Boise Pinball Review

Family Guy, Neurolux, 6/11/2010

2010-06-12T17:51:00.000-07:00

Family Guy
ID: 209650-N

cost: $.50
Year it came out: 2007

It was the usual smokey night at Neurolux but luckily not crowded at all and La Knots were playing in the background for us to enjoy. We loaded up the game with 6 quarters because that was all we had. Our first game, Chad kept losing his ball very early on. On the other hand, I got "shoot again" all the damn time! It was great! The ball rarely went into the gutters and everything was pretty easy to navigate through.

The game also has a mini-pinball game inside in the top right corner-- "Stewie's Pinball" that you can play and earn a lot of points very quickly and easily.

Another bonus was the classic "ping" sound that was made every time the ball hit a tower of Brian in the middle of the playing field.

Out of the three game we played, Chad royally kicked my ass. The first game was 5 million to 1 millionish. Then Chad ended the last game with 10 million against my 1 million.

I wish the game had more going on in it but it was still engaging and had a long play time. Chad and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

score: B+ or maybe an A-

Elvira and the Party Monsters, Dino's, 6/2/2010

2010-06-07T20:48:00.000-07:00

Elvira and the Party Monsters
ID: MIA

Cost: $.50 per play
Year it came out: 1989

I nearly peed myself when I saw this pinball machine at a bar we just happened to go in and check out. It is a total beauty and I wasn't sure I had ever played it before.

I mean, cummon! Look at Elvira's tits! More importantly--look at the Wolf Man. He is so handsome. I decided I wanted his face tattooed on my arm...if I ever totally lose my mind. The inking on this artwork is really awesome. It is by Greg Freres, but I was unable to find much of anything else he did. He mostly just worked on pinball art--like Weird Science, Fathom, and Revenge From Mars. The Elvira art is by far the best though. Chad was stoked about this game too, as I think he had played it before and said it was fun. We put a dollar worth of quarters in...

ONLY TO FIND OUT IT WAS OUT OF ORDER. THIS MACHINE GETS A BIG FAT EFFFF. F. F. F.

Seriously! So excited to play it and then it just ate our quarters. PFFF.

score: F

Doctor Who, Emerald Lanes, 6/2/2010

2010-06-07T20:24:00.000-07:00

Doctor Who
ID: (don't have one yet)

Cost per play: $.25
Year it came out: 1992

Sorry this is coming a little late. Chad and I reviewed Doctor Who while celebrating the birthday of my friend, Lisa Simpson. The pinball machine is located to the right of where you rent your shoes and such, or, sandwiched between the main door and the rental desk.

Just looking at this game made me excited. The graphics were great and the whole thing seemed mysterious.

The first thing I noticed and wasn't sure if I liked, however it fit the theme of the game, was that it had a button for a plunger instead of the traditional handle that you pull back and let the spring propel the ball. Either way, it was easy to do--very large and not hard to miss. The game played well. It was super fun to try and get the ball into the 7 various loops and doors. My favorite target was in the middle of the board, near the very top. This target had two "traps" side by side which would trap your ball and in between those traps was a red target to hit. One of the goals was to get your ball into those two traps which amongst a few other tasks would reveal a platform underneath the traps and would have more doors you had to launch your ball into. There were three platforms of doors for you to aim at and build points (kind of hard to explain. Photo below). Very very exciting and fun! I was kicking ass and then forgot to see my final score! So is life.

The game was forgiving--the ball never got stuck or repeatedly launch itself into the gutter. That is the one thing I really look for in a pinball machine is how nice it is to someone who is very casual at pinball, such as Chad and myself. I liked that the area around the pinball machine was relatively quiet. I was out of the way of any people walking by and it was relatively quiet.

score: B

The Simpsons, Ranch Club, 6/5/10

2010-06-05T01:15:00.000-07:00

Our first review is of the pinball machine in the bar, The Ranch Club, located in Garden City. We want to be specific for that exact machine, as we figure that machines get switched and traded around town. Our reviews are for that specific machine, not that game in general.

The Simpsons
ID: 209678-N

cost per credit: $.50
year it came out: 1990

Several problems with this game overall. Our first major problem was the VUK (Vertical Upright Kick) would kick the ball up the shoot, but the ball fell back down and was stuck. We tried to get the kick sensor to adjust and re-kick the ball but finally just had to tilt the entire game and instead of just one of our credits being forefitted, 3 of our credits were erased. We encountered this problem more than once, but only tilted once.

Problem number two: The slingshots were too powerful. Every time the ball touched the lower slingshots, the ball would be launched into the gutter. Every single time! We would have the ball on the playing board for 20 seconds and it would instantly go into the gutter before it even touched the flippers.

Basically, the game was a money pit. The playability sucked. The game wasn't fun, nor giving. But, if you have any thoughts on this game, let us know. Post your review in the comments.

score: C-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons_(pinball)

Welcome to Boise Pinball Review

2010-06-05T00:57:00.000-07:00

Chad and myself have decided to begin a blog of reviews and ratings on pinball machines in Boise. We are pretty casual pinball enthusiasts. We don't know technical terms and we rarely score above 1,000,000--but, we enjoy playing and we take the opportunity to play any time we find a pinball machine.

Our score wil be based on:

location
the number of times a ball gets stuck
how sensitive the flippers are
how often or easily the ball goes into the gutters
how sensitive are the bumpers
overall playability
how long the ball is in play before you lose the ball
value/cost

You can read more about pinball and the terminology here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball