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Jacked Up
A Day at Jersey Jack | The Hankin Story | Jurassic Park Tutorial | Pinball Planet | Location of the Week | Links | More!
Colin Alsheimer
September 20, 2024 • Time to Read: 10 minutes
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This Week in Pinball we’re feeling jacked up from our trip to Jersey Jack.
This Week's Pinball Agenda
Song of the Week
This week, I’ve got another Australian group for you. U Should Not Be Doing That is the first single off the forthcoming album from Melbourne’s Amyl and the Sniffers. It drips with confident energy—swagger even, and I had it on loop during my travels to Jersey Jack last week.
The music video is a fun watch on its own, with Steven Ogg (The Walking Dead) doing his best impression of an Australian rugby fan. My new life goal is to walk into a room like he does at times in the video.
A fun fact about Amyl and the Sniffers is that their name comes from the Australian slang term for Amyl Nitrate (poppers), which, the experience of doing, was likened to the band’s sound by lead singer Amy Taylor. The more you know!
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Pinball News of the Week
A Day at Jersey Jack Pinball for the Avatar Launch
This is the big piece for this week: my recap of my trip out to Jersey Jack Pinball for the Avatar: The Battle for Pandora launch. It’s got a ton of photos (and I’m still waiting on some film to get developed. Hopefully, if they turn out well, I’ll share those later).
We also included a bit of new news in the wrap-up regarding the expected timing for delivery of Avatar’s two wizard modes.
This was a lot of fun to put together, and I’d like to thank the Jersey Jack team for having me out.
Australian Pinball - The Hankin Story
I’m kind of a nut for pinball history, especially obscure pinball history, so I was tickled pink to receive this contribution from long-time reader Stephen Smith in Australia. He goes deep on Hankin, an old Australian pinball manufacturer, and their five releases. Stephen will be talking more about the games at Pinball Expo, as well as running an auction for a copy of the rare Star Wars Empire Strikes Back game.
New Stern Jurassic Park Tutorial
We’ve got another great tutorial to share from pinball rules wizard Noah Crable. This time, he covers Keith Elwin’s 2019 release for Stern Pinball, Jurassic Park (the cornerstone, not the home edition). I’ve always had trouble mastering this particular game, but some of Noah’s strats were very helpful in helping me better understand the game.
Pinball Planet is the Hottest New Spot Near Cleveland
Up-and-coming competitive player Matt Owen took a trip to Cleveland’s hottest new pinball spot, Pinball Planet, which carries the flag for the legacy of a now-defunct local mainstay, Southland Lanes. Seems like an awesome location!
Pinball Media Mixer is Almost Sold Out!
I can’t believe I’m writing this, but the Pinball Media Mixer is almost sold out! As of writing, we have 4 Community Tickets left. Once those are gone, it should kick over into a waiting list, and we’ll see if we can open up additional tickets.
We’re also excited to welcome Planetary Pinball and Pedretti Gaming aboard as official event sponsors. They join our existing sponsors, Stern Pinball, FAST Pinball, Scorbit, PinHub, Silverball Swag, and PINQUEST. We could not do this without their support or without the planning help Erika from Erika’s Pinball Journey and Josh from LoserKids.
Links of the Week
Spooky Pinball agreed to terms with free-agent pinball artist Christoper Franchi, then joined Cary Hardy for a live stream.
There were multiple interviews with Stern’s George Gomez by Kaneda’s Pinball Podcast and Gonzo’s Pinball Flipperama.
Bro, Do You Even Talk Pinball interviewed Multimorphic’s Josh Kugler
Mystery Pinball Theater 3000 recapped their experience at JJP’s media day
LoserKid Pinball Podcast talked about the Avatar trip with Vic-VP.
Bust out the rizz with Nudge’s latest in their Love in the Arcade series
Flip n’ Out streamed a copy of Avatar LE
We launched a subreddit! We’re sharing many links there, so if Reddit is your jam, give us a follow. We’re already up to 200+ people in the community!
Pinball Map Location of the Week
Remember when Ryan and Scott from Pinball Map did a monthly series for us about new (to the map) pinball locations? Those were fun! Well, Ryan and Scott are back with a new series where they will highlight one new location each week. To kick things off, Ryan writes about VÜK Pinball. - Colin
VÜK Pinball
On April 1, 2024, the Capital District pinball community thought a cruel joke was being played on them when MOM’s Organic Market in College Park, Maryland closed their expansive pinball room. But April 1st came and went and MOM’s did not reopen. Sure, there’s another MOM’s with pinball down in Abington, Pennsylvania, and there are other MOM’s all over without pinball where you can get sandwiches. But this MOM’s was MOM’s, you know?
Bereft of these pins, residents, visitors, and seasonal workers of the DMV wandered through the streets, brushing aside all the canvassers pleading with them to sign up to vote, jangling pockets of useless quarters. But then, today, a golden token shone atop the Washington Monument, and the people knew in their hearts what this meant: MOM’s is basically back, but with a new name, a new location, and a new outlook on life.
The name VÜK Pinball harkens back to MOM’s founder, Scott Nash’s, original pinball arcade that was opened in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2016 (but then the building was demolished). VÜK Pinball will have 40 machines spanning from the 1970s to today, and will be located in the Chevy Chase Pavilion in Friendship Heights, DC. It opens Sunday, September 22. Hours will follow the mall’s hours of 7am-11pm. Games will remain 50 cents, like they were at MOM’s.
VÜK Pinball
5335 Wisconsin Ave, Washington, DC 20015
Find it on Pinball Map
Poll of the Week
Do you use Pinball Map? |
Last Week’s Poll Results
Are you in or out on Avatar: The Battle for Pandora?
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ In (39)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Out (65)
104 Votes
“Looks beautiful, but JJP is just unaffordable at their new price points, especially for international buyers”
“I didnt find either of the Avatar movies to be interesting, exciting, or even original. I will say that the UV lighting and ‘eclipse’ mode seem VERY cool and unique to this machine”
“The only Avatar that I acknowledge is about a 112 year old little bald boy frozen in ice with his air-bison coming back to defeat the Fire Nation and save the world.”
“I only voted 'No', because I could never afford it. A stunning piece of work, with many innovations, beautiful art work and light shows. If I had the money, I'd have an LE in a heartbeat!”
“I can't wait to play the game, but the cost is just too high for me to own it.”
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