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TWIP – Happy New Year – Two Huge New Themes Being Revealed, plus Is That a Kingpin?

THE SCOOP

EXCLUSIVE – New Themes Being Revealed!

Happy New Year everyone!  What better way to start 2018 than with some EXCLUSIVE theme reveals brought to you by This Week in Pinball?

We can reveal/confirm that TWO of the themes below have been secured by a pinball manufacturer:

  • Back to the Future

  • The Beastie Boys

  • The Beatles

  • Fast and the Furious

  • The Goonies

  • Harry Potter

  • Iron Maiden

  • It

  • James Bond

  • Jaws

  • Jurassic World

  • Led Zeppelin

  • The Matrix

  • Men in Black

  • Michael Jackson

  • Mission Impossible

  • Muppets

  • Price is Right

  • Pulp Fiction

  • Super Mario Bros.

  • Superman

  • Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

  • Zelda

We don’t know WHICH manufacturer(s) landed the two titles, only that the licenses have been secured and are being worked on, and that we’ll see a pinball machine based on the title in the future (possibly the near future).  And if one is eliminated that you really want to see, it doesn’t mean that machine isn’t going to happen – heck, all of these licenses might be secured by manufacturers (they’re not, but they could be).

We’ll eliminate one right now – it isn’t Price is Right.

Should we do more?  Ok, we’ll give you one more just to show you how it works – it isn’t Iron Maiden either.  That title could be released by Stern in the next week or month or year – but it isn’t one of the two titles we’ve learned about.

Over the next two weeks on our Facebook page and our Twitter account, we’ll eliminate them one by one.  So you can follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook to find out the titles FIRST before anyone else.  Why not just tell you the title straight away, why do this silly game of eliminating them one by one?  Well we worked hard to learn about these, and it would just be boring to just share them immediately!  It is much better to do a mildly-annoying marketing tactic to share the news, right!?  

Is That a Kingpin?

A little background: Circus Maximus is a company that is working on Python’s Pinball Circus and a second unnamed title (click here for updates on the Pinball Circus project).

Rumors have circulated that the second title from Circus Maximus would be remake (of sorts) of Kingpin, the 1996 Capcom machine designed by Mark Ritchie.  Only nine were ever produced.  Remember Paul Kiefert?  He is a driving force behind Circus Maximus.  A few days ago on his personal Facebook page, he posted the picture below with the caption “Doing some assembly work this morning.”:

What playfield is that?  Well, compare the blue portion on the right side of the pic above to this pic below of the Kingpin playfield – notice any similarities?

As we mentioned before on TWIP, we can neither confirm nor deny the rumor that Circus Maximus is working on a Kingpin, but if they were to do a Kingpin remake, the game would not be a 100% exact remake as it would have new graphics and possible tweaks from the original game designer.  

LIVE TWIPY Pinball Awards Show coming January 19th at 7:00 PM EST/6:00 PM CST!

The First Annual TWIPY Pinball Awards Show will be held LIVE on Twitch on Friday, January 19th at 7:00 PM EST/6:00 PM CST.  Your hosts for the evening will be Zach and Greg from Straight Down the Middle: a pinball show (check out their YouTube page, Twitch page, and Facebook page).  They’ll be LIVE on Twitch, where you can chat and heckle in real time during the show.

We’re looking forward to the show!  To be alerted when the TWIPY show is live, follow SDTM on Twitch here.  Voting is now closed, and the results are being compiled for the following categories:

Best Theme

Best Theme Integration

Best Sound/Callouts

Best Artwork

Best Rules/Code

Best Lightshow

Best Toys/Gimmicks

Best Playfield Layout and Gameplay

Best Display/Animations

Favorite Pinball Podcast

Favorite Pinball Twitch Streamer

Favorite Pinball YouTube Channel

Favorite New Mod

GAME OF THE YEAR

Pindigo Version 3 Released

Pindigo V3 was released last week – it is available for iPhones and iPads on the App Store and for Android devices on Google Play — or check pindigoapp.com for download links.  Here is some more info on the Pindigo App:

What is Pindigo?

