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Alien Star (Gottlieb 1984)

Mystery Pinball Theater 3000·video·1h 19m·analyzed·Jun 29, 2019
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.022

TL;DR

MBT3K streams Alien Star (Gottlieb 1984) gameplay and mechanics discussion.

Summary

Manu (MBT3K) streams gameplay of Alien Star (Gottlieb 1984) on Mystery Pinball Theater, recently recovered from streaming San Francisco City Championship. He discusses the machine's mechanics (spinner-driven multiplier system, alien target captures, in-lane shots), plays alongside a guest (Zach/Das), and reflects on the game's visual appeal and difficulty. The machine is set to tournament settings and has a warped playfield that Zach is seeking a reproduction for.

Key Claims

  • Alien Star looked the best visually during City Champ broadcast

    high confidence · Manu stated he wanted to stream it because 'it looked it was the best looking game during city champ like when we stream this it just pops it looked really good'

  • Right in-lane lights spinner for 10,000 points for about 5 seconds

    high confidence · Manu explains the rule: 'if it ever comes down this Lane I want to hit that for ten thousand it only lasts a very short time'

  • The playfield is warped but still playable

    high confidence · Manu notes 'the play field definitely is warped' and mentions Zach 'is looking for a reproduction play field right so we can replace this play field because it's a little bit warped but it still works really well'

  • Machine was modified to remove rubbers for City Champ tournament

    high confidence · Manu says 'they took the rubbers off of these things with city champ' and later suggests putting them back

  • The machine has LED conversion that improves appearance on camera

    medium confidence · Manu notes 'I see some right there yeah as that exact fitted this fitted this out so it looks really super bright cuz on the city champ stream this was like the nicest machine'

Notable Quotes

  • “it's like a it's like a hot girl that won't talk to you or talks to you a little bit but then keeps looking at the other guys in the bar”

    Manu (MBT3K)@ 42:44 — Metaphorical description of Alien Star's playfield difficulty and unpredictability

  • “Alien Star is rulest fathom even more brutal er”

    Manu (MBT3K)@ 20:23 — Assessment of game's rule depth and difficulty

  • “this is what I miss I miss playing pinball in front of people and being really bad at it”

    Manu (MBT3K)@ 15:41 — Personal reflection on streaming and learning during the pandemic recovery period

  • “if you can manage to crack up I think over 600k year you're having a pretty good game”

    Manu (MBT3K)@ 58:13 — Assessment of scoring expectations for Alien Star

Entities

Manu (MBT3K/I Rod)personWalterpersonZach WallenspersonZachpersonDaspersonGeorgepersonAndre MescarpinopersonBrian O'NeillpersonKarl D'AngelopersonRaymond Davisonperson

Signals

  • ?

    content_signal: Manu recovering from extended streaming absence (likely summer break) and resuming Mystery Pinball Theater content with renewed energy

    high · Manu states 'I am finally recovered from the city champ' and 'I've been gone' and 'welcome back we're back'

  • ?

    venue_signal: San Francisco has active competitive pinball infrastructure with City Championship event and multiple streaming channels (SF Pins, Mystery Pinball Theater)

    high · City Championship featured multiple players, professional streaming setup, and replay availability on SF Pins Twitch channel

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Alien Star playfield warping requires reproduction replacement; machine owner actively seeking parts solutions

    high · Zach Wallens 'is looking for a reproduction play field' to replace warped playfield that 'still works really well'

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Alien Star received LED conversion improving visual appearance for streaming and broadcast purposes

    high · Manu notes LEDs make machine 'look really super bright' and it 'was like the nicest machine' on City Champ broadcast

  • ?

    operational_signal: Alien Star configured with tournament settings including rubber removal and extra ball disablement for competitive play

    high · Machine still set to tournament level after City Champ; Zach turned off extra balls; rubbers were removed for tournament

  • ?

