I might actually frame this as one of the best things I have ever read.

What boggles my mind is Mike spent what 5 or 6 years setting up a company and making all these parts in China but clearly put very little effort into the actual game design itself. Hell that's the easy part!

It reminds when of when Kevin dragged that POS Predaturd around to every show to scam people out of money yet never made improvements to the game itself. If your ramps are in a bad place no amount of reworking them is going to magically change physics and help the ball up.

There's a decent amount of stuff in TBAG compared to a Stern Pro but the theme + weak PF kills it (weak PF is OK as long as word "Predator" is on cabinet) He even remade the WCS moving target a mech I don't think you can buy anywhere right now. What a waste.

I have said this before, Mike would have been smarter if he had built a flipping whitewood before he left Australia

Game #2 will be more fitting & worthier

100% agree, and said it years ago - suggesting building a working TB with Bally / Williams parts in the 1st year in China to debug and get the rules fleshed out 3-4 years ago but even better like you suggested should of developed a homebrew back in Aus, and have many of the parts designed ready for manufacturing here in Aus and then just go into production there.

he could of got alot of support / help here in Aus, but the rest is history

Remember the SECRET room at Pinfest???
Ha ha ha ha!!!!
It allowed him to display what little progress there was while surrounding himself with "YES" men.
Only those who had a financial interest in the game were permitted to see and discuss anything he came up with... a nice little secret boys club..
Words like SECRET and EXCLUSIVE were bandied around and worn like badges of honour to those who were willing to turn off independent thought and blindly follow HOMEPIN the GREAT!!!!

And then what did he do???..Oh yeh...treated them with utter contempt by not delivering their games..

Mike might as well get some jam and butter. He’s toast.

Jelly on toast sounds amazing right now.

Yeh that room was such a let down, a couple of palm trees on a PF wow.

He actually delivered my game, via AF after all the BS I had to go through. The saddest part was when I got home from picking it up. I had an email from (he who will remain nameless) blaming me for all the things that had gone wrong with this pin and even the Highway ‘walk away’ situation wtf . So not cool to ruin my new pin day, no respect for his customers.

I will never buy another pin from him. As for a TAG review “what the fuck was he thinking”, just shaking my head! Writing it off as a bad experience.

Well not good responses there. So what if homepin ditch pinball games and just manufactures pinball parts. Anyone interested or has tbag hurt that side of the business too let alone the Arcade side. Interested in your thoughts

What parts do you have in mind???
is there much in Thunderbirds that has not had to be redesigned?
is there anything that has gone to plan?
how many times has he had to find a new supplier?

for someone with years of experience dealing in China, he does not really seem to understand the people

I gave it another chance at Pinfest last night. Its still absolutely terrible.

Just as long as he doesn’t continue to manufacture flipper buttons.

So I played TBAG at Pinfest today. It was sandwiched between Mafia and ACNC. People were literally laughing at it. Groaning. Walking away shaking their heads. That’s really no exaggeration.

Someone said it earlier: there’s a game out there for everyone. So, technically speaking, someone in this world will like it. That’s probably the nicest thing I can say about it. You can use your imagination for the rest of my critique.
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So my comments on the worst game ever made got the attention of someone that contributes to the creation of, in my opinion, the best games being made right now...go figure

Who in their right mind would even entertain buying #2, should it actually be made??? Yeah right.

He certainly won’t get any pre-payments to help pay for it.

I’m wondering if he is going to attempt to build another machine? My guess is no. If he does, he’s more unscrupulous then I guessed. Maybe it will have more stolen IP if he does.

Well, what did you think?

here you go haters. new material to hate on. cue the same 10 people over and over ... and ... go

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I’ll bite. Tastes yummy. But is it new material? Game looks kinda familiar. And who is the hater? The critics who tell it like it is, or the unofficial company pitchman who blasts anyone who dares say less than flattering remarks about your mate or the abomination he created.

kinda familiar! hahaha. thats funny. ok we marked off hater vic.. who wants to go next

It's about time someone makes an ice cold beer clone. Great idea, hope it sells well.

We bought a Stern Stars off a guy that had one, it is rather addictive, keen to try one of these.

I thought this game was much better than the rep is has on pinside.
Flipper buttons were strange but I had fun playing it.
Maybe becuase it was next to Mafia, which was one of the worse games I played at the show.
Can't see how that game is worth the money.

Have any Mafias sold yet, anywhere?

I heard a rumour ages ago that he might be doing an "Ice Cold Beer" / "Zekes Peak" inspired game.
This "Ride the wave" game has good potential.
It's something that I'm excited to try out.
If it doesn't have a cheap feel to it, its something I'd be interested in buying.

