Cammy Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 (edited) Congratulations on finding the large Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pinball machine! I was lucky enough to get one for my birthday, and for Christmas I got the Star Wars version (which is black and looks the best in my opinion). But since I already got the blue Space Adventure version for Christmas in 2013, I haven't taken either of the newer ones out of their boxes yet since the gameplay is exactly the same and I would like to clean and rearrange my games room first. Here is a Star Wars one currently for sale on eBay at a good price (BNIB): http://www.ebay.com/itm/STAR-WARS-Space-Battle-Free-Standing-Pinball-Machine-NIB-battery-operated-/371226804026 Anyway, I have found some videos which show some of the gameplay of these Moose Mountain pinball machines, both the Spongebob Squarepants version (which has different sounds and music to my Space Adventure machine) and the Transformers one (which has the same sounds as Space Adventure). Here are the videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVBUJd_VBa4 And here are some photos of my current mini pinball collection, which doesn't include the Star Wars or TMNT machines yet, or any of the extra decorations: Edited January 1, 2015 by Cammy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomberpunk Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 i'm digging those seats, and whatever that large first pin is, which makes the blue one on the other end look tiny! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerSpaceFan Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I got a Tomy Astro Shooter and also a Cheng Ching Atom Pinball (Atomic Pinball clone) for Christmas and I am loving them. Highly recommended. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cammy Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 (edited) i'm digging those seats, and whatever that large first pin is, which makes the blue one on the other end look tiny! Aren't they cool? They are cheap Chinese knock-offs of Australia's favourite arcade stools, which were made by Caroma in South Australia from the 70s onwards, but were discontinued several years ago. The Force was with me a few years ago when I discovered the last batch of brand new, original Caroma stools in a hardware store, of which I bought four, but those are safely packed away as they're collector's items these days. The Chinese knock-offs are good enough for someone to sit on for a few minutes of toy pinball play, and are the perfect height for these machines. Here's an older photo of me playing one on one of the stools (there are two different Chinese knock-offs, the sparkly blue ones and the red & white ones which have concave lids, but all are the same height) back before we changed the grey garage into the retro-themed games room we have today. Here's a video about the original Caroma stools: Edited January 4, 2015 by Cammy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Aren't they cool? They are cheap Chinese knock-offs of Australia's favourite arcade stools, which were made by Caroma in South Australia from the 70s onwards, but were discontinued several years ago. The Force was with me a few years ago when I discovered the last batch of brand new, original Caroma stools in a hardware store, of which I bought four, but those are safely packed away as they're collector's items these days. The Chinese knock-offs are good enough for someone to sit on for a few minutes of toy pinball play, and are the perfect height for these machines. Here's an older photo of me playing one on one of the stools (there are two different Chinese knock-offs, the sparkly blue ones and the red & white ones which have concave lids, but all are the same height) back before we changed the grey garage into the retro-themed games room we have today. Here's a video about the original Caroma stools: Sweet. I wish I had the space to collect pinball, even the cheap minis. Nothing beats the feel of a real machine though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cammy Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 (edited) Sure, I'd love to own a real machine some day, but I don't mind hunting down arcades, lobbies and milkbars that still have them and dropping in a few dollars to play. I'm happy to have these home machines tucked away in my garage games room for whenever I want a quick game, and visitors to my home love to play them too! They're often a highlight of any party whether I point them out or not. Although I already have the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pinball machine still in its box, I saw this one being sold second-hand on Gumtree and snagged it for only $50! It has a few screws missing from the bottom at the back, and there is some water or moisture under the perspex towards the back of the playfield which I can wipe off once I unscrew it a bit, but apart from that it's in great shape! I had a great Turtle-themed day that day, because in the morning I was at the mall and I actually met the awesome foursome performing for the kids (I wish I had a camera with me to take a photo at the time). Here's a photo of the TMNT Pinball machine next to the Space Adventure Pinball machine. As you can see both games are exactly the same except for the colours and artwork. The