Here's a scoop - John Popaduiks new game will be called Magic Girl !
His site http://pinballinventor.org/ existed already some time. In 2 days the details about his first new game will be released.
What I can say is that only 13 will be created, price will be $15.995.
Start saving ! :)
Here is more information about the new Magic Girl pinball.
Update: link went public on 23/7 and all 13 games are now reserved..
Showing posts with label new pinball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new pinball. Show all posts
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Transformers for next Stern
Transformers is confirmed as the next Stern game, this was in a documentory on CNN about Stern pinball.
Great theme - so lets make it'll be a great pinball too ?!
Jersey Jack Pinball has also announced that their next game (after Wizard of Oz) will be Elvira - seems they're in negotiations with her. This would be the third pin with Elvira as subject (after Elvira and the Party Monsters and Scared Stiff).
Sounds even more interesting to me ! I wonder if people now will skip WOZ to get Elvira ? (I know I would if I was planning to buy one..)
Great theme - so lets make it'll be a great pinball too ?!
Jersey Jack Pinball has also announced that their next game (after Wizard of Oz) will be Elvira - seems they're in negotiations with her. This would be the third pin with Elvira as subject (after Elvira and the Party Monsters and Scared Stiff).
Sounds even more interesting to me ! I wonder if people now will skip WOZ to get Elvira ? (I know I would if I was planning to buy one..)
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Funhouse is back
Sunday evening I finally was able to buy a Funhouse pinball machine again !
It's my Christmas gift for my wife :-)
This is already the third Funhouse game we have since we started with pinball machines.. the first one we had bought back in 2001 I think.. sold it after about a year to make room for more games. We were new to pinball machines and bought and sold a lot of different titles as we didn't know yet which ones we would enjoy more.
Then we missed it (it's one of the only games we really missed after having sold it), looked around for a nice example (most are played to death, have major playfield damage, inserts that raise above the playfield wood, ..).
As that machine was going to be a keeper we looked around for about a year until we found one that I really liked and was in good condition. I wanted it to have a reasonable good cabinet (this was before new cabinet decals were available) and a good playfield. If I remember correct it had a bit of playfield wear but not much (only the traditional wear below the kickout on the right and a bit between the bumpers). It did not have a playfield mylar on it, so the blue paint had not been discolored.
I think we kept that machine for 3 years. About 3 years ago we had a dip in collecting pinball machines and sold off a few games, we let this one go.
Last month my wife said she really missed her Funhouse. About a week later I found this machine for sale.. what a coincidence ! and a good excuse to buy a Funhouse pinball again (as it really is a great game) ! The price was reasonable (certainly not a steal, but its condition was good enough to consider it.
Now the gameroom is really full again.
The machine is in quite good condition. Cabinet is faded (maybe I'll ever buy new cabinet decals for it) but has no scratches, .. There are some technical issues, but I'm able to fix them. It needs a new battery holder and a new gear for Rudys jaw. Some teeth are broken off, his jaw does not stay open so you cannot start multiball (making the game no fun to play at all).
One coil also didn't work well but I already fixed it, maybe I'll need to replace the coil later if the problem comes back.
Finally the eyes don't work well. The eyelids don't close completely, and the eyes don't move left or right at all. I already peeked in his head and noticed some parts are completely missing (like the metal wire that connects both eyes) :-(
Hope I'll be able to find the missing parts as not all are common..
But that's for later, when I ever shop the game completely then I'll disassemble Rudys head.
The metal lampsign near the diverter that illuminates the trapdoor is also completely missing :(
The playfield itself is in rather good condition. This game probably has less games on it than most average Funhouse machines you find..
The playfield has mylar installed, which is still in good condition. The clock inserts are still level, the mylar only has a few small bubbles above them.
Amazingly there is no wear at the right kickout or between the bumpers ?!
There is only some wear in the clear red color at the very left side of the game, where the pinball drops out of the steps ramp onto the playfield.
That's something I can touch up later.
Finally the ramps are also in good condition, a few have a small crack at the entrance but no pieces have broken off. After cleaning, flamepolishing and installing Cliffy protectors, they will probably look brand new.
That goes for the whole machine.. it looks already good enough as it is now, and should I ever decide (and find time) to do a complete restoration of it, it will probably look very good.
It's my Christmas gift for my wife :-)
This is already the third Funhouse game we have since we started with pinball machines.. the first one we had bought back in 2001 I think.. sold it after about a year to make room for more games. We were new to pinball machines and bought and sold a lot of different titles as we didn't know yet which ones we would enjoy more.
