Along for the Ride

No new song this week. Not much has grabbed me lately, so I'm going with something obvious and obscure at the same time. "Justice in the Barrel" is off Jon Bon Jovi's first solo album, 1990's Blaze of Glory, which collects songs from and inspired by Young Guns II. That video is a fan edit, but it gets the point across. In January someone sent me modified lyrics from this song, and I came away convinced Barrels of Fun was making a Young Guns machine, a backdoor Jovi pin the way Labyrinth is a backdoor Bowie pin. Turns out I was off by a degree or two. Flamed out.

Bon Jovi Pinball is Barrels of Fun's fourth machine and its first music license. We covered the reveal in full. I have every confidence that people will enjoy playing it and come away impressed with the technical execution. One of my favorite things to do in my seat, though, is look at the play-by-play and diagnose why some things land and others don't. I haven't played it yet, so I'm looking at the lead-up, the launch, and the reaction, which has been rough. And I don't think it's only about the band (although that's part of it too).

One big piece, I think, is by design. Barrels doesn't tease much. The mystery drop is how the company works, and to be fair, it has worked. Labyrinth arrived when Barrels was brand new, and the surprise was the fun of it. Winchester Mystery House had a new designer and no baggage on the theme. Dune took a minute, but people came around, and though some questioned the theme choice, it was kind of a clean slate on its own. This time there was nowhere really soft to land after the initial surprise of the reveal. Bon Jovi, as a theme, had a few things going against it from the get-go. It was never in the rumor mill, so nobody got to warm up to the idea. Pinball enthusiasts were not asking for it at all. And the things people were hoping for, Dungeon Crawler Carl, The NeverEnding Story, Big Trouble in Little China, weren't what got revealed. Big Trouble and DCC both score 92 on our Hype Index. Bon Jovi scores 64.

When the theme leaked the week before, people went to real lengths in the forums to talk themselves out of it. It's misdirection. Barrels is too secretive. It can't be Jovi. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like it.

I also wonder if these launch formulas are really working. And it's not just a Barrels problem. Everything comes out in pieces, across reveal videos, featurettes, official content, non-official content, and social posts, all in the same day or two. It counts on people wading through hours of it to pick up the nuances and the details that actually matter.

To be clear, Multimorphic did a lot of these same things this week, too (sprawling launch content), but, to their credit, they completely nailed the communications around it, and a lot of little tactical things that made it easier for people to process everything and come along for the ride, while still keeping a bit of secrecy in the process. Their official rollout ran over weeks: the people involved in the projects, the new distributors, a published launch schedule. Hell, to the point of warming people up to a theme, look at the arc of Dungeon Crawler Carl this year. Whether it was intentional or not, the idea of a DCC pin leaked to the pinball community with enough time for people to get interested and invested in the theme. We asked readers about it three weeks ago: of 72 votes, 32 came out of the lead-up more interested than when they first heard the rumor, and 21 less. Barrels put up one teaser photo at 10:31 the morning of launch, saying its next game premiered at 1 PM Central, then dropped the rest a couple of hours later. No theme, no title, no rumors along the way. No one's brought along for the ride.

It probably didn't help that people didn't like the art at first glance. I feel bad about that one. Looking closer, part of the problem is that Bon Jovi's pose on the translite is just a bit goofy looking, so if you're already predisposed to not like the music or the theme generally, it's again not going to prime you for a positive reaction.

What I keep coming back to is that Young Guns version I talked myself into back in January. Maybe it wouldn't have been realistic. But I think that's the version of this pin people could get quietly excited about. At least I would have. Instead it's another dad rock pin, a genre that's been done to death. It could be the best shooting and sounding pinball machine of all time, and you're still starting in a hole.

Two things I'm watching. The first machines are at Southern-Fried this weekend, and perception will probably flip once hands are on it. Barrels builds games that are a blast to play with killer atmospherics (Labyrinth scores a 98 with us), and that should carry. The other is the Reserve trigger. Sell out inside seven days and club members get another seven-day window. An announcement early next week that it sold out would juice a second wave, and then nobody's talking about the negative reactions anymore.

Pinventory keeps everything about your machines in one place.

Operators track collections, revenue, and audits across their locations, including public QR codes that link to online issue reporting with no app needed.

Collectors catalog their whole lineup with full maintenance history, parts, and manuals on hand.

Every machine, repair, and number lives in one place instead of scattered notes and spreadsheets.

Your data stays private and secure, visible only to you and the people you invite.

Built by Ed Giardina, creator of the IFPA Companion App. Free to use.

With all that said, Multimorphic had a hell of a week. We covered the nuts and bolts in our launch article, and we've been following the DCC developments all year, so I won't rehash it here. The short version: two new games up on the same morning, Dungeon Crawler Carl and Ender's Game, both three-flipper designs sharing the same new 360-degree disk mech.

I think it's a really strong release for them. About the only question I have is whether they should have hedged with Ender's Game at all instead of going all in on DCC. There's little doubt DCC is the stronger seller right now. But the dual release plays to the strengths of their whole value proposition, so maybe that's not a bad thing.

AP announced the Galactic Tank Force: Victory Edition Thursday morning, a final run of 100 numbered units, with a code update already live that finally delivers the Tank Zulu mini-wizard mode named on the 2023 feature list. Powder-coated armor, Franchi back for a new Captain Kyan topper, and a motorized interactive tank sculpt that's the first thing out of AP's new partnership with mod-maker Art of Pinball. Paul Melio has the full rundown.

Tasker Smith's Pinball: A Quest for Mastery came out Tuesday from Schiffer Books, 256 pages on playfield layout, ball control, competition, and the mental side of the game. I asked him about the decade it took, the sports-science rabbit hole that got cut somewhere around the sensory deprivation tanks, and why he says pinball always comes down to playing against yourself. He's on the road with it through August 9, so go say hi if he's coming near you.

It's been a few weeks since I've sent one of these, but we've still been busy publishing new stuff on Kineticist. Here's what you may have missed if we only connect here:

Thank you for reading!

More ways to connect:

Your feedback helps us improve our work. All notes are appreciated!