Led Zeppelin Revealed, Pinball Brothers Reveal Plan for Alien, Texas Pinball Festival Cancelled, Crazy Rolling Pinball Contraption, Pinball on SNL – TWIP 12/21/20

Led Zeppelin Pinball Revealed | Interview with Tim Sexton | SIPP Panel Discussion | Alien Pinball Details | Interview with Pinball Brothers | JJP Updates | deeproot Coverage | Hot Wheels Code | Flippergate | Rolling Pinball Contraption | Pinball Isn't Random | Pinball on Saturday Night Live

Texas Pinball Festival Cancelled, TWIPYs will be Virtual

Last week the Texas Pinball Festival announced that the 2021 show would be cancelled. This was absolutely the right call, and we support them 100%.

With that, the TWIPYs will again be held virtually in 2021. We can’t wait to be back at TPF in 2022 for our next LIVE show!

We would also like to give a HUGE thank you to our new sponsors this year!! In addition to Marco Specialties, Silverball Swag, and This Week in Pinball, we are super excited to announce:


The Scoop

— QUICK HITS —

Stern Pinball Announces Led Zeppelin Pinball

Last week Stern Pinball revealed their newest creation, Led Zeppelin Pinball!!

You can check out a DEEP DIVE of the game here! The Deep Dive discusses who’s who, prices, features, included songs, the Expression Lighting System, trailers and feature videos, rules and code, accessories, and more!!

Jack Danger of Dead Flip had to work around DMCA issues and was able to stream the game for 30 minutes before it got flagged – however, you can check out the video on demand on the Stern Insider, which is free to sign up:

Pinball Profile: Interview with Tim Sexton

Pinball Profile

Last week, Jeff Teolis of Pinball Profile was joined by Tim Sexton, the Rules Designer for Led Zeppelin! Here are just a few highlights:

On the lighting:

Tim Sexton: I think the thing we really wanted to do from the get go that [Steve Ritchie] insisted on and I worked with him on it – we wanted a new type of lighting system that was totally in sync with the music.  This idea started way back in 2019, we were talking about tracking the 12 notes on a scale, maybe add thirteen to have an octave, and he is like “I want them as bright as possible” and we tried these super bright white lights, and I [said] “I would like them RGB” and we tried them with color after that and then finally we realized how many RGB lights we could support on the Spike System…and on the Premium/LE you can see in the videos the expression lighting…for this game, we have awesome light shows in time with the music, and it is exactly what Steve [Ritchie] insisted on…he was from the get go, I want the lights to go in time with the music…

On the Song Mode rules:

Tim Sexton: Beginning of the game you get to pick your song.  Lets say you pick a short song like Communication Breakdown.  You get some arrows, but as you start playing, the song is going to continue playing, when you get to a new section of the song, you get to a verse, we actually cue in a new set of shot lights, so every verse has the same set of shot arrows, every chorus has the same set of shot arrows in a song…So each of the ten songs has several modes in it…so you’re always going to have something to shoot

On earning records:

Tim Sexton: So each mode is actually scaled to the length of the song…all the actions you do while you’re playing the game earn you record sales, and this goes on in the background.  And when you hit a milestone of sales, like 100,000, you earn a Gold record…and if you hit 5 Gold records in a song it is marked completed. But if you hit 10 Gold records in a song, now you’ve gone Platinum.  And that completes the song for the ultimate wizard mode.

He also talks about the custom lightshows on the different songs, talks more in-depth about rules, talks about shooting song arrows in the verses vs the chorus, talks about how to maximize your scoring in the songs, talks about earning record sales, talks about making things simple on the surface but adding a lot of levels to it, talks about the live concert footage, shares that no multi balls stack, talks about the Electric Magic device, talks about the sound effects, talks about the artwork packages, talks about planning on to have a Co-op mode later, talks about where the code is %-wise, and much more.

Check out the full episode here!!

Stern Insider Pinball Podcast Panel

Nate Shivers of the Stern Insider Pinball Podcast was joined by playfield designer Steve Ritchie, rules designer Tim Sexton, lead mechanical engineer John Rotharmel, mechanical engineers Elliot Eismin and Robb Blakeman, and lead artist Stephen Jensen for a panel discussion about their work on Led Zeppelin pinball!!

You can sign up for a free Stern Insider account to listen – click here!

Accessories

Stern also revealed accessories for Led Zeppelin, including the topper, side armor, and shooter rod – check them out here!!


Pinball Brothers Reveal Alien Pinball

Last week Pinball Brothers revealed their re-release of Alien pinball!! Check out the pics here:

Click here to check out the Pinball Brothers website for more info!


The Super Awesome Pinball Show: Pinball Brothers Reveal Plans for Alien Pinball

The Super Awesome Pinball Show were joined by The Pinball Brothers to discuss their upcoming re-release of Alien pinball! Here are just a few highlights:

On investing in Heighway Pinball

Pinball Bros: Before we ejected the one guy who gave his name to the company…we knew we had not gone into the best business deal we could have done, but with the effort we put into it…we knew it was going to be a rough start, and we knew we had to rely on…two things, one, the loyalty of the prepaid customers, and two the stability of the product, which was promised us…what was on the factory floor when we took over was supposed to be way more solid than it turned out to be.

