Ghostbusters Pinball

Earlier in the year when there was a leak of the backglass for Stern's next release, many called it bogus. Too many thought the art was just something drawn up by a fan but... I was ready to believe. I held out hope that we would get a Ghostbusters table, one that is based on the original Ghostbusters. Nothing against the upcoming Paul Feig-directed Ghostbusters but I'm a huge fan of the '84 roster. How much of a fan? Well, I have a limited-run Ghostbusters poster framed in my living room...

A 16-inch Stay Puft toy and a diecast model of a 1959 Cadillac hearse, the very same model as the Ecto-1...

When Stern made the official announcement of Ghostbusters, I jumped clean out of my seat and I think my announcement post makes that quite clear. Stern has been upping the ante lately with their tables and have been turning out many high quality releases. I remember looking at the preview pictures of Ghostbusters and knowing that this table was going to be good, if not one of the best. I posted in the Toronto Pinball Crew to tell the operators in the Crew that we need Ghostbusters in Toronto. Luckily, they heard the call and were right on it! Toronto Coin Exchange was quick in placing a Ghostbusters table at local favorite California Sandwiches and City Pinball responded by adding one of their own to the stacked roster at Cabin Fever. Not to be outdone, TCE then went and placed ANOTHER table at Roxy Bar! How lucky we are to have not one, not two but THREE Ghostbusters tables! I have had plenty of time to play the table and so I am excited to present to you my review of Ghostbusters! 

I'm just going to get this out of the way right now... I love this table! Ghostbusters is the total package. Great design all around, whether it's the playfield, art, music, sound, or DMD animations. It was clear how much work went into this table.

Game of Thrones at Monarch Tavern

You have to appreciate when one of your favorite bars keeps you up-to-date as to which machine they have on location. In the case of Monarch Tavern, they always give me a shout on Twitter letting me know when a new table hits. In most cases, it is the newest Stern and this time around it was true!

Stern's newest release based on the hit HBO series, Game of Thrones, has arrived in Toronto! Game of Thrones has been out for a little while now but only in mid-December did the table appear within city limits. I made plans with a couple of friends to go check out the table the weekend it arrived at Monarch.

When we settled in at the bar, Mike and Joe of the Toronto Pinball Crew happened to show up as well and we had one helluva posse! Mike and Joe had a chance to swing by and play the table earlier in the week so they were able to provide some strategy on how to play GoT which I will get to soon enough but first, let's get a good look!

It is quite the packed table! Ramps and loops all over the playfield! This is certainly the work of Mr. Steve Ritchie, the King of Flow. At first glance, it looks like a pretty standard Stern layout, with 6 shots, two ramps, two orbits, bash toy, and kickback shot but as with every Ritchie table, he just has a knack for making it all flow together so well. I think a big part of that is how Ritchie handles speed on his tables. There is very little stop-n-go and the only time you are really waiting on the table is when you lock a ball. The ball lock mechanism even works to keep the game moving fast; if you hit the center ramp when lock isn't lit and there are balls already locked in, the mechanism will drop a ball as soon as the other approaches so the gameplay does not slow down whatsoever.

As always, there is that dreaded kickback shot. Like Star Trek's nasty Vengeance shot, GoT's comes in the form of the Dragon kickback. Placed a little to the left, this shot launches the ball towards the flippers... but usually just right down the middle. Direct shots at the Dragon kickback will launch it back at you at high speed so it is best to avoid it as much as you can.

However, this is the required shot in order to get extra ball which is quite a audacious decision... but I like it. I hate it too but I like the idea of it! Rather than just making an easy shot into a scoop, you have to hit one of the riskiest shots in order to earn that extra ball. It reminds me of White Water's infamous extra ball shot.

But is it worth it? Not really because you are more than likely just going to end up draining the ball from the kickback! I found this out the hard way when I got the extra ball and the kickback shot the ball right down the middle. It doesn't help that I was taunting the machine by firing off multiple crotch chops but salt was added to the wound when I discovered that Monarch's GoT table had extra balls turned off... damn.

