Quoted from swinks:hopefully the art is better than the ad page
[quoted image]
I think it's pretty safe to assume that's the center of the playfield. You can even see the corners of the slings
(Topic ID: 299576)
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This is Spinal Tap Pinball
Homepin, 2022
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You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider treybo69.
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2 months later
Don't worry guys, we'll all see the game eventually.
The incredibly low expectations are arguably a good thing for them. It'd be worse if there was a bunch of pomp and circumstance before he shows off a a whatever game with meh art, meh code, with a giant screen playing random clips of the movie above a DMD with the actual game info because Mike couldn't figure out how to marry the two into one cohesive design or pay someone to do it. I'm ready to be blown away if it's a moderately competent game!
Also I love he put the logo on the leg bolts. That's some JPop-level silliness.
Quoted from Ferret:I don't know if the aesthetic was part of it, but the cool thing about American Pinball's leg bolts is you can take the same Allen wrench used for the backbox quick-lock and use it to tighten the leg bolts. It's really convenient.
That’s a nice side benefit. And if you lose the bolts in a move, it’s still threaded for typical bolts. Win-win if you’re going to deviate from the accepted standard.
2 weeks later
The 11 being in the center was obvious from the small art leak.
Interesting they're using a lamp matrix. Also multiple lamps under the insert lenses. Is the center a ring of lights pointing in? Some of the PCB marks on their lampboard are readable. I think I see "hammer" "torch" "phase" "tomato" and "ham"
2 weeks later
Quoted from PinMonk:Do they HAVE to put the homepin logo on EVERYTHING? Talk about making some ugly drop targets...
[quoted image]
What’s up with the hinge design at the bottom of the target?
Also the only noteworthy thing on the website is it seems like May 2022 will be the planned reveal/ship
Quoted from PinMonk:Talk about reinventing the wheel. Drop target reset tech is well established there was no need to add a hinge and 4 screws to each target to complicate things.
Reading Mike’s post, it seems like the change was to minimize effort in changing a drop. Unhook the spring, unscrew the hinge, remove the drop and reverse steps for the new one.
Could be an improvement if the hinge doesn’t get gunky?
Seems like a step back to put the reset coil to the side. Larger footprint which constrains potential designs. But I guess it’s the trade off for serviceability
The reset coil to the side reminds me of Bally smart drops with the individual knockdown coils. Maybe this core mech design could accommodate that feature in another game?
Quoted from PinMonk:I don't see the effort savings - seems like a lateral change, and the hinge adds another point of failure.
I agree the modern drop design isn’t that bad to work on.
Id like to see if they have some sort of test rig to show the drops being knocked down and reset hundreds of times a day.
Seems like Homepin should really focus on reliability because I don’t think the themes, rule design, art, unique mechs, or overall “feel” of the game is their strong suit at the moment. (Def not community relations either)
4 weeks later
The Union Jack for a cabinet is fine.
The speaker panel does not look fine. They get the Marshall branding and then do that? You'd think Marshall would complain...
Compare that panel to the great job Stern did on The Beatles Vox speaker panel
Quoted from Rat:Also if you remember Mike was absolutely scathing in bagging out nearly every other manafacturer and telling us all how he would never do things like they did and he would be better in every way and produce a better product.
But now he is the worst of them, I'm glad he moved away as it would have been an embarrassment having him saying he was an Australian manufacturer.
He was adamant that it couldn't be done in Australia, another thing proven incorrect.
I wonder who has shipped more games, Homepin or Haggis. Haggis definitely sold more product so far
Quoted from blue95:I'd guess Homepin, there would have to be more Thunderbirds than Celts atm
It seems close though right? It seems like fifty-ish Celts are out there based on unboxing photos. Thunderbirds is more unknown, but what could it really top out at. Maybe 100?
Edit. Someone sent me a messaging say over 150
That’s about what I thought the art would look like.
Now imagine if Mike gave his art layout to an actual illustrator and gave him a few thousand bucks to make it look nice. It would substantially increase sales. Art is the best ROI a pin company can make.
3 weeks later
Quoted from wiredoug:those people you hate on the haggis thread behave exactly they way you do here... karma
pretty sure homophobic slurs arent cool any more. be a better person.
What exactly was the homophobic slur?
1 week later
Quoted from seenev:Weren't they considered "old" for a rock band in the original movie like 40 years ago?
Honestly I think Spinal Tap 2 could work simply because of how old they are now. It’d be them touring retirement homes, and sometimes staying for a while. Lots of potential of old men yelling at the cloud of “young people music” and a montage of them chasing fads (which the first movie also covered very well). Imagine Spinal Tap vs the internet sharing their music on Napster. Becoming memes for zoomers. A broadway play of their previous documentary that is more successful than the band ever was.
There’s a lot of material they could mine if they choose to
“This is our new drummer, we call him Pace. He keeps time with robotic precision thanks to the pacemaker in his heart” camera pan to show an obviously dead man
2 weeks later
I do find it amazing Mike is able to get machines built because that’s truly the hard part. But I’m just extremely skeptical of what it is he is building is worth that hassle.
My expectations are low and I’m ready to be dazzled.
1 month later
2 weeks later
I saw the manual for the game was uploaded
https://www.homepin.com/kits/TAP_MANUAL_WEB.pdf
Interesting they still don't have a better way to update the code on the board (at least you don't have to mail it back and forth now). I'm curious about their opto rollover sensors. I sure hope they're not like Vacation America where clicking a flash light on/off at it can get it to register switch closures....
Hall effect spinners is a neat idea tho. Also there's a bell in the game?
1 month later
Quoted from PinballSTAR:Spinal Tap VIDEO / FLYER !
Short video from the first public showing of the game in Australia today. More pics, videos, info to follow. For now enjoy this quick video…
PinballSTAR is the exclusive distributor in the USA for Homepin. We have a partial container of games ordered - won’t be too many in the first batch. We will announce pricing and begin taking orders and collecting deposits next week.
We’d suggest get on our interested list at this time.
Interested in ordering a Spinal Tap ? Contact Joe at [email protected].
Video :
[quoted image][quoted image]
This flyer is so blurry
I think it's an interesting choice to have "GIG CANCELLED" be the shoot again light. Shouldn't it be something like "rock again" or "tour again"
Or is it a joke I don't remember from the movie?
Quoted from Yoko2una:Also also, what kind of "explosion" is the drummer experiencing up there in ball trap city...?
[quoted image]
I'm guessing the little drummer photo on the backwall will spin around and show an explosion or similar.
Based off the manual, the POD uses coils to open and close, and push the ball, and there is an elevator from a subway into the mech. There's also some switches related to the elevator position and lock post, and detecting a ball in the subway and lift part of the mech.
Guessing the inner ramp goes up to load balls into a subway for that mech.
Maybe if someone could actually hit that inner ramp we'd have footage of it in action...
I really think Mike could have sold a magnitude more if he had paid someone to do a better job with the art. Then you could at least trick a few people into thinking it's not a giant piece of crap (seemed to work for Thunderbirds to a degree). But when the art is so piss poor and uninspired, you can't help but notice all the other sloppy work
Maybe it's not too late to spin the avalanche of hot glue on the drum set is that is what remained of a drummer who melted
Quoted from Yoko2una:So I'd love to know where a solid head Mapex Kit came from.
A toy manufacturer in China that could make a bunch of the toys for a few dollars a pop. The guitar toys also look decent. Maybe from the same factory as the drum.
Quoted from Rarehero:Rare games are only cool if they’re actually good, like Big Bang Bar or Kingpin & got their runs cut short by business circumstances of the day. If they’re rare cuz they suck, who cares.
See also The Mafia and Cosmic Carnival
Going in on rare means nothing if no one wants it. The licensed theme will help to a degree, but not much
Pinheads care about the story. The story here is just shoddy work at a premium price
To be honest his mini-run of Porsche ripoff Firepowers looked more fun...mostly because I know Firepower is a good time. Bonus, no ramps means weak flippers aren't a problem
Quoted from Dantesmark:It sounds like the games were not even ready for beta testing… and all that rushing to get them to the show… why?
Ticking clock on a signed licensed agreement
Quoted from Shapeshifter:This is not just a dig at Homepin, but also other pinball companies.
How, in this day and age is it possible not to make a game with decent flipper power?
