In today's issue of Random Stuff, we kick things off with Stern Pinball and its newest game Dungeons & Dragons. This weekend, the folks at Stern streamed gameplay of the Pro edition of the game (embedded below).
After brief delays to deal with a part shortage and issues with the wires in the Dragon head being too short, I have heard that Stern supposedly has D&D Limited Edition games back on the production line. We didn't get one of Stern's great Factory Friday videos last week, so I have no way of confirming that is indeed the case. If the LE's aren't back in production yet, they will be soon.
Pros for locations are showing up all over the place in arcades and breweries. Initially, Stern's production schedule called for Premium D&Ds to hit the line in mid-February. This may have been pushed back a week or two.
I've been on a list for a D&D Premium since the first day I heard the rumor, so I should have an early one once they hit the line. I moved some games around, or more accurately I had strong friends who have an Escalera hand truck help me, last week. So I'm ready for the game when they start shipping.
In the meantime, Stern is working out all of the mechanical kinks and cranking out big code updates. Even though getting a Premium version of the game puts you behind the LEs and a bunch of Pros in the queue, it does give Stern time to perfect the game before shipping - which in my book is a big plus. This morning, Stern released new code for the game, Version 0.85.
Last night, the folks from Wonderland Amusements joined the PDubs Arcade Loft YouTube channel to talk about their first attempt to build a pinball machine, Alice Goes to Wonderland. PDub was cool enough to reach out and share pictures of the latest iteration of the game's prototype with all of us.
The hour-long interview contains a lot of great information about the Wonderland's plans.
Minutes ago, Wonderland also took to Facebook to share an official update. This video shows off gameplay on the current prototype. The Company is bringing this iteration of the game to show off to the public at the Wondercon convention at the Anaheim Convention Center from March 28th through the 30th.
The Alice Kickstarter is scheduled to go live on a Tuesday in mid-March, most likely the 11th or the 18th.
Both videos are embedded below.
Wonderland Amusements is reimagining the pinball experience at home and is getting ready to launch their Kickstarter in March 2025 for their Alice Goes To Wonderland Pinball Machine. Tonight, MichaelB The Game Genie will join me LIVE along with Jerry Cummings (CEO) and Peter Gould (Operations) to showoff the latest updates on their 80% to scale real mechanical pinball machine along with discuss the upcoming Kickstarter and take viewers questions! Can they make a great pinball experience with a target price less than $1,000?
First Look: The Fully Decorated Alice Pinball Machine! 🎨🏰
The wait is over – we’re revealing Alice Goes to Wonderland with its full artwork, decorated sculpts, and new gameplay! This prototype represents about 90% completion, with final refinements still to come.
We’re getting close – let us know what you think!
Despite its penchant for operating mostly redemption games these days, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Chuck E Cheese. First of all, it reminds me of going to play arcade games at Showbiz Pizza Place when I was little. Beyond that though, I held birthday parties for both of my boys at Chuck E Cheese when they were young (they're 16 and 20 now, time sure flies).
After going through some serious financial trouble over the past several years, Chuck E Cheese, is testing a new arcade concept. What's old is new again because they're opening old school mall arcades.
The first test locations for this new program were called "Fun Spot Arcade" and they were placed in several Simon Properties malls. The name now seems to have been changed to "Chuck's Place." Below I have linked two articles on the new locations:
Atari alumni Chuck E. Cheese to debut new mall arcade concept Chuck’s Arcade utilizing retro ’80s imagery
Chuck E. Cheese debuts new small arcade concept in Orlando
Chuck's Arcade
Last up we have a new update that Multimorphic sent out to its mailing list subscribers this morning. The Company reiterated that it is on track to ship "all remaining pre-ordered The Princess Bride game kits by the end of February."
The end of the month will be here before very soon. Does this mean that a new P3 module is going to be revealed in the near future? Based on nothing more than timing and speculation, I think so. The current rumor (from me at least) is that the next P3 game may be based upon the video game franchise Portal. I'm looking forward to seeing what they have next.
