Lots of folks, myself included, have lost time and money on startup pinball companies. I understand where the SNARK is coming from and fully empathize. Overpromise, under deliver. Everyone’s your pal when ordering, then crickets on updates AFTER missed timelines. Human nature is to suspect then react.

I’m in on an LV. Bet my ass I’ll be watching what PB do, and will react accordingly. First timeline missed. Got it. Instead of watching vids of unboxings I’m reading posts of disappointment.

This is why I’ll never by a RAZA. Companies a joke from a startup standpoint. Folks there may never see anything. Ever. PB may follow the same playbook? Hoping not, which is why I’m in.

Melissa at CoinTaker has the incoming tracking info. Their 2 pins are in transit if not already recently received.
She said 2 weeks ago it was a weather related delay. You kind of just have to consider the delay an "Act of God."

In legal usage throughout the English-speaking world, an act of God is a natural hazard outside human control for which no person can be held responsible.

"Do better?"

I'm sure CoinTaker needs a little time too. They may wish to present video of game play with some degree of professionalism. If you think about it they are taking on quite a lofty responsibility introducing the completed pin to the masses.

Would you rather see video from the manufacturer like Andrew would do or the product in its finalized form from the distributor?

In my opinion information from the distributor is more in sync with what you can expect to get in your home.

Perhaps PB have such confidence that the pin will speak for itself by letting it's introduction come from the last step in the supply chain, and a nice perk for one of their distributors.

Again, that Act of God thing. I suspect the delay occurred between the drop point and the rest of the journey to CoinTaker.

But who really knows? Lot's of things can go bad on a drop ship...
aliensdropship02 (resized).jpg

Can’t ship in winter because of weather and snow , can’t ship in summer because too many mosquitos

And forget about Autumn... the leaves are changing colors.

Ok, that was funny.

Man you guys are too much worrying about a pinball machine. I am glad I woke up today. If the pin finally shows up it will be great if not I get my deposit back and move on to the next one. Life is too short enjoy what you have.

Ok I’ll bite:

“Thank you all who have had faith in Pinball Brothers to place down deposits on our current SE. As you know manufacturing a new machine is an adventure. We don’t expect to have all these machines that have been reserved for 12 months. We don’t even expect to deliver any machines until June at the earliest. Why ? Well we are still working out a manufacturing process and the line still hasn’t been fully established. And finally we have to build 200 of these to meet even current demand. We have put together two pre production units for Coin Taker to have our distributors look it over and tell us what changes they think need to be made. They are in route and will arrive in 3 weeks. We still have to finalize the unit before build and sort out some play field and electrical issues. This may take us another 2-3 months. For those waiting for a LE, we understand your enthusiasm. We have to be focused for now on the SE and get them out which is why we haven’t announced a waiting list, ordering, featured for that yet. You can subscribe to our LE announcement email and when we are ready for pre-order you will be the first to know price and feature set.”

Look this isn’t about “big boy pants” as you put it. They announced the machine. They made it seem (or let others make it seem) imminent it was rolling off the production line. They started letting pre-orders take place. When you hype something, expect those you have hyped it to to have some expectations. As a company get ahead of that and set the expectations for them. Otherwise you are at the mercy of Snark. Basic company PR 101 which I have seen every single boutique pinball manufacturer fail in their own unique way at. The only difference between the Deeproot people and the Pinball Brothers people is a lack of arrogance.

I find it funny that in a fanboy thread if anyone (even someone who has ordered it) isn’t willing to march lock step with the fanboys then it becomes let’s go after that guy rather than ask whether the company could do a better job communicating, and whether the attention to communication reflects the same attention they put into hype.

Not sure if you're intentionally trying to be provocative or just trolling us "Fanboys."

Neither. You are just choosing to interpret what I wrote that way. Telling a company they can do better in how they communicate is not trolling. These machines are supposed to ship by the deposit posted here by June. Yet not a single game play video exists even of internal units, other than a single 30 second snippet yesterday that tells us the kinks are still being worked out. Anybody that has ever manufactured anything would be highly skeptical of those claims right about now, based on actual facts available on the ground.

