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Fish Tales

mwong168

Administrator
Staff member
Nov 14, 2012
6,652
1,397
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Toronto
Adam analyzes...

FishTales.jpg


Fish Tales, now here is a simple fun game I really like playing. I owned one for a while but that game was a horror story and a story for another time :)

First, let’s talk about the multiball which is pretty simple. There is the “Casters Club on the right hand side of the machine, you put 3 balls in there and multiball starts.

image-9.jpg


The multiball can be made harder as there is a controlled drop target in front of the Casters Club that you have to knock down first to light lock but generally your first multiball you won’t have to. During multiball, you put a ball back in the lock to light a hurry up Jackpot. You have about 15 seconds to shoot the left loop and get the ball in the upper scoop on the top right corner to score a Jackpot.

image-12.jpg


Jackpots start at 20 million and the value can be increased by hitting the fish on the left and right hand side. Each Jackpot scored adds 10 million to the next one. I’m also pretty sure that if you keep all 3 balls in play and put a second ball in the lock you can get a Double Jackpot but no one bothers with that and I’ll explain why later. You need to collect 3 Jackpots and these Jackpots carry over from multiball to multiball. Once you collect 3 Jackpots, Super Jackpot is now lit on the captive ball for a whopping 100 million that you can collect AS MANY TIMES AS YOU LIKE as long as you keep 2 balls in play.

fishtales2.jpg


The main strategy is to get to multiball, plow through your first 3 Jackpots and then just flail away on the Super Jackpot for as long as you can. 100 million a shot is a sweet payoff. That value also doubles if you make it around the super a second time. I’ve never made it to a 3rd super in the same game but I guess one could assume it could add another 100 million to the shot making it 300 million a shot. Either way it is a huge scoring opportunity.

The next major item on the game is the Boat in the center of the game. You criss cross back and forth to each shot on the boat to light the small fish in front of the boat. When you collect all of them you will then light Monster Fish which is a hurry up. The value starts at 20 million and increases by 10 million each time you successfully make a monster fish.

image-2.jpg


To collect a monster fish you just need to hit the spinner while making a left orbit shot. Making a right orbit to hit the spinner won’t work but you can backhand the left loop enough to make the spinner and collect the monster fish. The nice thing about this strategy is if you never miss the ball never leaves your control. Both shots on the boat feed to opposite flipper so you can really just keep shooting them over and over again. The ball will only ever leave your control when you shoot to collect the monster fish and the ball feeds back down from the top hole through the pop bumpers.

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Then there is the center captive ball, or long cast. Every time you roll over the left inlane or shoot the right loop when long cast is not lit you light long cast.

image-26.jpg


To collect a long cast you need to shoot the right loop and have it make it all around the loop. You can also combo the long cast into the lock for a fast cast of increasing value starting as 2 million and adding 1 million for every fast cast. Collecting a long cast lights one of the awards on the captive ball those being in order they can be collected:

Hold Bonus
Light Video Mode
Rock the Boat
(This is a good timed mode where every shot to the boat awards 10 million)
Lite Extra Ball
Instant Multiball

Once you have completed the captive ball you can not collect or light any more long cast items until you drain.

The last item is the fish in the main section of the playfield. You collect the fish by shooting the stand ups on the right and left hand side.

image-6.jpg


Every time you complete the stand ups and collect a fish you have a short period of time to “Tell a Tale” by shooting the left loop. The spinner will multiply the value of the fish by whatever it lands on from 0 – Total Lie to 5 x value.

image-13.jpg


Collecting all of the fish starts right away Feeding Frenzy where you need to shoot all of the purple fish for 5 million each and then a 20 million for the last fish to complete. The 4 fish being left loop, right loop, and left and right shot on the boat. And that is pretty much it, Fish Tales is a fun game and I enjoy playing it. It does have a singular overpowering strategy in the Super Jackpot but I still find the game fun to play since getting it is not as easy as it sounds.
 

Chill

Member
Apr 11, 2013
41
0
6
Guelph
This game looks great! The theme is right up my alley, too! :D

I assume Fish Tales is a hard-to-find gem, or a premium-priced pin?
 

Vengeance

Well-Known Member
Nov 14, 2012
1,990
138
63
Keswick, ON
Chill said:
This game looks great! The theme is right up my alley, too! :D

I assume Fish Tales is a hard-to-find gem, or a premium-priced pin?

No they made allot of them, I think they can still be found in the 2K range with some regularity.
 

DRANO

Super Member
Nov 15, 2012
2,821
517
113
Mississauga
FT is absolutely one of my favorite games to play.
Getting those 3 jackpots to go for the super is really not as easy as it sounds. The game can be punishing... especially if you have it set up properly with lightning flippers.

I've now owned two of these and won't be letting it go anytime soon. It is pure fun to play and pretty hilarious. And even if you don't like video modes, this game has one of the best. The redneck music and callouts are too funny and the flapping fish topper just adds to the cheese everytime you land a fish ;)

For the money, it is one of THE most underrated games around IMO. Still accessible in the $2-$2.5K range I think. Super nice examples have gone over $3K, but rarely.
The only real knock most guys have for this pin is a lack of a wizard mode... but the same could be said of BSD. The jackpots and other awards Adam mentions really are the primary objectives.

