You lost me at not knowing anyone that saw Wonka,,,

For the most part, I agree with your arguments other than the above statements. The original Willy Wonka is an amazing movie for it's time and a movie that all of us pinball owners grew up with. If it's on TV, I will probably watch it for a while. Brings me back to memories of the innocence of being a kid and seeing that movie for the 1st time. The Pirates franchise, which is worth over a billion dollars in movies, toys, and other revenues, is meaningful and enjoyed by many more than just a tween girl. Much of the innuendo and jokes are VERY adult.

For A.P. , if they are doing Hot Wheels and it's done well, my opinion is they will have the big winner they have been looking for. I had a shitload of hot wheels as a kid, and believe I would really enjoy this theme. Sorry if some of you played with Barbie's instead.

I have never seen Wonka, and never plan to. I had never seen a Pirates movie until after I got the JJPOTC machine, and I have seen 2 of the movies now. I wanted to get more about what was going on in the game is why I watched some movies, and they were not half bad.

I had Hot Wheels when I was very young, but by the time I was 12 I was operating heavy equipment for my Dad, loaders and excavators, so I grew up fast.

I do plan to get whatever AP's 3rd pin is, just because I like their first 2 so much.

Theme wise I would like to see a Gold Rush pin, with callouts from Parker and Tony Beets and loaded with excavators, or a Deadliest Catch pin.

Theres definitely some Hot Wheels fans out there, see em a lot in the flea market world. Theres a dedicated market of redline collectors, people spending big big money on the original 60s cars. Not a huge scene, but a scene.

Bigger is probably the guys into buying the current and modern stuff I'd guess. If you ever go to a Target or Walmart at a weird time, you may notice a few of these dudes... older guys go store to store trying get at hot wheels right after they are stocked, going after "treasure hunt" or rare releases. I think?

Want bad head? Wait till you come across a Sharkeys. Now that thing stands out. What was stern thinking with this one?

It wasn't my game or I would have painted it black and got some pool ball stickers or decals made.

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F This...
I want GO BOTS or micro machines!

I think you guys are seriously underselling the appeal of a Hot Wheels theme.

Writing off Hot Wheels as some toy for kids is pretty silly when we're on a forum dedicated to pinball machines...

Hot Wheels makes what, 80 billion dollars a year? There are millions of adults who collect them, millions, not hundreds. Adults collect all kinds of dumb crap in case you haven't noticed. Transformers, TMNT dolls, MTG cards, you name it. Just because you think collecting toys as an adult is dumb (I would tend to agree), doesn't mean it isn't a huge industry.

This only has to sell like 500 machines to be a hit right?

On top of that I still think the theme plays very well for kids/teens at fun centers/d&b's stuff like that. The game could be really fun as well if they utilize the hot wheels "ramps" to good effect.

I'm on a wait and see with this one I really don't understand the hate, and this is coming from a self-admitted hater.

PS this current concensus opinion that "theme is all that matters" is kinda stupid if you ask me. This is an idea pushed by marketers and advertising execs (cough kenada) because they live and die by the idea that most people have to be conned into purchasing something.

Let me ask you this, what sold Monster Bash, Attack from Mars & Medieval Madness.....arguably the top 3 games of all time. Theme?

but I digress...

Its not enough for it to simply be a 'thing' - you need the overlap between those that want said thing, and be willing to spend 6-10k on a pinball machine. You also have to look at how much they cross over their passion into other types of product.

I don't see a ton of hot wheels jackets/tees walking around town...

Sega heads that they had to use seems like the only explanation. Looks like the same head from Lost in Space or Godzilla.

Why they’re white? Who knows.

At least as many as Monster Bash, Attack from Mars, and Medieval Madness jackets.

I wear a Saturn Sky jacket, but that doesn't make it a good pinball theme.

I always preferred Matchbox vehicles to Hot Wheels as a kid, seemed to be more authentic looking. Kind of like the Coke vs Pepsi argument I guess.

Anyhow, is American Pinball really rolling out two new titles at TPF?

Ditto on matchbox.

Also, guys that buy and chase after 99 cent cars aren't the same guys buying $7000 pins.

Yes, Matchbox cars were great if you wanted to put them on a shelf and look at them.

Hot Wheels were great if you wanted to put them on a track and actually race them.

Johnny Lightning were great if you could not afford either of the other.

