Yeah, a band we listened to back in the 90s, but most everybody is sick of them by now [removed]

I give them the equivalent of a Chrysler Sebring.
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noted.

Don’t fall for it.

For a guy who is always goin on about looking forward, he’s eternally stuck in 2021.

I spaced off FF too. I actually think it's a decent game and don't hate the theme...however, I think it plays very similar to GZ and I like GZ better. For the rest in his list though - and I'm probably a minority - I like the themes, but I do not like the gameplay that much. GOTG was a huge letdown because I love that theme and would have been a buy. I think many people can get over a theme they don't like if the gameplay is there. Granted the majority of us can't own every game we like so it has to be a very good mix. What I'm saying is, I would probably still buy a Barbie themed pin if the game play was phenominal.

Yeah, a car that came out in 1994 and was never that great especially after one of its major components failed, and you don't see them on the road anymore.

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Can you put your argument in the form of a boat?

I'm trying to think of one where the engine exploded because of using the wrong fuel.

Who's got it better, team cars, or team boats:

Cars:
Mustang
Corvette
Nitro Ground Shaker

Boats:
JJP Pirates
Black rose
Popeye

The Sopranos has the Stugots boat and a toy truck. The clear winner

Don't forget the vault!

Team airplanes, bro.

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I think a lot of us wouldn't be here if Wizard of Oz never came out, or Keith Elwin was not birthed. We talk about themes all day and all night because we can't think of what that great new thing in a pinball machine is that we want.

I will say this, Insider Connected is not designed in a way that would attract the kiddies, it's a online thing designed by old farts that can't even follow a basic template that others have already laid out for them.

Perhaps not even if Wizard! had never came out. A lackluster game at best but started this whole licensed theme business that mattered more than actual gameplay.

That's a killer game

Team airplanes has to take on team space

Air:
Sky divers
Airborne
F-14 tomcat

Space:
Space station
Transporter
Black hole

what I'm hearing is people are desperate for Planes, Trains, and Automobiles The Pinball Adventure

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Not only pinball but everything else around you is moving towards death and disorder. It's the law of entropy.

Werner Herzog Pinball

These factories all exist due to up front sales…”wait n see sales” just cause money bleed. Something nostalgic or beloved guarantees those up front LE sales. If Stern (or whoever) sells every limited/collector model up front, they can sell zero of the “lesser” models & still profit - especially if they have catalog games still selling.

New movies could suck - no one is attached to them & won’t buy up front. B/W wasn’t in the home market - but Drac, Johnny Mnemonic, Congo were kinda flops cuz the movies sucked. You don’t know if 1000 sales are there for a modern music pin. You know there are 1000 hardcore Rush fans who will buy immediately.

I'd like to start comparing pinball to horses.

Some win The Kentucky Derby, and others pull up totally lame.

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My wife had a sebring convertible and it had nearly 300k on when it hit the junkyard.

You got her to stick with a Chrysler Sebring for 300k miles? You sir are a magician and a hero among men.

Viper
https://pinside.com/pinball/machine/viper-night-drivin

We run cars into the ground. We sold the sebring to her uncle w/ about 190k on it and they put another 100k on it. Only issue we ever had with it was the lower right A arm on the front ball joint failed (fortunately while she was in a parking lot). Bought a pickle fork (which I've never used again) and replaced the assembly in the parking lot.

In the last 20 years she's had two different cars. We replaced the sebring with an '03 Liberty Renegade (bought used) which she ran to about 180k and right now she's rolling in her 2013 Edge Sport (again bought used) which is around 130k now.

The Liberty made a premature exit (she loved that thing) due to the incompetence of a repair shop. I made only one repair to the Liberty (drivers window control arm) and later it needed a new radiator. The repair shop did not tighten the radiator stopcock when they installed it and it fell out of the radiator within 60 miles. Ended up warping the heads so we sold it as is.

There's just better things to spend money on than a new(ish) car ever few years.

Is it though? People talk a lot about how a 15 year old can't buy a pinball machine, but there's every reason to plant the seeds now so they eventually consider one.

This right here, insider connect, while very cool, is poorly integrated to other apps, clunky features/achievement tracking.

Heck, can you imagine if it tied to twitch or discord and machines came with a cradle on the head to set you phone in and added a lens or something so you could stream your games on the most popular video game streaming platforms without elaborate camera setups?

Being apart of the 'young' generation i was curious to see the post but i'm left a little flabbergasted. I understand the OP's sentiment in the post but I disagree. I don't think anything from our generation is culturally relevant enough to entitle itself to a big-name pinball release. Maybe an Oppenheimer Pinball. Maybe a Barbie pinball.. But aside from that i can't think of anything in recent years that may of had as much of a significant. Taylor Swift fans would play TS machines only because it had the Taylor Swift name attached to it. And i don't see anyone lining up for a Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Or Ice Spice pinball.

