I love old pinball tables through the ages that were more like bagatelle with flippers for a bit of a 2nd chance. I love new pinball with ramps, video screens, speech, missions, maybe even holograms. I love video pinball where the ball gets sliced in half or temporarily defies gravity or gets up and walks away.
Video pinball has been what I mostly rely on. I think Zen make the best current pinball games - raptr says I've played 114 hours of Pinball FX2 and that doesn't seem nearly enough. Silverball Studios (formerly Fuse Games) are also really good, the "Crush Pinball" series, Pokemon Pinball (they should make a new one of these!) and I really like Kirby's Pinball on Gameboy.
On the rare occasions I visit an amusement arcade (seaside resorts, shopping malls), the first thing I look for is pinball. Then arcade machines. It's very rare I can see a pinball machine and not decide to play it.
I never really thought I would own a pinball table. It was just one of those things that you think "ah, maybe one day I will own".
And yet...
This is sitting in my house. It's mine! It's mine! There were 4028 of these tables made in the entire world, and this one is mine. And it plays beautifully.
For years now I have thought "if I was going to own a pinball machine, it would be that Elvira one". I had vague fond memories of having played an Elvira table with googly rubber monsters and a spinning feature at the back. I think it was while holidaying at Hemsby, near the back of an arcade called "The Dunes". It's not even called that anymore. It was years later when I could identify this table by name. "Scared Stiff".
This machine has everything I'd want. It is fairly easy to play and do well. It has various missions to complete, so there's progression in the gameplay. The playfield is nice and varied, and the spinner in the back box is a cool feature, and really beautifully executed with 3 layers of artwork surrounding it. It has a sexy / funny theme, doesn't take itself seriously at all, and features full voicing by Elvira. It's got little cheesy monster finger puppets and plastic frogs. All the replacement parts for this machine are still obtainable. It's a good one to own.
Read the story of how we got it by following this "Read More" link:
When we went to the Play Expo in Manchester, we knew there would be pinball machines there. And that was indeed one of the main things I was looking forward to. When we got there... I have never been to one room housing anywhere near as many pinball machines in my entire life. There were 120 machine there. On free play. Almost all of them working, being played, being queued up for. Being enjoyed. It was a wonderful place. Very very loud, but a wonderful place.
And I saw a Scared Stiff table there. It had a price tag on it. £2400. And I turned to my friend Jim beside me and said "aww. It's a Scared Stiff machine for sale. If I was going to buy a pinball machine, that's the one I would buy. But I can't buy it. I have nowhere to put it. I live on the 5th floor in a flat with a dodgy lift. If I did buy it, that would eliminate the possibility of me moving out of there into a big enough place to keep it".
And I tried the table. The flippers were strong; too strong. Most of my shots ended up going to the same place. I managed to get the ball trapped in the crate feature, and needed to call over an attendant. It cemented my thoughts; I could certainly live without this table after all.
My boyfriend, knowing how I felt about the Scared Stiff table in general, began to pressure me into making enquiries about it. I let him go and make those enquiries, both with the owner and with an arcade / pinball delivery service who were advertising there, to see what they thought about delivery to a 5th floor flat. He let me meet with the owner of the machine I'd played, who told me about the modification he'd made to the skulls at the back.
I let my boyfriend go and talk with more people, he was really enjoying talking to pinball table owners and finding out about maintaining them and modifying them. He was researching the things you could do with a Scared Stiff machine. He was more into getting one than I was, at this point. I still really wasn't sure about it at all, and told Rich, who said I was just making excuses. But this table was not worth £2400.
He came back after a while and told me he'd found someone else with a Scared Stiff machine, a fellow called Moose Man, whose machine he had heard was in better condition, but he wasn't good enough with pinball machines to really say how or verify whether it was true. This one wasn't really for sale, but Rich had been talking to him, there was another machine he was after and he'd need to clear room and get some money to spend on it, so perhaps he could be persuaded.
So I had a go on this other machine, and it was so much better. The plunger was a little too stiff, making skill shots very difficult, but the main gameplay experience was so much better. It played like it wanted me to win. I could make the shots I wanted to. I scored well enough to get a replay (which doesn't mean much on a free play machine... other than to say "I scored really well"). It was just in really good condition. Mooseman asked me what my favourite pinball machine was, and I pointed and said "this one". :)
We went away, got some lunch, talked a bit, did some other things, then came back and agreed a price and shook on it. £2600.
Later on, we heard that the other Scared Stiff owner had reduced his price to £2200. Still wasn't interested.
At the end of the Expo, we learned how to pack up the machine; remove the balls, fold over the backboard, insert protective foam, take off the legs, clingfilm wrap it. After getting apprehended by security (we were wearing visitor bands, not exhibitor bands), we left the machine with Martin Palfreyman the delivery man who said he'd deliver it Monday / Tuesday, and departed off home. Paid for the machine by bank transfer.
Cleared space at home. Measured things. Calculated there was exactly not nearly enough space to get this pinball machine in and past the heater in the hallway of my house. I was in a very bad mood for the whole first day after I'd paid for my pinball table. I'd been talked into spending a very large sum of money on a thing that I didn't really have room for in my house.
Then we heard very little from Martin. On Monday he texted to say they were still moving machines and he'd call us tomorrow. Heard nothing all Tuesday. That day and all of Wednesday before we heard from Martin was the most nerve-wracking time. You see, Mooseman and I had shaken on the deal, I'd transferred the money; it was all verbal, and bank transfers come with no insurance. Wednesday it turned out Martin's phone was broken and he was going to come that evening.
When he did arrive... he did some magic. I watched him do it and I still cannot say I really understand how he did what he did. He managed to maneuver the packed-up pinball machine through the front door and into my middle room on a little trolley, when we had measured the space were entirely certain there was no way it could possibly fit through, and were thinking "we'll probably have to take the front door off". He also helped us unpack and set up the table and get it running. In return, I'll give him some advertising: if you want to get a pinball machine moved, call Martin Palfreyman on 07748 521550.
It was actually ok that it arrived on Wednesday, because we had needed that time to clear some space and buy a 5/8ths socket spanner for the legs.
I spent the next few days exhausted and too full of cold to play my new machine, hahaha. This week I've played it at least a little every night. The "knocker" that makes a loud bang every time I win a free game is the scariest thing about the machine, makes me jump out of my skin.
I own a pinball machine! Isn't that the awesomest thing?! :D
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