Lots of similarities to Mark Ritchie's other designs like IJ, but probably one of his best playing tables.

Thanks for the review Adam.
 

mwong168

Administrator
Staff member
Nov 14, 2012
6,652
1,397
113
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Toronto
Danny from DC Amusements has a FT for sale and the cab looks pretty nice and unfaded in this background here in his R&B kijiji listing. I emailed last week and asked how much and he said $3495 shopped and LEDed.

$_20.JPG


http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell ... redAdZtrue

Not sure how the playfield looks as they typically have wear by the middle fish inserts. Look for poor touch up jobs or some might just buy a decal like this and stick over top.

$T2eC16JHJHQE9nzEyPINBQY7mml!+Q~~60_35.JPG
 

websherpa

Active Member
Feb 10, 2013
280
53
28
60
Waterdown, ON
Fish Tales was / is a long time "B" rated game that has climbed to the top of the "B" chain. In part it, was because of the annoying country theme music, the fishing theme wasn't as exciting as some of the other pins available or coming off route at the time, and because it has a brutal short field and out lanes. Very fast game. Difficult games tend to get down rated quickly by a larger number of players. Since it's being trumpeted here, it will go up in value for a short bit. :D

I bought one only because I had to to get a WCS94 (which is a well done theme, but a fairly shallow game), hated the Fish tales music, but ended up loving it. Can't remember why I sold it, but in the end I liked it better than WCS94. I've missed it ever since. Luckily I sourced another one for a friend down the street (who is looking after my STTNG) and he hated it too, but I encouraged him to keep giving it a try. Now he loves it, its a keeper, and I get to play it regularly. It's become one of our favourite games due to the speed and challenge. It's one of those games that can have brutally short ball times (especially if you have the Tilt Bob set to be fairly sensitive, as this is a game that requires a lot of "English" to manoeuvre the out lanes), and then you can get in the rhythm and rack up an exceedingly good score on one ball. Multi-balls are very exciting.

I've had the same experience with other "difficult" games too. Hate it at first. Practice and get a little better and start loving it. Woe betide the games that I "experience" all the modes regularly though - they end up getting sold or traded very quickly. Perhaps that's why the pins that last longest in my collections are the ones that aren't stored at my place.

Hands down Fish Tales has the best Video Mode of any pin available "Shoot the Jet Skiers!"

Funny, of the two I bought and another I repaired, ALL of them had their animated Fish toppers disconnected. I personally find the gyrating fish (which is like having a built in shaker motor) to be a gas! But in those cases disconnected, I believe the previous owners all had newborn babies which precluded playing it discreetly at night. It's NOT a quiet game. :lol:
 

necro_nemesis

Active Member
Nov 20, 2012
196
34
28
Newmarket, Ontario. Canada
Good game. Lots of hurry up. Williams was great at making these custom ball lock toys like the reel on the game. Being able to watch a game physically collect balls IMHO is much preferred over software locks.

I had one paired with WH20. Same topper cover....Not sure what this matching game up thing is. Have to ask the shrink. :ugeek:
 

DRANO

Super Member
Nov 15, 2012
2,821
517
113
Mississauga
necro_nemesis said:
Good game. Lots of hurry up. Williams was great at making these custom ball lock toys like the reel on the game. Being able to watch a game physically collect balls IMHO is much preferred over software locks.

I had one paired with WH20. Same topper cover....Not sure what this matching game up thing is. Have to ask the shrink. :ugeek:

If you play both games you will start to notice a lot of subtle similarities in their programming. It's almost like williams used a template for things like sounds and callouts on these two pins. They do make a nice pair and compliment each other pretty well. I've done the same :oops:

And totally agree on the physical locks. I think Mark Ritchie really nailed that on IJ and FT.
 

cdnpinballer

Member
Nov 15, 2012
342
13
18
I picked up the FT previously restored by poolman in the summer from another member here and have been thrilled with it ever since. It changed hands a few times within the community before I got it.

Anyways, I wasn't sure about the music at first but it quickly grew on me and IMO the soundtrack is a Granner masterpiece! I can't get enough and even my 15 month old daughter LOVES the end of game tune. She dances up a storm after ball 3 - guaranteed every time she is in the room or standing on a chair in front of the pin dancing her diaper off! LOL

It won't be leaving any time soon.
 

yellowmustard

Member
Nov 17, 2012
81
0
6
mwong168 said:
Danny from DC Amusements has a FT for sale and the cab looks pretty nice and unfaded in this background here in his R&B kijiji listing. I emailed last week and asked how much and he said $3495 shopped and LEDed.

$_20.JPG


http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell ... redAdZtrue

Not sure how the playfield looks as they typically have wear by the middle fish inserts. Look for poor touch up jobs or some might just buy a decal like this and stick over top.

$T2eC16JHJHQE9nzEyPINBQY7mml!+Q~~60_35.JPG


how much is he asking for GP, Mike?
 

mwong168

Administrator
Staff member
Nov 14, 2012
6,652
1,397
113
45
Toronto
yellowmustard said:
how much is he asking for GP, Mike?

Keep in mind DC Amusements is retail so his prices reflect that. This Grand Prix was shopped, LEDs and comes with warranty for $3995. Hang tight in there David, sure you will find the right collector who will appreciate the work you have put into yours.