Happy weekend everyone! I didn't have any updates on Friday because work was absolutely brutal and I didn't have the strength left to write anything. But I'm here to redeem myself this morning. Here's a bunch of random pinball information that I've absorbed over the past several days.
First up we have Spooky Pinball 👻 . I've been hearing rumblings that we may see some sort of teaser for Spooky's upcoming game next week! There's nothing direct from the source here, but people who usually are fairly plugged in have told me that. I sure hope so. I can't wait to see what they're up to. I still haven't been able to mentally assemble all of the clues that they've been sending out yet. I'm sure as soon as we see the next game we'll all be like "Oh, that's what that was!" 😂
In other Spooky news, I don't have this first hand because I haven't had a chance to watch the replay of Thursday's Bug's Scream and Stream yet, but people have been saying that Bug mentioned during the stream that the upcoming Spooky pinball machine does not contain any pop bumpers. So, that's interesting.
For those of you who missed it, on Thursday I Live streamed an unboxing of Spooky's most recent and possibly last before the reveal prototype part for its next game. Here's a link for anyone who wants to check it out.
That was really the first Livestream that I've ever done for the Knapp Arcade Facebook page. It was fun. If people liked it, and given the 200-something live viewers and 4,000+ views after the fact I'd say that someone must have :), I can do more stuff like that if I find the time.
I watched it back once. I should look at the camera more. Watching yourself back on video is always so strange isn't it? I never realized how much I sound just like my late younger brother in terms of mannerisms, laugh, etc.........
Back to the news, yesterday Stern Pinball did its regular Factory Friday social media short. This week Guardians of the Galaxy Pro is on the floor for its last run ever (supposedly lol). It's hard to believe that Stern is still making Guardians. That game sure has staying power. I've had my Guardians Pro for years and I bought it USED. I bought it from the organizer of Pintastic New England and had Fast Eddie pick it up for me when he was still working.
There's a lot of cool pinball events this weekend for anyone who's interested. The biggest one being Pincinnati, the annual Cincinnati, OH area pinball show and tournament. It is running through Sunday at the Holiday Inn Eastgate. It always looks like an awesome show.
Also, today Mike Daddon's Automated Servives aka Pinballs.com is hosting an open house that features the first public appearance in the area of Jersey Jack's new pinball machine Elton John, as well as an appearance by Jersey Jack himself, a big tournament and a lot of games on free play.
My friend Rob and I were planning on heading over to the Jersey Jack open house this morning to play Elton John for the first time, but late yesterday I called an audible and changed our plans. I found out that a new Barrels of Fun Labyrinth pinball machine just made it on location within driving distance of us. I'd personally much rather try out Labyrinth than Elton John so we're headed to Pinball Long Island instead to take pictures of and play it this afternoon.
Well, I have to get some coffee in me and get ready for the drive to LI so I gotta run even though I could probably continue rambling about pinball for a while longer :). Thanks for reading everyone.
Funny, you came out to Long Island and all the Long Island pinballers went up to CT for the Automated Open house. It was a good time up there.
Spooky layouts are "different" which is cool for people with big collections, but so far I can't stand their layouts. Scooby is at least normal-ish. Stop with the upper playfields. Stop hating pop bumpers. They can be super fun when place in interesting places
Have owned 4 Spooky’s and still have Rick and Morty (R&M) and Scooby Doo (SD). Both are rock-solid builds and legit, top 25 pins. SD took a lot of criticism about the layout of both playfields, but I find them to be excellent. If you don’t own a SD, just ask yourself …. why not?
The SD layout supports having a double row of drop targets, two apron locks and an upper playfield with a flipping bookcase. Software highlights to me are its character modes and most adventures, which are flat out fun. Artwork on playfield and cabinet / translite are beautiful, while being authentic. Speech from shows and callouts tightly integrate the SD license. Time to find one…
Would be nice to own a spooky game with pop bumpers. I have Halloween and Scooby. This time around will not buy NIB From spooky. Going to wait and see how Jaws turns out before I jump on a spooky pin again.
Spooky has a long road ahead of them. Halloween took a huge hit on people dumping their preorder spots at a big loss, let alone in the used market. Scooby is fairing better, but they had a lot of QC issues.
I have owned 2 Spooky Pinball machines and not going to buy a 3rd without pop bumpers.