As I mentioned before, this table doesn't look quite daunting at first glance but the more you play this game, the deeper it gets to the point where it can be quite overwhelming! Even upon release, Game of Thrones has pretty robust code and a ton of stuff to do. You will see that there are several different crests on the lower playfield. At the beginning of the game, you will select the house you wish to align with, each with their own advantage. Mike and Joe suggested going with House Martell as you get a one free add-a-ball during multiball.

Upon starting the game, you have a few options. You can begin lighting the different houses or you can work towards Blackwater Multiball. In order to do the former, you will hit different shots on the table and depending on what colour the shots are, you will activate that particular house for battle which is started by hitting the center ramp. Each battle mode has different objectives. For example, House Lannister requires you to hit the red lit shots while House Baratheon has you hitting the five standup targets located across the table.

Part of the strategy devised by Mike and Joe is to activate two of the houses but hold off doing battle until you have Blackwater Multiball activated. In order to light the locks, you must hit one of the Wildfire targets on the far right of the table. You just need to hit one and it will light the ball lock at the center ramp. Hit that ramp (and usually you will light a house by doing this as well), lock a ball, rinse and repeat. Make sure to select Pass for Now when prompted for Battle Mode. Upon locking the third ball, you can battle up to two houses all while having Multiball jackpots lit. It's kind of hard to focus on what to do at that point but all you really need to do is just shoot the ramps and orbits! You should be able to clear out one of the houses at least. If you manage to hit all the jackpots, Super Jackpot will light at the battering ram.

This is where things get tricky. The Battering Ram is akin to a captive ball shot where you have to hit the ram hard enough to send it into the target. A light hit won't do ya jack so you gotta smack that ram! The problem is that you have to hit the battering ram head on; a glancing shot will do you no good. Give the ram a big old hit and you should get that Super Jackpot! The points are really random and unfortunately, I have yet to find out how exactly the Jackpot score works. Sometimes I have seen the Super Jackpot award 60 million and other times give away 180 million! That's huge!

Now, depending if you selected House Martell, there's one last piece of the strategy. If you are in the midst of multiball and you drain your second-to-last ball, you can make a desperation maneuver by slapping the action button located on the lockbar and activate add-a-ball! You will replenish your multiball back up to 3 balls as well as get a really short ball save. Use the add-a-ball wisely, however, because you only have one opportunity per round. So, if you start another multiball mode and already used the add-a-ball, you will not have it again until your next round.

The one thing that does bug me about Game of Thrones is the artwork. Apparently Greg Freres did the art package but it looks like a pretty basic Photoshop 101 job. If you look closely at the midplayfield, it is pretty clearly a quick radial gradient with the crest borders sporting some embossing and 5-point stroke to fill them out. The thick black stroke looks especially cheesy on the two swords bordering the playfield.

Besides the art package, GoT's lightshow is quite visually stunning. I admire the improvements Stern has been making towards their light aspects, especially using RGB LEDs in the inserts to highlight different modes and provide better visual clues as to what you should be shooting for. In addition, the lightshows from their later tables have been getting really wild and GoT is no slouch! When you activate the table's hurryup mode, Winter is Coming, the whole table starts lighting up with a crazy strobe! Wall Multiball features the same strobing effect except you have 3 balls going at once to add to the insanity.

The long anticipated arrival of Game of Thrones in Toronto has finally come to an end with the table appearing at Monarch Tavern to much fanfare. Almost immediately, people made their way to Monarch to give this new table a shot and already there are big high scores from the locals like DOH and MIC (That's Mike of City Pinball!). I had a chance to try it out and I must say that Stern has hit another one out of the park. Though the table may not look the part, Game of Thrones is quite the challenging table with tight and fast shots and a very indepth rulesheet right out of the gate. I am excited to see how this table will play out with further code updates but even now, GoT has quite a robust rulesheet. Steve Ritchie's design work is evident in the playfield with non-stop lightning fast gameplay and punishing shots; The Dragon kickback will become the bane of your existence. The art package leaves a lot to be desired, especially coming off the heels of the hand-drawn KISS table but that's only one negative about the visual aspect of Game of Thrones. The light shows throughout the game are quite stunning and really pop in a dark setting such as Monarch Tavern. I can see Game of Thrones garnering a lot of popularity in the days to come at Monarch so you better get over there while the table is still in top-notch condition!

