Understanding Why

I’m at the point in my collection that I want to weed out the games I just don’t play much and add games that would become favorites. To begin to do that I thought I’d create a list of what games I spend the most time on and then try to understand why. Find out what drives me to spend more time playing one vs another. The simple answer is always “well, you’ll want to play the better games more often!” OK, that’s obvious but not always true and when I reviewed my list, it was NOT obvious what exactly constituted a “better” game. In fact some of my more frequently played games are not even in the top 100 on Pinside. So what exactly is going on here?

If I can drill down into the essence of why I choose one game over another, it will help me in my above mission to right size the collection to have games I’ll play more often, even if I end up with a few less games. Let’s start with the list. I’ve broken it down into 4 categories ranging from playing them often to almost never. Below you can see how the some of the games in my collection shook out.

After review, we can dig in to what I found and what might help you make more informed decisions about future adds to your collection

For example, I play this group of games OFTEN:

• Godzilla
• Star Trek
• Iron Man
• Bride of Pinbot
• The Simpson Pinball Party
• The Flintstones
• Jurassic Park (Stern)
• Ultraman (new to collection)

I play these games OCCASIONALY:

• Metallica
• Gun’s n Roses (JJP)
• Pirates (Stern)
• X-Men
• Spiderman (Stern)
• Lord of the Rings
• Game of Thrones
• Time Machine
• Wipe Out
• Theater of Magic
• Creature
• Haunted House
• Bride of Pinbot

I play these games RARELY:

• Wizard of Oz
• Medievel Madness
• AC/DC
• Batman ’66
• Addams Family
• Ghostbusters
• Dr. Dude
• Houdini
• Johnny Mnemonic

I almost NEVER play these games:

• Aerosmith
• Kiss
• Last Action hero
• Judge Dredd
• Fire
• Truck Stop
• Elvis
• Harlem Globetrotters

Let’s start with what was obvious to me and maybe not so much to you. There were a few categories that were very easy to bucket with clear “reasons” why I played or did not play that title as much.

WHY GAMES ARE PLAYED “OFTEN”

ACHIEVEMENT – This was harder to nail down than I thought, but as I examined the games that I play often, it became more obvious. I play these because of a sense of accomplishment. I can achieve things in these games. I am able to progress and in the process experience incremental gameplay (more fun?). Sometimes the incremental gameplay is offered as a performance reward – i.e., I was able to get further through the game than others. Sometimes it’s due to the fact that the game has so much depth that just playing it (at an average skill level) delivers new gameplay almost every time. A good example of this is “The Simpsons Pinball Party”. The game is so deep that only a handful of highly skilled players could ever hope to see the end of it. However, if you play it enough, the code has so many modes and methods to play that you will likely be pleasantly surprised by achieving or seeing something you never saw before.

CLEAR GOALS – When I see Jurassic Park in the top tier “play it often” list, I shake my head and wonder if I’ve made a mistake. Nope. I play it often BUT I never do that well on it. By all accounts, it’s another “tough Keith Elwin” game. I agree that it is. There are more than one shot in the game that consistently exceed my skills. Then why do I find myself playing it over and over? My scores always end around the same mark as does the numbers of paddocks that I clear (maybe 2 on average). The answer to this game is the absolute clarity in the mission and game goals. I know what to shoot for. I know what to do even if it’s hard to accomplish. The key shots are the “Rescue” markers and those inserts are orange, easy to see and very easy to understand. Make those shots, clear the paddock, rinse and repeat. Yes, there are LOTS of other things to do in the game and plenty of toys and gadgets (who does not LOVE a T-Rex that eats and throws the ball). The theme is also beloved by all – including me, but in the end, I continue to play the game because the goals are easy to understand.

Interestingly of the two “related” games in my most often played list (Godzilla and Ultraman), only Ultraman fits the attribute of “clear goals”. Maybe because it’s easier to progress in the game for an average + player like me or perhaps because the rule set is so much simpler. Either way I don’t find Godzilla to present nearly as clear of goals as Ultraman does. That’s saying something when Ultraman code still has a ways to go before being considered polished or complete. Yes, I get the storyline of Godzilla easy enough. Play as Godzilla and beat all the other Kaiju to control the cities, but in practice and in gameplay, the complexity of the rule gets in the way of crystal clear goals and progression.