Pindigo is an app that lets you track and manage your pinball scores socially, no matter where you are! It’s like Instagram for pinball players. It’s fast and easy to capture a score right when you finish a game. Embellish it with your notes, tag the location or friends you were out with, and capture a photo to prove it’s legit. Your score will be archived and ranked against the users you follow as well as the global leaderboard. Check out your social score feed to see what scores your friends have posted recently or switch over to the global feed to discover more users. Find and follow more users to expand your social ranking ladder and compare how your scores stack up against theirs.

Pindigo currently boasts over 1,700 users and nearly 40,000 posted scores.

New in Pindigo V3:

  • Score sharing: Share your scores from the app straight to Facebook or Twitter! You can also copy a link to your score and drop it in a text message or email.

  • Website version: Scores can now be viewed directly on the pindigoapp.com website — no app necessary! When clicking a shared score on a desktop computer or on a phone without the app installed, the score will appear in a standard web page. This is just the beginning for the Pindigo website — many more updates are planned to make it more full-featured.

  • Score editing: Prior to V3 the only thing you could edit in a post was your score notes. In V3, you can now edit everything — score, notes, photo, machine. No need to worry about making a typo or accidentally choosing Pin•bot instead of Jack•bot.

  • Updated look and feel: Easier to use and easier on the eyes!

  • Performance improvements: Pindigo was re-engineered from the ground up to support the latest technologies and devices. Compared to the previous version, the app starts up in a fraction of the time, it requires less bandwidth and is generally more responsive.

Michael and Brendan, the creators of Pindigo, did an interview with Jeff Parsons of the Pinball Players Podcast (Facebook, Podcast Garden).  Check it out here, the interview starts around 29:30.  To download, check out their website pindigoapp.com for download links!  Want to help support Pindigo?  Contribute and become a Patron here!

Total Nuclear Annihilation Album Available January 8th, plus TNA Background and Updates

The music from Total Nuclear Annihilation will soon be available on cassette.   Yes, CASSETTE.  (Guessing there are a few of you reading this that have no idea what a cassette tape is and have never used a pencil as an emergency tool to save your favorite music.  For those of you reading this that have never heard of a cassette tape, here is the Wikipedia entry which will help explain it.)  The cassette will available for sale at Pinball Life on Monday, January 8th for $15.  It will also be released digitally in early 2018 on iTunes, Spotify, Google music, etc.

The remastered music from the TnA album will also be in an upcoming update for TnA, the pinball machine.  Scott Danesi announced on Pinside that he is going to “release a good sized update at the beginning part of the 2018 with some cool stuff in it”.

Chicago Gaming Company Updates on AFMr, Game #3

The Chicago Gaming Company gave progress updates on this Pinside post.  The updates addressed the shooter lane issues some recent buyers have seen, production updates, that by February they will have built nearly 1.500 AFMr games (!), that more will come on the MMr display/speaker panel upgrade in 2018, and that game #3 will be showing at the Texas Pinball Festival in March.  See below for more details from the post:

  1. Overall our games are performing amazingly. However, there has been a small number of reported concerns, on very recently produced games, of the balls trajectory as is comes out of the shooter lane. This really came to light as people opened tickets and we were able to piece to together the problem. By Monday morning our engineering and production team were working on a fix. Let me be clear, there are no failures; rather, the ball on these games comes out of the shooter lane and does not properly travel to the gate or around the orbiter loop. As mention several times, we work very methodically here at CGC. It might take a few days before we release the correction. Regardless, it will be an easy correction and we will post it on our service portal.

  2. In the week of Christmas, we are scheduled to switch over in building out a handful of overseas containers. Shortly after the first of the year, we will return to North American production. The remainder of the LE’s will be produced and then it will be all SE’s and CE’s to follow.

  3. By February we will have completed nearly 1,500 AFMR games, and with then return back to another small run of MMR.

  4. We are still working on the MMR display/speaker panel upgrade. It’s not as simple as one might think and in order to it correctly, it going to take some time. More on this to come in 2018.

