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Best attract mode on a pinball machine?

VeeMonroe

VeeMonroe

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I was very surprised to discover that Centaur has an attract mode. Periodically, it runs all the pinballs through the machine, making noises and flashing lights as they hit targets (see video).

I didn’t know this was a ’thing’ with classics, and it came as a bit of a surprise. It also means we have to switch the machine off while my husband is working in the room.

I wondered if any other classics had an attract mode? And which was the best attract mode, in your opinion, of any pin?

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Creech with the fading GI and inserts is beautiful in attract . The GI fades in and out while the inserts do different patterns. Plus the "Movie starts in 5 minutes" attract sequence which is separate... If that can count.

Roadshow the opposite. Boring, inserts do the same pattern over and over with no change.

AlanJ said:
There’s a setting on the dip switches to switch it off. i have mine off as it scares the hell out of me when it suddenly fires up.
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Needless wear too😄
 
Although nothing "fancy" like kicking out ball, I remember thinking that Special Force lights looked ace during attract. The fade in and out on the incandescent lights on the inserts were really attractive.
 
Love this feature with Centaur .. And the feature list when you press a button.
Addams plays a short burst of the theme (think tz does too)
I'm sure Roadshow makes some sorta noise. Think Mr & Mrs PacMan made the wakka wakka sound periodically too.
 
I always loved earth shaker shimmer affect it does every few minutes

New sterns have some of the shiitest ones to the point I though the lamp boards where broken as the patterns where so ahit lol
 
russdx1 said:
I always loved earth shaker shimmer affect it does every few minutes

New sterns have some of the shiitest ones to the point I though the lamp boards where broken as the patterns where so ahit lol
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In defence of Godzilla here, it does say funny things if you accidentally lean on the flipper buttons, e.g. “We’re going to super jackpot around the clock”, “put your shoes back on” and “our sensors detect coin in pocket” :) I think Stern copied AFM, which also says amusing things (e.g. “come here tasty human”) if you lean on the buttons in attract mode.

@AlanJ I can’t face switching the attract mode off. I’ve noticed when @MadMonzer‘s not working in there that everytime it starts up, I remember it’s been left on, and go and play a game! :)
 
Williams IJ does a diagonal sweep across the whole playfield which is pretty nice. Not sure id seen that before then.

The other thing that always tickles me is the DMD transition between scores etc. There's a big starburst one which is so intensive it slows the whole attract mode down for a split second.

You can really see/hear the CPU struggle!
 
VeeMonroe said:
I wondered if any other classics had an attract mode?
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I'm not aware of any other game with an 'animation' option for the attract mode (other than Centaur II). It's possible because of the loading/launching hardware. The Bell Games copy of Centaur, 'Fantasy', may have had it too, I suppose, if the software was similar.

But part of the mode programmed on Seawitch fascinated me. Most of it is simple; the 3 lamps for each target bank, and the bonus multipliers simply circle, the bonus lamps themselves rise upwards in pairs (like air bubbles?), but the blue lamps around the large loop have more imagination. They march clockwise like Space Invaders, increasing speed until they're a blur, loop clockwise and return, loop clockwise and follow, and crawl up/down from the upper rollover button.

Black Knight had a point in its mode of sweeping all the playfield feature lamps from bottom to top, which was eye-catching. Firepower even brought its flashbulb circuit into play during the attract mode - the two kidney inserts for Fire and Power would alternate left/right using the regular 6V bulbs, then slowly align themselves before lighting the flashbulbs. I expect that your Alien Poker will have something memorable.

Stern have resurrected "Coins detected in pockets", then? Their old video game Berzerk used that.
 
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Jay Walker said:
I'm not aware of any other game with an 'animation' option for the attract mode (other than Centaur II). It's possible because of the loading/launching hardware.

But part of the mode programmed on Seawitch fascinated me. Most of it is simple; the 3 lamps for each target bank, and the bonus multipliers simply circle, the bonus lamps themselves rise upwards in pairs (like air bubbles?), but the blue lamps around the large loop have more imagination. They march clockwise like Space Invaders, increasing speed until they're a blur, loop clockwise and return, loop clockwise and follow, and crawl up/down from the upper rollover button.

Black Knight had a point in its mode of sweeping all the playfield feature lamps from bottom to top, which was eye-catching. Firepower even brought its flashbulb circuit into play during the attract mode - the two kidney inserts for Fire and Power would alternate left/right using the regular 6V bulbs, then slowly align themselves before lighting the flashbulbs. I expect that your Alien Poker will have something memorable.
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I'll check. I was planning to LED it as part of the restoration - the playfield was in such bad condition it was hard to tell with incandescents under the filth.

Probably worth me checking out some light displays, as I'm vaguely planning to recode Alien Poker at some point.

Jay Walker said:
Stern have resurrected "Coins detected in pockets", then? Their old video game Berzerk used that.
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Yep :) 🛸
 
Jay Walker said:
Stern have resurrected "Coins detected in pockets", then? Their old video game Berzerk used that.
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Foo has a great one too something like ‘puny human surrender all your coinage to me mwhahaha’

I hardly ever use to listen to the attract mode quotes but since insider connected home team means pressing the left button to log in I hear them all the time now 🙂
 
Not a classic (yet!), but Toy Story 4 with 100% RGBs. At certain time going through the different rainbow modes it just looks like a bag of candy.
 
Rick and Morty starts playing adverts from within the show periodically in attract mode ( if switched on ) like the one below. Quite funny but you'll soon switch them off once you've seen them all a few times.

 
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