Had a very enjoyable evening last night in NYC. Met up with K-Diddy for drinks and then over to his crib to play Magic Girl. K Man is a generous host and makes a pretty mean Manhattan. Brenda didn't show but one girl in the room was plenty. Bubba presided as expected.

Magic Girl is...is...far more developed than I anticipated. There's a lot of there there, even if it isn't fully integrated. Oh, what might have been. It's gorgeous and it flips fine. Nothing special is going on in the game mech wise, because some things are obviously missing and the magnets aren't wired up. But the game shoots and flows better than expected. It has music and call outs and an LCD with cool visuals and a nice blinky light show.

It's not the abject mess a lot of people hoped it would be, but it still needs a lot of work to be a real game with any kind of potential. Kind of amazing it exists at all, all things considered. Did I mention that it's visually stunning?

Kudos to K-Pop for having the nads to get one and open the box. And to give me a few plays. He'll be keeping the plays to a minimum until he has some insight into replacement parts and playfields. I can't say I blame him.

I thought I'd posted this in my first post. I didn't really take many because CK's got all those videos up on You Tube, that really tell the story.

It was really cool to see it, because of the back story, but I can't believe the furor right now in the resale market.

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Well, I'm pretty sure the cocktail was created and christened in Kansas, right?

They aren't missing much. There aren't that many shots, and nothing cool happens because magnets are unwired - or missing - and there is no other "big toy" to be found.

The left orbit is nice and smooth, the ramp is makeable but a little slow unless you really nail it. It can feed both flippers. The twisty/curvy returns are cool.

The center shot/spinner is like butter, and feels great to hit, but nothing exciting happens when you hit it.

I can't remember hitting the right orbit. I tried but the Manhattans were flowing by then. I guess it could be a brick shot, but it might be nice and smooth, like the left.

Pops are lively and well calibrated. Flippers are strong and true.

It just really needs more toys and properly integrated code. Without that, it's pure novelty.

LOL! That's what I told my wife when she asked me why the hell I was standing like that. I told her something like "one needs a strong athletic stance", like Lymon!, which is something I overheard someone say once at PAPA.

Not that I never play in that position, but it may have been exaggerated due to glare. The steepness of the game - I'm pretty sure these ARE made with JPops patented "deeper cabinets" - causes more glare than normal. I seem to recall getting a better, clearer view of the playfield angled down like that. Either that or I'm just a dork!

The best Manhattan is made with Rye whiskey, IMO. I'm not picky, but in this age of the "scratch cocktail" getting what you like isn't that hard.

Re: Magic Girl, I'm really surprised there isn't more discussion here - questions- around how it plays. I guess people prefer the drama of the JPop thread. Frankly, I do too!

I can tell you that you don't need a "tournament player" to judge Magic Girl for playability although I have competed at PAPA and Pinburgh and played league in NY a few years back). It will be enlightening to get a report on what's fixable in the game as it stands. I think Canada Dry might be talking to Eddie (of Modern Pinball fame) to look into it. Eddie does some nice restoration work and can probably venture a professional opinion.

Well, after reading Shiny's unboxing story in the main thread I'm beat. I mean, shit, it's not surprising but it's pretty clear now that owners are going to get DIFFERENT games! In different states of build quality and even parts! I'd say Chris got lucky, based on Shiny's game, but who the hell knows what the mean is? Chris should cash in while the getting is good!

And Shiny is revealing things I didn't even realize were there. A Saucer? Where the hell is that? I mean, if you can't see it, does it even matter? Like an inaccessible target under a ramp assembly?

Bottom line it was exciting - and a special thing - and fun as hell to play MG, and there is potential, but there's also the reality that it's a visually stunning incomplete clusterfork with no guarantees.

Seeing Whysnow's Alien puts MG in perspective. And you can get 4 of them for the going rate of MG! Assuming Heighway can deliver 4.

Unreal.