  5. We will unveil Pin #3 at the Texas Pinball Festival in March.

Doug Skor from Chicago Gaming Company also issued a statement regarding some solenoid driver board issues on Attack From Mars Remake:

As I mentioned to a customer on the phone today, when it comes to service, we don’t necessarily have all the answers. As we move forward, it takes a collection of service tickets before we can piece together a trend that then leads to a resolution. In all cases, we at CGC are committed to correcting these concerns. We discovered a software glitch in the PIC that controls our solenoid driver board. While you might try setting down the power on your flippers, the fact remains that these settings are currently having little to no change on the flippers. Our software team has already corrected the problem, and we are testing the new software with a few select customers. Before we do any massive distribution, we want to thoroughly test the update. This might take a few more weeks, and we ask that you be patient as we start to distribute the PIC’s. In the meantime, there will be NO need for you to enter a service ticket at this time in order to obtain the update. Please wait for further instructions. However, we are going to ask that all customers immediately return their software settings to DEFAULT. We have found that if you are using the lower range of settings that it is likely that you will blow one of the FET’s on the Solenoid Driver Board.

Guardians of the Galaxy – New Songs and Limited Editions Shipping

Stern released a code update to V0.81 for Guardians of the Galaxy which contained two new songs: “I Want You Back” by the Jackson 5, and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.  For more details on the code updates, click here.

Also, the LE’s started shipping recently!  Check out and unboxing and gameplay review of this beautiful machine:

And don’t miss the GOTG review from Zach and Greg from Straight Down the Middle: a pinball show:

First Houdini Officially Shipped

American Pinball said they were going to ship Houdini in 2017, and they did it with plenty of time to spare!  The first Houdini went out on 12/30 – congrats to the everyone at AP.  For previous coverage of Houdini on This Week in Pinball, check out this Deep Dive and this interview with playfield designer Joe Balcer.  We look forward to seeing more and more Houdini’s shipping in 2018!

**LAST DAY to enter to win a FREE set of Pin Stadium Lights!**

This is your LAST chance to win a FREE set of Pin Stadium Lights – it the loaded set with the GI/UV + Glow – a $260 value!

To enter, just visit this website and enter your info – name, email, and machine. That’s it, you’re in the drawing!

**Pinball Bulbs SALE!**

Save 15% off Pinball Bulbs:  Visit Pinball Bulbs and enter promo code “ThisWeek15off” to save 15% off everything on the site!  It’s the perfect time to get an LED light kit for your game, check them out here!

 

Alien Limited Editions Shipping?

Heighway Pinball announced on their Facebook page that the Alien LE trim options would be blue, green, and black:

It also appears from this Pinside post that the LEs are starting to ship – we’ll keep you updated as we learn more!

Finally, in case you missed it last week, Buffalo Pinball (Twitch, Facebook, Twitter) had their Thursday Bro, Do You Even Pinball? stream which featured the pinball machine Alien.  Check out the tutorial and gameplay of Alien below:

 

NYC Pinball Championships – Women’s Tournament Finalized, B Division Eligibility Expanded

The 2018 New York City Pinball Championships released more information last week including discounted room rates, the finalized details of the Women’s Division, and changes to the B Division:

Never Beef Productions is proud to end 2017 with a trio of exciting announcements.

  • The discounted room block for attendees wishing to stay at the New York City Pinball Championships’ host venue – the fabulous Skyline Hotel – has been released. The discounted rate of $229 a night is among the best in the city for a quality room during the season, and gives attendees and their families a great reason to stay in New York City for a vacation along with the tournament. The discounted rate is available between May 17-21. Room quantity is limited, so attendees can book now through Never Beef Production’s Facebook page, http://www.nycpinballchamps.com, or at:https://reservations.travelclick.com/98910?groupID=2083249#/guestsandrooms

  • We are also pleased to announce the finalized details for the Women’s Division of the New York City Pinball Championships. Qualification for the Women’s Division will run simultaneously with the qualifying for the main tournament. No additional entries will need to be purchased. On Sunday, May 20, the top 8 women players will have a chance to compete for great prizes including a signed Jersey Jack Pinball playfield for the champ. There will be no conflict between the Women’s Division and the other divisions, so players can qualify and play in any of the other division finals without having to choose. More details can be found here: https://www.nycpinballchamps.com/tournament-info

  • Also, based upon overwhelming player feedback, we have greatly expanded eligibility for the B division tournament. B division will now be open to all players with an IFPA ranking of 500 or above, instead of the 2,000 ranking initially announced. This will give far more players who qualify in the top 48 an opportunity to play in a championship final at the NYCPC.Get more information on the NYCPC by liking Never Beef Production’s Facebook page, or visit the event’s website at NYCPINBALLCHAMPS.COM to view our event trailer, book a room, see a list of registered players, and more. It’s a new year and a new championship-class pinball event in 2018 – the New York City Pinball Championships. More news will be forthcoming in 2018.