The Simpson Pinball Party

The legendary Stern classic, The Simpsons Pinball Party has once again entered the city limits! There was a very brief period where The Simpsons Pinball Party was at the old Pinball Cafe but it has now found a place among the lineup at Junction City Music Hall!

This particular table first set foot at Handlebar for the Beer & Ball Festival before making its way over to the Junction.

The Simpsons Pinball Party is one of Stern's most ambitious tables; the table was produced by Keith Johnson and Joe Balcer, the latter going on to design Jersey Jack Pinball's Wizard of Oz. TSPP was released in early 2003 and certainly was a sign of things to come with the release of The Lord of The Rings near the end of the year.

The Simpsons Pinball Party is jam-packed with all sorts of shots and features. When you first step up to the game, it's nearly impossible to figure out just exactly what you are supposed to do! The complexity of TSPP isn't just in the playfield; the ruleset is considered one of Stern's most in-depth. There's a variety of modes to activate, like the episodes or the Itchy & Scratchy Multiball episodes, Otto's 2X scoring, or obtaining all of Cletus' kids, just to name a few.

KISS

You have to hand it to the Toronto Pinball Crew for keeping up on the pinball updates! One of the crew members dropped by California Sandwiches this past week and confirmed that KISS has found its way to the city! WHAT! Stern just started releasing this table and KISS has already touched down in Toronto. I couldn't help myself and made my way to California Sandwiches soon after finding out. KISS was indeed there and man oh man, am I excited to talk about it!

I am going to ahead and say it but this has to be one of Stern's best tables and will be considered an absolute classic. Stern really knocked it out of the park on this one. Custom hand-drawn artwork, great music, and a solid playfield come together to make one great table. The code is pretty bare-bones as per usual but even then, there's still plenty to do. I imagine that further updates will make this table even better.

The game begins in the same manner as Stern's other music-themed tables, AC/DC and Metallica, in that you select a KISS song and certain shots are activated according to that particular song. The game takes place at a KISS concert so along with selecting a song, you also select the city you're playing in. There's about 10 songs like DETROIT ROCK CITY and BLACK DIAMOND (two of my favorites) and they are live versions which add to the immersion of being at a KISS concert! Whether it's due to licensing issues with record labels or what, it works. Also, this table needs to be loud because it's rock 'n' roll! Good thing California Sandwiches table is turned up loud! So many times I caught myself rockin' out, air guitarin', and singin' along FIRST I DRINK ... THEN I SMOKE!

I have to warn you though that the autoplunger on this table is very impatient and will launch your ball within the span of 30 seconds, even if you're in the middle of selecting your song. Now that the game has started, let's take a look at the playfield.

This is cool, real cool.

STERN'S NEXT TABLE... KISS

The latest announcement from Stern was just released today! The newest addition to the Stern roster will be KISS PINBALL!




DANG it looks awesome! There are a few teasers of the playfield in the video, showing off a couple of wild gimmicks! Nice! Yeah, sure, it's another classic rock table from Stern but if AC/DC and Metallica are anything to go by, KISS is going to be a real hit. I mean, come on, there's a giant pinball spewing Gene Simmons head! The other big gimmick has the ball climbing the back panel by magnets for a Paul Stanley solo, though it looks like that may only be on the Limited Edition and Premium versions.

UPDATE: Official pictures have been released and here they are!

Pretty wicked looking cabinet art! The table includes a hand-drawn package, which I am really glad to hear! From what I have heard, KISS was really interested in getting a new pinball made after them so I imagine Stern has a lot more to work with in regards to the licensing, similar to Metallica and it's hand-drawn art package by Dirty Donny. The artwork looks totally awesome too. Take a look at the playfield art!

 There are also a couple of throwbacks to the original '79 Bally table like the pop bumpers

Here they are on the first KISS table.

The shot through the bumper cluster looks awfully familiar... Especially with that scoop right under the right bumper.

That has to be John Borg! Let's see the rest of the playfield.

It's giving me some pretty serious Metallica vibes! The layout of the ramps, the targets on the lower left and the big ol' Gene head in place of the Snake. There's a Multiball mode where Gene spews the balls out of his mouth! There is no way to word that sentence without making it sound dirty.