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

1:08
[Music] you what's up I'm fighting setup mb t 3k back again I'm online live on Lyman live Walters just talking chatting I am finally recovered from the city champ actually you know what part of it was watching City champ players just made me not want to play anymore kind of I was like well I'm never gonna get that good so I'm done oh yeah you're right Walter you're right I don't want to lose their attitude but it's just like watching it's like watching you know the Warriors like play and then going out on the basketball court and being like I could do that
2:45
you will watch it oh don't talk don't talk about Andre he had a he had a bad Sunday okay here I am I'm ignoring Walter and I'm just doing my show welcome to the Greek if you gotta say you gotta say it on camera you can't be over there saying that I'm alive I'm well I think yes stream is up again today we are playing don't panic flip just takes practice oh shoot you were listening you got me waxing poetic and now people are listening to me talk about how terrible a player I know but I have recovered 100% maybe 95% I finally put my rig back together but now free gold watch has like the best streaming rig in San Francisco oh is that fair to say we the vet the best streaming rig in San Francisco lives here yeah oh and the best screen print because it is
3:59
number one screen-printing because it is and number two straight screen printing and number three streaming rig all right we're gonna play some alien star what's that Wolfman yeah and then adventure is the greatest video game ever I wore this for you guys George I missed you it's been weeks is this usually what happens during the summertime you guys let me know if my camera goes down please so this is alien star gottlieb 1984 I wanted to stream this because it looked it was the best looking game during city champ like when we stream this it just pops it looked really good Zac Wallens is the man he ordered this I've never seen it in my life and he wants to get a he's looking for a reproduction play field right so we can replace this play field because it's a little bit warped but it still works really well the twitch app is all polished now okay I've used a twitch app before does anybody know more about this game than me like all I know is ya hit a lien
Nick Stein
person
Alien Stargame
Gottliebcompany
San Francisco City Championshipevent
Mystery Pinball Theater 3000organization
SF Pinsorganization
Pinball Salescompany
Warriorsorganization

gameplay_signal: Alien Star is primarily spinner-focused machine with multiplier advancement as core mechanic; requires consistent shot execution to score well

high · Manu repeatedly emphasizes 'definitely a spinner game' and spinner controls multiplier value (2x-5x+) for scoop capture scoring

  • ?

    community_signal: Competitive community actively practicing tap-pass techniques and specific shots; Manu planning pinball museum practice sessions

    medium · Nick Stein known for tap-pass mastery; Manu plans to practice tap passes at pinball museum; emphasis on in-lane shot execution

  • ?

    content_signal: Alien Star selected for stream specifically for visual appeal and appearance during City Championship broadcast

    high · Manu: 'I wanted to stream this because it looked it was the best looking game during city champ'

