I've been scanning the news out of this week's Amusement Expo in Las Vegas looking for cool new arcade products that I haven't seen before. I talked earlier in the week about Atari's new collaboration with ALAN-1 to create a line of arcade cabinets based on Atari's new "Recharged" series of remakes of its classic games.
Well, here's cool thing number two. This morning thanks to a post by renowned arcade traveler, transporter and seller Bob Cunningham on Facebook I discovered that a company called Skyscraper Novelty has created a cool new game that is an homage to the beloved 1973 Williams Amusements arcade games "Ringer" and "Penny Pitch."
For those of you who aren't familiar with Ringer, it's a highly addictive electromechanical game based on good old horseshoes where players spin a wheel and try to score points, naturally by getting their horseshoes closest to the post (see picture below).
Skyscraper Amusements has modernized the game, applying the same style of play to the game of Cornhole. Check this thing out. I LOVE it! Factory production of Cornhole Challenge is set to begin in April. I don't have official confirmation on the game's price yet, but scuttlebutt out of the show says that it was listed at $4,200.
Cornhole Challenge accurately simulates the fun and excitement of the game of Cornhole, with real skill needed to reach those top scores. Standard game play is 3 rounds per player throwing 4 bags per round (approximately 2-3 mins). An operator selectable setting of Tournament Mode allows regulation Cornhole play for locations that wish to hold tournaments.
With our Spinwheel Technology there is basically one moving part, and it is metal and almost indestructible!
No more smashed guns or broken joysticks, and you'll have infrequent, if any, service calls. Your only visit to the locations will be to empty the cash box!
This game just runs, and runs....
Pictures of 1973 Williams Ringer and Penny Pitch:
I love me some simple physical arcade games. But this doesn't seem to have a lot going for it other than appealing to old timer nostalgia. The presentation on screen is like a bad Adobe Flash game from the early 2000s. There are so many better ways the software could have worked with the wheel.
Looks like you can't miss left or right, or is it just random? How is that Cornhole other than the graphics?
looks too easy, at least way easier than Ringer imo. and my only other real gripe is that you should be able to change views with an additional button in the center, say to display a 3D depth perspective of it (shooting towards the fire pit). Hopefully they leave the coding open for those kinds of upgrades, but probably not.