I mean, Gottlieb in 1950, made games with more flipper zip than many recent games.
It does not matter how good or bad a game is, if the flippers are weak and mushy.
Because there is a trade off of flipper power and heat generation. You make flippers powerful, they get hotter quicker. When flippers get hot, they get weaker. So you have to find a sweet spot in terms of power and heat.
Some manufacturers are a lot better at figuring out that sweet spot than others.
And of course a 50s Gottlieb has a much shallower pitch and no ramps to contend with. Also worth mentioning it's not uncommon for pinball conventions to have weak flippers in general because of the huge power draw at the facility. This isn't as noticeable on Sterns because they often test their games and mechs in low power conditions as part of their product testing.
Quoted from homebrood:Yeah, if it were power issues games wouldn't have weak flippers, they would be rebooting and crashing or not starting at all.
No, the weak flipper thing is true. Happens at a lot of pinball shows
Quoted from metallik:On older games with linear power supplies. Switching power supplies don't sag. Spike2 games have no problems at shows.
yes and I also specifically said it didn't affect Stern games
this thing uses a transformer, not a modern switching power supply
1 week later
I was reminded of this project
https://scandinavianpinball.com/troll-the-pinball-machine/
>Troll – the Pinball Machine, release 2022…
>Development has started in cooperation with Homepin and enthusiasts worldwide
Wonder what the status on that is...
Also did we ever see better photos of the Chinese Zombie game? I've seen some cabinet photos but not much of the playfield
Quoted from PinMonk:He wouldn't post any of the playfield. Blurred stuff out. Shame because I would have liked to see that one.
I'm curious if Tap is the zombie layout reimagined (nothing wrong with that)
Quoted from swinks:nor did we see the Porsche game
and here is what you found but as a screen shot
[quoted image]
You can see photos of the Porsche game, they're around. It's a bit obscured but you can see enough to tell that he basically redesigned Firepower (with drops, Steve Ritchie would be so proud)
c4bae1b01e97e4a3d8165cc639e4864e9b94a0ad (resized).jpg
And if your curious about the rest of it, it's basically the same as Tap. DMD with game rules, a LCD above it playing footage of Porsches
Quoted from PinMonk:Haha! Hilarious. I think you've hit it. Based on the underside of the Chinese Zombies (you need to rotate as the image is showing the PF from the wrong end), the lower scoop with the target next to it is there, the three standup targets on the right are there, the drop targets in the center with the pop triangle behind it are there. All that seems to be different at the PF level is the insert cutouts. Now we know why Balcer was told Homepin had another design already - it was Chinese Ghosts!
[quoted image]
I flipped it to make it easier to look at.
From left to right: Same stand up, then saucer, then it starts to change a little bit around the orbit ramp area, then drops with 3 pops behind it, what may be a vuk on both games?, an orbit shot, then 3 stand up targets with inserts, then a standup touch target for a rubbered area.
Also looking at the Tap manual, it makes it a lot more clear
Capture (resized).PNGQuoted from punkin:In the end there's only so much you can do with half a sheet of plywood. And there's been a lot of games made over the last 90 years, so repeats are going to happen.
I don't think there is anything wrong with repeats in layouts.
It's more about how the software uses the shots in the game.
Also thinking about if this game was about jiangshi in the past, the pod mech on Tap could have easily been a "cave" or "coffin" mech for a zombie vampire to come out of.
Godzilla is a single level playfield?
Also my rebuttal is simply how many people love to buy the basic fan layout. Giant outside orbit, two ramps, and a central bash toy. That basic design is the core to numerous popular games.
Sure you shoot the layout, but you play a software game.
Quoted from RGR:Playfield is always more important than code (imo). It is not ironic that KMEs 4 games so far are all unique playfields and do not have bash toys.
No bash toys, lol
- Iron Maiden's giant glowing bullseye target
- Jurrasic Park truck nuts and the raptor pit on the premium is a bash toy
- AIQ spinning disc is bash toy like
- Godzilla has the building, a captive ball/magnet bash toy, and Mechagodzilla is bashed on
You can argue some of those if you want, but Elwin clearly uses bash toys...
also what do you think irony is?