Then we missed it (it's one of the only games we really missed after having sold it), looked around for a nice example (most are played to death, have major playfield damage, inserts that raise above the playfield wood, ..).
As that machine was going to be a keeper we looked around for about a year until we found one that I really liked and was in good condition. I wanted it to have a reasonable good cabinet (this was before new cabinet decals were available) and a good playfield. If I remember correct it had a bit of playfield wear but not much (only the traditional wear below the kickout on the right and a bit between the bumpers). It did not have a playfield mylar on it, so the blue paint had not been discolored.
I think we kept that machine for 3 years. About 3 years ago we had a dip in collecting pinball machines and sold off a few games, we let this one go.
Last month my wife said she really missed her Funhouse. About a week later I found this machine for sale.. what a coincidence ! and a good excuse to buy a Funhouse pinball again (as it really is a great game) ! The price was reasonable (certainly not a steal, but its condition was good enough to consider it.
Now the gameroom is really full again.
The machine is in quite good condition. Cabinet is faded (maybe I'll ever buy new cabinet decals for it) but has no scratches, .. There are some technical issues, but I'm able to fix them. It needs a new battery holder and a new gear for Rudys jaw. Some teeth are broken off, his jaw does not stay open so you cannot start multiball (making the game no fun to play at all).
One coil also didn't work well but I already fixed it, maybe I'll need to replace the coil later if the problem comes back.
Finally the eyes don't work well. The eyelids don't close completely, and the eyes don't move left or right at all. I already peeked in his head and noticed some parts are completely missing (like the metal wire that connects both eyes) :-(
Hope I'll be able to find the missing parts as not all are common..
But that's for later, when I ever shop the game completely then I'll disassemble Rudys head.
The metal lampsign near the diverter that illuminates the trapdoor is also completely missing :(
The playfield itself is in rather good condition. This game probably has less games on it than most average Funhouse machines you find..
The playfield has mylar installed, which is still in good condition. The clock inserts are still level, the mylar only has a few small bubbles above them.
Amazingly there is no wear at the right kickout or between the bumpers ?!
There is only some wear in the clear red color at the very left side of the game, where the pinball drops out of the steps ramp onto the playfield.
That's something I can touch up later.
Finally the ramps are also in good condition, a few have a small crack at the entrance but no pieces have broken off. After cleaning, flamepolishing and installing Cliffy protectors, they will probably look brand new.
That goes for the whole machine.. it looks already good enough as it is now, and should I ever decide (and find time) to do a complete restoration of it, it will probably look very good.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Majorettes is ready
Our Gottlieb Majorettes wedgehead pinball machine is restored and in our house !
Henk De Jager had completed it already a few weeks ago (just before the Rosmalen jukebox show), but we didn't have room in our house as we were renovating the living room.. then our car broke down just the day before Nikky had planned to pick up the game. :-( (luckily the car was fixed a day later, but our meeting with Henk was delayed for a week)
Last week Nikky was finally able to drive all the way to Amsterdam to meet Henk and pick up the game. Nothing was going to stop her, even not a snow storm !
A few days before it had started to snow in Belgium and the Netherlands, road were blocked, traffic jams everywhere,.. but Nikky was going to retrieve that game and not delay it for another week. She drove over 5 hours in total.
Was it worth it ? Definitely !
Henk did a beautiful job restoring the wiring on the game back to original condition. Everything now works like it should.
Majorettes got a nice place in our new living room, it's the center piece of attention and I often play it..
Henk put in a 5 cents coin mechanism (the game isn't on free play) so I'm saving up all my small change :-) This week at the bakery I deliberately paid with coins so I would get a 5 euro cent piece in return (which I used to play a game with).
A friend came over yesterday and also had to play a few games..
The first days when I set the game up, I had put black rubber cups underneath the leg levellers, so it wouldn't scratch our tile floor. However this makes the game really stick in position, it's difficult to nudge. And nudging is really necessary when you want to play an electro-mechanical pinball machine like this ! Most of the skill involved when playing these old games is less about aiming with flippers, but controlling the ball and nudging it.
So therefor I now put some sticky felt patches underneath the rubber cups. That way it's a bit easier to nudge and move the game around.