sounds and music are identical too. Also if anyone is reading this in the next few hours, here's your last chance to grab the awesome, black Star Wars version of this machine, brand new for about half the retail price - http://www.ebay.com/itm/STAR-WARS-Space-Battle-Free-Standing-Pinball-Machine-NIB-battery-operated-/371230352867 Edited January 11, 2015 by Cammy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torr Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 (edited) Wow, that Space Adventure Pinball table looks tiny in that last pic, with the Laptop next to it as comparison; but when you are sat down and the machines are lined up against the wall it looks like a reasonable size... *Edit - Or is that laptop?? on second look I'm not so sure now... Edited January 11, 2015 by Torr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cammy Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Oh no, that's a huge screen TV that I use for the Amiga, PC, Mac, consoles and TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cammy Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Oh, and the blue pinball machine in the old photo with me in it is a Superman pinball machine, which is smaller than these other ones, including the Space Adventure and TMNT machines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 It would be fun to have one of these but atm I have no tabletop space to dispay them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael David Morsette Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Aren't they cool? They are cheap Chinese knock-offs of Australia's favourite arcade stools, which were made by Caroma in South Australia from the 70s onwards, but were discontinued several years ago. The Force was with me a few years ago when I discovered the last batch of brand new, original Caroma stools in a hardware store, of which I bought four, but those are safely packed away as they're collector's items these days. The Chinese knock-offs are good enough for someone to sit on for a few minutes of toy pinball play, and are the perfect height for these machines. Here's an older photo of me playing one on one of the stools (there are two different Chinese knock-offs, the sparkly blue ones and the red & white ones which have concave lids, but all are the same height) back before we changed the grey garage into the retro-themed games room we have today. I absolutely love those stools. I am definitely gonna start keeping an eye out for them! Here's a video about the original Caroma stools: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy B. Coyote Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 I really have to thank Reaperman for starting this thread, and everyone who has contributed to it. Today I got it in my head that now that I have an arcade machine on the way for my gaming center I really need a budget friendly (a few hundred dollars or less) pinball machine to go along with it, and this thread told me pretty much everything I wanted to know. Originally I was thinking a tabletop pinball machine would be perfect to go along with my bartop arcade cabinet, but after doing some research (and all the best info online was found in this thread) it looks like even the best tabletop pinball machines don't have any real goals to the game like you'd find in an arcade pinball machine. I did like some of the features and the relatively low price of the Tomy Astro Shooter, but it still lacks any proper goals and it does look a bit like a toy rather than a miniaturized version of a real pinball machine. Realizing that there were no tabletop size pinball machines that didn't look toy-ish, I started looking at slightly larger but still apartment-friendly sized options and ended up finding something that looks like the perfect thing for my needs/tastes: A 2007 model Pirates of the Caribbean table from Zizzle. They're definitely in the price range I'm looking for, and they seem to strike a really nice balance between price, features, and authenticity. You can imagine how disappointed I was when I found out that they've been out of production for years, and that it may take a good long while to track down a used or NOS one. But hey, at least now I know what I want to get, and that's half the battle. Besides, I'm flat broke right now anyway and it's going to take me at least a few months to save up for one of these machines; so I'm not in any rush. Thanks again for all the great info guys and gals! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 The closest thing you will get in that price range is a Zizzle, yes. The issue with them is the build quality is sub-par. However, keep your eyes out for them on Craigslist and you will eventually find a solid deal on one ($40 - $60). Also try to get a second model of either the Pirates or Marvel models. On the originals there is no general illumination (GI) and so they are pretty much impossible to play in the dark. The second models fixed that. Something to keep in mind is that you can get real pinball machines for $500 - $600. You can get them even cheaper if you look in the right places (this one cost me $400). Electro-mechanical (pre-1977) machines are often less than $400. A single real-life pin actually won't take up *that* much space, and you can store stuff underneath it (and on top if you don't use it). Just food for thought. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy B. Coyote Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 The closest thing you will get in that price range is a Zizzle, yes. The issue with them is the build quality is sub-par. However, keep your eyes out for them on Craigslist and you will eventually find a solid deal on one ($40 - $60). Also try to get a second model of either the Pirates or Marvel models. On the originals there is no general illumination (GI) and so they are pretty much impossible to play in the dark. The second models fixed that. Something to keep in mind is that you can get real pinball machines for $500 - $600. You can get them even cheaper if you look in the right places (this one cost me $400). Electro-mechanical (pre-1977) machines are often less than $400. A single real-life pin actually won't take up *that* much space, and you can store stuff underneath it (and on top if you don't use it). Just food for thought. Thanks for the advice Austin! I really appreciated the hour long YouTube video you did on the 2006 Pirates model from Zizzle, that was what actually sold me on tracking one down. I will be holding out to find a 2007 model though, since reports seem to indicate that they don't suffer from flakey flipper buttons or other random problems nearly as badly as the 2006 models and the extra LED illumination will be appreciated. I did peek around on my local Craigslist to see what there was in the way of EM pinball machines, but after looking at the options available in the $400 and under price range nothing really caught my eye. I'll admit that I'm kind of a style queen when it comes to the aesthetics of my gaming setups, and the bright and flashy look of the Zizzle Pirates table is a lot more appealing to me than any of the old EM machines I've seen; even if the build quality of the real EM pinball machines is much higher. Unfortunately it seems that these days it's pretty much impossible to find a Zizzle pinball machine for what you paid a few years ago, as every sold listing in eBay's recent history is showing them going for $200 to $350 plus shipping depending on condition. Personally I'd be fine paying up to $300 (which is pretty much the maximum I think that the misses would let me get away with spending on any machine ) for one of the 2007 Pirates models if I could find one new in box, but that could be a bit of a challenge. Ah well, it'll take me at least a few months to save up that kinda money on my budget so I'm not in any rush. Thanks again for the advice and that really thorough video review you did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Ebay is not a good place to look for Zizzle machines, they are always expensive there. They still pop up super cheap on Craigslist, so make that your primary place for looking. I believe I saw one just a few weeks back on my local Craigslist for about $60 - $80. Good luck with the search, and if you manage to score one, be sure to post back here to let us know. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy B. Coyote Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 I'll keep an eye out, but I swear that just about everyone in Saint Paul/Minneapolis seems to check eBay prices before listing anything gaming related on CraigsList. I've never managed to find a good deal on anything locally, and always end up paying less on eBay even after shipping costs. Not having a car also makes trying to negotiate CraigsList deals more than a little difficult, especially for large items like a pinball machine. I'll check CraigsList now and then, but due to the local market and lack of transportation I think I'm pretty much resigned to having to pay $200-$300 on eBay. I'll be sure be sure to you guys/gals know if I find one though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Well, that's a bummer then. Having owned one myself, I'm not sure you are going to get $300 worth of enjoyment out of it, but if you do get one you are right to go for the second models. The original models just aren't worth the hassle. The legs actually come off and with some work the head can come loose and fold down, so when it's shipped to you the box shouldn't be much larger than the playfield/cabinet itself. Of course, if you don't have a car and you do find a good deal on Craigslist, maybe try to arrange a friend to drive you over. I was able to slap the Zizzle in the trunk on its side with the legs still on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy B. Coyote Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 I think I'll be pretty easy to please if I am to track one down a second model for less than $300. I don't have a whole lot of experience playing pinball so I don't think I'll be bothered by the shortcomings of the Zizzle machines compared to real pinball machines, especially given the several thousand dollar price gap between the real deal and one of these home use models. I'm pretty positive that I'd get a lot more enjoyment out of a pinball machine for my gaming center than I would a PS4 or Xbox One, so it'll be worth the money to me if I can find one. I do have a buddy with a big van who could probably give me a lift if the timing is right, but he works 6 days a week so that's kind of an iffy proposition. In any case, it's gonna be a little while before I have the money