We look forward to a major pinball tournament returning to New York City.  To read why NYC is a great spot for pinball, check out this article.

IFPA Announcements

The International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) made several announcements over the last couple weeks.  For all the announcements, check out their website here, but here are some of the highlights:

  • Congrats to Trent Augenstein, who won the IFPA’s 2017 Player of the Year

  • Congrats to Zach Sharpe, who finished #1 in the IFPA standings and won 2017’s World Best Pinball Player

  • The 20 events that will be part of the inaugural Stern Pro Circuit were announced – check them out here.

  • The second IFPA Head’s Up Championship will be held Sunday, March 25th, 2018 at the Bottom Lounge in Chicago, Illinois.  For more information, click here, or to register, click here!

Victory Laps – End of Post Bonus

 

MATCH! – Next Game…What is Coming Up on This Week in Pinball

  • We have a LOT planned for 2018 at TWIP HQ – just need to find the time to make it all happen!

  • We are hoping to do a 2018 Pinball Preview coming up on Thursday.

  • We’ll stop teasing deeproot Pinball updates until a few things wrap up behind the scenes.  But we have some interesting developments in deeproot Pinball coming up soon (oops).

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Have a scoop or anonymous rumor for next week?  Email us at [email protected]

Upcoming Games and Rumors

Stern Pinball

Most Recent Titles

  • Aerosmith

  • AC/DC Vault Edition

  • Star Wars

  • Guardians of the Galaxy

Announced/Confirmed

  • Elvira 3

Rumors of Future Titles

  • Deadpool?

  • _______ VE?

  • The Munsters?

  • Iron Maiden?

  • Jurassic World?

  • Pulp Fiction?

  • New Ka-Pow Title?

  • Steve Ritchie Unlicensed?

  • Keith Elwin Game?

Spooky Pinball

Most Recent Titles

  • Rob Zombie’s Spookshow International

  • Dominos (*contract game)

  • Jetsons (*contract game)

  • Total Nuclear Annihilation (*contract/house game)

Announced/Confirmed

  • Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle

  • Ben Heck’s game

American Pinball

Most Recent Titles

  • Houdini

Dutch Pinball

Most Recent Titles

  • Bride of Pinbot 2.0

  • Bride of Pinbot 3.0 (on hold)

  • The Big Lebowski (production issues)

Circus Maximus

  • The Pinball Circus Remake

  • Kingpin?

Silver Castle Pinball

  • Timeshock (coming soon)

Jersey Jack Pinball

Most Recent Titles

  • Wizard of Oz

  • The Hobbit

  • Dialed In

  • Pirates of the Caribbean

Rumors of Future Titles

  • Toy Story?

  • Willy Wonka?

  • The Muppets?

Chicago Gaming/Planetary Pinball

Most Recent Titles

  • Medieval Madness Remake

  • Attack From Mars Remake

Rumors of Future Titles

  • Monster Bash Remake?  <<MOVED!

  • Cactus Canyon Remake?

  • Big Bang Bar Remake?

  • Theatre of Magic?

Heighway Pinball

Most Recent Titles

  • Full Throttle

  • Alien (shipping)

Rumors of Future Titles

  • Queen?

  • Barry Oursler Licensed Theme

  • Barry Oursler UnLicensed Theme

P3 (Multimorphic)

  • Lexy Lightspeed

  • Cannon Lagoon

  • Cosmic Cart Racing

Homepin

  • Thunderbirds (coming soon)

Phénix Pinball

  • Olympic Goblin

Deeproot Pinball

  • Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland?

  • Alice in Wonderland?

  • Magic Girl?

  • Houdini?  <<NEW!

**TWIP dreams of the day Harry Potter Pinball will be added to these rumors. Ms. Rowling, I’d be willing to eat one of Hagrid’s rock cakes if you approve this!

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