Jeff is delirious with hot car exhaustion and Don is as uninformed as ever. Join us for Episode 22 of The Pinball Podcast.
We already effed up. I started talking about Nick’s suggestion, then said I’d talk about it later and never got back to it. He wants a mod that allows for lane changing on older pins. Me too!
Pinsanity!
You could win this great screen print courtesy of Ken Rossi’s EvolveStudios.com! Listen for details.
King Kong is one of the most rare pinball machines out there. Like Kingpin, it was never put into full production, so there are very few machines that were ever produced. Essentially, Data East was never able to secure the rights for full scale production, so the game had to be scrapped even after some prototypes had already been fully assembled.
Right now there’s a King Kong up for sale on eBay. Bidding, as of the time this post was written, is up to $20,000 and rising. There are several pics of the machine, which looks to be in mint condition, available on the auction page.
Over the weekend I made the 6 hour drive down to Las Vegas to make a visit to Flipperspiel Wunderland to play in the Pin-Up or Shut-Up Tournament that took place on Saturday, August 17th. Flipperspiel Wunderland is located a few miles off of the main strip, putting it near a bunch of hotels, but not in a crowded area of town.
Upon entering, I found a row of EMs, some newer DMDs, a short row of classic SS games, and arcade games that peppered the spaces in between. The atmosphere was really laid back, and for the $10 entry fee, I got to play in the tournament and enjoy the rest of the games on the floor on free play as well as free pizza and drinks for the night. The tournament games included: Tron Pro, Striker Xtreme, Metallica Pro, Iron Man, and Genie. The turnout ended up being a bit smaller than expected, but it was still a good time and the tournament’s sponsor, Nifty LED brought their bulbs along and offered them at discount pricing.
If you’re passing through Vegas, you should definitely drop in on Flipperspiel Wunderland if they’re open. There’s a nice mix of modern and classic pinball machines in there, and everything is playing in good condition. I only had my cell phone to grab pics of the place, and I only captured about 1/2 of the machines here. Thanks to the Flipperspiel Wunderland and Nifty LED guys for putting on the event. I’ll be back again.
Well, kinda. You can see the full layout for The Hobbit pinball machine. Right now it’s just the blueprints that we’ve seen, but the layout looks cool. There’s some unique stuff going on, but it’s sometimes hard to visualize how the ball will flow until you get to see how everything stacks up. Who knows how long we have to wait to see photos of the actual playfield, but we’re pretty eager to see what Jersey Jack Pinball has cooking up. Here’s the pic released by Jersey Jack Pinball.
Just a few weeks after Jeff experienced his first NIB purchase, I joined the NIB club with my own Metallica Pro. I ordered it during the first production phase of the Pro, but it was already sold out so I had six weeks to order protectors and mods and new balls (more on that later), etc. The wait was just long enough that I started to dream about the game and I was able to play a friend’s LE before my check was cashed.
The game shipped from Stern on a Wednesday, and arrived at my home at 1pm the following Tuesday via R&L. I was able to track it online on Wednesday and it made it all the way to Oklahoma (from Chicago) by Thursday. Then the tracking went dark until Monday midday. In the meantime, I called and emailed R&L to make sure it didn’t get shipped back (all previous tracking history had been erased), and they notified me Monday that it was safe and due to be delivered on Tuesday.
When the game arrived, it looked fine, but had a hole in the box (see photo). I didn’t sign until I ripped open the hole big enough to inspect the ‘damage’. There was a very, very slight scrape to the bottom back of the head, nothing to get worried about, but I had the driver note the box damage on the bill of lading after hearing horror stories of trying to get recouped for damaged items not noted on the BOL.
We unboxed the game and immediately started adding ‘mods’. We replaced the plastic leg standoffs with metal standoffs ordered from PinballLife.com, added a shooter lane protector from PassionForPinball.com, added a Mystery scoop protector found on eBay and swapped out the crappy standard NEW balls that came with the game for some ultra shiny balls from PinballLife. The balls that came with the game were noticeably duller and one even had a nick in it. Nice, new balls are one of the cheapest ways to prolong the life of your game (they look nice too). Old balls = rolling sandpaper on your playfield.
We finally got the game set up and ‘protected’ and ready to play. First game, the plunger only shot the ball up about 6″ each time. The autoplunger was set to fire at 30 seconds, and it shot the ball into play. My first game was somewhere in the 2 million point ballpark as we were just messing with the plunger. Then we spent a half hour adjusting the plunger. We got it to a sorta workable point, and played about a half-dozen games. My buddy had to leave, and my twin infants woke up (I was shocked that they gave us an hour to set up the game!), so no more Metallica until later that night. It turns out that there are multiple ‘patterns’ used by Stern on Metallica, so the lane protector was causing the ball to ‘ramp’ up very quickly for 1/8″ or so. Once we found a protector that fit this current layout, the plunger problem was relieved!