saved up for one of these, but I'm sure I'll be able to track one down at some point when I do. They're not unobtainably rare and a couple do pop up on eBay every month, so worst case scenario I can always find one there. Thanks again for all the helpful advice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Jin, may I make a suggestion? I've gotten sucked into Pinball Arcade (Farsight) and even though pinball is never the same playing on a video screen compared to real life, after experiencing the variety of goals the various selection of pins have to offer, I don't think a toy pinball table could really do them justice. I'd almost rather play a simulation of one of the big boys. And before anyone calls me a blasphemer, yes, I've played real life pinball. I went to the Texas Pinball fest in 2014 and never regretted it. Simulation is never better than the real thing, but simulation of the real thing may be better than a crappy real life imitation. I would recommend you get out and play some pinball (I am sure you have). I don't have any experience with toy pinball myself, but I imagine the simple rule sets would get boring after a while. Still something is better than nothing though. Good luck with your endeavors. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy B. Coyote Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Jin, may I make a suggestion? I've gotten sucked into Pinball Arcade (Farsight) and even though pinball is never the same playing on a video screen compared to real life, after experiencing the variety of goals the various selection of pins have to offer, I don't think a toy pinball table could really do them justice. I'd almost rather play a simulation of one of the big boys. And before anyone calls me a blasphemer, yes, I've played real life pinball. I went to the Texas Pinball fest in 2014 and never regretted it. Simulation is never better than the real thing, but simulation of the real thing may be better than a crappy real life imitation. I would recommend you get out and play some pinball (I am sure you have). I don't have any experience with toy pinball myself, but I imagine the simple rule sets would get boring after a while. Still something is better than nothing though. Good luck with your endeavors. Thanks for the great suggestions! I downloaded Pinball Arcade from Farsight on my Android tablet this morning and spent a good few hours playing Tales of the Arabian Nights (on my best game I collected 4 of the 6 gems) and checking out some of my favorite tables from my younger days like T2 and Starship Troopers. I was really impressed by how accurately Farsight recreated these famous tables, right down to T2 being just as big of a drain monster on the virtual table as it is on the real one. After playing virtual pinball all morning I've decided to take your advice and go scratch the itch to play a real machine, and a quick search on http://pinballmap.com revealed that there's a bar just 7 minutes away by bus that has the pinball machine I would most like to own if I could ever afford a real one: The Lord of the Rings from Stern. As soon as I finish typing this post (which is going to be right about now-ish) I'll be heading out the door to go dump at least $5 or $10 worth of quarters into it. Good times await! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Thanks for the great suggestions! I downloaded Pinball Arcade from Farsight on my Android tablet this morning and spent a good few hours playing Tales of the Arabian Nights (on my best game I collected 4 of the 6 gems) and checking out some of my favorite tables from my younger days like T2 and Starship Troopers. I was really impressed by how accurately Farsight recreated these famous tables, right down to T2 being just as big of a drain monster on the virtual table as it is on the real one. After playing virtual pinball all morning I've decided to take your advice and go scratch the itch to play a real machine, and a quick search on http://pinballmap.com revealed that there's a bar just 7 minutes away by bus that has the pinball machine I would most like to own if I could ever afford a real one: The Lord of the Rings from Stern. As soon as I finish typing this post (which is going to be right about now-ish) I'll be heading out the door to go dump at least $5 or $10 worth of quarters into it. Good times await! Now THAT'S what I'm talking about! Take that bus ride, and enjoy it! Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite Stern games. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy B. Coyote Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Now THAT'S what I'm talking about! Take that bus ride, and enjoy it! Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite Stern games. I sure tried to, but unfortunately http://pinballmap.com wasn't up to date and when I got to the bar I found out that they sold their LOTR machine (which was their only pinball machine) a few months back. However! I did find another place within traveling distance—about an hour away—that has quite a few pins I'd like to play, called ahead to confirm that they still have them, and I'll be heading up there tomorrow. They've got The Lord of the Rings, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Medieval Madness, Tales of the Arabian Nights, and half a dozen or so others. Speaking of Arabian Nights, after a few more hours of practice I was able to beat Arabian Nights and rescue the princess on the Pinball Arcade simulator that Stardust4ever recommended! That was pretty darn satisfying, and now I'm just killing time until tomorrow playing what is my current favorite of the virtual tables: Bram Stoker's Dracula. I think it'll be interesting to see how my experience playing the virtual table tonight translates (or doesn't translate) into real life when I go to play the real Bram Stoker's Dracula machine tomorrow. