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How do you start Harem Multiball on the Arabian Knights table?

It's proper pinball and I like it!

The biggest bonus for me is the games themselves don't last 20-25 minutes a go. Sometimes on Pinball FX you can actually get bored of playing when you're 8 balls in and grinding away trying to get within a few hundred million of MrC or Malc74. A good game on Pinball Arcade lasts nothing like that and you can still rack up a decent score. An exceptional game can last that long but it's such a rare thing that you embrace it when it happens rather than sigh.

But still, stupid that the limit is STILL 100.

The Android update with Medieval Madness and Bride of Pin•Bot added has been released! Medieval Madness is the
table of the month and can be played unlimited for free!

Was unconnected to Live though, so as to avoid notifications when watching telly from a memory stick.

I fucking love this game. It's excellent. Wish the UI wasn't designed by a five year old, though.

I'm looking forward to coming across one of the featured tables in real life, because I'll actually know what I'm doing for a change.

WTB wrote:

I'm looking forward to coming across one of the featured tables in real life, because I'll actually know what I'm doing for a change.

I've still only played two of the four tables in this, but I would like to play a 'Believe it or not' table in real life now. However, are there many places that have pinball tables these days? I certainly don't know of any local to me, but I wondered if maybe any of the seaside towns still have some or they'd been replaced by fruit machines and the like.

Bit of a shame, but I'll be checking the two out that are in pubs. As is the case with everything, there are plenty down south, particularly as you say in the seaside resort towns on the south coast.

I think that was always one of the issues with real pinball - they need semi regular maintenance - whereas a fruit machine will keep going as long as money can go in and out and at least the start button works and an arcade machine will last for a long time as long as the controls function reasonably well a Pinball machine needs someone to actually look after them.

Maybe I have bad eyes (eye test said I don't need glasses) or a shit TV (yes) but I found it impossible to see where the ball was on the Arabian Nights table against the busy artwork.

None of the camera angles seem "high" enough either.

If that Pinformer thing is even reasonably complete, it would appear that it's all but impossible to find public machines - there are about 6 in the whole of south London. I'd bet that a bar with a room of decently maintained machines would be a pretty decent draw. Of course, it looks like you'd need to spend tens of thousands to get a half dozen OK tables.

Have you seen the film Special When Lit, AE? Worth a watch?

Special when lit is a great documentary and there is another similar one (whose name escapes me right now).

"Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball" is a documentary that tells the story of Pinball 2000, a mind-blowing attempt at resuscitating pinball that failed just at the moment many people thought it might succeed. A "Soul of a New Machine" for the pinball world, "Tilt" is a compendium of interviews with legends of the pinball industry, photos, and film of the best games the industry has produced. Though nominally about pinball, the film is many things: a story of innovation, a business case study, a nostalgia trip, a story about personality and passion, of unlikely teamwork and cooperation in a workplace traditionally driven by ego. It's a story of a bold success dizzyingly followed by stunning failure. From its nostalgic opening jaunt through pinball history to its heartbreaking ending,

After the huge success of the last Slam, we are returning for a third time.

By once again combining video games and pinball machines supplied by members of the UK's pinball and video games communities, we are going to push it to the next level in 2012 using not just The Force, but the combined forces of RKD Outpost and the incredible generosity of the UK Pinball community.

Together we aim to create an event to rival any show in the world. As always, the Slam is evolving and keeping ideas fresh and exciting. We are going to create the world's first arcade within an arcade. Sounds interesting?

Also, for 2012 we are pleased to announce a special guest - a total legend in the pinball world. Yes, Steve Ritchie will be flying in from Chicago to be at the Slam and to talk about his career in pinball as well as his latest AC/DC game.

To celebrate Steve's visit, this year's Charity Raffle top prize will be a fully-workshopped, immaculate Star Trek - The Next Generation machine which will be signed and presented to the winner by Steve, who designed the game.

Keep checking this site for all the latest updates and be sure to book yourself in early to avoid missing out. You can also check out last years show on Pinball News and in this TV report.

The South Coast Slam 2012: Turning it all the way up to eleven.

The South Coast Slam 2012 will be held at the Charmandean Centre in Worthing, West Sussex.

