Why not just throw a towel on top of the game too? Would help with dust and sun fading also.

Your wife's faces are genuinely really good!

Is it a power supply issue possibly?

Dirt happens, and especially over a 1000 plays. No biggie either way.

I was thinking the same thing!

Seems like he lives super close, and can even go to the party on Saturday. And he's always posting about be super excited about the game. Get driving..!

I'd drive 2-3 hours both ways to check one out in my area.

No worries mate. Hilton was already really comforting about people just playing freely. Plus, wouldn't you rather have your first go at an event like that? Definitely something to remember!

I prefer some quiet reflection to absorb that experience, no candles though! Saw Wonka at MGC last year at the debut, and yeah....it's not ideal, but it was a one of a lifetime experience!

Now with the double bird action, I'm putting in a formal request for you and a photo at the event..!!!

And I didn't know you were 2 hours away. Akin to you not knowing how far I'm away from I/O. Even I don't know that, haha!

For sure! I enjoy your enthusiasm on the thread. I just wanna see you back it up!

I always like to upvote. Why not? We all need encouragement, and if I disagree, I rarely downvote. Bad karma and such.

I'm excited to hear your excited impressions....TOMORROW!!!!

Damn, I'm jealous!

I approve of this post!

Those people might be better players though.

I want to love how a game like JP2 plays, but I can't get those shots dialed in, and I've played a few dozen games on it.

So it's okay to have concerns, until you play the game yourself, and get a good number of plays under your belt.

Besides, Scott himself has said how he likes challenging shots, so it's not entirely unreal for people to maybe feel like this game might be more intimidating than player friendly.

I have one ordered, hope to play it soon, and hope for the best...but I also know the shots might not flow easily enough for me to buy, and that's okay too.

Oh I hope it's fun to shoot, for sure!

That said, Jack D is a great player, Bug and Hilton also seem quite good!

It's more crazy for me, to buy a game unplayed, than to worry about how a game shoots, having considered it purchased.

But I also feel I'm nuts to own and spend this much money on any game! I am....nuts!!!

Hope to play it soon, and I wish someone stepped up to stream, as the party sounds like a blast today!

Aw man, what a great shot of the three of you! And here I was expecting floppy ears in the shot!

Always great to place a face with a forum user.

Thanks so much for making the trip and sharing! Are you finding it easier to have a good game than you feared it might be?

Carry on, and enjoy yourself!

Psssst. Ask that guy playing, what he thinks of the game so far..!

Looks like this event was a blast!!! So jealous!

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Has anyone seen a location spot to play this in PA or Ohio yet? I know DC, and JackBar have a game currently, just can't find anything closer at this point...

Thanks for the info! Heading to Reading tomorrow, figured I'd check around.

How'd you like the shots?

Was this....local?

Scratching my head here a bit. I've been following both threads since day one, and steam seems to be letting off, not building up, as games come out.

I haven't seen any unboxing photos either or streams....

Ooooh NOW we're talkin!!! Thanks for the photos!

Yeah, kinda seems like most are going out to routes or maybe higher ups. Just hope the excitement and energy keeps up and up and up!

Ooh Baby! You just MADE my offday, and they're open today!

I was just in Reading last week, and thought about a late night JackBar run in Brooklyn!

Juuuuust a bit closer! Thanks again so much Alex!

Definitely a lot of fun!

No matches set up here yet, and the foam is still on the ship.

Shots are all somewhat challenging, but fun when hit. Flippers are crisp and responsive. Lcd is really nice and the sound system, even when low, feels bass heavy and high quality!

Code is definitely early, yet still really fun and gives you enough options at this point for quarter pumping.

Met my expectations and superseded them for sure!

That said, if anyone is interested in an earlier spot...PM to swap for #384, lemme know if we can swap. I still owe a decent bit on a couple prior NIB games, and definitely could be okay with buying later.

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Not so much, yet. All 9 shots seem a bit touch and go. I imagine the game can be dialed in via what Spooky and Hilton hsve suggested, but natively things are all a bit challenging.

Shots feel good when made, but no shots feel entirely a "given".

I think really the most accessible shots are the scoop and the horseshoe. Those are all somewhat 50/50. I felt the other shots, shooting and aiming wise, felt like 30/100 shots, as in not guaranteed when aiming for.

Oh, I definitely suck, but the adjustments that you made hadn't been initiated.

I also had a ball get stuck on the scoop.

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There were definitely instances of rattling shots. Definitely with the scoop, and you mentioned possible fixes.