    • 5:43
    right hit a lien it's gonna change the multiplex spinner change the X just randomly spinning okay so you want to get it the right in lane lights the spinner for ten thousand whoa didn't know that holy smokes I did not know that okay there's a left in lane right light anything left in Lane does nothing all right open Stadium what's up bro we're back we're back hail hail the gang's all here don't panic lip I've kept your pinball machines to Wolfman I've reset all the CDs when I late when I leave did any of you guys get to see any of City channel live on Twitch this past weekend please please say that someone saw something because I'll be very sad I know Wolfman I know you saw it how long have I been gone and I don't know how about how long the lag is it might be like 15 seconds I've been going for a little while I think I've been going for okay so you didn't that's all right you can go to you can go to SF pins is a twitch channel SF pins s FBI NS and you can take a look at some of the the replays excellent play we had Andre how do you say Mastan cough I was myself we have Andre mesocarp we have Raymond Davison here we had a cardiac Carl D'Angelo was here yeah we had who else but fortunately enough a San Francisco native one Brian O'Neill he is the city champ eight will feces all I forget Wolfman you have like a right on array of up screens in front of you like that dude from the matrix let's see if we can play alien star
    8:05
    I'm still pinballed out you did the stream yes I well I helped do the stream but a lot of it was all right let's say I was senior technical advisor to the stream so we got it working I canna belies a lot of my setup to make their stream work better but it's still our stream I mean it's free go watch so it's it's all in the family all in the family let's see so what I got to do is I get hit alien I got a hit alien let's see it's at 5x already oh because I just hit the spinner
    8:57
    look at that look at that somebody clipped that that was amazing the pinball gods are happy with me right now because I came back no you're not Walter is the pinball guys
    9:26
    got it 5x bro now what do I do yeah I'm ready oh right down the middle I got one rip 1 rip spin
    10:05
    I rip one Walter is actually a retired billionaire living the dream that's what they say
    10:19
    yeah welter yeah you got to jump in to play a game billionaire living the dream alright 335,000 first of all [Music]
    10:40
    that's a good first ball that was a terrible second ball so once again I got to hit all the alien targets to light multi ball scoring multiplier well to light capture the spinner changes the x value once I get the x value to what I want which is probably gonna be 5x again capture a ball launch a second ball into multi ball play and hit that spinner for fabulous and cash and prizes did you clip that Thank You sky that was ridiculous I just let my hands go and i and i'm and i'm awesome
    11:27
    can we put the rubbers they took the rubbers off for all the they took the rubbers off of these things with city champ that sounds like a bonus but it's not okay here we go this is literally the loudest machine in here it used to be Black Knight now it's alien star
    12:13
    we gotta find where that spinner is first alien star is an awesome pin it has one of my favorite back glasses isn't it amazing [Music]
    12:35
    that back glass just pops I should have pull the camera out a little bit so you can see it more
    13:17
    we're gonna get that high score [Applause] thank you I got this shirt at I got it at California extreme
    13:34
    now you can get that score I can get that score I can get that score all I got to do is get a couple of good 5x
    13:48
    you guys got to put the rubbers back on yes really Wow is that how it came there are no there are no rollover switches whether in lane so you can never get this special on the out lane sorry yep you got some rubber somewhere right for these you won't put them off
    14:23
    oh there it was there was 10,000 wind flashing yeah I got to learn how to do it then so you shots that in Lane and then you collect see if I can do it oh that's a hard maneuver all right what's this ball - I gotta hit an eye
    15:14
    [Music] so this is a thousand I want it to be 10,000 see if I catch assets No
    15:40
    your shots your pants yeah this is what I miss this is what I miss I miss playing pinball in front of people and being really bad at it what's the trick to doing a shots it's just waiting like until the ball hits the very tip cuz I can't wait that long
    16:10
    well that was almost it that was almost in I think this is gonna be I think this is gonna be a game where I just practice shots in that shot nope
    16:41
    [Music] so we had Nick Stein here next time who's like tap past master he always I don't know if you know Nick but he's always like he's always like this I think he came and I forget when he came in he came six or something a city champ
    17:12
    and Zac said he Zac said he set the he said he set the I'm literally gonna practice that right now
    17:46
    I have bad technique because I'm taking my hand off the Clippers that does nothing into you
    18:19
    I got a second chance a second chance at a tap now I need to spit huh I got it that was luck boom 5x baby
    19:08