The Charmandean Centre,
Forest Road,
Worthing,
West Sussex,
BN14 9HS
Phone: 01903 239349

Dates are: Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th April 2012

Opening hours are:
Saturday 10am - 6:30pm
Sunday 10:30am - 5:30pm
with a Friday evening session for those setting up machines.

Tickets: £10 a day, free entry for kids with a paying adult. Tickets can be purchased on the door.

Apollo 13
Attack from Mars
Batman Forever
Baywatch
Big Guns
Black Knight 2000
Black Rose
Blackout
Centaur
Class of 1812
Congo
Cyclone
Demolition Man
Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry
Dolly Parton
Earthshaker
Elvira & the Party Monsters
Elvira & the Party Monsters
Family Guy
Fathom
Fish Tales
Flash
Flash Gordon
Goldeneye
Gorgar
Heavy Metal Meltdown
High Speed 2 - The Getaway
Indiana Jones
Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
Johnny Mnemonic

Joker Poker
Jungle Lord
Junkyard
Last Action Hero
Lord of the Rings
Lord of the Rings
Lord of the Rings
Maverick
Medusa
Monster Bash
Mr & Mrs Pac-Man
NBA Fastbreak
NBA Fastbreak
No Fear
No Fear
No Good Gofers
Pharaoh
Radical
Revenge from Mars
Riverboat Gambler
Roadshow
Roadshow
Rollercoaster Tycoon
Scared Stiff
Secret Service
Shrek
Skateball
South Park
Space Shuttle
Space Station
Spectrum
Spider-Man

Spy Hunter
Star Trek - The Next Generation
Star Trek - The Next Generation
Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars
Stargate
Stargate
Starship Troopers
Staw Wars Episode 1
Stellar Wars
Strange Science
Super Mario Bros
Surf 'N Safari
Surf 'N Safari
Swords of Fury
Tales from the Crypt
Taxi
The Addams Family
The Flintsones
The Machine - Bride of Pinbot
The Shadow
Time Machine
Tommy
Twilight Zone
Twister
Volcano
Whitewater
Wipeout
World Cup Soccer
World Poker Tour

Author:	YOG [ Sun Apr 08, 2012 13:33 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
Black Hole is a bastard. I can't even tell what I'm hitting to open the gate for re-entry, and half of the time I fail anyway. How do you start Harem Multiball on the Arabian Knights table?

Author:	zaphod79 [ Sun Apr 08, 2012 13:46 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
YOG wrote: How do you start Harem Multiball on the Arabian Knights table? Its the only one i'm missing from the basic goals however there are two ways to do it 1) When you do not have tiger loops enabled the other light is harem , so send the ball round that loop 5 times to start the multiball 2) Hit the ball into the 'secret' entrance to the harem 3 times (the secret entrance is at the back of the genie figure)

Author:	YOG [ Sun Apr 08, 2012 14:35 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
Ace, thanks!

Author:	TheVision [ Sun Apr 08, 2012 18:22 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
I've just played the demo of this and boy, is it different to Pinball FX. It's proper pinball and I like it!

Author:	Hearthly [ Sun Apr 08, 2012 22:52 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
TheVision wrote: It's proper pinball and I like it!

Be Excellent To Each Other https://www.beexcellenttoeachother.com/forum/

The Pinball Arcade https://www.beexcellenttoeachother.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8193	Page 2 of 17

Author:	WTB [ Mon Apr 09, 2012 0:36 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
I absolutely love Black Hole. I feel like I'm in an arcade when I'm playing it. Neon carpet and everything.

Author:	Trousers [ Mon Apr 09, 2012 9:44 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
I still love Pinball FX but the tables in Pinball Arcade are far superior and once the additional tables come out (ST:TNG - dribble) comes out then I can see Pinball FX being confined to the shelf for only the very occasional outing. The biggest bonus for me is the games themselves don't last 20-25 minutes a go. Sometimes on Pinball FX you can actually get bored of playing when you're 8 balls in and grinding away trying to get within a few hundred million of MrC or Malc74. A good game on Pinball Arcade lasts nothing like that and you can still rack up a decent score. An exceptional game can last that long but it's such a rare thing that you embrace it when it happens rather than sigh.

