Community Standards

Song of the Week

Look. I really wanted to feature something different here. Something a little more transgressive. Something with more bite to it. The Guillotine by The Coup, for example. But do that, and I run the risk of having people in the community tell me to find a new hobby because I’m too liberal for pinball (true story), so instead of suffering the wrath of internet strangers, I’m pulling out another oft-looped track from recent faves.

I guess it’s still a little transgressive for the moment. Kit Sebastian is a duo based out of London with a Turkish vocalist (Merve Erdem), and many of their songs, Bul Bul Bul included, are sung in Turkish. And if you don’t happen to speak fluent Turkish, don’t let the foreign tongue deter you; it’s just as danceable and fun as anything produced within proximity to the Gulf of Mexico America.

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Pinball News of the Week

New Photos of Road Trip Pinball by Ramp’s Pinball Manufacturing

Long in the works, this weekend marks the official debut of Road Trip pinball from former homebrewer turned startup pinball manufacturer Bob Neis. Previously, this project was operated under the TiltBob Pinball moniker; however, that has since been changed to Ramp’s Pinball Manufacturing. The game will be available for play at Pinball at the Beach this weekend, and you can head over to Knapp’s Arcade for some additional photos.

How a Pinball Newbie Qualified for the Ohio State Championship

Matt Owen takes us behind the scenes on his 2024 IFPA journey and how he found himself qualified for the Ohio State Pinball Championship. Read on to see why the experience was a little bit different than what he expected, and why you might want to try to make your own run at a 2025 State Championship this year.

New Avatar: The Battle for Pandora Tutorial

Fresh new tutorial from Noah Crable for those of you digging into Jersey Jack’s Avatar: The Battle for Pandora. For a game that has the appearance of a complicated rule set, this breakdown clarified some things for me and helped me finally connect the dots between the structure found in this game and common rule structures found in other modern games. We may have a video version of this coming soon, too, so stay tuned for that!

The Electric Playground Hires Nick Neitzel and Announces Two New Topper Projects

Topper kings The Electric Playground had a flurry of announcements today (Friday, 2/7).

• They hired Nick Neitzel (Tony Hawk’s Pro Pinball) as a full-time Product Engineer.

• They announced their next topper project, the “Double Tap” Pinball Topper for Pulp Fiction.

• They announced a partnership with DPX for a Licensed Topper Extension for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

That’s a lot of news! We were fortunate to have TEP’s Rob Rath available to answer a few questions for us about all the new endeavors.

Pinball Map Location of the Week

Ryan and Scott from Pinball Map run a regular series that highlights one new pinball location each week. This week, Ryan writes about Den of Pin in Vashon, Washington.

In my last article, I casually dropped that any place with “Hut” in their name is a guaranteed Premium Grade A location. But coming in behind the Huts - albeit in a distant second, and perhaps tied with some others - is any place with “Den” in their name. Den. I don’t have a den currently. I have a living room. The living room is all business. Couches facing each other with a table in between serving as a neutral staging ground for the opposing sides. Three to four lamps to illuminate all corners and nooks. From the living room one can speak in a normal voice and talk to people in the kitchen, and someone in the dining room can easily glance over and check on you. But a den. A den is like a second living room positioned outside of the normal household flow between kitchen, dining room, living room, bathrooms, and bedrooms. A den is where you can do a living room take 2 but this time center it on fun and coziness where nothing has to match. Multiple bins filled with blankets. Couches and chairs positioned toward entertainment centers. I used to have a den.

And now, in a way, I can have ready access to a den again. Den of Pin, in Vashon, Washington (on a huge island just southwest of Seattle) is opening today. They’re a playable museum den with 20 pinball machines - entirely EMs! It is a rarity for a place, especially a den, to be EM-only. Some of my greatest pinball memories are playing EMs for hours and hours in dens. To do so in an island den? Heaven.

Den of Pin has been hosting tournaments as they get set up, so I’m assuming they already have a following. They have an entry fee and from then on the games are endless. Bye.

Den of Pin
9919 SW Bank Rd, Vashon, WA 98070
Website

Meme of the Week

We haven’t done a “Meme of the Week” in some time because, frankly, I haven’t seen very many good ones! Well, hopefully, that will change moving forward. After the current largest Pinball Meme Group on Facebook (Pinball Memes) went on an anti-woke ban parade, we created an offshoot called Pinball Memes (the good one). It’s not our first crack at a meme group, either. If you want to share and consume pinball memes in a place that’s a little more welcoming and friendly, that’s your new spot. I’ll try to feature more here if we get some good submissions.

Links of the Week

• Electric Bat Cast put out a new episode where they covered their earnings report for 2024, among other topics (it’s safe to ditch X, at the very least).

• TWIPY host Erin Winick Anthony wrote an awesome article about pinball restoration for Make.

• CGC is running a Pulp Fiction live-stream challenge through the end of March.

• The IFPA released a statement clarifying their support of the LGBTQ+ community in competitive pinball events. We unequivocally support this.

• Pinball Jen put out a new quick tutorial about how to get the Three’s Company Insider Connected Achievement for Stern’s Venom

TWIPY Awards Updates of the Week

• The TWIPYs show is almost here! We’re working on the finishing touches for the live stream, so there’s not a ton of updates to share this week.

• We do want to take another moment to thank our incredible sponsors this year - Mad Pinball, Stern Pinball, Planetary Pinball, The Flipper Room, FAST Pinball, Pinball Collective, Silverball Swag and Blake Dumesnil Designs. Couldn’t do it without their support!

Poll of the Week

Last Week’s Poll Results

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