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.
Hi there Vasili! Long time no see (well, actually, since we've never seen each other perhaps it should be long time no hear?) Be that if it may, I just installed Red and Ted, and uhhuh, it's a hard table.. the maximum is 10 million points and I only scored 2.. :sigh: Also it's the first time I passed on 2 tables , since I was broke! I have got to sell some items before I can buy the rest. (you remember all my pinball CDs? I have to let them go now ;-( Ever since Farsght lost the Williams contract to Zen, the tables improved 200%. Sorry Farsight, but Zen is leaving you in the dust! And, frankly, their price point is far better as well. And you know what? They're really worth it. I feel that Farsight's days are numbered , unless they get inventive (like picking up little wing's tables, now that Reiko and company have fled the scene. ( I can't rtemember her husband's name - after, it has been SO long!) . Oh.. ps: know anyone who wants a bunch of pinball CDs? ;-)
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