(Topic ID: 216763)
Linked Games
AC/DC (LE)
Stern, 2012-
AC/DC (Premium)
Stern, 2012
-
Addams Family, The
Bally, 1992
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Attack From Mars (Remake - Special)
Chicago Gaming Co., 2017
-
Black Knight Sword of Rage (LE)
Stern, 2019
-
Black Knight Sword of Rage (Premium)
Stern, 2019
-
Bounty Hunter
Gottlieb, 1985
-
Champion Pub
Bally, 1998
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Wooster, OH
Quoted from Rody:The family had a great time last night at the free play event...thanks![quoted image]
Thanks for making it out! We are glad you enjoyed your time at Helicon. More cool stuff to come. Stay tuned!
Sadly, the time has come for the removal of some games that were brought in for ReplayFX. The good news is that, from what I understand, many of the games will be rotated into other collections in the area--Apis, Voodoo, etc. cjmjmm2006 can provide official details. The great news is that 41 games will remain at the brewery and the collection remains absolutely spectacular. The highlights include 24 total Stern games, the last 17 released Stern games, both American Pinball games, the last three Jersey Jack Pinball releases, the last two Spooky releases, and 17 limited edition versions of games. As always,
cjmjmm2006 remains committed to keeping the games in excellent condition with tech visits scheduled at least twice a week.
The updated list of the 41 games at the brewery is available at pinside Helicon location details.
I cannot overstate how much I appreciate what cjmjmm2006 has done for pinball at Helicon Brewing and other great locations in the region. Thank you Chris M.!!!!!!!!!!
Cheers,
Chris B.
Thanks Chris. A lot of the praise he is giving is not just for myself. Chrisb has put so much effort into assuring your satisfaction at this location it's mind numbing. He has detailed lists and spreadsheets tracking issue history and open items. We can literally know what to do on common issues that otherwise we would be unaware of. Honestly for anyone reading about Helicon Brewing, this site is the most meticulously maintained in my entire portfolio. That's huge praise as we have some great sites that are operated an run by our own employees. In the next post I want to note a few things about the brewery during replay. I have a ton of notes as I spoke to so many of you and I have a list of things I intend to address everyone's questions, inquiries and general silliness. Haha
Thanks again for all the support us during this special 2 week period as well as all year long. We truly do aim to give you an experience with the pinball and beer combo that you cannot get anywhere else. There are a lot of people in this community that are dedicated and thorough in how they view their operations. We feel that this site is a great reflection on how pinball should be set on location.
Cheers to another awesome year at Helicon Brewing!!
Thank YOU chrisb and the Helicon staff for all you do for us!!
Please bare with me as my notes are somewhat scattered. I had my 4 year old break my phone and I immediately bought another but had one of our technicians fix my previous phone to be sure I got all the data, pictures, video etc. I'm a dad first so.... I have a ton of pictures of my kids lives that I can't lose. I have a million different back up services (that I don't know how to use or log in to) but the peace of mind in seeing them on the screen is where it's at.
Question 1
How can you do this many games at one site?
First of all, I couldn't do it without the support onsite of chrisb and his Helicon staff. Second we have people that are committed to making something like this a reality and care at the core for you guys to be happy. Behind the scenes there are people that have my back and really care about their products.
Trent Augenstein repping Stern is a rock in my line up that can not be replaced. He takes my call anytime, he walks techs through some of the new fixes, he responds to everything so promptly. It's unexpected in most cases nowadays. I'm busy, I know Trent is. He is always available. Even walking me through a repair while in Italy!!
Second on that list is Gary from Abel Electronics. Same deal as Trent, matter of fact, Trent turned me on to Gary and we have never had a need for anyone else on what Gary sells. He supports us for American and Jersey Jack. Family Guy. No nonsense. Has my back.
(Side point- the pinball community can be very demanding. These guys do this mostly for the love of the community but they do have families and lives outside of pinball so I try to respect that. Not preaching but you should too. So before you post this guy sucks because of this one time he didn't get back to me in 10 seconds, consider that)
Further more there are other distributors I could name but these two I have close relationships with and I would literally lay down on the wire for them.
Finally I wanna thank everyone that manufacturers a product to keep a place like Helicon always interesting. This is another key. Pinside is great for the community but I will say that most people I meet that are in this hobby are not on here. Pinside is a part of this too but our casual supporters help keep the lights on. YOU guys show up and make some hard days easier and overall the community is why we do what we do.
I could get into the financial data but it's boring and really I'm not doing a site like helicon for the money. I can tell ya that.
I'll have to answer some of these one step at a time. That was longer than I wanted but a lot goes into a site like helicon.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers,
CJM
More to come
Quoted from cjmjmm2006:Trent Augenstein repping Stern is a rock in my line up that can not be replaced. He takes my call anytime, he walks techs through some of the new fixes, he responds to everything so promptly. It's unexpected in most cases nowadays. I'm busy, I know Trent is. He is always available. Even walking me through a repair while in Italy!!
