Just bought this machine for all the reasons described in the first minute of the tutorial. It gobbled my coins like it's no tomorrow quickly leaving me with empty pockets and seriously pissed off. It broke me when I was playing most other games like a boss but it was mesmerising when I had one decent game by just keeping the ball in play. However, I was about 15yo and the extent of my strategy was knock down targets - keep ball alive - aim for flashy things. No, I never read instructions LOL! But it was a very hard and very fast game so it was a logical choice to have at home to teach my little fella how to play....wish me luck!!
You can play Flash Gordon AND Tommy at Starfighters Arcade in Mesa (Phoenix) Arizona. They have more that 30 nice pins that are well maintained, some upgraded with color DMD and shaker motors.
I just have to comment after watching this. There are jewels of wisdom throughout the video but some clarification is needed as I try to recreate many nights in the Aardvark Tavern in Chehalis, Washington in the 80's. This is a monster of a difficult pin that a player needs to be very outside of the box on. Quick thoughts. Treat the machine in your mind as a single level machine that is bumpy. Never let the ball move sideways if you can help it. It is a vertical pin and the ball needs to be rolling up and down or it will drain. Focus your energies on the 123 targets and scoring the bonus back down the plunger shot. The player in the video clearly shows that this is where much of the points are at along with the scoring timer but continues to shoot for a free ball that isn't even activated. This plunger shot bonus is failing in the video because the player is catching the ball on the flipper instead of using the energy of the rolling ball to get it all of the way around the upper right drop target. The center hole is your friend. If you can drain off of the upper portion into the hole it means that your next hole will return it above. The left ramp doesn't and never works on 19 out of every 20 machines. Left flipper...shoot for the ramp. Don't immediately shoot for the bonus drops. You'll likely blunder on to these anyway without trying and remember that each in-line drop target is going to cause the ball to react differently after hitting it. Have a special nudge or shove for each one. Generally always nudge forward, not sideways on this machine. I don't know why you want to pass the ball off of the right flipper. Find safe shots to the left, either at the left drop targets, towards the ramp which won't go to the top or towards the center hole. You can find your own safe shots in these three. Yes, you can backhand a lot of shots on this machine such as the in-line drops and use this to your advantage more than passing to the other flipper. For example you might always aim for the in-line bonus 2x drop with the left flipper but you might always want to shoot the 3x and up off of the right flipper. The upper flipper is also just kind of a bumper. If you have a clean shot take it otherwise think of it a bumper that you can use to change the direction of the ball. Generally, tell yourself you need to flip very early or very late, just let the ball bounce off it somehow without being concerned about feeling you are making a shot with it. This is a very, very exacting machine which you already know if you are reading this. It was a money suck in the 1980's. It can be cruel. It's also not that hard if you have a very set plan of how you are going to play it.
I can see enjoying the "challenge" of this game if you are an expert player, or serious hobbyist, especially if you own the game or have the opportunity to play it on free play. I'm sure it's fun to spend hours honing your strategy. However, I remember this game at my local pizza place, and my friends and I thought it was a colossal rip-off at the time. Once the novelty wore off, the machine got very little play, and eventually, a different machine was brought in.
There's literally no safe shot anywhere on the playfield that's repeatable. The best option is the drop targets but those still aren't safe. Avoid the bumpers at all costs.
You know, I've been playing a version of Flash Gordon using Visual Pinball sim software on a 3-screen cabinet with plunger/accelerometer; yeah I came here for help, haha. All of the struggles/annoyances of virtual Flash Gordon are present and illustrated in your video. I strongly believe VP cab owners could use this game to their advantage (practice) with the current VP release of Flash Gordon (not true with most VP tables though). Need to actually do those tap passes (yes they work in VP) instead of being a wuss. Aggressive nudging around the slingshots saves balls.
I just want to know what the replay levels are cause machine says the first is 900,000 and the second says 1000,000 and I played it and it wasn't giving credits at all except for high score . I had to go in the coin door and set it up then it worked my high score tonight was 4.5 million and I was hitting the 900,000 and the second replay level at 1000,000 pretty consistently, so I'm playing really good or it is set to low,lol!
Btw did you say there was no multiball on this game .i could have swore it had at least 2 locks. And remember seeing three balls in play. Maybe its a pinball mandela effect lol.