Metallica has a great layout so if Borg is going along the lines of that style for KISS, it's going to be a real good table! Though that ramp on the right looks hella steep and that can be real dangerous. Also, there looks to be a ramp located smack-dab in the center for the SPACEMAN and I just know that will be a drain monster.

The music line-up looks pretty wicked too! Here it is: Deuce, Hotter Than Hell, Lick It Up, Shout It Out Loud, Detroit Rock City, Calling Dr. Love, Rock & Roll All Night, Love Gun, Love It Loud and Black Diamond. I am super pumped to see BLACK DIAMOND in the music list! It looks like KISS's ruleset is going to follow AC/DC's example where you select a song and have to complete the associated mode.

I can't say it enough but Stern is on a roll with their latest releases! KISS looks to continue the tradition with some wild new features and a fun license. I'll keep you up to date on the latest news!

HOUSE OF TARG ROUND 2 - SPIDER-MAN

I recently visited Ottawa back in February and took the opportunity to drop by House of TARG! How could I pass it up? During my latest visit, there were quite a few new tables in the roster compared to my Summer 2014 visit. One of the newcomers was Williams' classic, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. We took a good look at the innovative table in my Round 2 review of House of TARG. The designer of T2, Steve Ritchie, was well represented at the House of TARG. The TARG lineup also included Rollergames, The Getaway, and Spider-Man, all designed by Ritchie. I have talked quite a bit about the first two tables but I have yet to really dig into Spider-Man here on Bumper City. Stern's Spider-Man table has had a few appearances in Toronto. I first came upon it at Ted's Collision when I moved to the city but it was in horrendous shape. Throughout the years, it had intermittent appearances at California Sandwiches. During its latest stint, I was able to get up onto the high score boards! 

This was around Summer 2014 when California had Mustang and Spider-Man. Mustang's novelty was starting to wear out so I spent a lot of time playing on Spider-Man. During my trip to House of TARG, I made sure to get a few rounds in on their Spider-Man table.

As I had mentioned, Spider-Man was designed by Steve Ritchie under the Stern banner. Ritchie's design philosophy is at full power on this table. Beautiful flow, tight shots, and the signature upper playfield flipper are all on display. Spider-Man is the perfect balance of the signature, combining well-flowing playfield with in-depth gameplay. There are so many shots and so many modes to complete, you can find yourself playing Spider-Man for a good couple of hours!

IT'S TIME TO PLAY THE GAME! WRESTLEMANIA

WELCOME... TO WRESTLEMANIAAAAAAAA!

When I found out about this table earlier in the year, I was ecstatic. I'm a big fan of wrestling as well as pinball so having two of my favorite things together as one was a dream come true. There was a release party for Wrestlemania in late February that I was hoping to attend and get a review of the table but unfortunately, other plans got in the way...

Though a trip to House of TARG is nothing to scoff at!

Some of my friends went to the release party and told me a bit about Wrestlemania but it just wasn't enough to satiate my hunger. I needed to play Wrestlemania. I needed to step into the squared circle and fight for the top score. Even before the table was released, I was getting in the ears of any bar proprietors that I could, telling them that they should, no, have to get Wrestlemania. Luckily, my prayers were answered by my favorite little pub, Monarch Tavern. @MrMonarchy tweeted me to let me know that Wrestlemania had arrived... and I marked out pretty hard. I made plans that weekend with the Toronto Pinball Crew to hit up California Sandwiches for dinner and pinball then go to Monarch Tavern to take the new table for a spin.

Wrestlemania was a hit with the crew. The pro wrestling theme is well integrated into the design which makes for a great game. Wrestlemania was designed by John Trudeau, his second table under the Stern banner. Mustang was his first and turned out to be a bit of weak table. According to Trudeau in his interview with Pinball Magazine, he was unfamiliar with the Stern formula and so I think Mustang suffered due to that. It seemed as though Mustang was stripped of a lot of things Trudeau wanted to do and was considered a bit of a "filler" table until the release of The Walking Dead. In addition to being saddled with what some consider a "weak license", Mustang just didn't do so hot. I liked the theme though I am a car guy so I have a bit of a bias. But I digress... The Wrestlemania pinball table feels like Trudeau has gotten his style locked down within Stern's parameters and is ready to go for the top title!

