Quoted from Kombi:I got to play Thunderbirds today at Pinfest during the afternoon session.
When it first opened the 2 tags were not turned on. Thought Damn was hoping we were going to get to play them as Mike had said they were going to be playable on his FB posts previously.
Went and played some other pins and then about half hour in I noticed they were turned on. The one with the topper had an out of order posted on the glass. But i managed to play the other one. I’ve attached photos of when it was off then turned on later.
I own a Homepin Hankin arcade table and love it. When I purchased it a few years ago I was told they were also making this Pinball. And that you could preorder it for $5432.10 but unfortunately the pre order period had finished.
For years I followed the Facebook posts with occasionally commenting on them. Also the posts on here Pinside but without commenting. I really felt for the very lows that Mike had been thru and understood the reason for delays. I really really wanted to love this game and to purchase it. BUT...
After playing it I am no longer disappointed that I missed out on the preorder and that Mike didn’t open it up for any more deposits along the way. Unfortunately I won’t be buying it as it is.
The pin looks great, I loved the whole look of it, until I stepped in front of the Playfield. To me it felt so dated and not just years dated but decades. And then I started to play it, I just didn’t like it at all. The middle ramp is just to close to the flippers. The flippers are far to wide apart especially with that ramp being so close. I get not all pins need to have a flow, but those that don’t usually have some kind of frantic feel about them. This has neither.
What I did love about it other than the look of the pin was when you first launch the pinball it goes in like a figure 8 sort of flow around the middle. But that was about it. I’m sure underneath it’s greatly engineered but above the playfield it does not come across as a well designed Pin.
I so wanted to love it and purchase it and support Mike. I wanted to brag how I got play it to you guys, but I can’t. It’s not for me. I hope I’m on my own with this opinion and it’s a great success. I plan to get one of Homepins Homeboy arcade machines to go with my Hankin cocktail and will support Mike that way. Maybe the next pin I’ll enjoy.
Agree with some of the shot comments here. I also played it today quite a bit. Looks fantastic artwise but the shots and shot layout/geometry is just all off imo. Nothing was enjoyable to hit. Just my opinion and im a crap player but unfortunately i walked away completely underwhelmed by the gameplay. If I had money down on this I'd have some concerns. A shame as it is a fantastic effort to get the pin to this point.