311DC734-6421-4F73-A6A6-01211C73C6E4 (resized).jpeg

Worried ? Not at all. I can always get my money back if it doesn’t ship. Disappointed in the aftermath of the early deposit hype ? Definitely. There is a lather rinse repeat aspect to this we have all seen before. Gonna spend my next few months biting my nails each day wondering when it will ship ? Nope. I’ll sit patiently until June (before yesterday this was my first post in this thread), and if it doesn’t arrive (which is looking more unlikely by the day) then I’ll just kindly request my deposit back. Back to radio silence on my end. It takes too much effort to fend off fanboys who are happy to live in an information bubble of their own making

I don't know about that. Putting your words in quotes like it was actually from PB and the creative exaggerations kinda seems like something else.

do the fanboys in this thread even know who Andrew is? honestly, I doubt half of them do

My last post in this thread before draining (I’ve only made 5 total). So everyone can be happy again about any possible negativity escaping into the room. I’m sorry I ruined the party. Hey look I would love to sing the praises of the game. Release a full game play video (since you are supposed to be shipping it in volume in less than 3 1/2 months) and I would have lots to talk about. Instead pretty much crickets. The red flags are there if one looks and wants to see. I’ll revisit in 4 months and see where we are and whether we have all reached a happy place. I hope for the best for my own pre-order sake. I fear for the worst given what has been presented thus far. You may all resume your normally scheduled program.

Wait, you want us to go to another thread to talk about the exact same things you're talking about in your post? think before you speak. this is a public forum discussing pinball. Go start another thread by yourself if you want to be alone. smh. people have been burnt in the past by flaky companies who don't stay to their word. Fanboys only add to the fire by being in denial that this isn't the way to do proper business. If PB can't uphold their end on what was promised then we are more than welcome to let them know it on here. you're not even a moderator and nobody is saying anything that shouldn't be said.. for the rest of the fanboys in here.. Google Andrew Heighway so you at least have a clue what the history of this game title is... you seem very misinformed. or go back to alien themed decorations for your pinball rooms

Relax, you didn't ruin the party.

Hope you are right (as I have a LV number secured with Melissa).

But keep your eyes wide open - listen to words you typed vs pure blindness:

-grail pin
-unheard of price
-I AM CERTAIN
-bubble
-we aren’t running the company
-bug free game
-just want this thread to be positive

Be excited is cool but don’t be blind & certain. Nothing has happened yet.

If you have a pre-order in, then you have the right to say what you want in this thread. Good or bad. PB isn't doing themselves any favors by releasing teasers here and there 3 months after the fact.

If they are making the game better, I'm all for them taking their time. The complaints come from their statements in the podcast where they made it sound like everything was pretty much ready then. Now....most of us realized that probably wasn't the case and my pessimism saves me all the time in these regards. I'm a patient person, but I do not like being lied to. I'd rather you tell me the 'bad' news, than continue to put false promises out --- or in this case radio silence. I find it very strange that they keep putting out teasers for what was supposedly a finished product 2 months ago and has been for sale as long. The people who don't understand why people want to see a video..I don't even know what to say to you. It isn't so we can see the gameplay. It's so we can see there is even a product at all.

The only reason I'm even remotely positive about this at this time is because we shouldn't lose money if it falls though. I like what they've shown so far, but what they've shown is practically nothing in the grand scheme of things. If they'd said in December, or even January that they were not as far along as they thought, and it was going to be a few more months, then I would be less negative. That's not what is happening. They keep putting out teasers trying to...promote hype? I'm not even sure what their goal is at this point. I guess maybe they don't have a marketing/PR person.

I believe there is a product. 2 pins were dispatched to CoinTaker as promised by PB. So we wait.

“The-Sky-is-Falling”-Chicken-Little1 (resized).jpg

Coming to a home near you, Summer 2021.

I'm not trolling but is it possible to wait for the actual machine in stock and ready to ship before putting deposits months before and not seeing anything. Looks like this is the new way of doing business for a lot of cool pinball machines. Don't get me wrong I would love to buy an Aliens pin and a big lebowsky pin. These are dream themes.

But giving a refundable deposit months before on a pin left and right is not cool.

In the best case, a few months after, all my pins get produced and I have bought too many cool pins. Meanwhile a few months have passed

In the worst case....I get my deposit back and play the same game again of putting another deposit hoping for the best

Meanwhile I could have bought other pins

I understand some people have faith and hope for the best and maybe yeah they like gambling too

But as you can see i'm not the gambling type and i'm sure i'm not the only one.

Just a thought

On a positive note I really hope this game exceeds all expectations and gets produce on a large scale and if it does i will buy one and i'm sure we will share more about it.

He’s fucking irrelevant, thank god. But as the weeks move on just a different name.

Or unless these are delivering via hydrofoil.

I can already see how this is going to go after CoinTaker presents the pin:

Ooh, ah, ...that’s how it always starts. But then later there’s running and screaming.

Wait, apologies, wrong franchise.

