Quoted from rosh:

Right now we are just trying to work through the next few. But since I head to Maine for a week or two each summer, I am pushing for it, since I can hopefully time it to do the show while I am already out that way.

I'm sure it will shock no one that my primary focus is on the ruleset and making fun for the novice, but provide a lot of breadth and depth for a player/collector. If you have read the basics of the rule set, posted in my record setting long post earlier in this thread, it will give you a sense of where I am going with it. Of course at shows, few if anyone can get a true feel for the ruleset, which is why I chuckle when I read comments about the rules coming out of a show, I'm thinking "dude, you barely scratched the surface, you have no clue what is in there". I've also had heated discussion here on rules "Rosh, the secret missions are way too complicated, needing to hit three specific shots in a row, it should be just one shot" and I'm responding "jail escapes are hurry-ups and are one shot, secret missions are combos, and yes if you want to complete that phase of the rule set, you will need to be able to make the combo". Now I do understand the concern, since you can start the first secret mission very quickly and easily at the start of the game (the combo then remains active, with inserts of a specific color guiding you, until it is completed, at which point you can start the next), so I can see the confusion that a player totally new to game, as everyone is at that point, thinks that should be there focus vs starting a 'stage mode', which would be more of the primary objective and those have a lot more variability (and points) to them. Secret Missions are there for depth and to give a player more things to think about, focus on and strategize, e.g. focus on a combo when you have gotten the playfield multiplier up to 2x/3x/4x. Secret missions also have a mini-magician mode as well, and is needed to earn a houdini letter). Certainly possible for shows we will change that up a little to help.

Quoted from rosh:

The last time I had looked the catapult throw was succcesful 94% of the time and there was around 450 games played (was set to two ball play play to help keep the line moving).

Quoted from rosh:

You are not exactly making a great case for me to continue to post updates Would not shock me if at some point I am asked to stop. Obviously it is a two way street, and if trolls turn things ugly, it is hard for a manufacturer to want to be participative in a public forum.

Did come in this morning to find over 250 new voice calls waiting for me and a handful of new art elements for me to animate. I'm a little behind where I want to be on the code, primarily around the mini magician and the master magician modes. There are also a few other missing items that I've not gotten around to yet, things I consider lower priority right now, but will soon need to be addresses. Of course there rare going to be a lot of clean-up items (e.g. text formatting, etc.) and I'm sure as the machines start to get played more, various bugs will be uncovered. I should soon have a machine with one of the new playfields and new lamp boards, both of which are slightly different for the prototypes, and therefore will require some code changes.
Parts continue to arrive daily, unlike some companies our goal is not to build machines until we have all the parts. Stacking half built playfields against walls in hallways and bathrooms, does not help with a quality build (or so I am told by our production manager). Not sure how many more things we are waiting on, but the assembly line itself is looking great, as they are now doing the set up of workstations.
We have new staff joining us almost every day. Parking is starting to become an issue around here.
We are still very much on track for machines shipping this year.

Quoted from Malibu-SS:

Now I just have to adjust the trunk shot a bit to make it more of a success