I for one was looking foward to the Circe's Animal House pinball. Maybe next time

No interest in a motorcycle theme. Was really looking forward to the other theme, had cash in hand. Too bad.

Awesome news on John Trudeau. Terrible news on no Circe.

awesome news. john trudeau is one of the most underrated designer in pinball. things are looking up for pinball. now if pat lawlor would only make a new game.

More excellent pin news! What a difference two years makes.

Both are excellent. Greek mythology would have flopped on location.
Glad to see John back !!

Bummer about no Circe. that looked cool.

motorcycles? no thanks

Well, I like the idea of motorcycles. Liked Circe as well though, but I can see motorcycles/racing doing better in pubs and having more the idea of 'speed' in it. (And it might look nice next to my Road Kings 2.0 ). The theme hasn't been done since No Fear I believe?

I hope they'll succeed and do the one cabinet several playfields-possibility, so for home-collectors with little space (and less money) it might be an extra selling point (I could imagine I'd buy such a game sooner NIB than a Stern or WOZ, knowing I could buy a different playfield later).

I like the idea of Circe, but thought it would have limited appeal. If you are going to do something regarding Greek Mythology, go after the obvious................Medusa, Zeus, etc.

Wonder if somehow Trudeau will bring over Forbidden Planet as a future title.

I have no interest in motorcycles but any new pin is good for the industry.

I feel like they went from too obscure to too generic. Somewhere in-between would be nice? Circe's was a bit of a head-scratcher but at least it was something new and interesting, even if it had to be explained to everyone. Full Throttle, on the other hand, we've all seen before a thousand times.

On a positive note apparently Brian Dominy is doing the software, and from what I've seen he really knows pinball and seems like a great guy. He's a very good player as well, so I'm excited to see what kinds of rules he comes up with!

I thought the whole idea of circe was that it fit right into the theme of a pub (beer steins, jukebox)? How big is motorcycle racing in the UK? If anything, I would have licensed TOP GEAR, they'd go nuts for that

On the flyer, where it has an upside down ramp, it looks as though there are two spinning discs to shoot the ball up? Its' like the matchbox track kit, or a football launcher
launcher[1].jpg

It'd be interesting to see what they do with the LCD overlay for a racing title, will there be a video mode where the flippers steer a motorcycle down a track?

Wait - is Brian doing software ? Or still Dominic with help of Brian ?
(btw Brian wrote FreeWPC)

wow looks cool!
glad is still an original
and john trudeau coming in? can't wait to see what these guys do

You know, this is a business, and I can't fault them with going with something more safe. They have to do all they can to make sure this is a success. If operators are their main target, then give them what they want. Later releases can take more challenges. A successful first pin will ensure we'll get others.

Yeah, I was looking forward to Circe's Animal House just because it was so different and fresh, I was not sure how family friendly it would end up being (based upon the pictures of Circe available....).

A random motorcycle game is less thematically exciting, but paradoxically I could see this going into my house easier.

I tip my hat for him having the cahones to make a major change like this for hopefully the benefit of his business; I could see some people not wanting to swallow their pride and just plowing ahead no matter what.

I really liked the Circe's theme too and have no interest in motorbikes (and the loud audio that always comes in racing themed games). John Trudeau is awesome though. Hopefully this will do well because then there's more chance of Circe's seeing the light of day. I don't understand the people who don't understand the theme - you didn't need to, it was a pub, there was a barmaid. Anything past that didn't really matter - the basic premise was so obvious that the mythology didn't need to be.

Some company needs to get Ray Tanzer back in mix. He's done 3 games I particularly love.

And the Crices was a much better theme....

Another car game....

yay.

Not.

Was looking forward to the original theme, like many others. In a botique production, you don't have to worry about mass market's stupidity..Heighway never had a snowball's chance in hell of selling thousands of machines in the first place. If you want to cater to that denominator, go right ahead...it's your business, but I'm out.

Lemme know when it gets picked back up. Argh.

You must have missed the point, he's been operating machines for years and plans to put a product out there that allows for low cost game swaps after the initial outlay.

That's what I like most about this platform. It's re-igniting what pinball 2000 was trying to do. Not only from an operator standpoint does this make sense (remember how fighting video games were being swapped out with new roms constantly to save cost of a totally new machine), but from a home market it makes a LOT more sense. I can't justify $5k for a single NIB machine, but if I could make the initial $5k investment, and then a year later buy the latest playfield and software update for say $2.5k, it really starts to get reasonable (also saves valuable space inside a limited basement)

So there was no commitment to the original planned theme? Odd business...announcing, then retracting and changing.

John Trudeau Rulez!

He takes chances with novel playfield designs. This could be great. The Forbidden Planet playfield looks awesome.

Motorcycle racing theme doesn't excite me much.

I know several people, including me, have suggested to Andrew to change the theme. I felt the Greek mytholy angle was OK, but the twist of changing it to a modern times situation with the Goddess owning a bar would be too difficult to understand. Most people would probably see it as a bar theme with a hot chick and never understand why the guest would turn into animals. I know Andrew was not keen on the idea of changing the theme, and I think it shows balls that he decided to change it after all.

Plus, and Andrew mentioned this in his announcement: the whitewood played very fast and smooth with great looping shots. When Andrew asked me on the plane if I had any idea what he could have changed the theme in to, motorcycling was on the tip of my tongue, but I said I had no idea. So it make sense to me to change the theme to this. He assured me there will still be hot babes on the game

The other change on the playfield, the second exit on the ramp, was also something I suggested. Including the use of a diverter. I figured he would use a Y shaped diverter, but the current mechanism also works I think. It will make the game a lot more fun I think.

Bringing in John Trudeau for future game designs is also great!

Indeed. If I ever buy a new game, I'd surely consider this concept, for I live in a 3 room appartement and have a lack of space for more pinballs.

That's why I bought a Pinbot playfield some time ago so I can put it in my Road Kings cabinet (it needs some (small) wiring adjustments, but I think it'll work).

So if the full-throttle game is good, and there'll be one or 2 other games that are nice too, I can see myself buying one game and a few playfields.

For operators: besides the mentioned lesser costs of a new playfield instead of a new game, there's also the advantage of moving playfields instead of moving full games. Only disadvantage I see might be the lesser resale value: you can only resale playfields to those who already have a full game.

Well, anyway I hope it'll sell well!

Not so, you can buy cabinets from Heighway. So you get a nice new undinged cab and a used playfield.

OK, I didn't know that you could buy a seperate cabinet (and electronics/pcb's) as well.

I wonder how much € it'll save to just buy a playfield (and translite/sideart?), without the cabinet, legs, speakers, pcb's, transformer and such.