Great vid from 1982 – a must-see if you’re a fan of golden age arcades.

http://www.gametrailers.com/user-movie/arcade-attack-1982-25/304462

It features a pinball player and a video game player debating over which is better.  As we all know, Pachinko is better than both (DUCKS).  The debate culminates in an animated showdown between pinball and video games.

The style, animation and music are pure 70s/80s retro.

Believe it or not there are a few pinball manufacturers in China.

While trying to find some info on them a few months ago I ran across this Jap Pop video:

Several people have said the pinball in the video is an Apollo 13.

Anyway, I emailed a manufacturer or distributor (I’m not quite sure which) company called Sibo Electronic and their rep sent me these pics. (click for larger version)

Here’s an email where she explains the pricing:

Best regards

Dolley

I also occasionally receive other email from her about other products, such as “Popularity-winning bumper car” and “Favorable kiddie ride”. http://www.siboelectronic.cn/ for more.

So where are they selling these games anyway? I tried to find some arcade videos in places like Shanghai and Macao but came up empty.  Judging from the videos, 2D fighters, Driving and music games are the most popular in those places.

Turns out the soccer theme is one clue.

A little searching and I found some pictures on this pinball bingo fan page: http://bingo.cdyn.com/oddities/costa_rican_fruit/

That tipped me off to the idea of searching down south, and as fast as you can say “Hola, chica”, the links and vids started pouring in.  So the games are made in China but they get shipped over to countries like Costa Rica and Mexico.

In the videos and pages I kept seeing a word repeated: “Tragamonedas”.  My Spanish is limited to the Taco Bell menu and whatever I picked up from West Side Story, so I brought up Google Translator.  Turns out it means “slots”, as in “slot machines”.  Yup, these are payout machines.  They’re actual flipper-less gambling pinball machines.  The same exact kind of game that got the industry started in its very early days.

But to be totally sure I emailed Dolley at Sibo Electonic and asked her about it.

Hello Dolley,

I see some of your products in Mexico.  Do you have Distributors there?

Also, can your products be used for casino gaming such as gambling and
money prizes?

Thanks,

Jon
Chief Ballistics Interpreter
Rudy’s Pinball Palace

——————————————————————————————-

Thanks and best wishes

Dolley

——————————————————————————————-

So there you have it.  At least some of the games are payout machines but not all of them.  This makes sense because in the original two pictures Dolley sent you can clearly see flippers on the game.

Gameplay:

Cabinet and Internals Tour:

Manufacturers and Distributors:

Cheer-Jingle: http://cj-gamemachine.com/en/products_b.html#

Gang-yih: http://www.gang-yih.com.tw/E/index.php?main=company

Taiwan Yuan Mei Co.: http://www.taiwan-yuanmei.com/en/index.asp

And while we’re on the subject Dept:

Here’s a 2-player LCD virtual pinball game from Hungary: http://www.digitalisflipper.hu/

Different manufacturers tried several times to create a monitor displayed pinball game at which the players’ gaming experience would be identical with a real pinball’s. Nobody succeeded in making it! “Pinball addicts” just smiled at them at best or they kicked the games in the worst case. The Viking Adventures is the kind of 3D pinball program at which even the most demanding pinball masters click their tongue.

Here’s some videos I took of the “later” games and the finals at the Summer Playoffs for the Bay Area Pinball Association.

Notice how I’m not in any of them. :-(

I played… well, sort of… bad.  After my initial losses the very best I could finish was 7th.  Then 11th.  Then 13th.  It just got worse and worse.  In my last match I played the league president’s wife Chris.  After they WOKE HER UP (she was sleeping in a chair) she proceeded to add her foot to my ass along with all the others.

But that’s pinball.  A few weeks earlier I outlasted Walter to win novice at CAX.  And then a month ago I finished 3rd at the East Bay League Playoffs, outlasting Josh Lehan and Mads Kristensen.  So, you win some you lose some.

The vids are best viewed in HD (see the links below each movie) and full-screen.  You’ll need a dual-core machine and a good internet connection to play the full 1080 vids.

To view this video in High Definition(HD), click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XkWBkYOpvA&hd=1

To view this video in High Definition(HD), click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQHY8yJlBNg&hd=1

To view this video in High Definition(HD), click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyNS7ZAPSJI&hd=1

From the folks that bring you the PAPA World Championships comes the new Pinburgh Match Play tournament.  I might just have to check this one out!

