You're Too Fast! I deleted my post 30 seconds after posting it......remembering just that.

Yes, this! My biggest disappointment is that I wanted to see Jack knock it out of the park for a grand slam and I think we all saw the fastball straight down the middle but we got a line drive instead. Solid hit, but could have been (I suppose still could be) something that redefines the market.

Interesting article. I found it interesting that Pat's justification for current pin pricing was the idea that the game would bring in 500 per week and an operators invested would be paid off after only 20 weeks... um... wrong.

Ops split the take... so after 20 weeks your only halfway paid off and now your into the downward side if earnings. I think at the current price point 1.5 - 2 years is more realistic. Thats of course not counting resale which maybe he is? Or they are cutting the ops out and saying locations should directly buy.

Numbers less than 1000 may be on the pessimistic side but I will be amazed if more than 2000 are sold at current prices.

Funny to go back and read this now

Ya talk about a 180. DI is awesome

Everybody has their own definition of awesome.

Awesome game. I'm totally past the cell phone theme that I hated when it was announced.

So much angst about a toy for grown men.

lol. "I am going to hold dear the existing games you made while at Williams / Bally and Stern and assume you were under some mental and emotional stress when you designed this mess."

wow...just wow. I think the op was projecting a bit about his own stress levels

Thought this was also hilarious..."Drones tiny compared to electric guy, and scale between two figures on playfield are completely off."

Even though there are a couple quirks I'd love to see resolved (left wireform, theatre magnet SDTM), it's still one of the best overall pinball games ever made. Appeals to a spectrum of players and is loaded with fun features.

snaroff

Yeah, who would have thought since the release of Dialed In, the industry would have released so many turds that it is now the home run of last year.

It is a Nice playing fast pin. However i feel the code could be a little better and more complete.

although I disagree, this is pretty funny. I literally laughed out loud.

As long as somebody gets a laugh, I can take all the thumbs down the serious folks on here want to give me.

I laughed too.

I laughed to, lets get odin out of the negitive!

I’m curious if this was sarcasm? More complete?

download (resized).jpg

The hate for the phone thing is dumb. People have phones, JJP and Pat wanted to play off the “Dialed In” pun. They did have a bit of a messy introduction to the game at Expo, but It turns out it’s an incredible game. The ONLY game my son has ever wanted me to buy a second time!

I don't think the hate for the phone thing in DI is unjustified. I could do without the emoji's, selfies, picture taking, and all that. Doesn't bother me that bad but it is still cringy. It's still a great game overall, though. Only JJP game I feel really comes together and fun to play without being overly complicated.

I agree, there are more exciting and deserving central features to most pins than a cell phone. Monsters, superheros, knights, zombies, cartoon characters. It’s interesting to see this game’s arc over the past 3 years. I almost bought Dialed In! in July, 2017 when I was looking to buy just my second pin ever. I went with Ghostbusters instead, but did buy a DILE in May, 2018. We really liked it. We didn’t love it. The gameplay was an A grade. It still is, to me. The flow and shot geometry is great. It’s fun to play. The theme is better than it first seemed, if you focus on the disaster elements. But the mix of “modern” topics like drones and selfies and emojis and disasters isn’t super cohesive. It’s a mixed bag. Not many of us love having our pictures taken and then published for others to see. When I sold my DILE after 4-5 months it had some of the worst candid pics of me I had ever seen on it. Surely there are better uses for cameras and Bluetooth? I like the scratch-off ticket bonus mode for example, where you wave your hand to scratch off the ticket. That’s clever. More of that, less selfies. After all the code updates and years of gameplay, is there a more divisive title than DI!? It’s an interesting question. Is there a more divisive title in Pinball?

As this thread already has been resurrected just let me say one thing... Dialed In Is Awesome

Well, i'm a huge Pat Lawlor fan.. also happen to own a Twilight Zone and a Funhouse.
last year I bought (and still have, to this day) a Dialed in and... i don't like it.
I just can't get into this game. it's a mess, the audio call outs are awful. the shots aren't satisfying at al imo (I read people think otherwise but for me it is just not satisfying).
the theme isn't great and it's integration isn't very good either.
Am looking to get rid of it as later this year.
Disapointing as i love Lawlor and think he did the greatest pins ever.
Obviously, TZ and Funhouse are bolted to the ground and will never leave.
Dialed In will be lucky to stay 12 months.
...

It baffles me how anyone could like pinball and NOT like Dialed In. Even more so if you're a Lawlor fan. But whatever. I don't need people to like something I like to somehow validate it, but it sure is confusing to me.

One thing I have really noticed about a lot of pinsiders is that having a pin themed around a movie or rock band they like is super important. I guess such folks will always struggle with a pin like DI which doesn’t scratch that itch.

Yeah, I don't get it. I once joked with a friend that if the game was good enough, with good flow and rules, that I'd play a game with mayonaise as the theme. If you think I love Metallica or Iron Maiden as themes, you're out of your fucking mind. But god dammit are those awesome pins that I have owned in the past and would gladly get again.

Yeah, for me, WhiteWater is a good example...theme doesn't stroke a chord with me, but it's a game with the coolest ramps and upper PF ever made. Awesome ultimate wizard mode and fun/challenging rules.

I really like my Dialed In...for me, it's JJP's best effort. Still think it could be much better if the callouts and audio weren't so monotone (especially for a disaster themed pin)...especially since JJP's stock audio system is so nice...you'd think they could have done more with explosions and sound effects to energize the gameplay experience.

The phone scoop is also a clunky PITA shot. I like challenging shots, but it ends up annoying me. The location of the theatre magnet is also a PITA. The moving dude helps deflect center drains, but it's still less-than-great (and yes, I've fiddled with my games angle and setup to compensate).