Bash toys are just giant targets. It's really not that different
You don't even actually hit sparky. It's an opto and standup target. Not a bash toy by your definition...
Pretty much everyone would agree the lamp in TOTAN is a bash toy, so why shouldn't AIQs disc count?
You hit mechagodzilla in the chest on GZ premium. How is that not a bash toy?
You hit the magnet/captive ball on GZ premium and the bridge collapses. How is it not a bash toy?
Yes Keith's layouts are unique. But he also puts a heavy emphases on kinetic toys because they're satisfying to shoot and are good risk/reward elements for rule design.
5 months later
https://www.knapparcade.org/post/homepin-resumes-production-of-this-is-spinal-tap-pinball-machines
I'm guessing they had to pause production while they waited for an order /s
1 month later
Quoted from screaminr:After the GNR promo clip everyone wants to put a sexy chick in playing their game
been doing it forever
Quoted from EvillePinball:I played it at the Pinball Hall of Fame last week. It's epically bad. I got a free game and walked away.
Thunderbirds was right across from it and was way better. (I can't believe i just said that, because it was horrid)
[quoted image][quoted image]
I haven't been to the PHOF, but wouldn't they normally put the price on the price card...and not the front door? Is that a Home Pin choice or a Tim choice? (I actually kinda like the design of the apron cards as concert tickets though)
2 weeks later
what's embarrassing is providing miniature sized bread with full sized deli cuts
what are you supposed to do with this?
I rewatched the movie last night for the first time in 10 years or so and it was even better than I remember. Nearly every line in the movie is hilariously quotable.
Too bad this pinball looks bad. It’s like, how much more bad could this be? And the answer is none. None more bad.
Imagine if the Pulp Fiction team had this theme...
Is it going to be at the Ann Arbor show this weekend? I wouldn’t worry about though; it’s not a big college town.
1 month later
Quoted from Haymaker:These playfields do not use clearcoat, but rather have art sandwiched between levels. Mike claims that Haggis Pinball copied his playfield design.
Yeah well neither one of them invented putting the art between a large sheet of plastic and a wood substrate, so who cares? They probably came up with the idea on their own
Actually rereading it, he doesn’t have audio or video rights so nevermind to Airplane! (Or at least I hope). You pick a theme like that if you’re not doing a DMD/LCD because it’s so quotable. But if they can’t do audio or video? Who knows…
1 week later
I could see Homepin having bought The Princess Bride license if it wasn't Spooky...
It would also line up with the comment about a lot of different companies owning a part of it. A lot of people have owned the film and have had various stakes. Pretty sure the people who own the Spinal Tap film own the The Princess Bride film
Quoted from rosh:They already wasted spinal tap, I’d hate to see them also waste the princess Bride, and how would you do it with our clips or voice calls from the movie? Inconceivable!!
With the finest voice actors Mike can afford on Fiverr
Quoted from PanzerKraken:I didn't know Spinal Tap was huge in Taipei
[I thought this was the from movie, but this was from a Simpsons cameo]
David St. Hubbins: Well, after the Berlin Wall fell, our records started selling on the dismal side of the Iron Curtain, and naturally that gave us a boost.
Nigel Tufnel: We're very big in Bulgaria, and wassisname, the other garia.
David: Hungaria.
Nigel: Yeah, whoever.
Derek Smalls: I can't think of anyone who's benefited more from the death of Communism than us.
Nigel: Oh, maybe the people who actually live in the Communist countries.
Derek: Oh yeah, hadn't thought of that. I bet you're right.
Nigel: Yeah, on the other hand, each of us just bought our own soccer team. How many Hungarians can say that, eh?
3 weeks later
https://www.knapparcade.org/post/brand-new-pinball-specific-trademark
Seems like it could be Animal House
I'm fine with Home Pin having that theme lol
Quoted from koji:With no video/audio assets, it seems difficult. Would be great if they could pull in a known designer to work with the general layout etc.
you'll probably end up with something like a modern Firepower where you're trying to spell TOGA
7 months later
Quoted from RCA1:Maybe that's an intentional representation of the residue left over from an exploding drummer?
Or the world's worst hot glue glob job. In marketing photos. Oooffff...........
The positive is he isn’t lying about what it’ll look like
You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider treybo69.
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