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy B. Coyote Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 Now THAT'S what I'm talking about! Take that bus ride, and enjoy it! Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite Stern games. To give you guys an update, today I took the long hour and a half'ish bus trip to a bar the next city over with a whole bunch of pins, then later a pizza shop with a few more a couple blocks down, and spent a good 2 hours or so playing on some real machines. I went to the bar first since they had the largest variety and ended up blowing through $10 in about half an hour on The Lord of the Rings, Medieval Madness, and Tales of the Arabian Nights. I very quickly learned that my experience and skill playing Medieval Madness and Arabian Nights on the Pinball Arcade simulator on my tablet did not translate at all to the real machines, since the ball physics and flipper activation timing after pressing the flipper buttons are pretty different in real life than in the simulator. No matter what machine I played I couldn't keep a ball in play for more than 20 seconds or so without draining it, and I probably would have had about much success hitting the targets I was aiming at if I was playing blindfolded. It also didn't help that the bar was very dark and playing music so loud you couldn't hear yourself think, so after half an hour of frustration and burning through my money at $1 a credit I headed to the pizza shop down the way. Fortunately the pizza shop was much quieter and better lit, the atmosphere was way more relaxing, and the machines there gave you 3 credits for $1. The only machine they had that I was interested in playing was The Lord of the Rings, but that was the machine that I wanted to play more than any other pin in existence; so I didn't mind. I cashed out $5 for quarters and spent the next hour and a half enjoying my 15 credits, and in the more relaxed atmosphere I was able to get a much better feel for the real life machine physics and learn my way around the table. I had an awesome time playing, and by the time my credits were up I felt like I had a really good handle on the machine and could hit whatever I was aiming at around 50% of the time. With a little practice I was able to consistently activate the Fellowship multiball, the Return of the King multiball, and the Golem multiball, but I never managed to get the Two Towers multiball even once. I guess I'll just have to go back again next week and practice a bit more. Once I was able to play in a calm and quiet atmosphere I had a great time with it, and I especially loved all the voice acting and movie sounds in the LOTR machine. LOTR is probably my all time favorite movie series, and that combined with the really clever and attractive table design made the pinball machine an absolute joy to play for me. I think the biggest thing I took away from the whole experience is that playing pinball requires a great deal more skill and fast reflexes (or just a whole lot of luck if you're short on skill and reflexive abilities) than any arcade video game I've ever played, and learning to play any machine well is going to take many many long hours of practice. It's possible to get lucky every now and then and get an exceptionally high score, but to be able to score high consistently is going to require more dedication and practice than I've ever had to devote to any arcade game. That said, I'd still like to have a 2nd model Pirates machine from Zizzle to play at home. After my experiences today I am finding it a bit disappointing that there are no multiball modes on the Zizzle machines—because the multiball modes were my favorite part of playing the real machines—but for their price I really can't complain. When all of the real arcade pinball machines that I would want to own range from $2,000 (Bram Stoker's Dracula and Starship Troopers) to nearly $7,000 (The Lord of the Rings), I'm not gonna gripe about a $300 or less Zizzle machine not having multiball functionality. It still has lots of actual goals to complete, a wizard mode if you manage to complete them, and it's an affordable machine that I can play at home for free. Time to start saving my pennies! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetal88 Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 This is more of a toy than a serious machine, but I used to have a Juke Jubilee when I was a kid. Though since all the ones I'm finding online now are dated 1979, I'm thinking mine had to have been a reproduction (unless my parents picked it up at a thrift store or garage sale or something). Anyway, sometime when we moved house the base disappeared and now I have the scoreboard in a box all by itself. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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