When I get out alien kit with new computer I'll have to get that new Full Throttle code. We still get very occasional lockups at The Sanctum. Stinks only when it's a tournament play game.

Anyone know if there will be a Full Throttle at expo this week?

I think it follows the model/logic for arcade games that operators have loved. When a game stops earning on location, rather than pulling the full game and replacing it with a new one, they could buy a cheaper kit and update the guts without having to move the old game to their warehouse. In the 80s with JAMMA games it was common operator behavior. If the Heighway model keeps going, and operator can have one cabinet and every 2-3 years as the game's earnings have dropped, buy a kit for a new game and drop it in the cabinet to make it a top earner again. It worked with vids... not sure if it will with pins, but that's the main reason I'd see operators liking the kit model.

Today we got some realy good news from Heighway pinball .
7 Alien standard games orderd since loooong time ago has left the building and are on its way to the long waiting Swedish buyers.
Delivery time in Sweden tuesday if everything works with the transport company.
Cant wait to unbox one of this in our showroom and also make our client happy with a delivery.

More information and picture will come.

That IS good news!!! Pics please, upon delivery.....

latest from CT is a mon or tues pickup. I will confirm once i hear and take pics as well.

I sure hope you're not calling/emailing Cointaker everyday.

You can hope in one hand...

Lol sounds like every hour... coin taker probably air freighted a pin just for him to stop the calls

how many times have i told you..
next week youre getting one. i promise. now stop calling me.

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. . . . . . . . . sigourney weaver as gwen demarco in galaxy quest

Prob called twice in the past 2 months so no - not everyday. Recent call was to confirm the day so I can block my calendar for work. Otherwise CT has sent emails confirming info with my replies. Normal stuff. It will be here very soon. Excited.

No kidding, wouldnt that be nice...

Or the operators would trade in games towards new ones, or store them. Stored games would be used for parts or donor games in upgrading others. I would think the playfield swap would work for some operators to change out a game with out removing the cabinet. Take back to shop for service & cleaning, before returning it to another location.

Your enthusiasm for this pin is commendable...even reaching into dangerous waters ( POTC thread) to praise the Alien theme. I really admire that. You will need to change your Avatar, however, as I can’t really consider you an “ Alien Guy” with a GB blowup.....

Really looking forward to your unboxing and report next week....

haha - Diehard GB fan. Love indiana jones too. If you can't tell, I love the 80s. I will prob switch it up to alien once I get it. I did the same with GB which is why you see the MMM.

Alien believer. I can't wait to get it (hopefully Mon or Tues) and share the brilliance of this game. It will also fit really well with my WOZ and DI. It's really a great time to pinball.

who doesn't, best decade ever, ur getting a bad rap because you came into this late and most of us are over that initial excitement not too mention all the broken promises, this is a dream theme for me so I hope it all works out and I can pick one up next year. Yeah and u need a new avatar, how about this.

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Agreed.....I really want you to get this thing, one step closer to us getting ours.

Listen to Hazoff....some of his Avatars have scared the shit out of me. If your gonna be an Alien advocate, time to step up...

If you have a great alien replacement, shoot. I'm not creative.

edit - made a move....

I’ll PM you one...voting you champion of this thread, so I get mine by Christmas.....

I'm gradually coming out of the waiting game slumber and getting excited now that delivery seems eminent.

NOW we’re talking!!!.....I will officially pay attention to all your posts moving forward

Gives you more traction when you venture out of Alienland, as well....looks great!!!

Thank you.

I'm still waiting on my $1500 refund. An email from Morgan yesterday said they're still working on it. I've been waiting since June.

I'll let everyone know when I get my refund. Until everyone that requested one gets their money back, I'd sure be cautious about sending in any more funds.

What do Alien buyers think of the new Pirates? I think it looks impressive. Lots of cool toys, but I’m sticking with my Alien

Also, not a fan of elements that randomize shots and ball flow right near the flippers (Addams Family power, Whirlwind, etc).

I think it looks like the best JJP yet, i'm glad it was designed by new blood. I think the alien layout is a bit more unique even if it's not packed as deep, and boy is JJPOTC packed. I didn't realize the middle had spinning discs at first (I'm cool with randomizers, really like whirlwind, TAF doesn't toot my horn tho) It's really a great looking pin.
It might even change the tune of Stern's current business plan, their 'high end' machines are really kinda pathetic compared to JJP in physical quality and nuanced rule depth.

I'm impressed with the new JJP pin as well, but I already have a really good POTC pin already.

Alien is one of my favorite movie franchises and beats out the POTC franchise, at least IMO. I'm hoping I get my standard soon because I love the ambient tone and feel of the Alien pin. I always wondered what would have happened if Stern or JJP would have got the Alien franchise. Still, I can't wait to play it.

Alien is my grail, and no change on me desiring to own it, and staying in. That being said, I’ve ordered JJPOTCCE, as it really seems like an amazing pin. Two different games, two unique experiences.

We will hope my LE lands long before the CE does......

I think JJP's PotC looks awesome, and all the more impressive coming from a new designer. Still, with limited space, i need to have a game with a theme i like as well as a good player and Alien is a top tier theme for me, while PotC isn't on my radar at all. So, definitely sticking with Alien for now, although reports rolling in from the next week or two from owners are going to be absolutely critical.

As an aside, the new PotC kind of makes me feel a little bad for Nordman. I think he's an excellent designer and would have also enjoyed seeing what he could have brought to the table with his version if he wasn't hamstrung by costs and had a Keith level coder behind him. Don't mean that as any sort of comparison to Eric, just a random musing.

