Feelin' Alright With the Crew

Bumper City is not just about pinball reviews; I try to do a lot of different pinball-related things with the blog! To name a few, I have helped promote tournaments such as 3030 and Kensington Brewing Company’s Pinball Sundays, curated an pinball art show (Bumper City: A Pinball Exposition), and also formed a group of like-minded folks that go out and play pinball together in Toronto. I founded Toronto Pinball Crew in the summer of 2014 so anybody living in Toronto could find some other pinball enthusiasts to play a few games with. Not only that but we also post our latest high scores and any recent finds!

The reason I made this group is I felt that Toronto didn’t exactly have a solid pinball community in the downtown core. I have met a lot of people through pinball and I wanted something where all these pinball fans could get together and build a better pinball community in the city.  So, I made a facebook group where someone could post when and where they were going to play and others could post if they were going to join in. We also organize trips to events, like the release parties at Wacky Wings and to some of the Toronto Pinball League events.

Due to the weather and general laziness on my behalf, I haven’t been playing as much pinball as I used to. I get out at least once a week to play a few games but for the most part, I’ve been sticking around at California Sandwiches and Monarch Tavern. But one cold night in January, I felt like going out on a big pinball tour, hunting down a few machines I have had my eyes on. Before I hit the road though, I posted a note to the Toronto Pinball Crew Facebook Group saying I was going out to play some pinball and wanted to see if there was any interest for people to join in. I got a few responses but it looked like I would be flying solo till later in the night.

I stopped by Boo Radley’s first as it is close to my home and I have been meaning to snap some pictures of AC/DC!

Michigan Pinball Expo 2014 - Part II

Michigan Pinball Expo is still going strong here on Bright Lights Bumper City! If you've been following my trip reports from Ottawa Pinball Expo, you would know that the event was back in September 2013 but I am still posting about it in the case of Part IV! It is said that pictures are worth a thousand words and in the case of Bumper City, they certainly are! Lately when I go to events like Ottawa Pinball Expo, Michigan Pinball Expo or Guelph Pinball Club, I make sure to bring my camera and take as many pictures as possible so I can show you everything that I saw and played. It also helps me recall the events a little better; I have a good memory but sometimes the pictures help fill in the gaps. Michigan Pinball Expo was a little over a month ago back in the early days of April 2014. During my last trip report, we did a little Motor City theme and took a look at all sorts of automotive pinball tables like Mustang, Corvette and Truck Stop.

I cracked a joke about doing a Science Fiction themed post and looking at all the Sci-Fi tables on offer. Well heck, why don't we do that?

First and foremost, I want to talk about Stargate. I mention this table a lot because it was one of Gottlieb-Premier's best tables during 90's, a time when they were losing the pinball battle against Bally/Williams. Stargate is considered Gottlieb's swan song, one of the last tables they put out before shuttering their doors.

Gottlieb pulled out all the stops on Stargate with all sorts of neat toys and tricks. The pyramid located in the centre of the playfield raises up and sends out a little glidercraft.

There are also the Horus Targets located throughout the table. During certain modes, these targets will raise up and reveal new shots! Pretty neat take on "drop" targets.

Stargate's playfield includes two tough-as-nail ramps to hit. They are really steep and so if the flippers aren't up to par, they become nearly impossible to hit. Luckily, the ruleset of Stargate is pretty deep and so there are plenty of other shots to make.

I like Gottlieb because they were always trying new things with their tables. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Stargate has a new take on Multiball in which it starts as 2-Ball Multiball but after scoring a few more jackpots, another ball or two is added to the playfield. It's a good way to keep a prolonged multiball even though you've drained a ball or two.

Michigan Pinball Expo ... 2014!

I just got back from the good ol' US of A for a little bit of pinball! Well, actually, I was in Windsor all weekend and went to Michigan on Friday for the annual Michigan Pinball Expo! Back when I first started Bright Lights Bumper City 2 years ago this month, I did a little trip report about the 2012 edition of Michigan Pinball Expo. Unfortunately, I did not have the benefit of flash photography and had to use a few photos that my friend Nicole had taken. This time around though, I saved up a couple of bucks and got myself a little upgrade from the iPhone pics I usually post...

