Alien is on hold isnt it? DI is ready to roll.

I like both, that would be a tough choice for me too. Although, with the issues with Alien (mech not shipping with machine, financing issues), I would be inclined to go DI.

Even if Alien were better than Dialed In (spoiler alert: it's not), you said you're looking at getting a new pin. You didn't say you're looking to get in a long line where you maybe get a pin at the end.

So, Dialed In.

I played both, yesterday. Both great games. While DI is well engineered Alien is superbly engineered. The best I have ever seen by far, no wonder they ran out of funds. Everything is modular, playfield and even the cabinet decals. The ball never got stuck anywhere like it did on DI a few times. Alien does have a lack of lighting, maybe a light mod would fix that, but it can be challenging to follow the ball b/c its so dark. Both games have wire connectors everywhere for easy repairs or exchange of parts. Are you listening Stern?
DI is also well put together and has invisi-glass which meets or exceeds expectations. The ball did get stuck a few times and the ramp feeding into the left inlane does a poor job stopping the ball. It overshot on several occasions and the ball jumped over the flippers or lane guide to drain. The lighting on DI is much better than on Alien, it is bright and colorful and in no way distracts from the play. The flow of DI is (one of) the best in the business. It has easy shots and some very challenging shots. Coll ramp action and plenty of toys. Overall layout, I'd say advantage DI.
I hope Heighway Pinball will survive, they make a great product. Both are awesome games but given the recent problems my money is on DI. I also found DI a bit more cheerful and fun to play. It does more to entertain the audience when you are watching someone else play. Alien is better thought out with its modular design and probably has the highest build quality of any pin ever made. Overall quality and engineering, advantage Alien. Either machine are better bang for the buck than any recent Stern LE product.

If both games were made and supported by JJP I would go Alien, but there are just too many unknowns with Heighway right now. Alien is a fantastic game but I would need to see a couple hundred games leave the factory before I would feel comfortable ordering a game from them. Hopefully that will be the case in 3-6 months.

Pinball is old hat. It's hydrofoils you want now, mate.

If you're willing to make that assumption, you might as well have an Alien to go along with your Kool-Aid.

Alien has a way better theme, looks, sounds and just overall awesome ominous vibe (not to mention a pinball eating alien head!). Also either model is 1000 cheaper.

DI's layout is better, thats the only positive I can think of, other than its availible now.

Id buy a DI now, and sell it in a year when you can get a Alien cash and carry.

I now own a DILE. But, before i owned it, I played both Alien and Dialed In at Allentown. Atleast 25 plus times each. There is no comparison to these two games. ZERO!! Dialed In is by far the BEST pin this year. The flow, the shots, programming, build quality, fun factor, etc... I could continue but I have to go back to work.

1000 cheaper??? It is unavailable right now. We have no idea what the price will be IF it ever becomes available again.

Did you just wake up from a coma?

...on the JJP#4

I personally like alien much more for many reasons it is one of my favorite games but I would get dialed in because I would not even get close to buying an alien until the games are shipping out and that everything is under control because right know there have been to many people concerned if they are even going to get there game so get dialed in and once aliens are shipping and everything is under control and you like alien more sell dialed in and buy alien.

Not a fair comparison unless you compare pins that actually are available for purchase. At this point, JJP is a solid company with a history of support in case something goes wrong, and DI is available for purchase today (and it's fun and excellent overall once you get over some strange and questionable choices). So DI is the only real choice. It's like asking whether airplane or teleportation is best to go from London to New York.

Tough choice. I played both at NWPAS. Both are really good. But, they are different games. If I could have either one right now, assuming they are all 100% complete and all that, I'd pick Alien. Just my personal preference.

The Price for a Studebaker Champion is also available at $1487. The chances of obtaining either at the advertised price are slim to none.

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It's in South Bend--I'm in. It'll go great with my Alien.

You should have something to drink too; you sound upset.

POTW

I'll get around to playing more Alien but it didn't super excite me. Got some interesting stuff going on for sure but it def has that boutique feel to it. Looks & sounds pretty well but I didn;t know the rules so had to tell.

This will make Skyemont very happy: I voted for Dialled In, and it wasn't even close.

I ordered my DILE a month ago, but then the estimated ship date for it was end of summer. So if you order it now, I would expect you are still at the end of a line. Maybe not huge, but seems doubtful you will get it soon unless your distro can do better than mine. I'll look at ordering Alien after they are shipping as I really like both games a lot.

Some places have stock of dile i believe.....

I have played both, and I would take Dialed In for sure. That said, Alien is a very unique experience that might click with people in a very big way (assuming it ever gets shipped in real numbers).

I played an Alien prototype in December 2016 and the DI a few weeks ago. So it´s almost an unfair comparison. Although I love JJP and my WoZ, DI just didn´t touch me in any way. This "Sims-like-looking-animation" is just boring imo. The Alien experience has been completely different. It was a "me2" after the first ball. Amazing atmosphere... dark and authentic. That´s a killer. Ordered my LE after the first pins had been shipped. Now I´m just praying for a better hp-management and a mass production starting in August like promised. Refund is no option, this epic pin is a must have. But hey, after all it´s just a matter of taste...

Holy shit. That does make me very very happy!!

Dialed in is the clear winner.......

Alien games have been shipping in small numbers. They have a large number of parts coming in and will be ramping up production as soon as they arrive. They have also been sending out refunds. For me personally it's not even close...Alien by a large margin.

I agree.

Alien is a great theme, but given the situation Heighway was in, is in, and the unknowns of the future, there's no way I'd touch that game with a 10-ft pole as a home collector. Several years down the road (if Heighway proves to be legit), then maybe. Right now, tho... no way.

I'm going to go against the grain and say Alien. It's nice to have a pin with some dark, creepy moments involved. Besides, Xenomorphs!!!!

Alien of course!! ....but I do have owners bias.

Why because you don;t have an alien head and your LCD in the PF doesn;t work?

Ha...sorry I had to

And yet the fact he still loves it speaks volumes.

Played both.

Themewise Alien is winner for sure. It really pulls you into Alien world.

Built quality wise DI wins easily. The cabinet may be strong with Alien but the built under the playfield didn't impress me at all and the one I played already developed several issues. Hope-think they will be solved however befor mass production.

Given the fact that Alien (with previous per order pricing) is also a couple thousand euros cheaper over here Alien wins it for me but that doesn't mean that DI is a bad pin !! It played with a good flow, many shots, animations on display are well made but not my taste, the selfies is great fun !!

So at the end of the day you can't go wrong with either of them.

You're smart enough to know that isn't necessarily true. But of course you're the iceman/skymount of Alien so it's expected

Maybe I'll play some more tonight...haven't had time for a hardcore session on it.

Alien can't win this poll, but an absolute " no contest" for me.....let me see....xenomorph vs. selfies..

They will ship, and machine is a true grail for some...no way that can be said about DI....

i drained the heighway threads - are they still not shipping?

CT got 4 last week...majority of refund requests have been processed....a silver lining is starting to appear....slowly

That what isn't true? He's the one person that gave my post a thumbs up. I know he loves it.

I DO LOVE IT!! I played a bunch of games last night - and yes, even with all it's 'pre-production' shortcomings, it's still awesome IMHO.

Played some more last night and it's growing on me as I understand it more. Are the 2 ladders exact mirrors? I played 2 back to back and just started with the pop bumpers modes and was just wondering.
An alien head would be nice of course.

Alien gets my vote, 2in1 Alien and Aliens.

One game is shipping completed with full support and the other has people begging for their money back. (So as of right now) it's no contest.

They want the money back because its long delivery time not because of a bad product. Pinball is all about WAITING