On Majorettes nudging the game is even more required than with other electro-mechanical pinball machines. To earn an extra ball (the game is add-a-ball: you start with 5 pinballs but can earn more) you need to hit each of the 5 yellow or red popbumpers in sequence. The 5th bumper on each side however is positioned below the flippers ! So either you lose the pinball when trying to light it, but the 'outlanes' (not really outlanes like on a modern pinball machine as there's no metal divider) are really big with a large rubber ring at the bottom, and there's a hole between the flippers which will kick the pinball back onto the playfield.
Part of the gameplay is to try and get the pinball below the flippers, have it hit the 5th popbumper, and shake it back into the game by either bouncing the pinball off the rubber bands above the flipper bats, or into the hole.
I love it.
Gameplay and rules are pretty simple. I'll describe the whole rules/layout:
at the top of the playfield there are 3 rollovers at each side. The outer lanes score 50 points, the two others put out a letter (ABCD) and only 10 points. But get all letters and you earn an extra ball. Decisions, decisions..
At the top of the playfield there's a target that scores 100 points, and may be lit for extra balls by each row of popbumpers. Great ! So if you're good you can light both rows of popbumpers, hit this target and not only score 100 points but add 2 extra balls at the same time !
Below this target there's a hole that scores 50 points, and will kickout the ball against the 100 points target above it. Wow !! 150 points in one go - and if you're lucky the pinball will bounce back into the hole and this will repeat one or two times..
but if you're unlucky the pinball will miss the hole, come down roll down the playfield with a lot of speed, go between the flippers and jump right over the hole between the flippers and drain....
At the left and right are 5 bumpers in a straight line below each other, you have to light them in sequence. On the sides is a little lane which scores 30 points, and can be lit for an extra ball when you've lit all popbumpers of the opposite side.
As said, the 5th bumper is positioned below the flippers, and between the flippers there's another hole that will kick the pinball back onto the playfield.
That's it. No other mechanisms, no bonus to earn, ...
Just a plain add-a-ball pinball machine.
Playing this game does require some strategy - do you go for high points ? Then you're better off trying to get the ball through the outer lanes when it enters the playfield (getting 50 points instead of 10, but not getting a letter for an extra ball). And you try to get the pinball into the hole and hit the target for 100 points.
Or do you want to play for extra balls and play a long time ? Then you mainly try to get the popbumpers lit in sequence and earn letters, and concentrate less on the high scoring target..
This strategy can be dangerous however - it happened to me a few times that on my first pinball played I was able to light both yellow and red bumpers up to number 4.
But with the next pinball played you have to let it roll down quickly towards the bottom of the playfield trying to light popbumpers number 5.. with a high risk of draining - and either all of the next pinballs drained without lighting the 5th bumper, or I could light it but was not being able to earn the lit extra ball higher on the playfield.. so what looks like a simple and easy playfield layout is actually deceiving.
Henk De Jager had completed it already a few weeks ago (just before the Rosmalen jukebox show), but we didn't have room in our house as we were renovating the living room.. then our car broke down just the day before Nikky had planned to pick up the game. :-( (luckily the car was fixed a day later, but our meeting with Henk was delayed for a week)
Last week Nikky was finally able to drive all the way to Amsterdam to meet Henk and pick up the game. Nothing was going to stop her, even not a snow storm !
A few days before it had started to snow in Belgium and the Netherlands, road were blocked, traffic jams everywhere,.. but Nikky was going to retrieve that game and not delay it for another week. She drove over 5 hours in total.
Was it worth it ? Definitely !
Henk did a beautiful job restoring the wiring on the game back to original condition. Everything now works like it should.
Majorettes got a nice place in our new living room, it's the center piece of attention and I often play it..
Henk put in a 5 cents coin mechanism (the game isn't on free play) so I'm saving up all my small change :-) This week at the bakery I deliberately paid with coins so I would get a 5 euro cent piece in return (which I used to play a game with).
A friend came over yesterday and also had to play a few games..
The first days when I set the game up, I had put black rubber cups underneath the leg levellers, so it wouldn't scratch our tile floor. However this makes the game really stick in position, it's difficult to nudge. And nudging is really necessary when you want to play an electro-mechanical pinball machine like this ! Most of the skill involved when playing these old games is less about aiming with flippers, but controlling the ball and nudging it.
So therefor I now put some sticky felt patches underneath the rubber cups. That way it's a bit easier to nudge and move the game around.