Second on that list is Gary from Abel Electronics. Same deal as Trent, matter of fact, Trent turned me on to Gary and we have never had a need for anyone else on what Gary sells. He supports us for American and Jersey Jack. Family guy. No nonsense. Has my back.
I will second this with great enthusiasm.
I'm close to done with my video from when I was there recently. I'll be sure to note that the lineup is typically in the 40ish range so the 5 people who may watch my YouTube channel don't come in and ask where the other 20 games are.
Quoted from Geocab:I'm close to done with my video from when I was there recently. I'll be sure to note that the lineup is typically in the 40ish range so the 5 people who may watch my YouTube channel don't come in and ask where the other 20 games are.
Thanks Geo!!
London
On Saturday 8/24, Josh Kugler, the Director of Software Engineering at @americanpinball, will be at Helicon for a few hours to talk about Oktoberfest and
Houdini and play some games. Both games will be on free play for the event and if you beat Josh you can win a t-shirt (while supplies last). Full details will be kept on the facebook event at https://www.facebook.com/events/2885437678193345/.
Quoted from chrisb:On Saturday 8/24, Josh Kugler, the Director of Software Engineering at americanpinball, will be at Helicon for a few hours to talk about Oktoberfest and Houdini and play some games. Both games will be on free play for the event and if you beat Josh you can win a t-shirt (while supplies last). Full details will be kept on the facebook event at https://www.facebook.com/events/2885437678193345/.
This is freaking awesome!! Josh is a great guy and definitely worth stoping in to talk beer and pinball. He's made some really cool rules for the first 2 American titles and I look forward to maybe a game 3 this year??
Thanks for the great video and kind words about helicon.
A few things of note.
-the collection went up to 70 games during replay
-we spend over 14 hour a week in tech time on average across the entire year
-the collection of games spans 6 decades
-during the year, the collection of games sits at a total between 40-50 units
-we make up the collection of games that are not brand new with customer requests
Cheers!!
Quoted from cjmjmm2006:Thanks for the great video and kind words about helicon.
A few things of note.
-the collection went up to 70 games during replay
-we spend over 14 hour a week in tech time on average across the entire year
-the collection of games spans 6 decades
-during the year, the collection of games sits at a total between 40-50 units
-we make up the collection of games that are not brand new with customer requests
Cheers!!
Thanks for the compliment on my video. I added these points to my video's description.
The Cosmic Carnival here now has a beta code release installed (1.03). The full release notes are not available, but the immediately noticeable fixes are high score tracking, flipper strength doubled or tripled?, and the game hasn't crashed yet. The flipper power makes a huge difference and I encourage anyone who wanted to like this game to give it another shot. At this time the game is playing great and most (all?) of the issues have been worked out.
Cheers,
chrisb
Quoted from Geocab:Thanks for the compliment on my video. I added these points to my video's description.
Thank you!!
Quoted from chrisb:The Cosmic Carnival here now has a beta code release installed (1.03). The full release notes are not available, but the immediately noticeable fixes are high score tracking, flipper strength doubled or tripled?, and the game hasn't crashed yet. The flipper power makes a huge difference and I encourage anyone who wanted to like this game to give it another shot. At this time the game is playing great and most (all?) of the issues have been worked out.
Cheers,
chrisb
I went through the game tonight, feels completely different. I'm amazed at what this code has done to make this game so much more impressive on the game play aspect. Thanks for the update!
Quoted from Geocab:I'll probably be there tomorrow.
Dang Geo. I keep missing you. Have fun!
Quoted from cjmjmm2006:Dang Geo. I keep missing you. Have fun!
I have to take advantage of working in town. Don't really travel much for work, just happen to be working on a very slow moving job so I'm needed every few weeks.
Quoted from Geocab:I have to take advantage of working in town. Don't really travel much for work, just happen to be working on a very slow moving job so I'm needed every few weeks.
Well we hope we provide you with some light in the darkness of work. Haha
Quoted from cjmjmm2006:Something is coming to Helicon soon![quoted image]
Ball tease! It will really tie the place together nicely.
Quoted from adamross:Are these just an extra set of pins or some kind of TBL upgrade? Didn't think the included pins needed modding.
Depends. We have a few of these games and the pins are not the same from one to the next in my estimation.
Quoted from TheGunnett:Ball tease! It will really tie the place together nicely.
Let's tie it on together. I gotta get you to drink with me one day. Haha
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/special-when-lit-pinball-podcast/id1406396487
Helicon getting lots of attention on the Podcast!
Quoted from TheGunnett:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/special-when-lit-pinball-podcast/id1406396487
Helicon getting lots of attention on the Podcast!
Cool I'll check it out.
Quoted from Geocab:Addams Family isn't registering any swamp shot. Machine just does a ball search. I turned it off.[quoted image]
Thank Geo. Likely just a switch adjustment. I'll get to that asap. Did you let Chris B know?
Quoted from cjmjmm2006:Did you let Chris B know?
Sadly, I was home really early last night to get ready for the early start brew day today. Sorry to miss you Geocab I really wanted to thank you in person for the super-sweet video and also ask if I could share it on social media.
