JohnBud said:
. but a word of warning, never buy a pinball unless you have played it first. there are so many different styles of pinball, its very easy to buy a game you will grow to hate. its like buying a puppy, you will know after a couple of credits whether a games is for you or not.
I'm not sure John, I've bought a few tables blind and have loved them. No Fear is a good example. I felt I'd dig it as it essentially it's a 'best of' SR table, but really fell in love with it when it arrived. Congo is another example, it would never have crossed my mind to get one due to the terrible theme and fairly poor reputation, but it's a great game. That said, a turd is a turd....!
Martin - yeah, it is a shame about SR. The deafness, coupled with our british accents, along with the general pinball noise at shows, made it really hard to talk in any meaningful sense. When I arrived with my games to set-up on Friday at the Slam, he was literally the first person to come up to me to say hello. It took me 30 secs or so to clock who he was, but he was so unassuming and kind, it really took me aback.
I had a game on my No Fear with him and got possibly my all-time worst score, whilst Steve carressed, nudged and shouted at it like it was an old friend. On ball one he shouted 'It's ME game!, place NICE!' He immediately hit the tube and it promptly gave him a flukey extra ball!
It's that 'flow' quality that really makes a game for me. I do like playing the slower, more strategic games, but nothing beats a few beers and a session 'in the zone' where you hit ramp after orbit after ramp!