Can This Man Save Pinball?
slate.com
slate.com
This is quite interesting because Stern's Lord of the Rings is one of their best (and most complex) games and would create a natural comparison, but it will be quite hard to outdo compared to taking on more recent (read: cheaper) Sterns.
On that topic I wish I could find a fully functional LoTR as I came late to it and now everyone I find has critical flaws. There's one in the Minneapolis airport that is broken, and I've played one in London that mostly works except the ring sensor is broken so you can't destroy the ring, which you only discover after an epic game. Apparently there is a setting compensate for this, but the operator won't turn it on. Incidentally, I almost beat Martin Ayub's (he's mentioned in the article) high score of 350M on this machine, and were it not for this fault I certainly would have. And of course without that it is also impossible to reach what is reputed to be the most difficult-to-reach wizard mode in the history of pinball: Valinor.
I saw One More Time [1] but that's about 4.5 hours out from Tokyo if my directions are correct.
Not pinball but there is this http://dgm.hmc6.net/
Dagashiya (local sweet shop) game museum
Satellite Lounge http://www.satellitelounge.net/
Reciprocal Skateboards - http://www.yelp.com/biz/reciprocal-nyc-new-york
I collect pinball machines; I have 11 of them crammed into a house not designed to hold that many large machines. It's an interesting amalgamation of physical and electronic skills to repair and restore them, it's possibly more fun to restore them than it is to actually play them.
Python Anghelo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up03zouCIvI
I always play a machine if I see one and have time on my hands. Although it is a little frustrating to find most machines I come across have some problems, or have been tampered with to make them more difficult.
I also love the Zen studios pinball game on xbox / windows 8. Ironically, I think it is one of the best real world activity sims I have encountered.
It's been a fun way to waste time.
On the flip side of the coin, Pinball Arcade strives to emulate classic games exactly as they were, so the games may be more "boring" to some, but appeal far more to the portion of the market that's played them before.
Pinball Arcade actually emulates 4 machines that I also physically own. Sometimes it's easier to fire up the video version of the game than play the real one. I know to some that's heresy (and to me it is as well) but the video versions are a LOT quieter, and are easier to walk away from if needed. I would be a rich man if I could design a "pause" button for a physical pin, I think.
The big issue with pins on location is the maintenance - the number of people left who can genuinely maintain pinball machines is pretty tiny. I wonder if they've done anything to improve the maintainability, like reducing the amount of dirt buildup. The LED lighting will certainly help!
Some of the actual mechanical designs haven't changed in decades (the flipper mechanics are pretty simple and cheap and well-understood; the payoff in "redesigning" the mechanism has almost no chance to pay off in the long run) but there are improvements that can (and have) been made in overall servicability. Modern machines are easier to access (in general), components are easier to remove (in general) and the diagnostics built into the software are light-years ahead of what used to be typical. While there's still a fair amount of skill in being /good/ at repairing pins, modern pins seem to me to be much easier to maintain by an owner-operator than they've ever been.
But at the same time pinball is... not very fun. And expensive. I fully expect it to go the way of the music hall, and on a larger scale I'm happy about that.
But I'm also sad to see a craft disappear. Not sure what to think.