STORY & MOMENTS – I’ve often referred to “Star Trek” as my favorite pin in the entire collection. As I’ve contemplated this blog post, it’s become even more clear that my gut was right on this one. The reason is the “Story” it tells and my role in it. You feel like you ARE riding along with Captain Kirk on the Enterprise. You feel like you ARE fighting against the Klingon warship. The story is simple but the game design is so powerful in how it reinforces it. The Enterprise sits to your right. Dead ahead are the bad guys in the Klingon ship and one of the ball locks sits squarely underneath. Steve Ritchie and team did a fabulous job engaging you in this story. You have missiles to fire at the Klingon ship. No worries if you run out of ammo – use real pinballs to blast away at it. It’s hard to not feel like you’re really fighting when the Klingon ship FIRES BACK at incredible speed. Intertwined in all of this are some incredibly satisfying moments and shots. The the entire playfield goes dark and the mini laser paints everything with red star dust is an unforgettable moment. Add to it the Klingon leaders’ “Foolish Human” callout, and fiendish laugh that follows and you’ve got a top 10 moment in all of pinball. The shots in the game are all easy enough for an average player to progress deeply into the game and the most challenging shot (Steve Ritchie’s signature “warp ramp) is incredibly satisfying when hit – especially when you are able to combo 2 or more in a row! The sound, music and callouts (they are excellent) all work together to support the story and keep you in it -rather than take you out. Even the start of the game begins to set that atmosphere with a simple “Welcome Aboard” and a rather quiet background pallet of sound, at least until gameplay begins.

WHY GAMES ARE “NEVER” PLAYED

NOT MY PIN – For example, “not my pin” would be a category for sure. There are several of these that I would not have purchased at all BUT my wife wanted and claims them as hers: Wizard of Oz, Elvis, Kiss and Aerosmith are great examples. I was eager to support my wife in acquiring these but the reality is that she rarely plays anyway and for the most part these 4 titles are not my cup of tea – so … I don’t play them either! Now does each of them have something unique to offer? Of course. Wizard of Oz is a stunning world under glass example of a pinball machine. It likely changed the course of all modern machines forever and for the better. Still, it’s a hard game with typically short ball times and has some “clunkyness” to the shot geometry. There are the “JJP flippers” to deal with and when you combine those negatives it becomes a game that I only play when we have guests over (they are drawn to it like moths to a flame).

HARD GAMEPLAY – The other obvious bucket to me was that many of the games in the rarely or almost never played categories are very challenging to play. Progressing through the game is tough for me. I’m an average player in the Pinhead world. I have moments of brilliance, but I’m still average. To top it off, I’m not a fan of learning all the complex rules. A perfect example of this was my (formerly owned) Avengers Infinity Quest LE. To me it presented two huge negatives that led to its transfer of ownership out of the loft. The rules are insanely complex and the shots were just a bit beyond my skill level. As a results (and like many others I’ve encountered) I could never progress through the game. Add to that the fact that the game never felt cohesive and a little “cold/sterile” and it’s one of the few games that I’ve not missed once gone. If you want to read some positives about the game, you can check out my original review right here on the Pinball Loft blog.

WHY GAMES ARE PLAYED OCCCASIONALLY

UNIQUE GAMEPLAY – The middle ground bucket of “occasionally play” somehow seems easier to understand the “why”. For example, JJP Gun’s n Roses is a challenging game that can end with huge jackpots or a nearly barren scoreboard. That kind of scoring schema and variation might lead you to rarely play the game. In my case, I keep coming back to it because it does something that NO OTHER pinball I own does – it transports me to the show, to the actual GnR concert. The experience of starting a song, picking your favorite and simply “playing along” is unique and not too many days go by that I am not hankering to do it again. Creature is the same way. You can play that game and not make it to Creature multi-ball or you might. When you do, you are rewarded with a pretty unique experience – in the case of Creature, it’s not a song but an amazing ball path that is only accessible at this time, and a cool goal to “find the Creature” as you keep 2 balls alive. It’s that unique series of moments that I live for and keeps me coming back to Creature for one more try.

SHOT VARIETY – This is another attribute of games that will keep me coming back. They have a wide variety of shots. The shot also feel unique to that game – in other words, they are not simply a ‘bunch of shots” but more and large amount of unique shots. This keeps me coming back to those games because no other games can “scratch that itch” so to speak. Stern Pirates is a fanstastic example of this. The monkey loop, the treasure chest, the left ramp, the ship shot and the one behind it for the Kraken … all of these feel special and unique to that game. While it can sometimes be a long player, it never descends into “boring” because of the the shot variety. Metallica would fit the same mold. Maybe a tiny bit less so because of the predictability of the 2 ramps and L/R orbits, but there is a lot of variety nonetheless. Hitting the “fuel” shot after a right ramp always feels (and sounds) good. I’ll add Game of Thrones here as well. The shot variety and “shootability” of those shots is excellent. It offers 2 clean orbits, a kickback, 2 ramps and an engaging upper playfield. I’ll be honest and share that for the first few years in my collection it did NOT get much gameplay, but I recently spent some more time on it both learning the rules and dialing in the necessary shots. Like most games, if you are not progressing into the game, you really are not getting the full experience. When I finally passed a billion points and had defeated multiple houses, and gotten to the “Hand of the king” mode – the level of engagement soared.