This tournament introduces a unique match play concept that ensures every player is competing for at least two solid days, with no eliminations until the final day. The tournament structure has been developed by Bowen Kerins, former World Pinball Champion and all-around great guy. The structure of the tournament accommodates players of all skill levels, so please, don’t be shy!

http://www.papa.org/pinburgh2011/index.php

Zen Studios released FX2 today after a short delay (it was originally slated for Oct. 13).

“Yeah yeah yeah but that’s a video game” I can hear people say.  Maybe so, but I honestly believe that if the resources were put to it that video pinball’s physics could be refined “enough” to be acceptable to all but the most stringent of tastes, and meanwhile make up for the shortcomings by leveraging all the crazy, amazing things you can do in a virtual environment.

I’m talking:

• full screen or double-screen animations (assuming the back box is also video)
• giant boss battles
• 3D versions of tables
• warping play fields
• shooting through water falls, steam or rain effects which obscure visibility
• low gravity levels
• bullet time
• instant replays
• awesome video modes
• destroyable environments
• deep storylines
• tutorials
• multiplayer (competitive and cooperative)
• Challenge someone playing at home, or in another arcade
• Online leader boards pushed down to location tables
• loadable tables

There’s been several games that touch on the possibilities but no one has come close to delivering a “total package”. Either the physics are a joke or the gameplay is just…bland… or the designers didn’t include any sort of storyline or goals in the game other than to flip the flippers.

Flipnic for the PS2 is a good example of how the video/virtual medium might begin to be utilized.

And here’s Future Pinball, and open software project. Free to download and play.

Whether you love or hate video pinball here’s a few things to consider: video pinball games now garner 5 – 10 times as much press coverage as their mechanical counterparts.  The Pinball HD was one of the hottest iPad launch titles and the company claims their previous tables for the iPhone got three million purchases.

The PinPin guys are sort of odd ducks in the pinball world.  Well, actually, they’re sort of odd, period.

They’re into snowboarding and pinball, and they make films about both.  Their films have an “anything goes” attitude, like if there’s nothing fun to do today they’ll find something fun and make a video of it.  Check out their site: http://minimumwageentertainment.com/ where you can watch a lot of their previous films.

Their latest film is called PinPin Zero and they’re holding an online release party for it.  The invite is on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=495527852951

Seriously.

The duo check out Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda.

I’ve run into Zach a few times at Merchants.  They give a shout out to some local names like NES, ANM, DOW, SLA, and RPU.

There’s two handy dandy places to play the latest game: AVATAR.

If you’re not familiar with it and want to see what the big deal is, check out the review on Pinball News.

You can play it at the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda. It’s set for coin play so you don’t need to purchase an all-day admission if you only have a couple hours to kill.

It’s also at Fuddrucker’s in Dublin, which also has the advantage of hamburgers, and sounds like a creepy fetish (I totally fuddruckered her!).   Click the picture to go to the pinball map and get the exact addresses and all that.

My own opinion? So far I like it. I’ve probably put around 20 games on it so far. It seems slightly less drainy than Iron Man and Big Buck Hunter (the other two most recent games). It also feels like it has more things to shoot at. Multiballs seem to happen more readily and feed into one another.

The sound is fantastic and it has a 3D translite that is really cool. The playfield and cabinet art are well done and lively.

It’s not going to revolutionize the game but it’s definitely worth your quarters.

The first is a pretty catchy track.  A little simplistic for my techno tastes but cool nonetheless.

The second doesn’t quite work for me but your mileage may vary.  enjoy!

Ballywoo is a new game for the iPhone and iPad which essentially copies the first commercially successful pinball game, Ballyhoo.  I suspect the game doesn’t have an official license hence the oh so clever rename.

The original Ballyhoo sold an estimated 50,000+ units.  Many say 75,000+

Having played a few originals, the main difference is the real one is quite a bit slower.  It’s almost like Ballywoo is set at a much steeper  virtual angle.  It’s probably a good thing for this version since you can fire off balls at a much faster pace and add a little excitement.

If you’re wondering where the flippers are, they weren’t invented until over 15 years later (a fact parodied in the second video – which aired several years after flippers were added to pinall).  In the early pinball games the skill came down to the plunge and nudging the machine.  In this regard, Ballywoo comes up a bit short against the original since there’s little to no precision in the plunge and no ability to nudge.