The first night, I took an hour or two and swapped out bulbs for LEDs. I’m very happy with the results. The only inserts I really don’t like are the four GIANT EOTL inserts right between the slingshots. The lamp bases are about half the size of the inserts, and are just screwed to the very edge of the insert. As such, it only illuminates a small part of the insert. I tried flex LEDs, but they just don’t spread out far enough. I might try putting a spacer on the mounting screw so I can shine the light from an inch or so away from the inserts, instead of right on top of the insert. If that makes any sense…
You can also see that I added LED speaker lights on the backbox, and removed the stock grills in favor of some Metallica throwing star ‘grills’. Really nice effect, in my opinion.
Cointaker had a sale that offered free flipper LED kits when you spent $100. I chose an orange kit, and it came out alright. The leads are a little on the short side, but they worked. I also added these skull flipper protectors. Always a little nerve racking drilling holes into a new cabinet, but the lollipop rails offer similar protection and ‘holes’. I removed the little playfield pegs and added typical playfield slides too. Drilling more holes, but it is a MASSIVE improvement.
After exactly one week, the game had exactly 150 plays logged.
Thanks to Gene Hwang for sharing these on our Facebook page. We figured that the shots were good enough to share here as well. At the link you’ll find a nice set of shots from California Extreme 2013.
California Extreme, through the lens of Orange Photography: CAX 2013
Episode 20 is here, and even though it’s a light news month, we still have plenty of great stuff to talk about in regards to pinball. I want to make a jungle pun in honor of Congo being our featured machine, but I got nothing. Enjoy the show!
Buying a new in box (NIB) pinball machine is a pretty exciting experience; especially if you’ve never been through the process before. Recently, I purchased my first NIB pinball machine, and I thought that I’d share some of my experience and lay out the pros and cons that I’ve observed when it comes to buying a pinball machine in this manner.
My story begins with the Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown, that was held in Denver, Colorado in late April. There were plenty of games that I had my eye on coming into the show, but AC/DC was something that I just had to try for myself. I’m not much of a fan of the band, but the constant praise that the game has received has always made me curious to try the game out. My first night at the show, an AC/DC Back in Black Limited Edition was the first game I played. Initially impressed, I started wandering the floor after that first game, but quickly found myself wanting to go back for more.
Over the course of the next couple of days, I logged a crazy amount of games on the three different AC/DC machines (one BIBLE and two Premiums) at the show. I saw JJ, from Game Exchange at the show, and we began talking about what sort of price he could offer on the game. My mind began to churn and I started thinking about my collection and what titles I could let go to fund my first NIB purchase.
My AC/DC Premium, ready to be unboxed.
Two days after getting back from Denver, I had sold my Simpsons Pinball Party and my White Water, two fantastic games, but two I was willing to let go to raise the money I needed. The next day, on my lunch break, I phoned up Game Exchange and placed my order. Two days after that, the AC/DC Premium was dropped off at my home. It happened quickly, and it was a good thing, because I was burning up with excitement to get the game into my home.
After unpacking the game with the help of a friend, we set it up in my garage and gave it a couple of hours of continuous play. The game played beautifully, and I moved it down into the game room a couple of days later. I’ve even woke up early on a few days to put in some time before work to supplement the nights I’ve stayed up late. I’m hooked on the game, and I’m more than happy with the purchase.
Unpacking my first NIB game, an AC/DC Premium
So it’s a good story, but there are still pros and cons to consider when springing for a NIB game. Since buying the AC/DC Premium, several people have asked me if I would repeat the decision given another chance. I would, but I do recognized that buying a new game does have drawbacks. Let’s dive in.
The pros of buying a NIB pinball machine
As the original owner, the game will arrive in pristine condition
You’ll receive a warranty and free tech support on the game
It’s easy to document the HUO status of the machine
Aside from high end restorations, nothing plays like a fresh NIB game
Before the game ever receives any significant play, you can put protectors in place
With simple maintenance, the game should be relatively trouble free
The cons of buying a NIB pinball machine
In most cases, you’ll need to ship it in. If you don’t, you’ll pay taxes
As soon as you open the box, the game loses a few hundred dollars in value
Unless you’ve had a chance to play the game first, a NIB game is a big money gamble based on faith in the designer/manufacturer
Generally it means sacrificing pins from your lineup or limiting purchases in the near future
Brand new games don’t have years of community tweaks, mods, and fixes for common errors
If you’re concerned about the value of your collection, NIB games can fluctuate in pricing a lot more than older titles will
If you’re a serious pinball collector, I think that at some point in your life you should try and experience a NIB pin purchase. It’s not cheap, so you may have to save, stretch, or even sell some games to make it happen, but there’s some sort of magic that you feel when you cut open that box and set up a machine for the first time since it left the factory floor.
I always let my wife have the first game when I get a new pin…NIB included.AC/DC Premium got put into the “Lawlor Room” area of my lineup.
Have any experiences of your own to share, be they good or bad? We’d love to hear them.
