Alien (Heighway Pinball)
Heighway Pinball, 2017
Full Throttle
Heighway Pinball, 2015Great to see some action in the Heighway factory.
Let's hope they have got all the other parts by now. They need to speed it up if they are gonna make the latest end of March shipping deadline for the first 20 machines.
Full (throttle) speed ahead
Exciting times.
Andrew gave me a call out of the blue yesterday just to touch base, which in light of what is going on with other pinball projects lately was a nice change.
Still waiting for final parts to arrive, but doing their sub assemblies. It's all hands of deck and he's put off attending some trade shows that are happening over the next few weeks so he can remain focused on getting their games out the door.
Quoted from frolic:Andrew gave me a call out of the blue yesterday just to touch base, which in light of what is going on with other pinball projects lately was a nice change.
Still waiting for final parts to arrive, but doing their sub assemblies. It's all hands of deck and he's put off attending some trade shows that are happening over the next few weeks so he can remain focused on getting their games out the door.
Very encouraging...confident these are going out soon....mark
I'm in the first batch and he is still hoping end of march for that.
The one thing that came up during our phone call was the Bacardi game. I had forgotten about it, but they do have that experience pushing a game out. I think he told me they had to produce 150 in a week or something, very short. So he's got that experience to draw from.
I do believe it's a waiting for parts thing at the moment, but as soon as the line can be fired up the games will be done in short order.
Whoop!
Dear David,
We are scheduled to start production of Full Throttle on Monday 30th March 2015. We are expecting the first run of games to be completed within 2 weeks of this date.
I am in on an LE and was told they would take another 1-2 months before they are ready to start production. The first games will be the standards.
Quoted from BackFlipper:I am in on an LE and was told they would take another 1-2 months before they are ready to start production. The first games will be the standards.
You are in for Full Throttle LE? And you were given a delivery date of May or June?
Marcus
Quoted from BackFlipper:I am in on an LE and was told they would take another 1-2 months before they are ready to start production. The first games will be the standards.
Is it just me, or does that seem backwards?
Quoted from Aurich:Is it just me, or does that seem backwards?
Well, Stern ships Pros a couple of months before LEs.
From what Andrew has posted here on Pinside, the LE features (lighted ramps, shaker) are still being worked on.
On the flip side, my machine being one of the first means its a guinea pig, which isn't necessarily a great thing (think WOZ).
Quoted from Xerico:You are in for Full Throttle LE? And you were given a delivery date of May or June?
Marcus
This is the exact quote from Andrew earlier in the thread:
"The first batch of games will number 20. 10 of these should be ready by the middle of March, the other 10 by the end of March at the latest. The next batch of 40 games will be 2-4 weeks after. The first batch of games will all be SEs, as we need to finalize the shaker motor and fiber optic lighting for the LEs. LEs will definitely be in the second batch."
A major piece of equipment arrived at our factory today ...
We are holding a competition on Facebook and Twitter if anyone wants to guess as to what is under the blue cover? Just search for Heighway Pinball and post your guess
Winner will be randomly selected from the correct answers, and will receive a Heighway Pinball polo shirt and signed flyer. Competition ends at 17.00 GMT on Friday 27th March
If you're entering then good luck!
heighway competition guess what.jpgQuoted from spfxted:Easy! It's the Multiplicitive ultrafonic clystron frequency modulator! (just send my shirt)
AWW MAN! Beat me by one minute!!! 
Quoted from spfxted:Easy! It's the Multiplicitive ultrafonic clystron frequency modulator! (just send my shirt)
I think you're wrong. I think it's that one machine that helps in making pinball machines. send me my shirt - XL.
Quoted from RobT:It's the carcass of a dead Predator killed by an Alien.
And....
Rob went there. But with style! 
Quoted from RobT:It's the carcass of a dead Predator killed by an Alien.
Is it too soon to make jokes? 
Quoted from BackFlipper:I think it's that one machine that helps in making pinball machines.
They got it from Skit-B's basement? 
...too soon?
Quoted from BackFlipper:Is it too soon to make jokes?
Nah. It's about that time. If I'm cool with it, it's cool.
Quoted from spfxted:They got it from Skit-B's basement?
...too soon?
Then it must be 8 pinball cabinets ready to have the decals sanded off.
