A Thunderbird follow on!!!

So they are making parts now? I don't think they could get a Porsche the car company license so it must be a test or homebrew pin? It looks like a pin cabinet but is it? Possible redemption game?

Pin cabinet with a cover on it .You can tell by the bottom how it swirls a bit .

There’s a tool case for a hydraulic hole digger .A bit odd .

I’m guessing a router? This is a fun mystery perfect for a Monday morning wake the brain up .

Interesting bracket on the right side of the control panel .

Also looks like a amplifier on that control panel would you agree ?

New Bally Tranformer assemblies...

Nice.Any idea what this would be ?

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Homepin were making parts long before Thunderbirds was released.

I think it’s smart, you have a huge loyal amount of car enthusiasts for certain models / makes. Dodge Viper, Corvette Sterns Mustang and now this. I’d imagine a Fast & Furious Pin will eventually follow... doesn’t F&F9 come out in May.... hmmm

Class of 1812 was originally supposed to be a licensed Porche pin, but the theme was changed at the last second.

Was Checkpoint a Porsche licensed pinball?

That's a great question. Porsche has always closely guarded their Brand and IP. Generally they do not license anything except for branded merchandise. They even copywrited their Porsche font.

Checkpoint only has drawn images of the cars on the machine. There are no crests, names, logos, model numbers, or anything that says Porsche on the machine or in the literature. So there is something weird about the 'licensing' here.

Around 89-90 was a low point in Porsche's existence. They were transitioning manufacturing, design, leadership and dealing with the remnants of a world wide recession and currency fluctuations that killed their sales. At the time they were selling about 30% of the volumes throughout the 80s.

Maybe Data East lawyers thought they could sneak this by? Or there was a weak link in the marketing team that allowed the license, I'd love to know the real story.

I am a Porsche collector and really wanted this machine when I got into the hobby. Its too bad the pin was a one shot wonder, as it didn't stay very long.

This is probably a really small run for a corporte event, give away contest thing, or for future autoshow, showroom props for an exclusive dealer or dealer skiff...

As revealed in the Pinball Magazine Newsletter:
While there hasn't been much news to report on Homepin since they moved to Taiwan almost one year ago, Mike and his team basically had to start up all over again. While doing that, Porsche, who is very big in China, ordered four of these pinball games that will be taken to various car shows in China to promote the new Porsche Taycan model. The games basically function as a marketing tool to harvest email addresses via a WeChat logon. There are no plans for a commercial production of the game.
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As the above (intentionally obscured) picture shows, the layout of the game is very simple compared to modern games and reminds quite a bit of the layout of Firepower. The playfield features two droptarget banks that spell TAY and CAN, three standup targets on the right that represent Solar Power, Hydro Power and Wind Power, three kickout holes that can lock balls for multiball, three popbumpers, two flippers and a spinner.
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The playfield has no rollover micro switches, but uses optical switches instead, as can be seen in the above close-up of the left out- and inlane. These opto switches use a special circuitry to prevent them from responding to other light sources, such as daylight.
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The backbox, not shown, contains a blue dotmatrix display as well as a 27-inch LCD. The DMD is mainly used for scores, names and simple animations, while the LCD is used to display commercials/advertising.

The opto switches are interesting. Vacation America did something similar I believe. The light shines and the reflection in the ball illuminates the receiver.

Looks like he's using SMDs on a PCB to light the slingshot

This should become very collectible !

Oh very interesting. I also didn’t know home pin moved to Taiwan. Is there any interview or info on that move?

I dunno the layout is too simple. No ramps? In a car racing pin?

Pinball still super new to china. Low expectations. Id expect a lot of flashy lights, rolling commercials on the bg and gameplay a very distant 3rd in priority and focus point

A lot of time and money spent on a simple pin just made for car shows. I wonder if they would make a fully featured version if it was well received by the public?

Apparently, the layout plays very fast.
Pinball is practically unknown in China. People have no idea what it is and what's fun about it. I think, the best way to get them introduced to pinball is by starting of with simple layouts and rules, and build from there. Basically start with games with a simple objective that is fun to shoot but difficult to master. Forget about wizard modes and all that. Keep it simple. Several EM game layouts come to mind that could do great as solid-state games, with a great soundtrack and voice calls, especially when themed for the Asian market.

Looks a lot like Firepower

Yes, I see that now....we are not the primary audience. He's definitely a rebel of a man....but in the future he should pay for some design work.

I think he'll just steal this stuff, like he has mostly everything else!!! Haha

Not defending or attacking anyone, but the pinball industry used to have a tendency of not caring, or getting upset, with layouts being 'borrowed' by companies in territories they didn't sell themselves. E.g.: all the Brazilian pinball games that heavily leaned on Williams, Bally and even some European designs. At some point, Bally even copied a Gottlieb playfield layout almost 1 : 1. Nobody complained about that back in the day and the Brazilian knock-off games are even rather collectible for pinball enthusiasts these days.

I think, the best chance any startup pinball company in China has is looking at what worked in pinball in the past and try to adept that to the Asian market. If that results in a new market and more pinball in general, I don't see the problem. With a bit of luck existing pinball companies may benefit from the Asian market (finally) opening up (which still remains to be seen).

If pinball ever does “take off in China”, heaven help us all.
With a population of 1.4 billion people and over 100 cities with populations over a million it would change things quite a bit if they ever got a pinball scene there.

yah pinball would have quite a journey as most ppl are getting their gaming thru phones/mobile. even home consoles are not very strong. it is mobile first with a penetration rate that is extremely dense as most gamers are playing mmos that are going on for years. They like the ongoing adventure. pinball would need to be very different as life moves at a very different pace in asia.

Ha, yeah, Data East (Stern) made their entire business by ripping off Williams....they even got sued a few times.

If pinball ever gets some traction in Asia, I suppose it will be in arcades, and other places where people play coin-op machines, not so much by people buying a game for their home. Pinball might actually be a great escape from people's phones. Or they may come up with cool ways to integrate phones and pinball that we haven't thought of yet.