Author:	Hearthly [ Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:19 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
Trousers wrote: The biggest bonus for me is the games themselves don't last 20-25 minutes a go. Sometimes on Pinball FX you can actually get bored of playing when you're 8 balls in and grinding away trying to get within a few hundred million of MrC or Malc74. A good game on Pinball Arcade lasts nothing like that and you can still rack up a decent score. An exceptional game can last that long but it's such a rare thing that you embrace it when it happens rather than sigh. This is yet another reason why PFX2 isn't a proper pinball game. During the time I spent with it I had some pretty long games, and seemed to be doing pretty well, then when I finally lost all my balls I'd see Trousers and co were fifty gazillion points ahead of me, and I did think to myself 'How long were they fucking playing for?' One has to remember that pinball was always a commercial enterprise, they weren't designed so that you could play for six years off a single 50p piece, but they were designed to reward the skilful player with extra balls and extra credits, (not that extra credits matter so much in free play), but these weren't dropped into your lap. It was also possible to get flat out unlucky sometimes, and watch a crucial last ball disappear down the sidelanes without you getting a single flipper on it, this was all part of what gave pinball its unique character. Take that away (as PFX2 basically did) and TBH there's not much left of an actual PINBALL game. I'm not saying PFX2 is flat-out poor or that it can't be enjoyed as a video game, but it is a bad pinball game.

Author:	Curiosity [ Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:53 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
I bought this. I know bugger all about pinball, and sometimes get frustrated at a piece of bad luck (ejecting balls from features straight down the gap - aarrgghh!), but this is ace. Excellent fun, and even has tables of extreme simplicity (Black Hole). I've only had a couple of turns, and expect to see all my scores ground into dust, but I'm going to enjoy learning the secrets of various tables.

Author:	YOG [ Mon Apr 09, 2012 14:18 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
I'm learning to embrace sheer bad luck myself at the moment - no free 'shoot again' time here! If you launch your ball and it heads straight for the gutter, tough shit.

Author:	Curiosity [ Mon Apr 09, 2012 17:18 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
What's yer Gamertag, Yog?

Author:	YOG [ Mon Apr 09, 2012 17:23 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
Klatrymadon, mate. I think my friends list is at 100, but I'll have a comb through it and give someone the Spanish archer.

Author:	MrC [ Mon Apr 09, 2012 17:41 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
Funnily enough I sent out a friend request to Curiosity just this afternoon when his friend count was at 99.....talk about bad timing

Author:	Curiosity [ Mon Apr 09, 2012 18:24 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
There are plenty of people on my list who can be culled. But still, stupid that the limit is STILL 100.