If anyone's interested, Ive got a $4750 SkitB T -shirt fs? No?
Doesn't matter. I'm thinking of getting an Aliens tee anyways. 
I dunno what it is, but I'm hoping we get to see pics of Full Throttle rolling down the line in a few days!
Quoted from Aurich:I dunno what it is, but I'm hoping we get to see pics of Full Throttle rolling down the line in a few days!
Making pinball is hard.
Would you accept pics of Full Throttle running down the line in a few months instead of days?
It is certainly some type of production/ assembly device of sorts...just hearing " major piece of equipment arriving at our factory" is very exciting....machines are going to be made!!!
Whatever it is, I can confidently say one thing...." It's progress!!!"
The guy is investing money in what's important ...production equipment!!! ( and transparent enough to show it off...sort of)
I personally don't care if I get my Alien until later in the year...he has listened and made positive changes already, and I want this thing to be as bad ass as possible when I finally get it....
Quoted from RobT:Making pinball is hard.
Would you accept pics of Full Throttle running down the line in a few months instead of days?
I would actually! 
But I thought the latest word was that Full Throttle production was beginning on the 1st? Only reason I was so specific.
Just posted this accidentally to the Alien thread, but here is the update for Full Throttle:
Just received email request for 50% payment today as production is starting THIS Monday (March 30).
Other 50% will be collected when they send a photo of my game at the end of the line ready for shipping .
Quoted from frolic:Just posted this accidentally to the Alien thread, but here is the update for Full Throttle:
Just received email request for 50% payment today as production is starting THIS Monday (March 30).
Other 50% will be collected when they send a photo of my game at the end of the line ready for shipping
Wait. You mean you haven't actually paid any money down on Full Throttle until now? I thought you had.
If not, that's pretty awesome!
Quoted from RobT:Wait. You mean you haven't actually paid any money down on Full Throttle until now? I thought you had.
If not, that's pretty awesome!
1,000. Until now.
Quoted from RobT:Wait. You mean you haven't actually paid any money down on Full Throttle until now? I thought you had.
If not, that's pretty awesome!
$1000 refundable deposit.
the $1k will be deducted from the final payment.
I don't personally have a problem with ~$1k deposits, especially when stipulated as completely refundable no-questions-asked (no buyer needed to replace you, etc). If it's just a way for the manufacturer to determine demand, not a crowd funding technique.
Quoted from frolic:$1000 refundable deposit.
the $1k will be deducted from the final payment.
I don't personally have a problem with ~$1k deposits, especially when stipulated as completely refundable no-questions-asked (no buyer needed to replace you, etc). If it's just a way for the manufacturer to determine demand, not a crowd funding technique.
I agree. Especially when you know how much infrastructure Heighway has already built in order to make these pins (including the recent picture of some serious manufacturing equipment...whatever it is), there is no reason to think that this would ever turn out like that certain pre-order fiasco that shall remain nameless.
I'm cool with $1000 deposits too. It's enough money to say "hey, I'm serious here" but not enough to really kill you if something were to go seriously wrong. Suck to lose it, but you're never going to eliminate risk in investing in something cool.
Frankly if you can't afford to lose the $1000 you shouldn't be buying boutique pinballs. 
Quoted from RobT:I agree. Especially when you know how much infrastructure Heighway has already built in order to make these pins (including the recent picture of some serious manufacturing equipment...whatever it is), there is no reason to think that this would ever turn out like that certain pre-order fiasco that shall remain nameless.
Agreed .....AlienLE is $1500.00 fully refundable....same terms as Frolic stated on balance. Judging by Andrews actions, he's looking for more of a commitment level as opposed to needing the cash to build these things...seems very reasonable/ understandable to me......I'm committed ( and happy there is going to be a second display option in the backbox too!!!).....mark
Andrew Heighway was pretty deliberate about not asking for any Full Throttle money until they had a final-ish game to show (the big Pinball News article). Only then he asked for $1k. I was impressed by his ability to get as far as he did with personal financing.
Alien he changed that up, and obviously things didn't come together as quick as they wanted, so my advice to him going forward would be to stick to the Full Throttle model and only take pre-orders on games as they are near production. It'll make for an easier PR ride if there are bumps with the schedule.
From what I understand they have several games under development all at once, so I suspect the lead time from announcement to release will be much tighter going forward.
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