    this play field definitely is warped like my brain there's a lot of bounce-backs on this all right I'm gonna keep trying
    20:03
    you guys can hear the sounds of the pin right just allow this thing in here [Music]
    20:23
    all right alien star is rulest fathom even more brutal er yeah [Music]
    22:20
    anyway playfield froze for a second alright I am going to get more credits I will be right back and you you will still be here
    24:28
    bimbeau company in ball sales calm brings you awesome pinball students that supposed to be Jersey yeah pinball sales calm they sent these to free go watch just for just for free and Walter gets drunk exactly I want to show you the other one too it's beau Williams
    25:27
    that's pretty awesome right pinball sales.com they are not a sponsor but this is a cool chair very cool
    25:58
    by the way thank you for the bits Penn Stadium you do all right I'm gonna try my luck some more at a smaller alien star right now
    26:29
    this is hella loud it certainly makes itself known there's no sound in space yeah alright here we go
    28:21
    I shouldn't play quietly like this but you guys all know that when I play pinball I have to concentrate here we go oh one spin
    28:37
    so just so you guys know once again if you ever if I ever get this in Lane lid rolled over that lights that's spinner for 10k on a spin oh that bounce back so if it ever comes down this Lane I want to hit that for ten thousand it only lasts a very short time
    29:58
    all right it seems like my average score is about 300,000 let's see if we can double that
    30:27
    he's gotta find where that spinner is and get it that was it oh what a shame get it give me a couple
    30:56
    all right get back up not the are I already got the are me that s what's up to us oh you're just in time
    31:17
    das is here it looks like we're gonna have a little more a little more fun
    32:26
    we're going that we're going to full mile on this we're going to full way on this now
    33:10
    you guys are wondering why I keep looking down there's because my computer is down there I'm trying to make sure the stream is not dying all right
    33:21
    [Music] where else are there points on this machine I have no idea
    33:53
    oh my god I wish I got points for doing this God and those targets reset I think yeah they do they reset oh no but you get to keep your capture okay so now I need spinner I need spinner
    35:02
    I'm gonna get das coming here and play I'm gonna get dots to come in here and play and we'll see we'll see how that works out play one more this is alien star from Gottlieb 1984 your targets are alien when you hit all your alien targets it lights this scoop for capture at the multiplier that's set the multiplier is set by hitting the spinner and it just spins alright there's also these star targets up there that events they give you a little bonuses you know collect bonus advance multiplier hold bonus and extra ball if you hit the right in Lane it lights the spinner for 10k for about five seconds and I think this target does advance advance bonus multiplier and it is a it's a it's a drain monster it is a drain mark it does not like to play for very long or does that - does that a lot second time it did that on me
    36:23
    so we're at five addicts if I can hit a lien I'm in good shape
    36:31
    resets to 2 so you got to earn everything you do on this table you got to earn it I need that the a in the end
    36:55
    ok got both of them look at that look at that damn it it's times like that way you can't walk away ball three I'm gonna get my spinner to give me a higher value on that multiplier if I can if I can't that'll happen
    37:23
    those pop bumpers look like cupcakes yeah and I'm also getting hungry all right let me see if I can drag das in here get him to play a little bit
    37:48
    he disappeared [Music] damnit [Music] I think I'm gonna go to the pinball museum and practice tap passes that's what I will do I won't try and practice tap passes when it cost me like a quarter at a pass
    39:46
    I'm gonna practice tap passes when it's not costing me a quarter or a tap pass I'll do that later
    40:23
    thousand each thousand each what up baby say hello to your fans yeah so we doing doing a little alien star right do a little alien star right all right I got 3x you're not doing any of those on this see you all you got to do is stand next to me and I get better all you gotta do is just stand there advanced multiplier all right
    41:02
    nothing nothing this game is this game is this game is dropped
    41:22
    you know we could take a couple of rubbers off here and put them there like these rubbers don't matter Zack we could do that Zack yeah it's definitely a spinner game definitely a spinner game
    42:38
    but this game just looks so good so good it's like a it's like a hot girl that won't talk to you or talks to you a little bit but then keeps looking at the other guys in the bar
    43:26
    I don't remember if it sucks I know it's just locked out of hat never mind
    43:34
    I only managed to crack all right well we're going for a million [Music] so the alien star baby we're gonna hit these drop targets so we're gonna rip the spin up
    44:04
    he did nothing and he's beating me all right you know this David rules already that's not a ton lets you get to a rule eggs trip come on I just have to make 3,000 points