Author:	Hearthly [ Wed Apr 11, 2012 17:33 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
Am I missing anyone off my friends list who's playing this? I may well have been defriended by a few BEEXers over time as I've hardly been on XBLA in the last 12-18 months and/or because you think I'm an obnoxious PC spod cunt. If you have defriended me for either of the above reasons (or have never friended me at all) and are playing this excellent pinball game please could you add: ChoppoTurnip as a friend for maximum leaderboard score sharage. (I've only put in a half-decent score on ToM up to now though.) I'll send out requests to anyone posting in this thread who isn't on my list so if you see a request from ChoppoTurnip, that's me! As for the Ripley's table, it should be noted that it was designed by Pat Lawlor, so its insanely complex ruleset makes total sense since he was responsible for some of the most complicated (and therefore rewarding) pinballs ever, including the epically brilliant Twilight Zone. (I owned a real Twilight Zone table for about three years and I can honestly say it took me a few months before I genuinely grasped all the nuances of the ruleset, but by christ it was satisfying to really master that table.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Lawlor Therefore, expect to be confused by Ripley's for a while - (I certainly was/am, but now I realise it's by Pat Lawlor I'm definitely going to stick at it) - but if it's anything like his other tables the genius of the design should start to show through pretty sharpish. The loss of real pinballs to play over the years is a massive shame. When I first came to the IOM I'd say about 50% of the pubs here had one (a couple of pubs even had two), this has dwindled and dwindled over the years, and the last one sited in a pub disappeared about four or five years ago Ultimately as far as the operators are concerned they're a pain in the arse. They need regular maintenance, they're prone to having bits break and thus getting turned off and not taking any money (there's no getting away from the physical nature of them), they take up loads of space and they're bastard noisy - so unless they're harvesting a pretty penny in the cashbox they make precious little commercial sense. Also, they require some specialist knowledge to keep them running properly, I remember a pub here had a table that was 'losing' balls on a regular basis. The software in pinballs is suprisingly and ingeniously adaptive* so it works around stuff like this as best it can, but after a certain number of balls had got stuck in this one location the table simply went into 'ball search' mode and couldn't be played. The engineer who came out to it every other week would just release the balls from where they were stuck, turn the table back on, and call it 'fixed', until the balls got stuck again and the cycle repeated. In the end I wrote a short description of exactly what the problem was (a weak solenoid and a cracked ball launch chute) and left it behind the bar for them to give to the engineer. And what did he do the next time he came out to the table? Release the stuck balls and turn it back on...... No wonder they were making fuck all money, but of course the operator just sees the bottom line and removes the table from service, rather than realising that if they ACTUALLY KEPT THE THE FUCKING THING WORKING PROPERLY it would have a fair chance to make some profit. * For example, if a single switch or opto isn't triggered for a certain numbers of games, the software assumes that the switch is broken, flags it as inactive, logs an error for the operator maintenance mode, and will then attempt to work around it. A simple case might be a loop that has a rollover switch at the beginning, middle and end. If the ball triggers the three switches in order the software knows that a successful loop shot has been made. The switch in the middle might only be used for specific features, or to trigger some sort of 'halfway house' sound effect or animation. If the middle switch in the loop ceases to function, the table will no longer know the status of the ball after the beginning switch is triggered - (did it get as far as the middle or not? the table doesn't know) - but if the beginning switch is triggered and this is followed by the end switch, the software will assume that a loop shot has been made, and award the loop shot, even though the middle switch in the loop never 'called in'. If you're ever playing a real table and the software seems to 'catch up' sometimes with what you've done, chances are that a switch is out somewhere and the software is trying to extrapolate what's happened from the inputs it's received. When I bought my ST:TNG table it was really badly shagged and had been dreadfully neglected, but what amazed me about it was how successfully the software was able to compensate for all the switches and optos that were broken and still provide a reasonable game. Took me ages to restore that table to its former glory! FINAL NOTE (I promise) - Good Twilight Zone tables now sell for around £8000. I wish I'd kept mine...... If you want a genuine appreciating asset, get a well liked pinball table and look after it.

Author:	zaphod79 [ Mon Apr 09, 2012 18:58 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
Curiosity wrote: But still, stupid that the limit is STILL 100. Very annoying because you see a name you dont quite recognize and think you might bump them and then later find out its someone you didnt want to lose :-(

Author:	myp [ Mon Apr 09, 2012 19:27 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
Curiosity wrote: But still, stupid that the limit is STILL 100. Especially, considering it was one of the main reasons for turning off the original Xbox Live service.

Author:	WTB [ Mon Apr 09, 2012 19:39 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
The main reason given, that is. Man, I feel so disillusioned with corporations right now.

Author:	Curiosity [ Tue Apr 10, 2012 10:28 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
This is such a great 'I have 15 minutes spare' game. Had a corking go on the Theatre of Magic last night while the wife was settling the child. Unfortunately for her I did better than expected and she had to sit and watch me play for a bit. Got three multiballs without losing a life, and maxed out all the regular goals on my first play on the table. Was unconnected to Live though, so as to avoid notifications when watching telly from a memory stick.

Author:	zaphod79 [ Tue Apr 10, 2012 16:38 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
Seems they had some issues with the Apple cert process for the new tables but they are out now on Android : Quote: The Android update with Medieval Madness and Bride of Pin•Bot added has been released! Medieval Madness is the table of the month and can be played unlimited for free! I assume IOS and XBLA to follow at some point. And PS3 / Vita version should be out now.

Author:	myp [ Tue Apr 10, 2012 16:46 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
Curiosity wrote: Was unconnected to Live though, so as to avoid notifications when watching telly from a memory stick. You can turn off notifications during video playback in the settings.