Nice!

You might have seen a couple of nice photos of pinball posted throughout Bumper City, such as the trip report of my St. Catherines Pinball Journey or Star Trek at California Sandwiches but for those I had borrowed my buddy AK's camera. Now that I have a camera of my own, expect many more photos like this...

... or this...

I came home from the Michigan Pinball Expo with about ... 1000 photos so I have had hella editing to do. I have more than AC/DC pictures though "Luci" was a stunner!

Star Trek

Stern has been on a roll lately with their latest output. Coming hot off the heels of AC/DC, Metallica, Transformers and X-MEN,  Stern has released one of their most innovative tables to date, that being STAR TREK.

In the last few years, Stern has been releasing their tables with about three different models to choose from. Stern's entry-level tables are the pro models which are meant for being out in the wild. The premium and limited edition tables come with a few extra toys and are outfitted with LEDs which are absent on the pro versions. For example, dig the limited edition version of X-MEN.

 DANG, lotsa LEDs and toys! Compared to the Pro models which lack the lighting and neat trinkets.

For the first time, Stern has outfitted their Pro model entirely with LEDs! DANG, Star Trek is BEAUTIFUL!

A lot of pinball purists aren't the biggest fans of LEDs; one guy told me it's like staring into a strobe light for minutes on end. Personally, I dig on LEDs and, if done right, they can really make a table just POP. I have to say that Stern did it right on Star Trek and it looks outright amazing. The LEDs change colour too so they light up differently according to which mission is lit. The LEDs aren't blinding and don't wash out the table's artwork. On the other hand, here's a table where I can see the purists' complaints. This Jack·Bot went a little overboard with the LEDs and kinda takes away from the great artwork on the table.

Even the playfield artwork on Star Trek is an improvement from previous Stern output. Gone is the usual photoshop layout with screenshots of the characters, instead going with a rendition of a star map which makes for a subtle playfield without being distracting.

The reason for all these new tricks that Stern is pulling out is that they now have to contend with a new pinball manufacturer. After having been the ONLY manufacturer of pinball since the dawn of the 21st century, Stern finally has competition in Jersey Jack Pinball and their Wizard of Oz table, which is the first table with a full sized LCD TV screen. Stern didn't opt for a TV screen, sticking with the DMD but instead made a small adjustment that makes for a BIG difference. The backglass is slightly tilted now to reduce backglass glare on the playfield. I especially like this because it makes it so much easier to take good pictures!

The backglasses of previous tables make it difficult to get a clear picture of the upper playfield.

The playfield of Star Trek is not as ground breaking as its other features with Steve Ritchie opting to make a spiritual successor to his magnum opus, Star Trek: The Next Generation. Not to say that's a bad thing, though;  Ritchie's design on Star Trek is a great homage to the wide-body playfield of ST:TNG, fitting an inspired layout into smaller real estate.

The layout parallels are best defined by the ramps and third flipper. The setup for the left and right ramps are identical to ST:TNG's though there is a now a third ramp between the two on this table.

There is also the spaceship shot located at the upper center of the playfield with the Vengeance replacing the Borg ship.

There is a magnet located under the Vengeance that will snag the ball when multiball starts. The mode will start you off with 2-ball multiball with the third ball held in place by the magnet. Hit the ball to add it to your current multiball and watch that ship SHAKE.

Once the third ball is loose, you can shoot the Vengeance lane for jackpots. The magnet comes into place again, grabbing and launching the ball whenever the lane is hit. The magnet acts the same as the ones on Iron Man's Iron Monger and Metallica's Sparky where it will catch the ball and launch it at high speed to keep you on your toes. It's tougher to control multiball on Star Trek and sometimes you have to play fast and loose just to keep the balls in play.
Star Trek is one helluva fast-paced table; there are very few shots that slow the gameplay down. Much of the game is focused on shooting the loops and ramps. The left ramp feeds back into the right orbit lane so whenever the ball makes its way up that ramp, it comes flying down the right orbit towards the right flipper. If you can time it well and react quickly enough, you can shoot the ramp again to make a combo. Be care though because if you miss the ramp, the ball is going to bounce off any one of the three targets in that area which can be deadly.