    45:08
    well you do get a couple thousand per pop bumper [Music] [Applause]
    45:41
    [Laughter] [Music] the answer seems to be a couple thousand for pop up it goes up fairly quickly oops there goes that big huge bonus ginormous bonus
    47:01
    ah believe that I'm gonna get at least one multiply like Tommy dollar games what does that mean I take simple pleasures
    48:09
    it's a one dollar bill all right I think these I think these are LEDs yeah LEDs barely DS I see some right there yeah as that exact fitted this fitted this out so it looks really super bright cuz on the city champ stream this was like the nicest machine it looked it looked the brightest in the nicest
    48:44
    side you can see that head so to come really slow it's like nut city
    48:58
    big right there five times thinner so when it goes through the right in lane it likes done Oh a little bit of both
    49:42
    let's go out and still flip yeah I hate when people write out a machine with LEDs ruins it oh I'm sorry and they were with you on your spinner good job nice work did you really well I shut this way I gotta be 490 really hard
    50:46
    oh you suck damn it I got nothing out of that wait click bonus
    50:57
    you can you can light special you can't collect special no there's no switch
    51:11
    come on baby come on baby give me some dots give me some guys extra ball [Applause]
    51:33
    he turned off extra balls [Applause] so so so we're still playing at tournament level he hasn't gotten back here he's so heat so I'm back no he turned off extra balls cuz it just ended my game so Zach this is still set up like city champ which means the the earplug is still in the bay baby I know that's alright you see when he does [Music] [Applause]
    52:50
    let's go for five times multi-ball with a [ __ ] tenth time spinner real language optics seven
    54:36
    the EB might be sent to word points to take a look at the happy oh yeah I'm gonna come over here today hear me so you have two balls trap what the frak is your bonus Wow so you get two balls traps why did you go up to alien star oh sure every time you complete this in a pong ball yeah
    55:10
    probably bonus stuff I don't know okay cuz I notice you shot for that instead of shooting for your spinner yeah first point I was close okay so mark there maybe it'll be smashing something okay okay Thank You boss Wow so you just beat well I mean but my high was 676 71 looks so much like that that I thought that's why you're pretty much at my that was amazing
    56:01
    I think what Zach was saying on the stream is if you lights star then you have access to those Awards oh yeah cuz if the top line is you have to do all of them but if the lane above it right it's not lit then it will not be that yeah so you're just hopefully just gonna have them all live by the time that happens anyway
    56:51
    oh the star post yeah there's a post right on the right side of the outlet for the trough so it's the best rated that make it bounce right back up into play
    57:23
    I got one more ball to do it I could do it with one ball and this game I don't await the dice to get off the phone
    57:36
    okay we're still looking good still looking good 1984 all rights reserved this is very much a one ball game if you get you can do all your work in one ball that's managed to get 600 over 600k and one ball and then the next balls are like house balls or whatever but if you can manage to crack up I think over 600k year you're having a pretty good game
    60:02
    yeah all right 750 I'm back down to my basic 100k me are you alright alright switching it up I'll set I'll set the set the bar I'll set the bar how about that setting the bar right here this guy
    63:15
    I know about you on ball three though I don't I don't like you on ball three
    64:24
    laughs son are we gonna play shots - OH out [Applause] your turn let's do this bang what's up dude alright I'm gonna push at sink spinning
    66:03
    right outlets hungry [Music] all right that's good that's good about that rippers perfect spinning so fast
    68:08
    that's not a cleaner if this yet is ball shifting good Wow I need to hit this yet there's multi-ball going
    70:12
    let's see how well this goes it takes yeah it takes well it takes more for me
    70:27
    mr. paws not bad Oh like don't hold up the flipper when testing that's it that's the bad hates it all right
    71:08
    so it's basically just it's got to be the very last second right yeah these are very rounded flippers I mean there's a lot of leeway because technically you're shooting at an area this wide not that way right so it's like yeah
    71:56
    damnit try again dragon that was a freebie too that was like that was such a freebie
    73:07
    my multi-ball is ready I didn't even notice I've been still shooting at these like an idiot
    74:26
    No No oh I don't think it's take the third one in a row like the spinner flop it over two times sunny like three times run out
    75:35
    maybe shake shake shake shake shake shake it's not getting any better than that guys 1.8 all right I think they were gonna call it that's gonna be it make it coach Thank You coach 1.8 you don't want to pin to go that can I pin to go it and act like I'm alright nice alright thank you guys so much for joining me once again this alien start is MPT 3k and keep playing some pinball later