Pintastic New England was in Sturbridge, MA, and I was able attend Friday, 24-June. Thanks to everyone who was able to bring games to play, including the Southern New Hampshire Pinball Club.
In addition to trying out a bunch of new games, I played a couple games on a Data East Star Wars. I suspected the flippers on my table were a tad weak, and this confirmed it. Much less trouble here with balls going almost all the way up the center ramp before rolling back down. So a flipper rebuild is in my future.
I was also able to spend time with some old friends, included a Night Rider–not quite the one we had at the dorm my first year of college. That was solid state (SS), while the table at the expo was electro-mechanical (EM).
In general I enjoyed the older games more. The play is more straight forward–here are your targets, here are your spinners–particularly in an expo situation where you get one game before letting the next person play. The newer games have more complicated rules and might have more replay value for a home-owner, but to me sometimes they feel more like video games than pinball.
I will also note a lot of tables have issues with ball visibility. With all the ramps and scoops and toys, I don’t generally enjoy pinball when I can’t see the ball. And with a scoop, when the ball goes in, I’d like to know where it comes out. Not a problem if you own the game and have time to learn all the motions, but an issue again in the expo where you get one game then move on.
But I enjoyed every game I played, and again thanks to everyone (vendors and regular people) who took the time and effort to bring their games and allowed me to play!
So what’s the order for these pictures–alphabetical? Chronological? Autobiographical. This is the order I played them.
Ali, Stern, 1980
Pinball Magic, Capcom, 1995
The Machine: Bride of Pinbot, Williams, 1991
Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure, Williams, 1993
Star Wars Pro, Stern, 2017
Lectronamo, Stern, 1978
Coney Island, Game Plan, 1979
Charlie’s Angels, Gottlieb, 1978
Mata Hari, Bally, 1978
Harlem Globetrotters, Bally, 1979
Gorgar, Williams, 1979
Touchdown, Gottlieb, 1984, with a New England Patriots back glass
F-14 Tomcat, Williams, 1987
Star Trek, Bally, 1979
Night Rider, Bally, 1976
Night Rider back glass, electro-mechanical version
Another Star Trek, Bally, 1979
Capt Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy, Bally, 1975
Eight Ball, Bally, 1977
Rick and Morty Blood Sucker Edition, Spooky Pinball, 2020
Rock Lives, Homebrew, 2021. This had a selection of music themes: heavy metal, 90s, and so on. I picked Weird Al, though I could barely hear over the sound of all the other tables
Another Star Wars Pro, Stern, 2017
The Shadow, Bally, 1994
Star Wars, Data East, 1992. Just like back home in Beggar’s Canyon.
The 2 pin holes on either side of 3PO’s mouth are for aligning the flippers. On my table, only the right hole is visible.
Led Zeppelin Pro, Stern, 2020
Mandalorian Pro, Stern, 2021
Baby Yoda on the Mando
The Party Zone, Bally, 1991
Pinbot, Williams, 1986
Memory Lane, Stern, 1978
Superman, Atari, 1979. The person playing before me had a drink in one hand and was working both flippers with the other hand
Godzilla Premium, Stern, 2021
Rush Premium, Stern, 2022
Cross Country, Bally, 1963
Cross Country has a rod to manually push the ball into the shooter lane, below the shooter rod
Another Pinbot, Williams, 1986
The Getaway: High Speed II, Williams, 1992
Fish Tales, Williams, 1992
Waterworld, Gottlieb, 1995
Alien Poker, Williams, 1980
Bram Stroker’s Dracula, Willams, 1993
Batman, Stern, 2010. This was turned off in the morning and removed at some point, so I did not get to play 🙁
Centaur, Bally, 1981
Guardians of the Galaxy Pro, Stern, 2017
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (LE), Jersey Jack, 2019
Willy’s everlasting gobstopper
I think WW and Toy Story 4 tie for the busiest playfields
Egg Head, Gottlieb, 1961
Another manual ball push under the shooter on Egg Head
Pop-a-Card, Gottlieb, 1972
Tales from the Crypt, Data East, 1993. Fun game but perhaps not the best for a free play room (there’s a lot of screaming involved)
Avengers: Infinity Quest Pro, Stern, 2020
Xenon, Bally, 1980
Jacks Open, Gottlieb, 1977
Indiana Jones, Stern, 2008. Not sure why the kid from Transformers is on the back glass.
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, Data East, 1993