I don't want to upset anyone, but after having a game at Marks (Marta Hari), I found it extremely easy and boring. I remember plaing these games and thinking they were fun, but since the advent of DMD, I can't get into them. I reckon I could have played this game for ever without too much trouble keeping the ball in play.
Sounds like the MH needs some attention then. Because all those late 70's Bally symmetrical layouts had pretty unforgiving outlanes. It should be the case where you can kick it's arse one minute and the next it will make you look like a noob.
Mata Hari and Hot Hand needed work. In all fairness, comparing a reconditioned DMD to a reconditioned (or non reconditioned) SS or EM is not an even playing field. To get an SS up to a standard of a machine 17 years its junior requires more time spent on it.
Hey Nino, what could I have expected from a recon MH just out of interest? Reason being is that I have looked on ebay and see games like MH, Buck Rogers, Centaur etc that I have fond memories of, and considered adding one to my collection, but after playingone game and scoring 200+K on the first ball and letting it drain kinda changed my thinking. Maybe it was playing slow or something. Mate I knocked down all the targets heaps of times and completed A & B even more times. I'd love to be swayed into dreaming of owning an SS or even an EM if possible
Rob - I've seen them go for $750 - $1000 but needing some work. Let's say a machine was cosmetically 8/10, with clean boards - You should be able to pick one up from between $1700 - $2100.
Don't judge MH one one game, and if it was not set up correctly, then that's the problem. It DID play slow because the incline was not right - and let's be honest, the techs at Childs worked nearly 10 days straight to have the games ready for the Bushfire Fundraiser. I would have dropped the front leg levellers, thus making the game faster.
What you need to do is search through sites like
www.ipdb.org - sort by "year" and look for games you can remember. Then track down a member that has the game and "invite" yourself over
I think once we get the "mini meets" organized, we can have access to machines we would otherwise not come in contact with. Once I've done my Medusa and Fathom - I'll shoot you an invite. Along with Paragon, they are three of the best from around that era.