I'll work with Chris M. to get the swamp shots working again asap.
Cheers,
Chris B.
Just too funny. A colleague of mine and her husband are coming to Pittsburgh from Atlanta to visit for a week in September. They own a pin and are looking for a place to play in Pittsburgh, so I naturally recommended Helicon and warned that it was "off the beaten path" but very well worth it, and I sent her Geocab's video tour. It turns out that her husband grew up in Oakdale and his father still lives there, so that's where they're staying for the week. Her husband referred to the brewery as a place where there was once a dog food factory. I assured her that the location has been extensively upgraded since then. 
I appreciate the kind words @joeschall! It is true that Joy Dog Food operated in Oakdale until late 2004. It began as a feed mill in the 1880s and was a large part of the area for almost 125 years. The building sat empty until I signed the lease in 2015. I still hear about the dog food factory at least once or twice a week and everyone seems to enjoy a brewery/arcade much more than the dog food place.
Anyway, thanks again for the recommendation and please make sure you tell your friends to say "hello" when they are here.
Cheers,
Chris B.
Quoted from chrisb:Anyway, thanks again for the recommendation and please make sure you tell your friends to say "hello" when they are here.
Will do, Chris. Interesting to know the history of the place. It's interesting--in my Pittsburgh office, I work for NIOSH, but locals still refer to the place I work as the Bureau of Mines, which closed in 1996! I'm going to try to arrange a Pittsburgh visit that same week to get in another evening of play at Helicon when my friends visit.
Quoted from chrisb:Sadly, I was home really early last night to get ready for the early start brew day today. Sorry to miss you geocab I really wanted to thank you in person for the super-sweet video and also ask if I could share it on social media.
I'll work with Chris M. to get the swamp shots working again asap.
Cheers,
Chris B.
Feel free to share.
No worries on leaving early, I was busy having a good night on Metallica and Spiderman.
I'll be back again sometime, this job won't be done this week.
Quoted from JOESCHALL:Just too funny. A colleague of mine and her husband are coming to Pittsburgh from Atlanta to visit for a week in September. They own a pin and are looking for a place to play in Pittsburgh, so I naturally recommended Helicon and warned that it was "off the beaten path" but very well worth it, and I sent her Geocab's video tour. It turns out that her husband grew up in Oakdale and his father still lives there, so that's where they're staying for the week. Her husband referred to the brewery as a place where there was once a dog food factory. I assured her that the location has been extensively upgraded since then.
Wow what a small world. The coincidence of this is probably as rare as me beating Joe Schall on a classic pinball game. Haha. Hope to see you soon Joe!
Quoted from Geocab:Feel free to share.
No worries on leaving early, I was busy having a good night on Metallica and Spiderman.
I'll be back again sometime, this job won't be done this week.
Thanks again Geo. People are digging what you did here.
#addams-family has been pulled to get a full shop done and has been replaced with a super-clean Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It's looking and playing great! Cheers!
20190822_120352 (resized).jpgQuoted from chrisb:The Addams Family has been pulled to get a full shop done and has been replaced with a super-clean Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It's looking and playing great! Cheers![quoted image]
Thanks for the updates! 
Jurrasic Park Pro has been updated to the 0.87.0 code released today. The list of changes is available at https://sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/jurassic_park_0_87_0-README_PRO.txt.
Cheers,
chrisb
Excited to be there Saturday night.
Seriously, what could be better than playing Oktoberfest in a brewery?
I guess playing Oktoberfest in a brewery while also giving away Oktoberfest T-shirts to those that beat me.
Also have a stein for the Oktoberfest high score champ! As well as an autographed translite for the high score champ on Houdini!
See you Saturday!
Quoted from chrisb:The Addams Family has been pulled to get a full shop done and has been replaced with a super-clean Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It's looking and playing great! Cheers![quoted image]
Direct hit!!
Quoted from SkeebWilcox:Me and Mr. Audia look forward to stopping by tomorrow evening after Cambodican!!!
Sys
Quoted from rosh:Excited to be there Saturday night.
Seriously, what could be better than playing Oktoberfest in a brewery?
I guess playing Oktoberfest in a brewery while also giving away Oktoberfest T-shirts to those that beat me.
Also have a stein for the Oktoberfest high score champ! As well as an autographed translite for the high score champ on Houdini!
See you Saturday!
Can't wait. You will not have a chance against me in Oktoberfest. Haha
Quoted from SkeebWilcox:Me and Mr. Audia look forward to stopping by tomorrow evening after Cambodican!!!
Cambodican on the south side? Catman is the best!!
Quoted from rosh:Seriously, what could be better than playing Oktoberfest in a brewery?
Playing Oktoberfest in a brewery with someone who has been to the festival many times and is wearing lederhosen while explaining how authentic and well-done the game is to match the actual festival?
Seriously, based on how much the game lines up with the festival, I assume someone at AmericanPinball has been there and knows it well.
Can't wait for Saturday!
Cheers,
Chris B.
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Auckland, NZ
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