Author:	TheVision [ Tue Apr 10, 2012 23:35 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
I'm third on the Black Hole friends leaderboard!

Author:	Curiosity [ Wed Apr 11, 2012 7:46 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
I just got 39mill on Arabian Nights. I was over 30m off the first ball, and then both 2 and 3 took unlucky bounces and lasted under ten seconds. Gah!

Author:	WTB [ Wed Apr 11, 2012 10:45 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
I fucking love this game. It's excellent. Wish the UI wasn't designed by a five year old, though.

Author:	TheVision [ Wed Apr 11, 2012 10:46 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
WTB wrote: I fucking love this game. It's excellent. Wish the UI wasn't designed by a five year old, though. It's great. I think I've always loved Pinball games, just not known it till now.

Author:	WTB [ Wed Apr 11, 2012 10:47 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
I've definitely always loved pinball games, but this one seems to matter more because it's so faithful to the real thing. As others have said, there was always something missing with Pinball FX, as good as it is. It's a video game. This is a proper pinball sim. I'm looking forward to coming across one of the featured tables in real life, because I'll actually know what I'm doing for a change.

Author:	devilman [ Wed Apr 11, 2012 10:58 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
WTB wrote: I'm looking forward to coming across one of the featured tables in real life, because I'll actually know what I'm doing for a change. I've still only played two of the four tables in this, but I would like to play a 'Believe it or not' table in real life now. However, are there many places that have pinball tables these days? I certainly don't know of any local to me, but I wondered if maybe any of the seaside towns still have some or they'd been replaced by fruit machines and the like.

Author:	WTB [ Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:05 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
devilman wrote: WTB wrote: I'm looking forward to coming across one of the featured tables in real life, because I'll actually know what I'm doing for a change. I've still only played two of the four tables in this, but I would like to play a 'Believe it or not' table in real life now. However, are there many places that have pinball tables these days? I certainly don't know of any local to me, but I wondered if maybe any of the seaside towns still have some or they'd been replaced by fruit machines and the like. I've been looking myself for tables in York. There are two according to the internet. And one in some guy's front room... http://www.pinformer.co.uk/find.pl?town ... ine_id=226 Bit of a shame, but I'll be checking the two out that are in pubs. As is the case with everything, there are plenty down south, particularly as you say in the seaside resort towns on the south coast. I'm going to buy one eventually, any way...

Author:	WTB [ Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:09 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
Ooh! Twilight Zone in Farley. Few in Scarborough as well... Might have to organise a day trip. I wonder if it's acceptable to go to a pub on your own just to play a pinball table.

Author:	Curiosity [ Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:14 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
I had a go on the Ripley's table last night. At no point did I even have the vaguest clue as to what I was doing.

Author:	WTB [ Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:19 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade

Author:	zaphod79 [ Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:42 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
WTB wrote: Bit of a shame, but I'll be checking the two out that are in pubs. As is the case with everything, there are plenty down south, particularly as you say in the seaside resort towns on the south coast. Sometimes the condition is not really that great though :-( About 3 years ago there was a "Scared Stiff" in the Sutton Scottney service station on the A34 that i used to stop by every so often however it lasted about 4 or 5 months before the flippers stopped working correctly and other bits got broken :-( There also used to be a nice selection of them in Southsea (in the various arcades) although those are all gone , and the last time I took a trip to Hayling Island again the machines were in a very poor state of repair. I think that was always one of the issues with real pinball - they need semi regular maintenance - whereas a fruit machine will keep going as long as money can go in and out and at least the start button works and an arcade machine will last for a long time as long as the controls function reasonably well a Pinball machine needs someone to actually look after them.

Author:	YOG [ Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:53 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
http://www.pinformer.co.uk/find.pl?town ... ine_id=226 Four tables in Scouseland, two of which have problems with the flippers or lost balls not being recognised, and one of which is a "waste of time".

Author:	TheVision [ Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:54 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade
The saddest thing I've ever seen was an Outrun sit down arcade machine, in bits in the corner of an arcade. Well... perhaps not the saddest, but it was pretty sad.

Author:	WTB [ Wed Apr 11, 2012 12:04 ]
Post subject:	Re: The Pinball Arcade