Star Trek is full of tricky shots that will cost you if you are not accurate with your flippers. One particular shot that requires dead-shot accuracy is the scoop on the far left the of the playfield... right above the outlanes.

It is such a risky shot that I wouldn't even bother trying to hit it if it wasn't so necessary. In order to start a new mission or lock a ball for Klingon multiball, you must hit the scoop. Not only is it a tight shot but it's also surrounded by targets and it is located very low on the playfield. If you miss and hit the targets, your ball is going to come careening towards the middle drain or into the slingshots. There is also the situation where the ball will drop down towards the outlanes and bounce around the posts on the slingshot and outlane divider. I have had that happen to me way too many times whenever I try to make that damn shot and sometimes it just makes a clean bounce right off the slingshot post down through the left outlane. Ritchie took a page from another one of his popular tables, Terminator 2, when it came to the design of the scoop shot. Look at the far left of the table and you will see T2's similar scoop shot.

The shot located underneath the upper flipper can be a tough one, seeing as you gotta sneak the ball in under the flipper, but few shots are made there and so you can focus other areas of the table.

Stern made a good move in letting Steve Ritchie design Star Trek. Ritchie's successor to Star Trek: The Next Generation is a gorgeous table with high speed gameplay and tough shots reminiscent of the Williams original. The LED-outfitted playfield and tilted backglass make Star Trek one of Stern's most visually striking tables. As has been the issue with much of Stern's latest tables, the code was unfinished at the time of release and so the game is missing a few things like modes and additional animations.

Star Trek is currently out on location at California Sandwiches and is paired up with Sopranos. Go grab a veal sandwich and play some Star Trek!

Pinball Update for October

There has been quite a bit of shakeup to the pinball lineup here in Toronto so I think it is time to get around to an update!

Stern's latest table is Star Trek, I spoke about it in a post when the table was first announced.

The first of the Pro tables have been shipped out and a few Star Trek tables have been reported in the wild around North America. I would also like to report that I've located a Star Trek table right here in the city!

DANG DOES THAT THING GLOW OR WHAT? Star Trek is the first table where the Pro version is completely outfitted with LEDs and boy is it beautiful! Another innovation by Stern is that the backglass is somewhat tilted as to reduce the glare on the playfield from the backglass. I like it most because it makes taking pictures that much easier!

Oh yeah, I suppose I should mention where this table is located. OK it is now residing at California Sandwiches! That's on Claremont just off of Dundas West. The table was recently placed on location and is in near-new condition. Go check it out!

Not only is Star Trek now at California Sandwiches, The Sopranos has taken the place of Batman! I had a strange feeling about this table when I returned to California Sandwiches and saw the new line-up. I got a bit of deja vu... that's because this table used to be at Leisure Lanes in Whitby!

I was hoping that since the table got shuffled, it was going to get fixed up but it's the same as it was when it was back at Leisure Lanes; the saucer hole that is for the mystery award, extra ball and episode mode is still as finicky as before and rarely activates, the playfield is still pretty dirty and the safe sometimes doesn't acknowledge hits... All that and MJS is the Grand Champion. Shane and I have a feeling it is just MJB with different initials but who knows.
 
During my trip to California Sandwiches to grab some photos of Star Trek, I happened to catch sight of these two tables sitting in a bar on Dundas West....

YEP! Stern's TRON Legacy and Duotron have taken up residence at Mây!

STERN'S LATEST ANNOUNCEMENT: STAR TREK

Rumors have been floating around that Steve Ritchie has been assigned to design the latest playfield for Stern, coming off the heels of John Borg's very well-received Metallica. Stern released some BIG NEWS this week, announcing the latest table in their line-up! Here is the teaser video that Stern released for... STAR TREK!