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  • TWIP – Star Wars Topper Info, Keith Elwin Interview, Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle Info, More

TWIP – Star Wars Topper Info, Keith Elwin Interview, Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle Info, More

March 05, 2018 • Time to Read: 17 minutes

Star Wars Accessories Updates

We have no images yet, but we do have some updates on the Star Wars Accessories – specifically the shooter knob and the topper.  Previously we saw the Light Sabor Side Armor (view it here) and the Art Blades (view them here).  Here is what we know about the upcoming topper and shooter knob coming from Stern:

Shooter Knob

  • Stormtrooper Shooter Knob

  • Fits all Star Wars Models

  • 4.5″ x 4.5″ x 11″

  • Shipping Weight: 1 lb

  • Price: $79.99

Topper

  • R2-D2 Topper

  • Interacts with Gameplay

  • Fits all Star Wars Models

  • 28″ x 10″ x 11″

  • Shipping Weight: 11 lb

  • Price: $499.99

It feels like these are close to being released as they are now listed on Marco Specialties (check out the Topper link here).  Can’t wait to see these!!

Keith Elwin Interview with The Slam Tilt Podcast

The guys from The Slam Tilt Podcast (Podcast Garden, Facebook, Twitch, YouTube) interviewed the one and only Keith Elwin on their podcast last week!  Keith Elwin is working on a game for Stern Pinball.  The game is rumored to be Iron Maiden, and Keith is rumored to be the designer and is also doing the rules. To listen to the full interview, click here!  Here is an excerpt near the end of the interview where Keith talks about what he likes in a ruleset:

Slam Tilt: What kind of things do you look for in a ruleset.  Like you stated with the game you’re working on now, you’re actually doing the rules?  What kind of rules do you like in a game, what kind of rules do you not like in a game?

Keith: My perfect ruleset of any modern game is Walking Dead.  Where you’re never out of a match because Lyman programmed that to say “hey you can do this and this with this and you’re right back in the game”.  Plus you can get to the end within a half hour, to me that is important.

Slam Tilt: What kind of ruleset do you not like?

Keith: To me, four or five modes is perfect.  If you make those four or five modes fun, and you tackle them different ways, different strategies – to me that is a lot more fun than 18 of the exact same mode.  Not that I’m dropping any hints on what that game is.

Slam Tilt: So you don’t sound like a person that really likes linear rules?

Keith: No I do not.  I also do not like games where you plunge and you’re in a mode.  I hate that.

Slam Tilt: So you want to have to qualify it or do something to start it?

Keith: Yeah.  To me, if you do that then it means if you’re not in a mode then you’re not doing anything.  I want to make the base game rules fun, where you can say “I don’t want do a mode, I want to do this for a while or that for a while and not have it be totally worthless”.

…

Keith: I think the industry might be shooting itself in the foot a little bit with rule depth and complexity for the bar patron.  We’re kind of in a circle that the 90s created where they went from simple games to complex games.  The established people love the complex games but it scares off the new people, so you get this gap.  Now you’re seeing the people in the 90s that liked the complex games – they’re loving these new rulesets.  But if you go to a bar and see what games are getting played, it is still Addams Family and all the other simpler games.

Slam Tilt: It is so funny to hear that coming from you.  When I think of someone who knows how to figure out complex rulesets, you’re one of the first people I would think of.

Keith: Like I said – for me it is great, bring on these complex rulesets but as an operator I see…what’s this button do?  What’s this do?  What am I supposed to do here?  Why am I making decisions? … There is a bank of targets with RGB lights in front of them and they’re all different colors.  I can’t even figure that stuff out, how is a casual player going to figure that out?  I just think it needs to be a balance.  You can satisfy both markets.  Lyman usually does a perfect job of that.

…

Keith: People press start, they want to pull the plunger.  They’re not going to read instructions, they’re not going to do anything like that.  The collectors, the players like us, yeah we want that complexity.  But it is such a balancing act of selling to the home market vs. designing to the operator market.

Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle – More Hints from the Spooky Pinball Podcast

Spooky Pinball released some more tidbits on their monthly podcast regarding their upcoming pinball machine, Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle (listen here).  Here are some of the interesting highlights:

Charlie: We should talk about pinball stuff, happenings, goings-on at Spooky Pinball, traveling, and all the stuff coming up here.  We’ve got the Texas Pinball Festival coming up very very shortly.  Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle will make it’s debut there.  Going to be a few surprises, people.  We’ve said a lot of things about this game but there is a lot more we haven’t said.  And I think some other podcasts would be twisting and turning if they knew some of the things we know right now…

…

Charlie: Texas Pinball Festival – March 16th-18th.  There are things I could tell you right now that would blow your mind about this thing.  Things we haven’t said publicly.  Some things we have.  I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised if you show up in that ballroom at 4:00 in the afternoon and find out everything that has been going on…4:00 in the afternoon Saturday…we may have some fun with it on Friday because we understand a lot of people are there Friday and we don’t want to make everybody wait until 4:00.  We’ll have more than one game, we’re shooting for two games.  Lots of surprises.  Be there.  It is going to be cool.  I can’t say anymore without blowing the surprises, which I hate to do…this is part of the curse and the blessing of being the Spooky Pinball Podcast because I know a lot of the other podcasts – they can speculate and say “oooh, we think Stern’s doing Iron Maiden” and…I know stuff.  I know things. But if I say stuff people get mad.  These are friends and colleagues…

…

Charlie: There are going to be some surprises.  We were debating right before we came on air.  Bug said “you should tell them about mmrmrmrmrmrm” and I was like “…hmmm…maybe”…but we’re going to wait for all of it.  You can wait two more weeks, and there are going to be some big announcements, big surprises.  Texas Pinball Festival.

This Week in Pinball contacted Spooky Pinball to ask if they would share mmrmrmrmrmrm with TWIP, and we could just spill the beans on TWIP!  (Hey, gotta try right?)   Not surprisingly, we were told no.    However, we did get this little nugget from Spooky…the mmrmrmrmrmrm is “a significant game enhancement feature”.  What could that be??

TPF can’t come soon enough!

**Alice Cooper joins the Pinball Profile**

Speaking of Alice Cooper, Jeff Teolis of the Pinball Profile (Facebook, Twitter, Podcast Garden), recently spoke with the man himself, Alice Cooper!  The Pinball Profile episode with Alice Cooper will be released this Friday, so keep an eye out for it!!

Sneak Peek: He LOVES pinball!!

Pirates of the Caribbean from Jersey Jack Pinball

David Thiel, who is in charge of sound for Jersey Jack’s upcoming machine, Pirates of the Caribbean, made this post on Pinside last week which shared some of the depth of JJPOTC and the theme integration:

On movie footage in the game:

“Every chapter (and there are 125 of them) has an introduction featuring video footage extracted from the five films. Five multiball intros, five wizard mode intros (and their successful completions) feature video footage from the five films. And there is more than that.”

On callouts in the game:

“Over 200 lines spoke by Gibbs in the five movies were re-recorded by Kevin McNalley (the original actor featured in all five films).”

On sound in the game:

“Technically, 65% of the pin’s music is original music written specifically for playing a Pirates of the Caribbean pinball by myself. The remainder came from Disney Studios, original custom music written for an unpublished Pirates of the Caribbean video game. Most of the Disney music assets feature live orchestra (which pinball companies cannot afford in custom music). I am a huge fan of the Klaus Badelt score for the first film and I would have liked to adapted his themes for the JJP POTC pinball. JJP tried very hard to license them but it was impossible.”

On the characters in the game:

“22 Characters from the film have been artfully woven into the fabric of the game by the team. 22 characters are on the playfield, they are featured in the game modifiers, they are linked to all the shots.”

PAPA 21 Being Pushed to 2019?

Last week on the Pinball Profile (Facebook, Twitter, Podcast Garden), Jeff Teolis interviewed Doug Polka, the tournament director for PAPA, and they had this exchange:

Pinball Profile:  I have to ask the latest with the PAPA building, and I know when the Stern Pro Circuit came out, PAPA 21 declined, obviously because of timing and the selling of the building, and that being up in the air.  Do we see PAPA 21 being probably pushed to 2019?

