CINE STAR

If there’s such a thing as our favorite bad pinball table, then in the Vice Household, it’s Cine Star. I know now that we’re doing AtGames tables, we’re running through a few digital pins we’ve already reviewed before (Aerobatics) and yea, we’ve done Cine Star already. But Sasha the Kid needs the review practice, especially since I took the keyboard to freak out over Battle Deluxe. She kind of knew Cine Star wasn’t exactly a highly rated table, but we were curious, and she noticed the smirks as she stepped up to the plate. “Is… this it?” Yes Kid, that’s it. Cine Star is the definitive one-shot wonder. So what was Sasha’s insight? “It’s exactly like one of the Zaccaria Retro tables, only if it had a full Italian Bottom.” Actually.. yea, that’s a good description of it. Cine Star has one gimmick: a central spinner that scores between 10,000 and 100,000 points, along with a lot of clanking. The playfield is super tight, so the ball is going to bang around and make a whole lot of noise in the style of an old timey boardwalk pin. But, Cine Star is a lot less luck-based than a typical boardwalk because it has a standard layout, so you don’t have to relearn the entire sport just to play defensively. I still think it’s BAD. We all do, even the two GOOD voters. Jordi no longer stands alone with the sole positive rating (it is a good shot is his basic argument in its entirety). Sasha found it addictive and enjoyable, and she also insisted we were just plain wrong. “It’s not ALWAYS a one-shot table. If you get down to one or two stars, that means you’re one or two shots away from an extra ball. Those are SHOTS, and good ones!” Dad and Angela disagree and will never like Cine Star, and I’m not moving off my BAD rating, because I think lucky bounces will always factor in too heavily. But, I concede Cine Star isn’t REALLY a one-trick pony. Plus, we’ve always had fun dueling at Cine Star. Oh sure, my family whines about it, but we care who wins, and that ain’t nothing.
Set: Zaccaria Pinball Pack 1
Type: Electro-Mechanical – Real Table
Based on “Cine Star” by Zaccaria (1977)
Part of Zaccaria Pinball (Console/PC)
Vice Family High: Sasha the Kid “KID” 1,694,030 (Top 25 All Time)
Cathy: BAD (2 out of 5)
Angela: THE PITS (1 out of 5)
Oscar: THE PITS
Sasha the Kid: GOOD (3 out of 5)
Jordi: GOOD*
Dave: BAD*
Scoring Average: 2.0 –BAD
*Played on Zaccaria Pinball for Consoles/PC