So, I waited in a line 6 people deep to play this at Pinfest. Honestly, it felt a lot like playing an EM. I had fun! But I had the type of fun I would have on a random 1970s EM that I can pick up for $400 with a better theme and more nostalgia. It may have been set up poorly, but it felt like a really floaty widebody EM in a narrow body. The animations looked okay and the playfield was full of static toys. I'll give Homepin credit for pumping out a game but I just couldn't get into it.

One nitpick you can't get from pictures is that it just seemed... dirty to me on the inside. There were not a lot of ball tracks or anything, but it was full of black dust when you looked up close at the playfield. I am guessing that the rubbers or parts are disintegrating in there pretty quick. This would be more of a problem if people were putting games on it all the time like they were at the show.

All in all, I'd have a hard time choosing between a random well working EM or this.

That's great just needs a black Cabinet and better Artwork, Hope the price tag is under 3k then will sell well

its creepy when i agree with you wayne stoppit lol

(my personal opinion) the cabinet color and art looks mediocre but the game and concept is a great choice.

Ride the wave is aimed at who exactly? Looks pretty crappy to me personally. Can only imagine the sound. Artwork looks like it is aimed at the very young crew and done by land lovers.
Here is hoping I am surprised when I get to play it on though.

this particular build is aimed at asian kids. it seems reasonable to conclude you're not the target there old chap.

I would prefer it in 80s woodgrain .. but thats just cos i have crap taste too probably hah

the music is .. music.. like mp3 not like electronic sounds. no idea what the tracks are. sounds like surfing elevator music to me

I can't imagine.

Fast fast .... kick out your "Ice Cold Beers" .....

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I agree with this assessment aside from the 'fun' part. I never felt even a hint of that. I suppose if I were to have just played it once or twice at a show my level of hostility towards it would not be near the point where it's at now. Your perspective changes greatly once you spend $5000 USD on it. Had I not managed to sell it to that poor bastard, I'm sure a straight up trade for a 1970's beat to shit EM would have been in the cards for me.

With decent art and better presentation, I'm sure he could sell a few thousand of those.

Looks like a "Z" back video arcade game to me.

That's for sure. I had fun playing it at Pinfest...but would never consider buying it. The obscenely bad art was kind of good in a bad way in person.

I liked the moving stand up target.

Now I really want to test it out.

I was a huge fan of the show growing up and love the theme, so I was excited when it showed up at Pinfest last year. My son and I played a couple games and walked away totally unimpressed. This year I waited about 20 minutes to play ACNC (mostly because that pin is ridiculously easy) during which time not a single person played Thunderbirds, no line, no wait.

ACNC is a hidden gem, IMO...its a shame people poo pooed on it so much before it was actually out there in its current form. The ACNC at Pinfest seemed to have 5 people in line for it most of the time.

ACNC had some fun shots and toys, but I wasn't overly impressed. The display animations were mostly static. One very easy shot up the middle (Secret Passage) goes under the upper playfield and then just dribbles back out the same lane? And another wide shot (Select Monster Mode) also seems to do nothing? Maybe the code is not complete? But my biggest complaint were the overly generous ball saves which seemed to trigger at random, keeping the ball in play forever! I'm sure this could be adjusted to make the game harder. Still, I had fun playing.

I’d be keen to try and even possibly buy. I’ve had a lot of fun on an Ice Cold Beer. Real crowd favourite. Art, well yep I’d prefer something a little more in keeping but whatever.

Not at all. Focusing on anything other than Thunderbirds is a step in the right direction. After 78 pages of turmoil, disappointment and constant anguish, finally this thread is morphing into something more positive. I'm really enjoying the ACNC discussion actually.

Pretty interested in the ICB clone. Would have to have some pretty comforting proof that one for me is practically in my hands before handing over money though.

I never played the game and I'm not saying that everyone is wrong about it, but some people are harsh on the game just for the fun of it.

When I read or hear some artist making Fun of the Palm trees, that'd belong on a birthday cake, it's obvoius he doesn't know the FRANCHIse.
Theme intergration looks good, game looks packed and the DMD is not blindingly ugly as some put it.

Does it feel good? - I dunno and propably not with all the people poopooing on it.

I know a lot went wrong here but I'm still impressed what has been done here and am looking forward to the second game if it ever sees the light of day.

That Ice Cold Beer knock off could very well finds his way to my house, it depends on the price obviously but below 1500$ would put it in a good space.

that price would put it in the early 80s but i have to agree, - that was indeed a good space

Wonder if they'll take 5+ years to get to buyers. You'd be mad prebuying anything off this company

You can't get an old one for that much, so I doubt a new one would be cheaper

You can get NIB pinballs for cheaper than old ones. Ice cold beer is sought after thus the high price. They never stay on the market for long.