On Majorettes nudging the game is even more required than with other electro-mechanical pinball machines. To earn an extra ball (the game is add-a-ball: you start with 5 pinballs but can earn more) you need to hit each of the 5 yellow or red popbumpers in sequence. The 5th bumper on each side however is positioned below the flippers ! So either you lose the pinball when trying to light it, but the 'outlanes' (not really outlanes like on a modern pinball machine as there's no metal divider) are really big with a large rubber ring at the bottom, and there's a hole between the flippers which will kick the pinball back onto the playfield.
Part of the gameplay is to try and get the pinball below the flippers, have it hit the 5th popbumper, and shake it back into the game by either bouncing the pinball off the rubber bands above the flipper bats, or into the hole.
I love it.
Gameplay and rules are pretty simple. I'll describe the whole rules/layout:
at the top of the playfield there are 3 rollovers at each side. The outer lanes score 50 points, the two others put out a letter (ABCD) and only 10 points. But get all letters and you earn an extra ball. Decisions, decisions..
At the top of the playfield there's a target that scores 100 points, and may be lit for extra balls by each row of popbumpers. Great ! So if you're good you can light both rows of popbumpers, hit this target and not only score 100 points but add 2 extra balls at the same time !
Below this target there's a hole that scores 50 points, and will kickout the ball against the 100 points target above it. Wow !! 150 points in one go - and if you're lucky the pinball will bounce back into the hole and this will repeat one or two times..
but if you're unlucky the pinball will miss the hole, come down roll down the playfield with a lot of speed, go between the flippers and jump right over the hole between the flippers and drain....
At the left and right are 5 bumpers in a straight line below each other, you have to light them in sequence. On the sides is a little lane which scores 30 points, and can be lit for an extra ball when you've lit all popbumpers of the opposite side.
As said, the 5th bumper is positioned below the flippers, and between the flippers there's another hole that will kick the pinball back onto the playfield.
That's it. No other mechanisms, no bonus to earn, ...
Just a plain add-a-ball pinball machine.
Playing this game does require some strategy - do you go for high points ? Then you're better off trying to get the ball through the outer lanes when it enters the playfield (getting 50 points instead of 10, but not getting a letter for an extra ball). And you try to get the pinball into the hole and hit the target for 100 points.
Or do you want to play for extra balls and play a long time ? Then you mainly try to get the popbumpers lit in sequence and earn letters, and concentrate less on the high scoring target..
This strategy can be dangerous however - it happened to me a few times that on my first pinball played I was able to light both yellow and red bumpers up to number 4.
But with the next pinball played you have to let it roll down quickly towards the bottom of the playfield trying to light popbumpers number 5.. with a high risk of draining - and either all of the next pinballs drained without lighting the 5th bumper, or I could light it but was not being able to earn the lit extra ball higher on the playfield.. so what looks like a simple and easy playfield layout is actually deceiving.
Next Stern game is Rolling Stones
Usually I don't announce every new Stern game here, but to follow up a previous post
(where it was rumored to be Mortal Kombat) - it's been semi-officially confirmed the next Stern game is Rolling Stones.
(semi-officially announce: not by Stern themselves on their site or anything, that they'll do only when the game is starting in production, but through distributors of them)
It's over a year there were rumours going around about a music/rock band theme.
This is one title I'm interested in.. Avatar or Iron Man didn't interest me at all, but Rolling Stones ? Not that I'd buy one but I am curious on how the theme is implemented, what songs, the artwork, game rules, ... so when one is available in Belgium I want to check it out!
(where it was rumored to be Mortal Kombat) - it's been semi-officially confirmed the next Stern game is Rolling Stones.
(semi-officially announce: not by Stern themselves on their site or anything, that they'll do only when the game is starting in production, but through distributors of them)
It's over a year there were rumours going around about a music/rock band theme.
This is one title I'm interested in.. Avatar or Iron Man didn't interest me at all, but Rolling Stones ? Not that I'd buy one but I am curious on how the theme is implemented, what songs, the artwork, game rules, ... so when one is available in Belgium I want to check it out!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Next Stern game is Mortal Kombat ?
Was just checking out the Stern page at wikipedia and there someone has just added 2 days ago that their next game will be Mortal Kombat ?!
Haven't heard any confirmation about this, i'm curious if this will be true..
MK was rumored but so is Tron as a theme.. but if it's on wikipedia it shouldn't be just a rumor ?
Haven't heard any confirmation about this, i'm curious if this will be true..
