Win a Steam code for Pinball FX2!

[BarbieBobomb]

Hey everyone!

I have a Steam code that needs a home! Post below with your favorite pinball memory. This can be a memory of the first time you ever played your favorite real-life pinball table, or the proud moment when you beat wizard mode on one of our tables. The winner will be drawn at random tomorrow at 5pm Pacific, so good luck!

[Incriminified]

My favorite memory of pinball was hanging out with friends during high school and playing 4 player rounds on 8 ball deluxe. We did that on a regular basis. Every so often the table would be changed and we'd all be challenged to learn the new game. Good times

[Shifty]

Well I doubt I stand a chance of winning this seeing as I have been critical of Zen recently but "If you don't buy a ticket...". I'm not a hardcore pinball fan as such but it is a game I have always found to be very fun and addictive. I prefer the idea of video game pinball to real pinball and have been disappointed for years that there was no game that quite got me excited, until I found Zen pinball on my iphone. But this feeling soon turned into disappointment when I did some reserch and found I could not play this on (my) PC. And then I came across "the thread" that made my day. Zens unique brand of pinball WAS coming for all PC users. This is my ultimate pinball moment. Seriously if you guys have read all my posts you will see it is. Code or no code Pinball FX2 being released on Steam is the most exciting game release for me since Skyrim and Battlefield 3.

[K3V]

My memory is about what got me into pinball. I remember hitting up the arcade with my dad when I was a kid and really lighting up a machine - I want to say it was High Speed but I can't remember it 100%. Anyways it was just such a great feeling to do so well, not that I REALLY understood what I was doing then but I've been into it ever since.

Now I've got a few real machines of my own (Doctor Who and Rollergames) and just recently finished building a virtual pinball cabinet. I just installed Steam on it and can't wait to play Pinball FX2 on it on Friday!

[BarbieBobomb]

Well I doubt I stand a chance of winning this seeing as I have been critical of Zen recently but "If you don't buy a ticket...". I'm not a hardcore pinball fan as such but it is a game I have always found to be very fun and addictive. I prefer the idea of video game pinball to real pinball and have been disappointed for years that there was no game that quite got me excited, until I found Zen pinball on my iphone. But this feeling soon turned into disappointment when I did some reserch and found I could not play this on (my) PC. And then I came across "the thread" that made my day. Zens unique brand of pinball WAS coming for all PC users. This is my ultimate pinball moment. Seriously if you guys have read all my posts you will see it is. Code or no code Pinball FX2 being released on Steam is the most exciting game release for me since Skyrim and Battlefield 3.

It'll be random, so no bias here! Also - please don't feel bad about being critical as long as you're being respectful. We do our best to implement features/ideas from fans and that input is what makes our stuff great.

[Sun Vulcan]

When i was young Cirqus Voltaire was my favorite. It wasn’t that the game play was especially interesting – after all, who really understands all the goals and objectives of pinball anyway? You just try to keep from losing the oversized ball bearing and hope to hit enough flashy things to get an extra ball. I like it because it generates interest on its own merits rather than trying to strike a chord with a pop culture favorite. It loosely involved being involved with the circus, complete with a “ringmaster” that made me think of ‘Zoltar’ from the movie Big.

[DjParagon]

Wow that's cool !

Well, I did not play a ton of tables in my teenage years because of a grandiose lack of money, but was lucky enough to play some of the legendary ones like The Adams Family or The Twilight Zone. So I'll go for the nice feelings I had while watching the documentary "Special When Lit" not so long ago.

What a touching movie ! It explains how was created the first table ever in the late 1800's (even 1700's !!) and how they struggle to find and keep a market in the United States in different eras (like the prohibition in the 1930's - 40's until 1970's) toward the death of some of the oldest manufacturers like Bally or Gottlieb in late 80's - 90's, unfortunately mostly because of the growing popularity of the video games.

They also interview some of the best players in the world, and what was my surprise to see the pro's body language for the first time ! I was very impressed by the dedication and passion these guys are puting into pinball, like any other athlete training and training to be better and try and beat the best score. Oh man I remember some of the top players in my town learning the rythm of the game and keeping that final ball forever, while I could not stay more than a few minutes with each one. Man pinball is tough !

This documentary is worth watching for any pinball fan, even more worth watching for anyone not familiar with it just to see the incredible evolution of pinball through decades. Pinball took many hits, but it's still around, and now with the digital era bringing back some of the most popular tables or creating awesome tables with the same love and passion and perfectionism that Williams, Stern, Bally or Gotlieb did before, it is overwhelming and I am glad that I can finally get some time learning and scoring without having to spend all my coins every week-ends. And PP Timeshock is starting to get old... ^^

[BarbieBobomb]

I want to share one of my favorite pinball memories as well! It's actually a very recent one. Last month I went to Vegas to visit some friends and I ended up checking out the pinball hall of fame - they have a really rare machine there called The Pinball Circus. It's a super funky upright-style machine (it's weird, check out the pics on the link) and apparently there are only 2 of them in existence. It's got multiple levels and way too many flippers placed in random spots, but it was really fun! I met up with a friend who works at PlayStation and he was the one who told me that it was too rad not to play. So glad I did!