JJPPOTC looks incredible. That being said I'm still looking (more) forward to the arrival of my Alien SE. Rumor is it was/is on that boat so I'm getting pretty jazed about receiving it.

Can someone explain how that ambush mb works? How does the tracking of the dots line to shots?

Around 1:12 on you can see it is more quadrant based then exact shot. That last shot vent 3 while you are in multi ball is tough. Shots that will count as one shot will show as a dot.

Alien sure stands alone as a pinball experience. Totally unique game.

Agreed....really think this will be special....

As budroosker notes, the Aliens appear in quadrants on the radar, which correspond to quadrants of the playfield. Playfield shots in the leftmost quadrant will flash red, playfield shots in the second quadrant are green, third quadrant is blue, and fourth (rightmost) quadrant is yellow. A quadrant's lit shots will flash faster and brighter as that quadrant's Aliens get closer to infiltrating the lab.

Each Alien you kill awards a jackpot. As long as you don't allow Aliens to infiltrate the lab, the jackpot value will keep rising. If any Alien infiltrates the lab, the jackpot value drops back to its previous base value. Clearing a wave of Aliens lights the Super on Vent 3, and locks in the current jackpot value as the new base for the rest of the game.

So each successive wave is worth more points, but with each round, you get more and more Aliens attacking faster and faster. It gets pretty intense. Fun trivia: there are 18 distinct Alien kill video scenes for this multiball alone!

^well, that sure as hell peaks my interest more! This is a total roller coaster ride of emotions on buying one or not.

Can someone awesome give me the measurements from the top of the left and right ball ramps at the edge by the face huggers to the inside top of the glass?

The Houdinis at Expo were some of the best lit games I've ever seen.

Now you're just crazy. TNA is BLINDING. The lighting on it is crazy bright.

You seem to have a problem with reality.

thanks for the excellent rundown. That sounds amazing.

Turns out there were no Heighway games at Expo. I was hoping to play both Full Throttle and Alien to potentially restore some enthusiasm for these games, instead I found Pirates (absolutely NO interest in the theme) and it was kinda incredible. Definitely thinking more about that direction than anything Heighway at this point. More Heighway missed opportunities I guess...

Man they missed the entire show? Was hoping it made it last min. Too bad.

Yes no Alien at Expo but they tried. I was told games got held up in shipping at Tenn and could not make it in time.

for those of you following the shipment; OOCL Asia is now tracking on east coast AIS.

According to CT, it's already in and being delivered tomorrow or Tues. I'm waiting to hear if it's available for pickup tomorrow. I

alien's 'dark' history has already been documented with photographic evidence of before and after by pinstadium
.

you are quoting me from a post that was made before updated Houdini's appeared at expo.

Houdini before = DARK, especially the lower playfield.

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Houdini is better lit today because AP listened to people who told them it was too dark. it WAS an issue that was acknowledged by AP. they lightened the playfield colors and added spotlights since my post.

BLACK is not BLINDING.
and i am not crazy.

JW, im going to assume you are talking about TNA's lightshow and GI. i was clearly talking about the pf art. they are two different things. IMHO, the addition of the pf art and 'mood lighting' made the game darker than some may have been expecting when they first saw all the neon pinks and purples. i dont think anybody was expecting BLACK. im not sure i would would categorize the photos below as 'crazy bright'. but im willing to listen. do you want to argue the playfield doesn't have darkness issues and that players [of all abilities] arent going to have more trouble picking up a silver ball racing against a BLACK background vs an alternative color scheme? or, do you still have no interest on commenting on the playfield art?

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JW, i dont mind people who present counter arguments. but when they think/try to make it look like they made their point when when they failed, how am i supposed to answer other than to point out their flaws.

with Houdini, you failed because you used a quote of mine from an earlier point in time that is no longer relevant today [essentially quoting me out of context].

with TNA, you failed because you didn't argue my points [which you dubiously left off when you quoted me], which were the use of black in the center of the pf and Matt Andrews being on record that he didn't believe this to be a good idea, but went ahead and did it anyway. this is one of the games biggest negatives. did you find his quote by the way?

im very humble and will freely admit if/when im proven wrong.

but please, dont try to make me look bad unless you truly can.

Speaking of quotes, here is one from another professional artist commenting on the TNA art package in the Spooky production thread.

he starts off like he was really going critique it from the viewpoint of a professional artist. finally, an expert evaluation for everyone to read. all the art school buzz words started running through my head: line, color, shape, form, space, texture, value, contrast, balance, emphasis, rythym, proportion, harmony, unity, variety, pattern, interpretation.

but then what does he say?
"i don't want to talk about it."

his entire critique: "it's perfectly great".

which pretty much tells me - absolutely nothing. not one specific point on elements and/or principals. no interpretation. an unwillingness to even say i like/dont like this or that. whats going on here? is it a professional courtesy that the most qualified people to offer an opinion [professionals in the same field], dont critique/discuss another colleagues work?

why didn't you go ahead and offer your opinion? because the art was complete and nothing was going to change? well, to me that seems like to best time/reason to offer an art critique, when the work is finished and not subject to change.

probably just another misunderstanding

greenhornet it’s been about two months, when will you be able to share your thoughts that you were preparing us for? Are they complete? I look forward to reading.

It's clearly not "already in" should be sometime today though...right on schedule.

I hear what you're saying and I just checked too and can see it coming in. I'm also telling you what was told of me and others - that it was already in. Either CT misunderstood or that isn't our ship. CT said they would contact me today and said def can pickup today or tomorrow - just waiting to hear back. Literally working from home so I can just jump in the car and get it!

pirates swapped transponder codes...it's on it's way to Somalia.

along with the ones scheduled for chicago expo!!!