Not sure I follow your point there, I played the crap out of my matchbox vehicles. Don’t think at that age putting on shelf to look at was even something I could comprehend as a kid.

I used to be a hot wheels collector, around 2002... I remember they were kicking around the idea of a Hot Wheels pinball machine back then. Obviously never came to be. But they showed cabinet art and a playfield. They were pitching it to red line club members... So i wonder if they are re-using the same plans from back then.

At an arcade today. Is this AP?

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They were slow and the only track I remember had a long spring in the track that helped them along.

Hot Wheels came out because we wanted cars that moved fast.

None of which has to do with the points being discussed...

It's made by Adrenaline Games. www.aagames.com

My brother had this thing and it wasn't long before the spring in the track got all jacked and it would not work any more.

That’s pretty cool, I had a similar type track that had open wheel race cars and those babies were fast. If you didn’t manage the speed right they would go airborne big time in the turns!

We had the Tyco slot cars for that. They hauled ass.

I'm still trying to remember another track my buddy had, it was not Hot Wheels or Matchbox, but was like plastic tubes that snapped together and the vehicles rode on that.

AFX!! I had so much of that track as a kid. Fast, fun and you did have to control speed if you were on the inside of a curve or off you went.

I think those are what I had the tyco slot cars. They were fun.

Found it!
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This thing was dope.

Pretty sure this was one of the sets I had. Kind of forgot about them, wouldn’t mind buying one again!

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Sometime in the 90s, a local hobby store had all kinds of Tyco slot car sets, and we set up a mega track again.

So people who bought 99 cent Wonka/candy bars are not buying $9K JJP Wonka pins?

Can't have it both ways

No. Not made by American pinball/American arcade

Hot Wheels or not, the bottom line is we are all playing a game of point, counter point. Everyone has reasonable points for or against a Hot Wheels pinball. The real truth is none of us know jack shit about how well a Hot Wheels machine would sell or even play until they roll off the assembly line. Dollars and sales speak volumes, not a bunch of grade school conjecture.

Somebody thought the Corvair was a great idea, someone else told Ford the Mustang would never sell.

Apples to oranges....Wonka is a movie. Hot Wheels are a tangible item you play with.

Bulllllssssshit. Hot wheels has had animated series and a live action movie in the works.

You know what the good news is? If you don't like Hot Wheels and you don't like the pinball machine(if and when it comes out), no one is forcing you to buy one.

Isn't that a great option?

Sweet...probably drove them a little better too, that is unless there were some adult beverages being had!

Those cars were a blast!

I'm spending that much money, I'm going big. My next door neighbor had one of these in his garage.

The coincidence is one of the kids from the neighborhood I haven't see since the 70s that used to hang out there just stopped into my work.
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Enjoy your new machine!

There is a middle aged guy in my town that has 3 large tracks like this in his basement. Every week, he has a race day with a decent size group of guys with food and whatnot. I keep saying I will stop by sometime and never do.

You'd get some exercise with that thing... imagine having to run all the way to the end of the layout to put your car back on the track after wiping out on a curve. And then hurriedly putting it into the wrong slot! lol

.

You should, that would be interesting to see.

I definitely didn't like Houdini or Oktoberfest as a theme but this one definitely has me interested. I just don't think people should write it off before seeing it that's all. American has solid build quality so if they can do something fun with those trademark orange ramps, could be a winner. And at the end of the day isn't fun what pinball is all about?

Why the immediate hatred for a theme that isn't really that bad is it? It's light years ahead of the last 2 at the very least.

Well u should be.
Wheres The Road Warrior and Dune and Blade Runner, The Running Man. A new great Terminator pin based only on the first film, Robocop, Predator and Alien for fuck sake. I mean there's themes from our yute that aren't about kids and adventures at sea and new TV shows about kids at sea, whatever. Insult them, every chance u get.

A theme I’m amazed really hasn’t been mentioned much from that early 80’s era is the Gi Joe cartoon.

Not AP. It's "Adrenaline Amusements" - https://adrenalineamusements.com/index.php/products/hot-wheels

I was curious so I went to youtube for some gameplay footage; it looks like a terrible game. heh.

I heard this Hot Wheels rumor at least a year ago, from a very good source. Was told they are working with Mattel, and it may have cars in it that can't be found anywhere else, (made specifically for this machine).

Sounds good

Just stopped by and with 80 new posts , I thought something dropped....

Nope, still talking about AP's horrible theme choices.

Only if I like it........