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- TWIP – Guardians of the Galaxy Reveal, Heighway Pinball Next Game Timeline, John Trudeau Update
TWIP – Guardians of the Galaxy Reveal, Heighway Pinball Next Game Timeline, John Trudeau Update
The Scoop
Guardians of the Galaxy Reveal!
Last week Stern Pinball announced their next game – Guardians of the Galaxy! It features incredible artwork by Christopher Franchi, layout by John Borg, and game code by Lonnie Ropp. It also includes the following:
A Groot head that talks and eats pinballs as a ball lock (To see it in action, check out this video)
Rocket firing the ball back at the flippers (For a video example, click here)
An Orb toy with a “drop target with trip coil virtual ball lock” below it (To see the ball lock in action click here)
Eight modes/missions, two multi-balls, and two wizard modes
Since the initial release, a few new updates have happened. Zach and Greg from Straight Down the Middle: a pinball show (YouTube, Facebook, Twitch) revealed some easter eggs in the artwork on their in-depth video of initial impressions of Guardians of the Galaxy. Along with those easter eggs, here is some of the other new information since the initial announcement:
It is now rumored that Stern will be including two songs from the movie (it was initially believed that no songs from the films would be included)
The Limited Edition model has laser cut armor as an optional upgrade to the LE gold armor**EDIT: Available on all models, not just the LE – check out the picture to the right
There were some questions as to if the Premium and LE versions had full RGB inserts (even though this was listed on the features matrix), and now there are several people reporting that is accurate and the inserts on the Premium/LEs are clear and all have RGB lighting
For the video coverage from Straight Down the Middle of the Easter Eggs in the artwork, click here and watch for about 2 minutes and 30 seconds
For the unpopulated playfield from Straight Down the Middle, click here for the video or here for the image.
Easter Egg list/pics
The Walkman
Cosmo the Spacedog (To learn about who Cosmo is, click here)
The artist, Christopher Franchi, snuck his name into the artwork here
If you remove the metal ramp off the shooter lane, you’ll find this secret message
For more coverage and links, check out the following:
Dead Flip (Twitch, Facebook, Twitter) will be streaming the reveal stream this month, and we’re already looking forward to seeing this machine in action!
On the monthly Spooky Pinball Podcast which came out on November 1st, Charlie and Bug interviewed Jersey Jack Pinball (JJP) Designer Eric Meunier. Eric designed the recently released Pirates of the Caribbean from JJP. During the interview he shared some interesting tidbits about the machine and working with Disney:
Since the 5th Pirates of the Caribbean movie had not been released yet, to help with the design Disney gave Eric a self destructing digital file of the script of the 5th movie.
Eric worked with 14 people at Disney during the process to get approval from all the actors and actresses to use their likeness. They sent the playfield with artwork in May, and got final signed approvals just three weeks before Expo where the machine was revealed.
During the design of Pirates, Eric was going for more of a risk/reward type layout rather than lots of flow.
The wizard modes are not coded yet into the machine, but they have been discussing several ideas. One of the ideas for a wizard mode includes getting a ball up onto the upper playfield (the tilting ship), and when you hit a target on the left the ship it tilts left, when you hit a target on the right it tilts right. It is believe to be based on this scene from the movies.
For more on the JJP Pirates of the Caribbean visit the Jersey Jack Pinball website here or check out This Week in Pinball’s deep dive of the machine here.
John Trudeau Pleads Not Guilty
John Trudeau has pleaded not guilty to charges of possession of of child pornography. The disturbing back story on this – pinball designer John Trudeau was arrested and charged with two counts of possession of child pornography. You can read more info from the Glendale Heights Police Department here. Here is the Pinball News article regarding the arrest. Following his arrest, Trudeau was released on bail from the DuPage County Jail. The next court date is November 20th. TWIP will update this story as necessary.
Heighway Pinball Next Game Timeline
Jeff Teolis with the Pinball Profile (Facebook, Twitter, Podcast Garden) interviewed famous pinball designer Barry Oursler on a recent episode. Oursler has designed games such as Gorgar, Pin*Bot, Cyclone, Dirty Harry and Junkyard, and is currently working on Heighway Pinball’s next game. During the interview, Oursler mentioned Heighway is hoping to show the new game at the Texas Pinball Festival in March. It is rumored to be a licensed title.
Happy Birthday Pinball Profile!
Speaking of the Pinball Profile, they just celebrated their one year anniversary! Congratulations to Jeff Teolis and all his work on the Pinball Profile podcast. Jeff continues to put out very interesting episodes that profile some of the top names in the pinball community. You can listen to the Pinball Profile on iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play. Also check them out on Facebook, Twitter, and Podcast Garden. Congrats Jeff and we look forward to your continued great work!
Dutch Pinball Open
The 25th anniversary of the Dutch Pinball Open takes place this week on November 11th and 12th! This show is massive with nearly 400 pinball machines on free play. They’ll have vendors, speakers, food, and of course lots of pinball. Also, the location of the show is in a huge building that is shaped like a pop bumper (see a pic of the building here). How cool is that!? For more information on the show, visit this website.
