THIS WEEK IN PINBALL: February 11th, 2019

— This Week’s Top 5 Stories —

1. American Pinball New Trademark Activity

If you remember, last February we discovered that Oktoberfest had been trademarked by American Pinball. Recently American Pinball applied for trademarks for FOUR new possible pinball themes! This information was found on Justia, which is a website with free open access to legal info. Previously, the trademarks found on Justia for American Pinball were their company name, Houdini, and Oktoberfest. Four more have now been added:

So what to make of this? Have they picked ONE of these themes, and trademarked the others so the pinball community wouldn’t know which one it was? Are they considering all of these themes somewhere down the road? Hmmm…

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2. Oktoberfest Updates and Changes

American Pinball’s Josh Kugler responded to several questions on Pinside last week on this post, and provided some updates on Oktoberfest:

He also included a photo of the scoop:

American Pinball’s Joe Schober (Ferret on Pinside) also chimed in on this post sharing:

Looking forward to seeing more of this game soon!

3. Interview with Jack Guarnieri on Pinball News & Pinball Magazine Podcast

Our friends at the Pinball News & Pinball Magazine Pinball Podcast interviewed Jack Guarnieri on their January Recap show! A few highlights from the interview included:

PNPM: Is there going to be a new Pat Lawlor game this year?

Jack G: Yes…his game will be earlier in the year.

PNPM: Is there a chance that Pat is releasing two games this year?

Jack G: No.

PNPM: You also have Eric Meunier working at the company, is he working on a new game?

Jack G: Yes he is.

PNPM: Is that game scheduled for later this year?

Jack G: Yes it is.

Jack also shared the following, confirming another Wizard of Oz run:

Here is a little nugget for you, we will build more Wizard of Oz games this year.  We bought parts to build about 250 games this year.  We’ll let everyone know when that will happen.

Our friend Jason Knapp from Knapp Arcade also did a very well written recap of the podcast – check that out here!

We got a second sponsor for the TWIPYs!

This Week In Pinball would like to thank Flip N Out Pinball for sponsoring the 2nd Annual TWIPY Pinball Awards being held LIVE at the Texas Pinball Festival on March 23.

Flip N Out Pinball is an authorized distributor of Stern Pinball, Jersey Jack Pinball, Chicago Gaming Company, American Pinball, Escalera Stair-Climbing Handtrucks, P3 Multimorphic, and Valley Dynamo products. Please consider Flip N Out Pinball for your next pinball-related purchase, as they help support the TWIPY Pinball Awards!

4. Brentt Brunner joins the Special When Lit Pinball Podcast

Brentt Brunner, the co-founder of Great Lakes Pinball, joined our friends Ken and Bill on the Special When Lit Pinball Podcast last week! He discussed many different topics, including Great Lakes Pinball’s upcoming title, Exposé. Here are a few highlights:

SWL: What can you tell us about Exposé?

Brentt B: Exposé was an idea that we came up with last year when we first started getting all the logistics together for the company…I don’t want to pull the curtain back too much because it is a big surprise and I think people are going to be really happy with it.  But Exposé came about of – once again, us sitting around, throwing ideas back and forth and just basically laying out the plans for it and the storylines and the characters…and it was a lot of fun coming up with these.  And I think the fun that we had creating it is definitely going to come out when people are playing it.

SWL: Will it be a wide body or a standard body?

Brentt B: It is going to be a standard body.

SWL: What kind of hardware did you guys plan on running, the P-ROC set up or something proprietary…? 

Brentt B: We are actually using – Raspberry Pi is going to be the heart of it.  We have a custom board that was actually designed by our owner Jeff.

SWL: [How many different models will be available (pro vs prem vs LE)?]

Brentt B: We are going with one game [model].

SWL: Regarding the reveal of your first title, Exposé, is it possible that we’re going to see this in 2019?

Brentt B: You’re definitely going to see Exposé come out in 2019.  And I think everyone is going to be blown away by what we have, and I hope everybody is happy with what we have…it is going to be a beautiful machine and going to flip really great.

5. Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle Code Update

Spooky Pinball released a major update to Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle last week – check out all the details of the update here!!

Last week, TWIP added an LE/Insider Access Menu to the TWIP website! This was launched previously as part of our Patreon page, but we have now incorporated it into the This Week in Pinball website. You can see all the recent Insider correspondence on the LE Access page here!

Identify the pinball machine pictured below for a chance to win a limited This Week in Pinball Lapel Pin!  Drawing will be held monthly!

Last Week’s answer: Attack from Mars

Email guesses to [email protected], correct answers will be entered into the drawing for the limited TWIP Lapel Pin!

CONGRATS to Timothy Stump who won the January Lapel Pin!

— Presented by —

This Week’s Mod of the Week is the Ninja Premium Pinball from Ball Baron!

Considered the shiniest and most finely polished pinball in the world, the Ninja Premium Pinball is a solid chrome, standard size/weight pinball that has been hardened and shined to an unprecedented mirror finish. The Ninja Premium pinball is not only the shiniest but will last longer before going dull than any other ball. Note: this is a plain pinball; it does not have the word ‘Ninja’ on the ball.

The Ninja pinball is 1-1/16″ and weighs 2.8 oz. NOTE: Some players report that certain games which use magnets that rapidly move the ball back and forth over the magnet (i.e. Dialed In, some modern Stern games) can cause chrome pinballs, including the Ninja ball to become magnetized over time, possibly leading to balls sticking together. This does not happen suddenly but over 100+ games. Many buyers have had no issues with the chrome balls in most magnetic games, but longevity may vary.

Balls are shipped with a thin oil coating and require cleaning in Isopropyl Alcohol and polishing with a dry cloth or an old cotton t-shirt.

  • The Munsters

  • Primus (contract game)

  • The Beatles (Ka-Pow)

  • Deadpool

  • Iron Maiden

  • Elvira 3 (confirmed)

  • Steve Ritchie Black Knight 3000

  • James Bond

  • Superman ’78

  • Beetlejuice

  • Godzilla

Jersey Jack Pinball
  • Pirates of the Caribbean

  • Dialed In!

  • Hobbit

  • Wizard of Oz

  • Willy Wonka

  • Toy Story

  • Guns N’ Roses

Chicago Gaming Company
  • Monster Bash Remake

  • Attack From Mars Remake

  • Medieval Madness Remake

  • Cactus Canyon Remake

  • Theatre of Magic Remake

  • Big Bang Bar Remake

Spooky Pinball
  • Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle

  • Total Nuclear Annihilation

  • Jetsons (contract game)

  • Dominos (contract game)

  • Rob Zombie’s Spookshow International

  • Scott Danesi Second Game

  • Licensed Title

American Pinball
  • Oktoberfest

  • Houdini

  • Robin Hood

  • Sherlock Holmes

  • Valkyries

  • Poker Run

P3 Multimorphic
  • Cosmic Cart Racing

  • Lexy Lightspeed

  • Nothing so far

deeproot pinball
  • Magic Girl

  • Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland

  • Fire and Brimstone

  • 2 Dennis Nordman Unlicensed games

  • Alice in Wonderland

  • Nothing so far

Other Manufacturers

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

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