The Finch Formerly Known As Gold

29 April 2008

The disciples seem to have left

Pinball is on the wane and CT doesn't care:

I never could get into it. I don't mind the concept of the ball as a free radical, but so much of the game forces you to be an observer — you watch the ball spring forth, bounce around for a minute or more on various bumpers and bells, and then maybe drop down to the flippers area. Then, even if you get a decent hit, you usually have to wait another several seconds for the ball to descend back down to you. Or, more likely, it drops down dead center, where all your hapless flippering can't prevent the end of the turn. Woo-hee.

Reminds me of that pesky thing they call Life.

And really, I don't mind the brief pause as the ball careers about at the far end of the table: this is the ideal time to catch my breath. I just have to remember to reengage Maximum Flippiness at the appropriate moment.

Posted at 7:07 AM to The Way We Were


Yeah, I always took pinball to be a great lesson in patience and timing.

Much better than fishing, since fish are so much less predictable than Newtonian physics.

Posted by: McGehee at 8:48 AM on 29 April 2008

If all you do is "watch the ball... bounce around for a minute or more on various bumpers and bells," you're missing half the fun. A little nudge here and there makes it much more interesting.

Posted by: Old Grouch at 9:59 AM on 29 April 2008

In my defense, for my first try at a pinball machine, I was too young to know about the body-English option in gameplay (and thus, probably too small to have applied it anyway). Without that, you're giving the game too much advantage.

That said, I still say it's a rip-off.

Posted by: CT at 7:43 PM on 29 April 2008