MK was rumored but so is Tron as a theme.. but if it's on wikipedia it shouldn't be just a rumor ?
Monday, July 19, 2010
New Stern pinball machine is Avatar
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
played Wheel of Fortune
Again some changes in the gameroom.
Diner unfortunately already had to leave.. it looked nice, was great fun to play, but because of personal reasons one pin had to go and this was it. It was my wifes decision to sell it (also to buy it in the first place).
The Bally 8 Ball has also been picked up this weekend so I now have finally room in the gameroom. I even have an empty space with Diner gone :(
Now I only need to clean up a bit again as there's too many things laying on top of the playfield glasses. Whirlwind is still open, need to solder in a new display glass.
I did put in the new LH6 eprom in Whitewater. Bought it from www.thatpinballplace.com
Very good seller - good prices, fast shipping, good communication, eprom was very well packaged (in plastic tube so the legs wouldn't be damaged and in a static bag).
Unfortunately it didn't solve my mysterious opto switch problem, I'll put in the cpu of the BSD and see what this does. I start to think it is related to the cpu as the playfield does look ok and in switch test the opto registers well..
I played Sterns Wheel of Fortune pinball machine this weekend !
It looks great ! Very colorful. I like the music, sounds, playfield layout, flow, ..
Don't know much about the game rules yet and the game wasn't updated to the latest version. It played very smooth though, I like the loop, I like the ramps, ..
Didn't get a high score, I did start a few multiballs. The outlanes and posts between the flippers are something you need to get used to but it plays well. The post between the flippers did save some balls (when I played Spiderman it usually didn't).
I'll try to put some pictures on my site one of the next days.
It's weird, everyone likes Spiderman, but I prefer Family Guy and Wheel of Fortune (and would consider owning them if they weren't so expensive new). Maybe in a few years..
Diner unfortunately already had to leave.. it looked nice, was great fun to play, but because of personal reasons one pin had to go and this was it. It was my wifes decision to sell it (also to buy it in the first place).
The Bally 8 Ball has also been picked up this weekend so I now have finally room in the gameroom. I even have an empty space with Diner gone :(
Now I only need to clean up a bit again as there's too many things laying on top of the playfield glasses. Whirlwind is still open, need to solder in a new display glass.
I did put in the new LH6 eprom in Whitewater. Bought it from www.thatpinballplace.com
Very good seller - good prices, fast shipping, good communication, eprom was very well packaged (in plastic tube so the legs wouldn't be damaged and in a static bag).
Unfortunately it didn't solve my mysterious opto switch problem, I'll put in the cpu of the BSD and see what this does. I start to think it is related to the cpu as the playfield does look ok and in switch test the opto registers well..
I played Sterns Wheel of Fortune pinball machine this weekend !
It looks great ! Very colorful. I like the music, sounds, playfield layout, flow, ..
Don't know much about the game rules yet and the game wasn't updated to the latest version. It played very smooth though, I like the loop, I like the ramps, ..
Didn't get a high score, I did start a few multiballs. The outlanes and posts between the flippers are something you need to get used to but it plays well. The post between the flippers did save some balls (when I played Spiderman it usually didn't).
I'll try to put some pictures on my site one of the next days.
It's weird, everyone likes Spiderman, but I prefer Family Guy and Wheel of Fortune (and would consider owning them if they weren't so expensive new). Maybe in a few years..
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Spiderman pinball machine
The new Spiderman pinball machine by Stern is out on test.
Pictures can be found on sites like pinballnews.com.
With the newest Spiderman film now released and breaking box office records, this looks like a very good license for Stern ! Let's hope the machine goes out of testing phase and is actually released and put on location by operators very soon.
The pinball machines is based on all 3 Spiderman movies btw, and not on the original comic book series (the Gottlieb Spiderman pinball machine made in the early 1980ies is).
I'm looking forward to seeing this on location..
(I still haven't played Stern previous pinball machine, Family Guy)
Pictures can be found on sites like pinballnews.com.
With the newest Spiderman film now released and breaking box office records, this looks like a very good license for Stern ! Let's hope the machine goes out of testing phase and is actually released and put on location by operators very soon.
The pinball machines is based on all 3 Spiderman movies btw, and not on the original comic book series (the Gottlieb Spiderman pinball machine made in the early 1980ies is).
I'm looking forward to seeing this on location..
(I still haven't played Stern previous pinball machine, Family Guy)
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