The spinner, again needing adjusted, would either clear resoundingly or hit the spinner and deflect back and trickle downwards.

But at the player level I'm at, yeah...maybe I'd aim for those shots, and him them half of the time. After that, the game was dictating how or if the shot went through.

Ultimately, whether I suck, the game sucks, etc. It doesn't matter. A game needs balance, and this game definitely has a few routine makeable shots, but easily half of the others seem pretty challenging. I always feel a game needs to be approachable for a player of any level, and a person unfamiliar with pinball would definitely be rejected pretty frequently.

Case in point, my first of about ten games, I scored 1.8 million. Felt pretty decent. Then I floundered for several games, and then my last game was 2.8 million.

I know when I played Wonka my first ten games, I wasn't nearly as consistent as I am now with those massive ramp entrances. My reflexes definitely became honed. But....with a game like JP2....I still can't dial in routine shots much at all.

Had a thought.

Biggest gripe for me, of legitimately few, is the shooter lane and skillshot could have easily been significantly neater.

Why on earth is this designed to PLOP on the playfield?

Just having it shoot straight, no incline, and soft plunge to where it does drop, or longer plunge to the left flipper, would have been better than what exists.

Ideally.....with the incline, and the fact that each shot is coming via the portal gun, there could have been three varied sizes of holes with portal graphics leading into a subway to shoot for just ahead of the end of the existing shooter lane wireform. Each one in turn would offer a different starting bonus or points, and then with that fantastic second trough, possibly could have shot out immediately into the left flipper lane, or maybe elsewhere depending on the portal.

This shooter lane aspect seems lackluster in design, in an otherwise really fast and frenetic higher skill level game.

I was trying to give an option for the existing one, which I feel is anticlimactic at best, and somewhat kinetic energy robbing also.

For me, having actual shots to shoot for, i.e. portal holes, and then have the ball shoot out elsewhere, would thematically be more cohesive and just more fun than a hard plop then shoot onto the playfield.

POTC is my current personal favorite for three fairly dramatic different types of skillshots. Though admittedly I'm more versed in that game than many.

What are they?

I know the Houdini one's are very lackluster.....

Something like only 1/3 implemented so far!

Haven't seen the info on weight anywhere....

250-300 pounds?

Yeesh. What a buncha mularkey. You don't need to justify your review, other than maybe flesh it out with some text.

Guys...leave the dude alone. Don't witch hunt a dude because of a rating. It's not fair, it's not fun, and it's gang mentality.

It's a rating for a game. Period. And overtime, with enough reviews, things will balance out, and ultimately people will make their OWN decisions on how they feel about a game. Case in point, I don't agree with the top five, yet other people seem to. So be it. I can still play "lesser" games, and feel value in them.

Besides, who is looking at that ratings system and equating a game ranked with 21 reviews in a month or so of time with games that have had years of time to review and over 1400 reviews written?

In a few years after a game's release, I'd say the overall spots mean more.

Phrasing it as trading down is confusing.

I think you're trying to say you have spot 231 and would like a spot under that, i.e. sooner, and if someone wants your spot, that has sub 231, let you know.

Considering selling my spot, a year out, PM if interested.

This and his MM design have pretty big composition issues. The art is fun and has energy, but man the visuals are barfed out in a gratuitous way where my eye has no direction within the frame. It's like a visual splatter.

Sending out wireforms to customers with possible existing issues, wouldn't be a massive hit, all the while altering a wireform for the remainder during production.

I never understood why the ball just plops down as it currently does. Having a loop at the end would surely take some impact away, and create stability for the wireform.

Not to derail, but Karl's work on Pirates is astounding too.

I can't wait till these Rick and Morty vids hit YouTube!

For me, it's more when I'm at work with downtime. The Twitch app kinda blows to scroll through via finger, YouTube is significantly easier. I really wish they'd update the app with a more functional GUI.

I wanted to watch them at home, and fucked around with other dumb stuff, rather than fucking around with the right stuff, haha!

Thanks for the suggestion, and long live the Shield!

As the owner of a company, is mocking the guy really taking the high road, though? If it's a shitty customer, it's a shitty customer. Humiliating them seems far worse, than someone having an irrational complaint.

Either deal with it tactfully, or refuse to deal with it, and deny their absurd request. Publicly shaming someone, over and over again, feels pretty classless to me.

Anytime I see this subject bandied about as a joke, it has me feeling Spooky isn't entirely as professional as I'd hope they could be.

I'd say him going on about it, again and again, is quite frankly an over reaction. Customer was an asshat. Try not to compete with them. Rise above and such.

