oh I wish you had! It was great to meet so many people who listen to the show, folks on this forum (looking at you @LOTR_breath) and just awesome pinball people throughout the entire event. Everyone was so friendly and sweet. On top of everything, of the 40 games I played, they were all in immaculate shape, regardless of my performance on them. Next year for sure. Never feel like you’re not welcome to come say hi!
And for those who either weren’t at Pinburgh or I don’t see in day to day life (or facebook), here’s a picture of my new Addams tattoo. Thanks to my friend Jess at Jester’s Court in Pittsburgh. Go see her if you’re local. She does wonderful work!
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