Spiderman falls squarely into this bucket as well. I have the later release comic version and love the artwork, but understand the weakness of the updated callouts vs the original release. To be honest, were it not for the weak callouts, this game would quickly move into the “often played” category. As it sits, it presents an incredible variety of shots. Most of these are smooth, interesting and repeatable. In particular, the left and right ramp shots along with the Ritchie signature upper flipper ramp shot are just plain fun. Just hard enough, but not too hard and always a feeling of satisfaction when completed. Being able to routinely hit those ramps, is of course critically important to being able to progress in the game. If you can do it Spiderman is a game that an average to slightly above average player can master. You can have long ball times but not get bored along the way.

WHY GAMES ARE RARELY PLAYED

TOO MANY NEGATIVES – This is a tougher category because absolutes like “never” seem easier to explain. In the case of games that I rarely play, it’s a bit tougher to nail down exactly why. I’ll start with the clearest example – Johnny Mnemonic. By all accounts it’s a fast and uniquely designed George Gomez game. It’s got tons of speed, flow, plenty to shoot at and a very cool mech in the mechanical glove. When I play it, I do enjoy the game. Unfortunately that is not very often. There are just too many negatives. A laundry list of the things that “bug me” about the game pretty much sums up why it’s in the rarely played category:

• Theme sucks
• Dated references
• Hand mech is soooooo slow
• Video mode is terrible (and slows game)
• Movie may be the worst I’ve ever seen
• Cabinet art sucks (like really bad)
• Scoring by the millions/hundred millions is just goofy

Just one of the items on my list would not necessarily put this game at the bottom, but taken as a whole I just don’t get excited pushing the start button on this title

SUMMARY – It’s been interesting asking myself some very direct questions about this subject. I’ve absolutely learned a few things in the process. They may be obvious to you but were a bit of a revelation to me.

My first big takeaway goes back to my comments on Game of Thrones. If you can’t get deep enough into a game you may forever not enjoy or appreciate it. Think about how to apply this logically. When asking for or simply reading game feedback on Pinside, pay attention to the reviewer. How skilled of a player are they? Most importantly how closely do YOU match up to their skills? If the two of you are close and all other things being equal, at least you’ll know that the DEPTH part of your experience is likely to mimic theirs, thus validating the review. I’m sure some of the wide variety of reviews on a single game can be attributed to this phenomenon. Sometimes it’s obvious with comments like “too easy”. Other times it’s more obtuse and hidden in comments like “not my cup of tea” … I get that statement, but we are then left wondering “why”?

Another key takeaway was that when I have a lack of emotional investment, it leads me to almost completely disconnect from a title. The games I bought on behalf of my wife sit idle most of the time. I also discovered that there is more to the why than simply “not my pins”. Aerosmith pro for example has a killer soundtrack (love Aerosmith) and amazing artwork by Dirty Donnie. It fails me terribly on the gameplay side. Shallow shot variety and boring shots add to the fact that I didn’t pick this title. I’ll rarely start a game unless a guest wants a 2 player. Fair criticism? Not sure but there it is.

Maybe one of the biggest takeaways from this effort was understanding how important shot variety, repeatability and satisfaction played. I used the shot variety standard to highlight games in the “occasional” category but the same logic applies to MANY of the games in the “often played” category as well. Jurassic Park, Godzilla, and The Simpsons all have incredible shot variety. When I examined the occasionally played games, I found the same and mentioned specifically in my comments above that Stern Pirates, Metallica, Game of Thrones and Spider-Man all possess this important attribute. Studying playfields and reviews of both existing and newly introduced games should help guide me to more satisfying titles (to me) in the future

Lastly, I now know that I need to be very aware of complex rulesets. Not to simply write off that title, but know they are there, then discover if and how they may potentially impact my enjoyment of the game. It’s a double edged sword. Games like The Simpsons present no issue as they have a long list of other wonderful attributes, while as I mentioned before Avengers was both complex and difficult so was not a game that gave me a ton of enjoyment. The rules and shot difficulty just got in the way of enjoying the game.

Listen, we are ALL different. We have different desires and wishes in a pinball game. We present wildly differing skill sets. We don’t all play the same (calculating trappers vs on-the-fly shooters). These differences allow us to review and enjoy games that others do not. How else can you explain the fact that with nearly 40 games in the Pinball Loft, I’ve played Ultraman almost exclusively for over 4 months?
Do your own version of this exercise. Ask yourself these hard to answer questions and along the way you too can uncover helpful insights into why you like what you like. The outcome won’t direct you to the exact right game, but can serve as a guide to ensure the titles you select are more likely to be ones you really enjoy.