Doesn't seem funny at all to me. I wouldn't want to be that customer, as irrational as they were, they deserve that situation to just lie where it is, not be a banner to be mocked onward and onward.

I only know a bit about the situation, but as an outsider, it doesn't strike confidence in me. Strikes more immaturity and a lack of empathy.

Apologies for having a differing opinion.

Doesn't matter to me if you agree with me, matters more that you maybe respect an individual for expressing an opinion that's different than your own, which is somewhat the point of a public forum.

People have different views, and that's a good thing. Mine or yours is neither wrong nor right.

Carry on.

I did not preface my opinion with stating I owned a company. I do not. A question versus a statement.

You may own a company, but given the multitude of spelling errors, I'm guessing/hoping it isn't Dragon Naturally Speaking.

The irony of a statement like "Why do people preface stuff with I own a company..." followed a paragraph later with "I own a company, and....." is not lost on me. That, was funny!

See....I DO have a sense of humor. Agree or disagree here, you guys, are fucking funny!!!

Karl is amazing! I remember getting psyched for this stream, then saw him have some really rough games for the first 25 minutes or so. I didn't watch past that. He seemed flustered at times, which isn't the norm for him.

I'd really like to get more time on the game.

Haha, troubleshooter Karl!

That dude is a beast, and it's always a pleasure seeing him get a handle on, and then inevitably dominate a game. Wicked player!

Eric, is that the highest score you've seen so far?

Most excellent!

What number are you? I don't understand why you paid in full.

Oh shit! You should be just around the corner then!

Did you get a butter cab?

Ah, hence the delay for a bit. I'd guess you're right there when they start back up!

Haven't seen you on the thread in awhile Luke, good to see you! How've you been holding up man?

From what I recall reading, the art was created by an inhouse artist. So all of it was coming directly from Adult Swim.

Yup, and I was stating that Adult Swim most of all, would have been aware of the upcoming season, and it's jokes and gags.

Agree with this for sure! Part of the problem with a great license, is not running some dialog into the ground via repetition. I only played on location once, but from that and the streams, "one screw turn.." wears a bit after awhile.

That's just the curse of asset heavy usage for games, especially for home ownership.

On some levels it's immediately immersive and accessible, but on others it's repetitive, and either ear wormish or grating, depending on the asset and user.

Always a tough balance to master.

Seemed more like the post was generated from excitement, not hassling Eric or anyone else at Spooky.

I think everyone knows work is constant and ever present. Eric is in this thread basically daily responding to feedback and giving updates.

Stern often seems to win due to userbase numbers alone....

Yeah, definitely feels passive aggressive to me! You were spot on..!

I check in most days to this thread recently, just to see if zaphX has gotten his game. Him and a few others contributed a massive amount to POTC trouble fixing, and he does quality streams as well. So I'm happy to see him excited to see when he gets his game.

Dunno if Spooky direct is a better way of getting a shipping window, but at this point, that's what I'd try.

Crazy idea, paying in full and wanting to have some vague notion of when shipment might occur for a multi-thousand dollar delivery.

People need to plan for delivery. People still take vacations. People still work. People still etc.

For me, if I paid in full, and didn't know THAT day, when payment was accepted, I'd want answers too.

Definitely. And foreign sales seem to be a huge factor as well.

Uh.....is that a pun to be funny or just provide a bit of distance from the question? He took the time to frame his question politely, and as an informed customer.

It's not a weird idea, or a bad one, for a customer to want a less than vague idea of what the final product will look like or represent.

Only in pinball, (I hope) can you purchase a product in full, and still not really understand entirely what you're buying. Transparency with customers seems an issue across all pinball companies. These aren't exactly Cold War secrets, people just want to make INFORMED decisions when making large, gratuitous purchases.

I think the cheese balls inclusion is entirely a Christopher from Kingpin kind of a thing, from what I recall reading in the thread.

Dr. Gonzo, as your attorney...I advise you to take 2 grams of morphine, 20 hits from a Turkish bong, 5 cups of extra strong coffee, and one meatball hoagie extra meatballs to recover from said shakes immediately.

Waitasec, I think that's YOUR line!

Really great idea, but too bad Stern did a pretty decent job implementing that on ST. Not that they did a good job marketing it though...

I'm guessing he at least gave it a good go. Probably would have made his life easier selling his spot prior to having it shipped to him, moved in, unpacked, setup, got a buyer, wrapped up, sent out, etc.

Definitely easier to just sell that spot, sans hassle, if the intention was to kick it down the road.

Was just watching the great Bana flick the other day!