I'm perfectly contempt with old white guys picking old white guy pinball themes, They're usually pretty good unless you count Punny Factory.

The kiddos like Oppenheimer? What the hell.

IDK maybe i'm unique? but i play most of my location pinball in the dirty basement of a late night coffee shop, and there are ALWAYS people on cute dates dumping quarters in trying out different machines? But this place is like a hidden gem of the the days of pinball past.

This thread reeks of "I'm not like other kids! I like yesteryear! Born in the wrong generation!"

Guys- you don't need to prove to pinside that you're into the Allman brothers. The eternally low-hanging fruit of Taylor Swift, Ice Spice, Musk, and [insert gen Z interest] is not as thought provoking as ya think.

-24y/o.

it's the raunchy sex scene that they're all talking about it...hottest blockbuster sex scene since Titanic

I am become dong, destroyer of pants.

Well i'm not an ambassador or spokesperson for the young generation. But When Oppenheimer/Barbie came out i remember it being a pretty big thing on social media and in the friend circles at the time. Now mind you i'm 20. I have little to no idea what the kiddo's want. I know my nephew screams about roblox and does fortnite dances but that's about all the insight i have into the kids interests these days.

I hope i'm not included. my post wasn't intentionally written as a 'born in the wrong generation, i'm not like the other girls!' esk post.

We have the youth fighting each other....they are playing right into our boomer hands!!!

Our run of dinosaur themes shall continue unabated!

Nah I just like to bitch and moan.

Now I finally realize why you're always yelling "boom" during tournaments

They are just trying to avoid downvotes.

I guess you've never seen Spinal Tap?

I have, last time i saw it was awhile ago though.

Yep, I’m betting the Gen Z Zoomers will be buying Pinball machines instead of cars. Much more environment friendly.

And much cheaper than an EV. Transportation? F it. Electric bikes to work and Uber for everything else.

I'm not seeing the brewery model lasting, like somebody else said earlier housing is expensive and factors into people foregoing pinball ownership in lieu of the house expenses, guess what else is expensive? $9 beers. That shit is ridiculous.

People are drinking less too. Therefore pinball is doomed.

They won't have to buy them.

They will end up with basements full of them once all the GenXrs croak.

Then they can reminisce how their parents used to go on and on about how great the 80s were. They might even throw on a Goonies shirt in their honor.

Weird...I'm drinking more...lol.

Well, let me be the hero here. I'm going to save pinball!

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I pointed out to my dad the last time we saw that scene the softcover book Del’s reading is “The Canadian Mounted”! He loves the movie but never noticed.

It was rereleased as a trivia guide.

Hilarious!

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Time Machine to 2008 release of Batman for me. Make sure stern closes and this alone prevents the time paradox of yuppies with money and nothing to spend it on as they moved from cars to cocaine to women and now
Will ruin pinball buying up everything and forcing out a generation of helpers that they don’t know they will need when they can’t diagnose or solder a smd component with hot air

Long live 5k. Big bang bars and 4500 mm. Yes I took axes to machines when I was a tech cause no make
Money no more

The biggest tragedy is what happened to people like. I was a tech for 20 years. Helped out others for free or low cost
With my skills. This in turn supported the hobby. New people came tons of cash no skills other than open wallet. Essentially sucked up all the low to mid grade quality games us good guys bought again helping others. So all these games
Got sucked up and turned into high end restos and pushed people out that where
Good people. Same thing with cars can only find half decent 65 mustang for so long to restore before your buying up survivors that the average joe can afford and convert them into crazy 15k games
The user will likely horde away and play 10 games on its whole life. The demographic changed hard core and all the old timers who helped everyone changed into what we have now. It went from niche tight groups to what it is and it’s not better. Especially since most
Of the folks like me are gone or don’t bother helping people in its current form.

Won’t get into what you people have allowed stern to become with this mentality. My opion of course but it is fact I watched it happen. No people and money might have revived pinball but it also flipped it upside down and not in a good way compared to what it was.

100% will always be built not bought. But most now are not self sufficient and even fill their games with dollar store merch and want praise. To much money is most often a bad thing.

Sadly the damage is done. Stern now produces machines at high cost marketed towards people who are not qualified to own them basically. If you have to call a “guy” for whatever purpose exploitation will happen and that’s where we are with stern. How many of you new people have heard Gary stern rant on about the 3 legged stool? Well if you haven’t you should.

I digress. Love the games. Loved shopping games the correct way for 300 bucks to help people. Loved repairing crt fly backs so people didn’t bastardize with a lcd. Old breed I guess.

Shout out to Borygard still want to fly me out to shop that collection? I will honor my 2005 quote

Pretty much but still sucky cause no mid level games left now they are all hep look what I have and you don’t machines