Playboy

Before I get into this review of Playboy, I just want to give you a warning that this table has ladies in various states of undress. This review is ADULTS ONLY and NOT SAFE FOR WORK!

Playboy has seen many iterations throughout the history of pinball. The Playboy bunny first emerged on an early solid-state table by Bally in 1978.

 Data East obtained the license in 1989, releasing a Playboy-themed table for the magazine's 35th anniversary. Stern was the latest manufacturer to release a Playboy table, their version having come out in 2002. Stern's Playboy will the table of choice for this review as I have found one in Leslieville at a great local bar, Stratengers!

Playboy is a highlight of Stern's early years. Released in January of 2002, Playboy was the creation of George Gomez. This was Gomez' first title with Stern and is a great example of the simple yet engaging pinball tables that he would go on to release under the Stern Pinball banner.

Playboy has a soft spot with me; I first found out about this table during my days in Oshawa after I had returned from school. My brother Shane and I were beginning to make regular rounds at our local bowling alley, Leisure Lanes. One fateful night, we had our first encounter with the legend MJB! I'll keep the story short for MJB as that is for another post but we spoke with him for a little while and asked if he knew of any other places in Oshawa that had pinball. He told us that there was a bar called Stag's Head in the downtown area that had Playboy but he preferred Leisure Lanes because the tall boys were cheaper. Undeterred by the price of beer, Shane and I headed over to Stag's Head and discovered Playboy! That summer, Stag's Head became a local hangout for me and the gang, spending a lot of time and money playing Playboy and trying to steal the Playboy Champion marquee from MJB!

Fast forward a few years later to 2014, I heard rumor that the fabled Queen St East was home to several machines! Living on the west-end in St. Clair West, Queen St East is pretty much Timbuktu to me though one day I did find an opportunity to head out to the neighbourhood of Leslieville and to the bar Stratengers in hopes of putting a few games in on their Playboy machine. I certainly was not disappointed; I discovered that not only did they have a Playboy table but a refurbished table outfitted with LEDs!

Here is a neat little tidbit about the Playboy table; Stern released the table with three different settings: Clothed, Non-Nude, and Nude. Gomez mentioned in his interview on TOPCast that the factory-recommended setting for Playboy is Nude! The table at Stratengers had the Non-Nude settings, though the girl's outfits left little to the imagination...

Now, before I get into the nitty-gritty of this review, I'm just going to warn you again. There will definitely be some pictures of scantily-clad women, not fully nude, mind you, but pretty close to. If that's not your thing, you find it offensive, you're at work, whatever, then here is the chance to turn back! Jump the cut and it's boob country...

AC/DC

I have good memories of Stern's AC/DC. I wouldn't exactly say fond memories but it was the first Stern table that I got to play when it was a new release. Back in 2011, when the ball really started rolling on my pinball obsession, I was playing a lot of older Stern tables, like Iron Man and Pirates of The Caribbean. When I moved to Toronto in 2012 and the Pinball Cafe opened, AC/DC was the first modern table to enter the Cafe. Previously, the owner's mandate was to only have EM's and early solid-states but when AC/DC was released, it was too tempting not to bring it in, thus opening the floodgates for many more modern tables to appear at the Cafe. I remember when AC/DC first hit the floor, it made its presence known by being the loudest and gaudiest table among a couple of mild-mannered tables from the 20th century. Once more modern tables came onto the floor of the Pinball Cafe, AC/DC eventually left the building but popped up occasionally throughout the city, its latest location being at Boo Radley's in the Junction. I wasn't the biggest fan of AC/DC when it first arrived at the Cafe back in February 2012; the game was infamous for having unfinished code at release and felt quite incomplete. AC/DC is also notorious for it's difficulty and perhaps my skills were not up to par back then. But here we are in 2014, AC/DC has received quite a few code updates, my skills have been sharpened and my opinion of this old rock 'n' roll table have changed quite a bit.

