FarSight vs Zen

I would have never believed that I was going to write a post where FarSight would have the upper hand in a comparison to Zen. Well, here it is.

Some background is necessary though. Three weeks ago I underwent surgery in order to repair a shoulder tendon (the supraspinatus, if you are interested in details). As a consequence my left arm was immobilised, with a very clever belt (it still is and will be for ten more days) and I could not play pinball. I was somewhat frustrated but then I remembered Safe Cracker. In this game you only lose the ball after the area shut-down when you are in sudden death. So I started playing SC with just the right flipper. It's not as funny as when you play with both flippers but it's better than nothing.

Now, Safe Cracker exists both in the Pinball Arcade and the Zen Pinball collections. I tried both, with, initially, a preference for Zen. However, as I kept playing I found that the FarSight version had definite advantages, in particular for someone who was losing the ball all too easily. For instance in the Pinball Arcade simulator the launch of the ball is always the same so that it always lights the same lane. One can thus rack up 5 minutes time extensions much more easily. 

Also I like the angle of the PA pinball (in position 3). It gives you more of a bird's eye view and less of a perspective one. I prefer it by far. So this time FarSight is one-upping Zen (and, I know, this is totally subjective).

I wrote to FarSight

The idea is not mine. It was in fact a suggestion of my friend Nick. Now that FarSight has lost the Williams/Bally tables they could try to revive the two great digital pinball lines which have disappeared after trying the adventure of the AppStore:  Littlewing and ProPinball. So I decided to write to them with the suggestion. 

Here  is the moil I sent them.

I am pinball fan and a Pinball Arcade player. Since the non-renewal of the Williams-Bally contract I understand that times may be difficult for FarSight. However I think that there many occasions out there in particular two excellent collections of digital pinballs the rights of which could probably be purchased. I am thinking about Littlewing and ProPinball. Both have now disappeared but could be revived thanks to your experience and offer a new line of income for your company.


I hope you'like this idea of mine.

Let's see if they respond.

The 4th batch of Zen-Williams tables

I was convinced that May would go by without a single new entry for the blog. Well, I was wrong. Just before the bell, Zen did produce the fourth batch of Williams-Bally tables. I purchased them immediately and took them for a test drive. 

Red and Ted's Road show 

is a Pat Lawlor table and, coming after Funhouse, it was inspired from the latter: we have now two talking heads, Ted the bulldozer driver and Red, his female boss. Road Show is a difficult game with a complex set of rules and I feel that I have to spend quite some time on it before mastering all its subtleties.

White Water 

is a table I did not manage to play at all in the FarSight version. It was just impossible to find a "visible" ball. Here there is not visibility problem but after a few games I concluded that I was not particularly attracted to it. 

The third tale is Hurricane

One would not have guessed, just by the title, that the game is an amusement park themed one, with Roller coasters, Ferris wheels, shooting galleries and so on. Unfortunately the Zen version does not include the revolving, back-glass, wheel, which I liked so much in the FarSight version. 

However another surprise was in store. When you loose a ball the clown is throwing a pie at you. It's one of those Zen animations I am grumbling about but in this case, since it comes at a moment when one is not playing, it is a welcome one, adding a touch of humour to the game.