Still a great achievement...shoots great and the quantum theatre is very cool. Just wish it was more of an adrenaline rush (like Stern's recent JP release).

How about music and film and sports and everything else? Jesus prepare to be baffled.

Yeah, its not important to you? I mean I don't care if they ever make a band pin or movie pin again, even if its all original theme it still has to appeal to the consumer. DI plays well but the theme is why many bypass it. I'm sorry but it looks like it was made for toddlers, as does Wonka. Hey if you love it great but being suprised by somebody not loving it is weak, Last week.

I guess I don’t equate “good theme” with “my favorite movie” or my “my favorite band”.

Now you’re just being silly.

That's completely intentional. The call outs are from a Siri clone. Just as your phone assistant is monotone, so are the call outs.

That's ridiculous.

It might be ridiculous, but i didn't notice it right away either. Then I realized that other than the calls coming in, all of the voice is from the digital assistant, MANDI. The closest to emotion that she shows is in emoji mode.

The Mike Bender voice is crappy too. Totally amateurish. Pretend the lame callouts were intentional if you want but they ruin the game.

I think the shots, the flow and the rules of Dialed In are fantastic. And the theme doesn't bother me at all.

But the absolutley uninspired audio is what eventually killed the game for me. It's the only game I've ever owned where audio made me sell it. (And I own RBION).

Love DI and had a lot of people play and not one said they didn't like the game to didn't like the theme in any way. This whole thread is ridiculous. Unknown (resized).jpg

Exactly...but what I'm referring to is the sound effects of the (say) meteors, flying saucers, explosions, volcano, etc. They are almost non-existent. In JP, when the dinosaur roars, it adds to the experience. The DI graphics are really snazzy, however the audio doesn't measure up.

MANDI doesn't bother me much, since she isn't very chatty.

Mike Banter?

definitely a highly misunderstood game.....

It sounds like quite the group.

Well that's strange. So u wouldn't want a Pin based on ur fav band or top movies? Let me ask this, what do u equate with "good theme"

Really, all the colors of the rainbow and kids toys all over. Chocolate and sparkly cell phones, ok maybe ur right I shouldn't say toddlers. Tween girls? yep thats better.

this thread did not age well

Hazoff is a jackoff who should quarantine his fucking mouth!
He trolls anything JJP he’s one of the too cool for school guys

I agree on the sounds. Intentional or not, they are bad.
I love DI, but don't like the mess of the theme it has and don't like the sounds.
I do love the finesse of the software, how everything is finetuned, sounds and great lightshows are well integrated.
But the sounds themselves are uninspirational.

I compare it to WPT which I had. Great game, but also lousy standard sounds that don't carry any emotion.
Same with DI. The game has a lot in theme but it doesn't have any emotion or energy.

Just compare the sound in DI if you're in multiball - 'you're under attack'.. with AFM's 'YOU'RE UNDER ATTACK.. AN ATTACK .. FROM MMAAARRRSS !!'
it's heavy powerful sounds like the AFM callouts that you want in pinball.
Just look at TZ's callouts.. they blow you away. Literally. POWERBALL !! JACKPOT !!

See what I mean? This thread went quiet for 88 days until I kicked it awake less than a day ago. Now, 20+ more comments. Personally, I like DI a lot and would own it again. I don’t think the look of the game is a problem, and JJP builds legit pins. I also agree that DI is their best overall effort to date. I’ve owned WOZ and Hobbit too. Loved the look and theme/art packages on both of those. Wonka is a nice pin too. POTC is crazy loaded and may be a better pin than DI, I just haven’t played it enough to know myself. But DI just seems to spark debate, which I find interesting. I had a chance today to decide between adding a minty DI standard, or an EHoH that was just opened. Almost exact price. ($6600 vs $6800). I went with HoH because I haven’t had that one yet. And it will join my SS.

well, since you so kindly asked...as I see it, a pin is an interpretation of some theme - a movie, an institution, an activity, a musical group, etc. The interpretation is, of course, from the design team at the pinball company. If I like the interpretation, then for me it’s a good theme. Take DI - Pat Lawlor’s triumphant return to pinball - it’s a wacky look at modern day life - with really funny caricatures of different slices of society, it’s poking fun at how smart phones and emojis are taking over our lives - and our biggest goal in life is to collect sim cards - it’s brilliant and funny and great satire. I find it a bit ironic that you try to paint it as a child’s theme when in my view it’s probably one of the most adult themes in a modern pin.

Take Metallica on the other hand, probably my favorite band. The pin is not from Metallica, however, but from John Borg and Stern. It’s their interpretation of Metallica - and in my view a bit off - thus not a good theme. Take Addams Family on the other hand - a licenced theme - in my view it’s a great interpretation of the move - it’s a great theme.

But remember - you did ask...

Anything? come on.
I think I've seen guys like u. U know those guys who are "cool for school" they hang around schools, and love kiddie pin. I mean to each his own but I draw the line at kiddie pin.

Its pinball so I don't think it has to be faithful to the film or show or especially a band. As long as they don't go overboard I actually tend to enjoy when they use it as loose guide but make it original. Sometimes that being faithful shit can backfire.

What the fuck do you want it to be? All brown? Is that manly enough for you?

1st of all don't care for the language. U see this anger is because u know as well as I do it looks kiddie and slightly fem. This whole thing where I'm too cool and it has to be manly is crap, my bringing it up causes u to realize the undeniable, ur looking at Wonka, maybe that sparkly cell phone or a pair of glittered red shoes, perhaps ur wife as she cuckholds you, I don't know. Good day to u sir.