Had a great time, of course, I mean what else would you expect?
It was good to catch up with the Geelong boys: Daniel was shorter than his photos suggested (must be the camera angles or the people he stands next to) and Matt was younger than I was expecting! Good to see there are plenty of younger guys still getting into pinball (I'll include Marty J in that list, I reckon).
Nice to meet Dean Morgan at last (I forget to check if that invitation to visit next time I am passing through is still open, but as Dean is one of the nice guys I am sure it is); and had a quick hello with Shansta who brought his whole family. And got introduced to the guys from Perth and Sydney.
Also ran into many familiar faces - special mention to Matt (Felixthadog) who is still around. Good to see you again, mate, and keep on pinballing!
Food: pizza was great, but by the time I went to check out the BBQ which was fired up later in the evening, the sausages were all gone so I can't comment on them. No coffee to be seen anywhere so I think Mark was taking pity on everyone yesterday.
Pinball machines: the highlight for me was probably Theatre of Magic. Yeah it is pretty simple in some respects - if you want big points, get the balls locked and score multiball jackpots - but it is good fun and there is enough there besides the trunk shot to keep me interested. So maybe one day.
Other machines I played:
Capcom Magic (or Magi as we called it as the C drop target was missing): good to be able to say I played it but not sure if it would hold my long-term interest
Judge Dredd: this one seemed to be not levelled correctly as it was playing a bit slow, but definitely was a machine I could play again. Didn't like the LHS loop shot of death off the RHS flipper, though.
Medieval Magic: warming to this machine but not the price tag
( I think the three above were all from Mark's personal collection)
Whitewater - got my butt kicked by Joe from BCW on this one; the guy can really play a Whitewater
Congo - an intriguing game I will have to spend more time on in the future
Sopranos - underwhelming, I thought. I was expecting a whole lot more out of it being a fairly recent Stern title but the implementation (including the playfield and headbox graphics) was only so-so.
Family Guy - yeah, decent title (of the two if I had to own one I would go for the Shrek) with a heavy concentration on the mini pinball playfield
some forgettable title with a casino theme - ah, found it on IPDB - High Roller Casino - enough said
The Simpsons Pinball Party - fun title, and requires a bit of skill to get a decent score. Hopefully these come down in price over time but that is probably wishful thinking.
Revenge from Mars - good honest pinball fun. The more I play this title the more I like it, and the price tag on one of these is not that bad. With the NuCore release there is backup on the system as well, which takes some of the fear out of a purchase of this title.
Monster Bash - another solid title, but the one on the floor had a slightly sticky RHS flipper and the world tour kicker was aimed straight down the middle, which made it less than fun to play.
Hook - couldn't judge the title from the machine I played as it wasn't levelled correctly
Corvette - interesting title that would warrant more time
Fish Tales - didn't spend enough time on it to form a solid idea of whether I liked it or not, but could definitely play it again
Guns N Roses - played this one before and only had a quick bash (the kicker on this one was aimed straight down the middle as well) but it is a decent title - for me, one to play, not to own
There may have been a couple of others. Ones I forgot to play: Grand Prix (how did I miss playing that - maybe the cheap looking toy car at the top centre of the playfield threw me off?).
Oh, yeah, I can say I have played a Popeye now - Mark gave me one game but the ball drained down the LH drain each time before I could really achieve anything. The idea of covering up half the playfield does seem ill-conceived to me. Of course, there are those who like it.
Parts: I did go and have a look - it certainly makes their current parts room look tiny in comparison. And to think that there is double that again coming in next month! Checked out the Dirty Harry ramp but self-discipline prevailed and I walked out of there empty-handed this time around.
Thanks: a big thanks is due to Mark (and Damien and Geoff) for his hospitality. A great evening at one of my favourite venues!