The Big Lebowski Update
Dutch Pinball sent out their most recent newsletter a few days ago. They are currently inspecting the second engineering sample that was created by their new contract manufacturer, XYTECH. They hope to have the game at the upcoming Dutch Pinball Open. In the update they also answered some questions:
Q: Who will supply the playfields?
A: The playfield will still be supplied by Mirco Playfields, Germany.
Q: What about your previous contract manufacturer?
A: Our attorney advised us not to comment on questions about them anymore. So we won’t.
Q: Will there be future code updates and will the software be compatible with both TBL versions?
A: Yes. We are working on a smaller update which will be released very soon and when the new games ship they will include complete code version 1.0 (including Wizard Mode).
Q: When will I get my TBL?
A: At this point we don’t know yet. We understand how difficult it is for Early Achievers to wait and wait. We and Xytech will do anything we can to start production of new games as soon as possible. We will also make sure you Early Achievers will have your advantages for waiting a long time. Thank you again for your patience and trust.
Kickstarter Campaign for New Pinball Book
Jonathan Joosten, the man behind The Pinball Magazine, started a Kickstarter campaign for a new book called Pinball Road Trip. It will be a coffee table photo book by Joosten and Argentinean photographer Santiago Ciuffo, and will show pinball machine locations in Las Vegas and California along with sights and cities encountered during the trip. For more information and to donate to the Kickstarter campaign, please click here. We look forward to seeing more about this project in the future!
Dead Man’s Hand Pinball
Nick Baldridge from the For Amusement Only: EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast recently interviewed Scott Gullicks of Riot Pinball to discuss Riot’s all mechanical bingo style pinball table, Dead Man’s Hand. Check out the full podcast here to learn more about this project. Riot Pinball has recently partnered with VP Cabs to produce Dead Man’s Hand. The first 50 produced will cost $800. Guaranteed Christmas delivery! To purchase and get more information, click here.
October Giveaway Winner!
Congrats to J.M. Ratkos who won a gift card to Titan Pinball for This Week in Pinball’s October giveaway! To enter for the November giveaway, correctly answer the Name the Game which comes out on Wednesdays. Each additional correct answer each week is an additional entry. Congrats J.M.! (Wonder how the drawing is done? Click here.)
COMET PINBALL – November Giveaway Sponsor
Huge thanks to COMET PINBALL for sponsoring the November gift card giveaway on This Week in Pinball! Visit Comet Pinball for a huge selection of LED products, including full LED game conversion kits! Please support them and visit their website!
End of Post Bonus
Speaking of Dialed in!, new code (v1.50) dropped last week – check out the list of changes here
The Kaneda Pinball Podcast had a great interview with Josh Kugler of American Pinball, who revealed (among many other things) that Houdini three mini wizard modes and one major wizard mode
**EDIT: there were two 24 pinball battles, not one as previously reported! Congrats to all that finished the 24 hour pinball battles – Trent Augenstein won the 24 battle at The Sanctum – the other tournament was held in San Fransisco and helped support UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, click here for more information
Spooky Pinball joined Twitter last week – follow them here
This Week in Pinball finally got to Horde on The Walking Dead after trying to reach it since May, send all your congrats and mockings that it took so long to [email protected] (What, you don’t care?! Well, it was big news for me!! )
Upcoming Games and Rumors
Stern Pinball
Most Recent Titles
Aerosmith
AC/DC Vault Edition
Star Wars
Guardians of the Galaxy <<New!!
Announced/Confirmed
Elvira 3
Rumors of Future Titles
Iron Maiden?
Jurassic World?
Deadpool?
Pulp Fiction?
New Ka-Pow Title?
Steve Ritchie Unlicensed?
Keith Elwin Game?
Spooky Pinball
Most Recent Titles
Rob Zombie’s Spookshow International
Dominos (*contract game)
Jetsons (*contract game)
Total Nuclear Annihilation (*contract/house game)
Announced/Confirmed
Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle
Ben Heck’s game
American Pinball
Most Recent Titles
Houdini
Dutch Pinball
Most Recent Titles
Bride of Pinbot 2.0
Bride of Pinbot 3.0 (on hold)
The Big Lebowski (production issues)
Circus Maximus
The Pinball Circus Remake
Kingpin? <<New!!
Silver Castle Pinball
Timeshock (coming soon)
Jersey Jack Pinball
Most Recent Titles
Wizard of Oz
The Hobbit
Dialed In
Pirates of the Caribbean
Rumors of Future Titles
Toy Story?
The Muppets?
Chicago Gaming/Planetary Pinball
Most Recent Titles
Medieval Madness Remake
Attack From Mars Remake
Rumors of Future Titles
Monster Bash Remake?
Big Bang Bar Remake?
Cactus Canyon Remake?
Heighway Pinball
Most Recent Titles
Full Throttle
Alien (shipping)
Rumors of Future Titles
Queen?
P3 (Multimorphic)
Lexy Lightspeed
Cannon Lagoon
Cosmic Cart Racing
Homepin
Thunderbirds (coming soon)
Phénix Pinball
Olympic Goblin
Deeproot Pinball
Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland?
Alice in Wonderland?
Magic Girl?
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