On trying to make the game more stable:

Pinball Bros: We didn’t try to change anything…we had so many things to do…the goal that we had was to make this game…work out of the box…more stable…

On improving the electronics:

Pinball Bros: I think what has taken the longest time, what has been the biggest and most important change of the whole thing is the completely new electronics…all the electronics are new from the base up…so of course doing a drastic change like that has taken time to do…but it also makes the assembly and the maintenance and everything a lot easier…that, I would say, is the main change…

On the releases of the LE version: 

Pinball Bros: Let’s say six months, lets hope so…

On additions to the game: 

Pinball Bros: Currently the plan is to have a slim product, so there is only on version that we deliver…currently we just want to build one product that works and if we see that we are able to do that we might offer additional parts that people can build into their machines at home or maybe later we may even later add some options you could add at the factory.  But currently we are not going to bring any more complexity into the build process.  We are a happy if we get a good product out the door and then we’ll see if we can improve on that and give more possibilities to the customer.

On manufacturing:

Pinball Bros: We have teamed with Pedretti in northern Italy which many pinball people already know…They have the original license to reproduce Bally Williams parts…they are a big manufacturer…they are in the process of getting the first batch together now, they are not in box yet…give them 2-3 months from now to get up to speed, after that, we’re hoping for 100+ a month.

On timeline for releasing the game:

Pinball Bros: The first game to show off through CoinTaker in the States – we are hopeful they will get them in the beginning of January…if everything goes according to plan, that is our goal on it.

On not doing preorders to establish trust:

Pinball Bros: That is the general idea, we get them ready in box, and then they can be sold to the market.

They also talk about the different members of Pinball Brothers, talk about Andrew Heighway, talk about the Alien License, talk about losing a million dollars on Heighway Pinball, talks about Heighway customers wanting a working product, talk in depth about their decision to invest in Heighway Pinball, talk about the changes to the game, talk about starting Pinball Brothers to protect the assets of the investment in Heighway Pinball, talk about if they had tried to get Sigourney Weaver in the game, talk about talking about the licensing with Disney and renewing the license, talk about the vouchers, talk about the designers, talk about the changes to the new game (and reasons they didn’t change the layout), talk about that they never looked at making Alien into standard body from a wide body, talk briefly about Queen, talk about replacing the playfield display with weapons inserts, talk about adding the second magnet, talk about making the Xenomorph magnet more durable and consistent, talk about changing the face hugger material to make them more durable, talk about improving the electronics, talks about code improvements, talk about the art package, talk about the new cabinet, talk about the LEs and their ideas for that, talks about the price point of the Standard Model, talks about hopes and goals of Pinball Brothers in the future, and much more.

Check out the full episode here!!


The first pinball you ever bought was from what era?

Last Week’s Poll Results

Jurassic Park New T-Rex Mod from THE ART OF PINBALL Giveaway WINNER:

Dennis Gilbert


Jersey Jack Pinball Production and Behind the Scenes

Last week Jersey Jack Pinball shared a behind scenes look at the making of their super cool Guns N’ Roses promo video:

JJP also showed an image on their Facebook page that featured a bunch of GNR pinball machines in boxes:


deeproot VIP Coverage

After the folks that travelled to deeproot in September were released from their NDA last week, both Cary Hardy and Chris Chandler talked about their trips to deeproot and what they saw.

You can check out Cary Hardy’s video below:

Chris Chandler joined Craig Bobbie on the Midweek Edition of The Pinball Show to discuss deeproot pinball, you can check that out here.


Hot Wheels New Code

Last week American Pinball announced new code for Hot Wheels – check it out!


Spooky Pinball Responds to Flippergate

Last week on this Pinside post, Spooky Pinball’s Charlie Emery responded to inquiries and complaints that the Rick and Morty flippers were sitting a bit too high by offering a FREE fix to anyone that wanted it:


Yo’ pinball people.

Ok… spent some time on the phone with the mfg. We have never changed anything in the flipper mechs and have been running the same everything since day one here at Spooky over the course of well over 2,000 games to date in that regard.

BUT… looking at older Spooky games here vs Rick and Morty … you pinball maniacs ain’t wrong. The flippers do sit a bit higher with this same ol’ same ol’ Wms style bushing.

ALSO BUT… some of you do see this as a problem. And we all do agree here that this CAN BE IMPROVED REGARDLESS.

So… since it can be improved… our manufacturer has agreed to work with us and yep, we’ll be getting our very own Spooky Pinball specific flipper bushing tooling put together. 

Anyone who feels they want to change theirs out, give us an email: squirrel@spookypinball.com … it will take a couple months (best guess) to get this tooling change tested, made, and in stock but we’ll happily replace your bushings and obviously they’ll be factory installed on all future production.

So there you have it… you spoke, we listened. Anyone who wants a set of 3 bushings for Rick and Morty we’ll happily ship you them free of charge. 

Hope that helps, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Peace, love, and all things pinball ya’ll.


