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Avengers Reveal Videos, deeproot Announces Launch Date, Raymond Davidson Interview, and the Pinball Pig – TWIP 9/14/20

Avengers Reveal Videos, deeproot Announces Launch Date, Raymond Davidson Interview, and the Pinball Pig – TWIP 9/14/20

September 14, 2020 • Time to Read: 15 minutes

— QUICK HITS —

Avengers: Reveal Videos and Updates, Now Shipping

Last week we got to see the reveal videos for Avengers: Infinity Quest, Stern Pinball’s newest creation! First on Wednesday, Dead Flip streamed the Premium/LE game and was joined by Keith Elwin and Raymond Davidson:

Then on Friday, Jack Danger streamed the Pro Version on Marvel’s Twitch Channel – check out that video here!

Artist Zombie Yeti shared more details on the artwork on his Instagram page:

Over the weekend, Stern shared images on their Facebook page showing that games are now shipping!

deeproot Pinball Announces Launch Date

Our friends at deeproot Pinball revealed their official launch date would be September 21st – next Monday!! The teaser image included Ned, one of the characters from their upcoming game, Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland. They also included a link for distributors if they were interested in selling RAZA – check out the teaser below!

deeproot also linked to the RAZA teaser they had previously shared:

To keep up to date on all things deeproot, you can find them on social media on the following channels:

This should be a fun week – stay tuned!!

Topper Talk: TMNT and Elvira Topper Updates

Last week Stern Pinball teased the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Topper on the September Stern of the Union:

Stern shared the first look at the TMNT Topper with the Stern Insiders – you can check out a leaked pic of the topper here (please note that pricing has not been announced)!

Click here to sign up to be a Stern Insider!!

Last week Pinball Magazine shared more information on the Elvira Topper as well in their monthly newsletter – check it out below:

Click here to sign up for the Pinball Magazine newsletter!

Final Round Pinball Podcast: Raymond Davidson Interview

The guys at Final Round Pinball Podcast interviewed Raymond Davidson last week! Here are just a couple highlights:

On when he started at Stern:

When I first started I was working on Jurassic Park, partly because I made a comment on Tilt Forums about how there was a lack of a Fossil Champion. So basically, as soon as I got here the lead systems guy was like “hey, implement Fossil Champion if you want it”. So I got to do that and it was actually a great way to learn my way around doing a lot of little small things for Jurassic Park so the latest code update – the 1.02 – it was pretty much all the stuff I did in my first few weeks, was all those little tweaks, the combo indicator, the Fossil Champion the DNA stuff, all those things.

On Avengers: Infinity Quest:

As soon as I saw it I thought this was going to be awesome. I really love the layout, it is so unique. It has certain shots that feel different than another other shots in pinball…[he talks about the shot to the tower being very satisfying]…Keith doesn’t make bad games…

On Keith Elwin:

Keith plays his game every day on the newest build. And the thing he’s looking for is game progression – do I feel like like I’m blocked, do I feel like I’m chopping wood? How can I resolve that? And so he’ll give ideas or he’ll ask for ideas…so we work to resolve those. So that is why you won’t find Keith games that feel very woodchoppy or linear – he plays them every day and he knows what he likes and knows what he doesn’t like.

Ray also talks about programming and how virtual pinball helped him getting into pinball coding, talks about coding iPhone and Android apps vs. coding at Stern Pinball, talks about teamwork and collaboration at Stern and how the different teams work, that Keith likes a unique toy that influences the physicality of the game (like the truck on Jurassic Park and the spinning disc on AIQ), talks about the difficulty of the game and that Keith was trying to get it in between Iron Maiden and Jurassic Park, talks about his favorite coded games and how he will be looking to code games, talks about his philosophy on stacking and scoring and risk vs reward, and much more!

Check out the full episode here!

Flip N Out: All Sterns to See Price Increase January 1st

Stern distributor Flip N Out Pinball shared on Facebook that all new in box Stern machines would see a $100 price increase as of January 1st, 2021. It is being discussed on this Pinside thread.

Spooky Pinball Updates

Our friends at Spooky Pinball announced on Facebook that they will soon be building their 2,000th game!! What a crazy ride in a small Wisconsin town.

Also last week, Scott Danesi announced on Facebook a change to Total Nuclear Annihilation that will be very helpful to pinball streamers – the player scores can now be shown on the display itself – check it out!

Congrats to Podcaster Milestones

Some of your favorite podcasters celebrated milestones last week:

Congrats podcasters!!

High quality pinball apparel!

#pinballforall

— Cool and Crazy Stuff —

Jason Momoa, Les Claypool, Primus

Possibly the best Zombie Yeti artwork on any pinball machine.

Kevin Bacon plays Apollo 13

Thanks to TWIP friend Joe Zenkus for passing this on – Kevin Bacon shared an Instagram post this week sharing that he loves pinball and shows him playing Apollo 13!

Hershey Bears Custom Pinball Machine

More incredible work from Brian Soares and Joel de Guzman!! And a shout out to Christian Line for introducing the parties involved!

University of Cincinnati professor uses pinball to teach engineering

“Pinball wizard Zach Fuchs uses games in his electrical engineering classes and research”

Dog Named Pinball Up for Adoption

This pup was apparently abandoned at Pinballz Arcade in Austin, Texas and after alluding capture for three days near the Pinballz Arcade parking lot, is now ready for adoption!

Pinball Pig

Our friend Kevin Pollock has a Pinball Pig. Or should we say THE PINBALL PIG. Kevin has been sharing images and videos to the Facebook group Pinball Enthusiasts for several months – join the Pinball Enthusiasts Facebook group to check out this amazing pig!!

Other Quick Hits:

Happy birthday Robert Gagno!!
Article: Queensland pinball machine wizard restores treasures of the past in basement

Avengers Infinity Quest
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Heavy Metal (contract game)
Stranger Things
Star Wars Vault

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