Doug Polka: At this point it doesn’t look like it is going to occur this year, just because the end of ReplayFX will take us into mid-August, and generally in Pittsburgh you don’t want to run anything after November because weather can become a factor.  It is contingent on us selling hte building and moving.  The reason we declined to host PAPA 21 this year was because we had a couple offers in on the building, and if in January we announce the tournament, and people start booking flights and hotels, and then we find out that we sold it and they want to move in by X date and we have to cancel the tournament…that’s not a good experience for anybody.  Nobody at the foundation was very happy about the decision to cancel the event, but hopefully we will be able to bring it back soon.

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That includes their Mini Virtual Pinball Machine, which comes loaded with:

  • Pinball FX2

  • Pinball Arcade

  • Ikaruga and Proycyon (shooters)

  • Visual Pinball – MAME (ROMs added by user)

  • Customer front end so no computer or technical skills needed

  • Full online support fort your specific machine

  • Real Analog Nudge

Click here for more info and pricing, and watch the video below to check out more about this machine!

IFPA: National Winner, Women’s World Pinball Champion, and Pin-Masters

Congrats to the IFPA National Winner, Raymond Davidson!!  He was followed by Karl DeAngelo who finished second and Colin MacAlpine who finished third (see a pic of the winners here).  Congrats also to the Women’s World Pinball Champion, Karyn Kiser (see a pic of the winner here)!!  Finally, congrats to Adam Becker who won Pin-Masters yesterday!

Thunderbirds Updates and Kiwi Pincade 2018

Homepin released their full page ad that will run in Pinball Magazine, and it indicates they do plan to make their machines updatable by the end user:

Thunderbirds also landed in New Zealand just in time for the Kiwi Pincade 2018!  For more information on the Kiwi Pincade, click here.  Pinsider rotordave posted many pictures of the machine:

To view all the pics, view this Pinside post!

Victory Laps – End of Post Bonus

MATCH! – Next Game…What is Coming Up on This Week in Pinball

  • Update on the page/resource for competitive players – we’re at 9% done now, it is slow going but might be worth it.

  • We should have an exclusive sneak peek posted next Thursday, a day before the Texas Pinball Festival

Disclaimer

Any articles, interviews, or mentions of pinball manufacturers or pinball products is NOT an endorsement.

Have a scoop or anonymous rumor?  Email us at [email protected]

Upcoming Games and Rumors

Stern Pinball

Most Recent Titles

  • Aerosmith

  • AC/DC Vault Edition

  • Star Wars

  • Guardians of the Galaxy

  • AC/DC Luci Vault Edition

Announced/Confirmed

  • Elvira 3

Rumors of Future Titles

  • Iron Maiden?

  • Deadpool?

  • The Munsters?

  • The Beatles?

  • Jurassic World?

  • Pulp Fiction?

  • New Ka-Pow Title?

  • Steve Ritchie Unlicensed?

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

American Pinball

Most Recent Titles

  • Houdini

Rumors of Future Titles

  • Oktoberfest?

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?

Phénix Pinball

  • Olympic Goblin

Jersey Jack Pinball

Most Recent Titles

  • Wizard of Oz

  • The Hobbit

  • Dialed In

  • Pirates of the Caribbean

Rumors of Future Titles

  • Toy Story?

  • Willy Wonka?

  • The Muppets?

Chicago Gaming/Planetary Pinball

Most Recent Titles

  • Medieval Madness Remake

  • Attack From Mars Remake

Rumors of Future Titles

  • Monster Bash Remake?

  • Cactus Canyon Remake?

  • Big Bang Bar Remake?

  • Theatre of Magic?

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)

deeproot Pinball

  • Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland?

  • Alice in Wonderland?

  • Magic Girl?

  • Original Houdini design?

Announced/Confirmed

  • Fire and Brimstone

Silver Castle Pinball

  • Timeshock (coming soon)

**TWIP dreams of the day Harry Potter Pinball will be added to these rumors. Ms. Rowling, I would attempt to break into Gringotts if one of the vaults contained a Harry Potter pinball machine!

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