After the initial relief and excitement of seeing the first 2 pins at CoinTaker people will immediately turn to, "Well where's my machine? When are they getting here? Have they shipped any yet?" And my favorite will be, "Do they even have a factory making them?"

Love it. All of it.

I will say I feel sorry for CT lol. All the people calling them constantly for no real reason. Even if CT gets those 2....we still don't know when/if they'll stay around long enough to get the orders completed. It's all a guessing game at this point.

Hahaha Zablon, beat you to it with my post above!

Seriously, whatever will be will be. I love the waiting period though. The anticipation, the pie in the sky dreams, all feel good healthy happy stuff.

And all this with no risks!!!

The only downside is what you eluded to and I agree, FOMO

To quote another franchise
yoda-quote-path-to-the-darkside-1024x538 (resized).jpg

Have no fear, PB are here!

Mmmmm Peanut Butter... Aliens

PBALIEN (resized).jpg

Snowed in and bored.....gonna go play my LV aliens...

Glad you have power! Gotta feel for the Texans without heat.

Generators are your best friends. It's crazy here with the rolling black outs. It was 3 degrees this morning.

3 degrees in Texas!? Thats nuts. Maybe Texas is the new michigan BTW where did you get your LV model? Through that guy in that other thread that ripped everyone off or something?

Saw a news report last night on the conditions in TX - rolling blacks makes it even worse. 3 degrees in Celsius is cold for me but in Fahrenheit - I'd feel like a brass monkey

No was joking....not even announced yet....grrrrrr. We need more info weekly...this once a month or more sucks....

Plus 30 MPH winds...feels like -13

Once you move passed worrying about the $1,000.00, they actually have been very forthcoming with info. Fans are going to get something cool. Be patient. Just around the river bend.

Low of -33° this Sunday. Grass is only green sitting patiently on the fence.

actually not in a rush just excited for info as i don't even have room till our house gets finished.

One milestone at a time.

Copied from the dark side....hahahaha

https://pinballbazaar.co.uk/product/alien-pinball-machine-sv-edition-pinball-brothers/?attribute_payment-options=Full+Amount&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIl5_sxM_x7gIV0d_tCh17bw_WEAQYAiABEgJZa_D_BwE

I see the words "In Stock" hmmm.....go with comments.

They list RAZA as preorder so interesting they would say in-stock. But they also list Alien with a deposit as a payment option

Look man, I just need to know one thing, where they are!

We won't be getting anything before the USA, and we have updated to be explicit that it is a pre order only, which for Alien is refundable. You can check us out on the PB website as an authorised distributor.

https://www.pinballbrothers.com/alien/

SPOT on man. Couldn’t agree more. There are a few on here I swear could be pre-teens the way they act.
I stopped reading this thread a month ago because of the Debbie downer, crybaby, I want it now nonsense.
I see it has only gotten worse.

Always funny to see peoples amazingly adult contributions to a thread consisting of whining about people whining and telling others how childish they are and that they aren't going to read the thread anymore until it's more positive *footstomp* That's some amazingly adult content. It's in nearly every thread. I think the ONLY thread that doesn't have negativity is the Game Room thread.

I look once more!

This is from a recent post in the "Game Over" thread. Maybe some of you have read these, they're the rules for the original machine as compiled by the game owners and approved by the Pinball Brothers since the original really did not have much information about the rules (I am repeating what I have read in the other thread.) I am so glad they are remaking this game and I'm getting one!

https://images.pinside.com/d/39/d1/d39d17aa279f8afe6ffa3782a58b751f1440ae0e.pdf

This will be very interesting, who's writing the new rulesheets for the new ALIEN.
I guess, the rules are very similar to the original machine, but there're some details that have to be modified or descriped differently. Also some pictures of the playfield have to be changed and it's unsure if the menu and all the settings remain the same.
But I promise, a rulesheet like that made for the original machine was unique in the entire Pinball world.
Now it's up to PB what they get by.

I’m pretty sure they will figure something out.

Be sure they will copy your excellent work and use it.
So far PB used many good ideas from the community and bring it in the remake. That is for sure.
On the other hand they allowed a new software for us. Thats fair.
But I miss some sentences that they took over several nice ideas. I am sure they read here on pinside !

Good point ... sparaparts will be available. I am still happy with my Heighway Alien but also looking forward that many peole can join a NIB machine with a normal pricing. Not that crazy stuff other manufacturers do.

In case anyone is not following the other Alien thread, there was a great post by David Thiel regarding the dubbed music in the above video but more importantly that PB has paid him for the original HP contract

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/is-cgc-going-to-manufacture-alien-pinball/page/56#post-6164537