[surf1der]

My favorite pinball memory was going to the Pacific Pinball Museum for the first time. They had a great mix EM and SS machines. I was a kid in a candy store.

http://pacificpinball.org/collections

[shogun00]

The table that got me into Pinball was Rollergames. It's one of those tables that just awe-struck me when I was 8 years old and I've been playing pinball ever since.

I want to share one of my favorite pinball memories as well! It's actually a very recent one. Last month I went to Vegas to visit some friends and I ended up checking out the pinball hall of fame - they have a really rare machine there called The Pinball Circus. It's a super funky upright-style machine (it's weird, check out the pics on the link) and apparently there are only 2 of them in existence. It's got multiple levels and way too many flippers placed in random spots, but it was really fun! I met up with a friend who works at PlayStation and he was the one who told me that it was too rad not to play. So glad I did!

The reason why there was only 2 of them is because they were prototypes.

Back in the late 90s, they were trying to figure out a way to make a pinball machine that could complete with an arcade machine. The main reason was because coin operators were complaining about the size of pinball machines and how much room they took.

Two people came up with an idea, which was The Pinball Circus. A multi-level pinball machine that was the size of an arcade cabinet. Unfortunately, by the time the prototypes were completed, the arcades were starting to go belly up. The project was discontinued and one of the creators donated his copy of the prototype to the Pinball Hall of Fame.

[Roo5676]

My favorite pinball moment was about three weeks ago when I got my new virtual pinball cabinet delivered. There's nothing like playing on a full-size cabinet with real buttons, real nudging, etc. You forget you're not playing a real table. As good as some of the hobbyist tables I've been playing are, I can't wait to play PBFX2 on it!

The funny thing is I wasn't even into pinball until a couple years ago. I had never really played growing up (I'm 30). There just weren't many around and video games always got my attention first. Then I put together a MAME cabinet with a control panel that had pinball buttons on the side. So I gave one of the pinball games a try and really got into it. Then I discovered Pinball FX2 (on Xbox because there was no PC version). Now it's a couple years later -- I've been to 2 Chicago Pinball Expos, visited the Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame and now have my own virtual pincab.

Pinball (at least virtual pinball) seems to be making a comeback, and I'm sure Zen is a large part of it. Let's keep it going.

[snakeman07]

Too many great moments, really But one of my favorites was definitely beating Dracula on the Blade table. I remember running out of my room shouting in such happiness

[jaykrz]

I have 2 moments that I reminisce about all of the time.

When I was younger my family owned a golf and fun center which had a driving range, batting cages, mini putt and an arcade. My uncle was into pinball and he made sure the arcade was full of Pinball machines. I was able to play these machines for hours on end without spending a quarter. I could get the master keys and add as many credits as I wanted.

My first favourite pinball moment was having a birthday party there. We added unlimited credits on all arcades machines and played all day. The machines that we had were Twilight Zone, Jurassic Park, Star Trek, Terminator 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rocky and Bowinkle, Taxi, from what i can remember off of the top of my head. We also had air hockey, pacman, MK and basketball, but pinball was where it was at.

Twilight Zone was by far the one I played the most, but alas, we ended up selling all machines (not my idea) to make room for a Golf Proshop. I plead with family to let me keep one of the machines, and finally convinced them to let me keep one, this was my second fav moment.... I wasnt allowed to keep Twilight Zone because it was worth too much. I had a choice between Turtles and Rocky and Bowinkle. Me being a huge turtles fan chose the TMNT pin, although looking back the R&B table was more fun.


Thanks for the recommendation about the PinB documentary DjParagon

I agree with you guys that pinball seems to be making a comeback. Saw this article on Slashdot the other day which I thought was interesting.

[RighteousSavant]

Best memory? Let's see...

It would have to be the first time I saw Theatre of Magic at a local Gabriel Bros. I hated shopping there, but when they put that machine in, I had an excuse to go with my family and to short my lunch money regularly just a bit in order to enjoy it.

[MOKTango]

Memories

I have many fond memories playing real pinball in my teens, from the first time playing Terminator 2 as soon as it came out to Theatre of Magic etc and who could forget the first time getting the 13 ball multiball on Apollo 13... awesome!!

Electronic pinball - playing Revenge of the Gator on the original gameboy, playing Metroid Pinball on Nintendo DS in the wee early hours of the morning while sitting in line for U2 tickets, and of course finally beating a wizard mode in Pinball Fx2.

My fondest recent memory was going to a local expo last year and playing pinball for about 6 hours straight. I think I tried about 40 different machines that day, many I hadn't seen in real life before like Medieval Madness, Circus Voltaire and Monster Bash. Lots of really old school machines as well. It was like a history lesson The only downside was getting sore wrists. If I told anyone I had sore wrists there was always the funny looks (that a man gets) and the follow up 'why what have you been doing' question!!!