Buffalo Pinball: Interview with Marc Silk

The Buffalo Pinball guys recently interviewed voice actor Marc Silk!! Check out the full episode below:


Silverball Swag logo

Worst shirt ever? Or…collectable?

High quality pinball apparel!

#pinballforall


— Cool and Crazy Stuff —

Rolling Pinball Contraption

This is insanely good. Apparently Marco Pinball shared this back in April and more recently Pinball Undesirables shared this crazy thing.

Anyway, CHECK THIS OUT!!


Pinball Isn’t as Random as it Seems

Thank you to Raymond Davidson for sharing this from a couple years ago – check it out!!


Pinball on Saturday Night Live

50 seconds in – check it out!!

Other Quick Hits:


  • Led Zeppelin
  • Star Wars Comic Edition Pin
  • Avengers Infinity Quest
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  • Heavy Metal (contract game)
This content is only available for our TWIPerks members at the $5 level or higher on Patreon. Support the TWIP website and the pinball hobby by becoming a Patron today!! You can view this content and get all of the other great TWIPerks with a small monthly donation. If you already have a membership to TWIPerks from Patreon then login here.
Jersey Jack Pinball
  • Guns N’ Roses
  • Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
  • Pirates of the Caribbean
  • Dialed In!
  • Hobbit
  • Wizard of Oz
This content is only available for our TWIPerks members at the $5 level or higher on Patreon. Support the TWIP website and the pinball hobby by becoming a Patron today!! You can view this content and get all of the other great TWIPerks with a small monthly donation. If you already have a membership to TWIPerks from Patreon then login here.
Chicago Gaming Company
  • Monster Bash Remake
  • Attack From Mars Remake
  • Medieval Madness Remake
This content is only available for our TWIPerks members at the $5 level or higher on Patreon. Support the TWIP website and the pinball hobby by becoming a Patron today!! You can view this content and get all of the other great TWIPerks with a small monthly donation. If you already have a membership to TWIPerks from Patreon then login here.
Spooky Pinball
  • Rick and Morty
  • Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle
  • Total Nuclear Annihilation
  • Jetsons (contract game)
  • Dominos (contract game)
This content is only available for our TWIPerks members at the $5 level or higher on Patreon. Support the TWIP website and the pinball hobby by becoming a Patron today!! You can view this content and get all of the other great TWIPerks with a small monthly donation. If you already have a membership to TWIPerks from Patreon then login here.
American Pinball
  • Hot Wheels
  • Oktoberfest
  • Houdini
This content is only available for our TWIPerks members at the $5 level or higher on Patreon. Support the TWIP website and the pinball hobby by becoming a Patron today!! You can view this content and get all of the other great TWIPerks with a small monthly donation. If you already have a membership to TWIPerks from Patreon then login here.
  • Ranger in the Ruins (uses Cosmic Cart Racing module)
  • Heist (P3 Game Kit)
  • Cosmic Cart Racing (P3 Game Kit)
  • Lexy Lightspeed (P3 Game Kit)
  • Cannon Lagoon (P3 Game Kit)
This content is only available for our TWIPerks members at the $5 level or higher on Patreon. Support the TWIP website and the pinball hobby by becoming a Patron today!! You can view this content and get all of the other great TWIPerks with a small monthly donation. If you already have a membership to TWIPerks from Patreon then login here.
  • Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland
  • Fire & Brimstone
  • Food Truck
  • Merlin’s Arcade
  • The Who
  • Gladiator
  • Yukon Yeti
  • Machine Age
  • Barry Oursler Black Hole Revision

This content is only available for our TWIPerks members at the $5 level or higher on Patreon. Support the TWIP website and the pinball hobby by becoming a Patron today!! You can view this content and get all of the other great TWIPerks with a small monthly donation. If you already have a membership to TWIPerks from Patreon then login here.
Haggis Pinball
  • Celts

This content is only available for our TWIPerks members at the $5 level or higher on Patreon. Support the TWIP website and the pinball hobby by becoming a Patron today!! You can view this content and get all of the other great TWIPerks with a small monthly donation. If you already have a membership to TWIPerks from Patreon then login here.
Pinball Brothers
  • Alien

This content is only available for our TWIPerks members at the $5 level or higher on Patreon. Support the TWIP website and the pinball hobby by becoming a Patron today!! You can view this content and get all of the other great TWIPerks with a small monthly donation. If you already have a membership to TWIPerks from Patreon then login here.

Other Manufacturers

More

Team Pinball: The Mafia

Circus Maximus: Kingpin, Python’s Pinball Circus

Homepin: Thunderbirds, Chinese Zombies

Suncoast Pinball: Cosmic Carnival

Great Lakes Pinball: Exposé

Dutch Pinball: Bride of Pinbot 2.0, Bride of Pinbot 3.0 (on hold), The Big Lebowski (production/legal issues)

Silver Castle Pinball: Timeshock

Phénix Pinball: Goblin Contest

Pinball Adventures: Punny Factory, Sushi-Mania, Ninja Mania, First Class, Canada Eh!

Disclaimer: Any articles, interviews, or mentions of pinball manufacturers or pinball products is NOT an endorsement.