AC/DC's difficulty has become legendary among the pinball community. I have spoken previously of difficult tables like Stern's latest release The Walking Dead, but AC/DC takes the cake for Stern's hardest table of the 2010's so far. Steve Ritchie is the designer of AC/DC and opted for a classic playfield with the dual ramps and simplistic layout that Ritchie is known for. The table plays really fast and is packed with risky shots which makes for a hella dangerous combination.

Stern's Indiana Jones

*DERK'S NOTE: This is an older review, from back in the Spring/Summer of 2013 while Indiana Jones spent some time at California Sandwiches. If you have been keeping up, The Walking Dead and Star Trek are now at California Sandwiches and Indiana Jones is long gone. If you do want to give Indiana Jones a shot, go west to Bowlerama West!*

A new challenger has emerged in the Toronto Pinball scene! This time around, it is Stern's Indiana Jones!

Not even a week later after I posted that California Sandwiches replaced Spider-Man with The Rolling Stones, they replaced The Stones with Indiana Jones. I don't really mind losing The Stones as it's a sort of lack luster machine and the Mick Jagger toy was stuck which made the game a pain in the arse. Indiana Jones runs a helluva lot better and is much more fun to play. The table was released in the wake of Indiana Jones And The Crystal Skull, however, it is not soley focused on the fourth installment. The table's theme actually covers the entire Indiana Jones series with references to Raiders of The Lost Ark, Temple of Doom and *What's the third movie", as well as The Crystal Skull. Each installment has it's own version of Multiball and a little toy to represent it.

Indiana Jones was designed by John Borg and is definitely one of his better tables for Stern. It's a bit more "tame" compared to other Borg designs such as TRON: Legacy and X-Men and is more along the lines of Iron Man. IJ's playfield is pretty open and only has one ramp one the left and a big toy on the right, similar to Avatar. The design of the table is less about building combos and more about making precise shots. There's two different captive ball shots as well as the table's big shot, THE LOST ARK.

WWE WRESTLEMANIA LEAK!

APRIL 1ST UPDATE: WHY READ THE PREVIEW WHEN I HAVE A FULL REVIEW HERE! 

I just got hold of some breaking news! Stern has announced their first title for 2015...

WWE Wrestlemania!

AND THE INTERNET HAS THE SCOOPS, BROTHER!

DANG! As a wrestling fan, this is too awesome!!! I'm not the biggest fan of the current WWE product but I bet it will make for a wicked pinball table anyways! There's a wrestling ring as a secondary playfield!

The announcement of the table was leaked over the weekend during CES 2015...

Stern made the official announcement today and you know that Bumper City is on top of things! Check out some of the sweet pictures Stern has released with the announcement!

Here's a full shot of the playfield to give you a better idea of what's in store!

I will be honest, I am a bit apprehensive right now because it seems that the ring is going to be a very integral part of the game. My concern is Wrestlemania becoming a one-shot game, where the only thing to really do is shoot the ramps to get up into the ring and knock around up there. Hopefully, there will be enough variety to shoot things other than the ring but seeing as both ramps lead up there, I am not too sure... I guess we will have to wait and see! I just got word that John Trudeau is the designer of this table which makes me a bit more cautious about this. Trudeau's first table with Stern was Mustang and it turned out to be a bit of a one-trick pony; much of your time is spent hitting the GEARS targets and the left ramp. There are the car modes but if a car mode isn't active, there isn't a whole heckuva lot to do on Mustang. However, Trudeau's track record prior to Mustang has had some pretty awesome tables. Also, it may have been due to the lack of code that Mustang had at release. I haven't had the chance to play an updated Mustang so who knows if the gameplay is any deeper. I am cautiously excited for Wrestlemania . The ring playfield could turn out to actually be a lot of fun to play on ala World Poker Tour's mini-playfield or it could become a gimmick that wears out it's welcome quite quickly. Hopefully the table is released with robust code so it's a full game out of the gate rather than being bare-bones on release. Makes for a weak table for those that have to play pinball in public places like myself. Again, I'm cautiously optimistic about this because Wrestlemania will feature Stern's newest hardware system, SPIKE, that is based on the Linux OS so hopefully this means coding is easier to do and will be better come launch time.

Of course, there will be a review of WWE Wrestlemania the moment I get my hands on it so stay tuned into Bumper City!