No WOZ, got to take a picture with Gary Stern though. X-men Pros everywhere. Nice to get there on a Friday and get a chance to walk around and step right up to play a game. Will post picture later as it is a crappy phone pic.

Saw the P3 game. Neat mechanics, but no artwork or back glass.

You should've drove up earlier. I had the space shuttle doing laps around me as I was driving over the GG bridge!

Haven't made it to the show yet. Missed the turn looking up at the shuttle.

and so it continues….

Jack speaks tomorrow, so if it is going to show up I would expect it then.

Jack said the WOZ will be available to play tomorrow and Sunday. He was arriving tonight and speaks tomorrow. I do not know what time WOZ will be there.

Just say the game is awesome, l'll expect nothing less....

More importantly: I heard a horrible rumor...spoilers below.













































...no one brought a Future Spa. What a travesty if true!

No Future Spa......WOZ on Saturday and Sunday......great set up again this year. Probably 5 or 6 Xmen pro......not too many DMD titles but obviously a great line up of EMs and early solid states. Tourney games are AFM, Starship Troopers, Space Station, Space Invaders, and 2 EMs

WoZ has arrived and will be around tomorrow.

looking forward to some great vids.... lets hope the game is finished and working 100%

oh can someone confirm the shipping date????

How about this one ?

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/woz-confirmed-shipping-date

This is my biggest complaint. PPE is charging as much as CAX, yet they are not bringing enough of the games the majority of people want to play. There are lines for each of the DMD games, yet one of every 20 EM games is being played by someone.

lol that was my thread.... but there are some non believers......

Don't worry it will change next year as there won't be any EM games..., actually there won't be any DMD games either as this is the last year for PPE for a while.

I agree though, I like CAX better because of the newer games plus arcade games just adds to it.

I bet there were some disappointed people that paid 100 bucks a pop to play the WOZ on Thursday that wasn't there.
I would like to see and play this game, maybe next year.

Video finally!

Kevin

To be fair, they responded to these complaints in a big way in past years. People complained loudly on RGP that there wasn't enough DMD's, so they made a big effort to get folks to bring their home games (PPM has mostly older games). It worked. People brought a bunch of DMD games. I believe many were brought to the east bay first, then taken to the show by PPE folks. It must have taken a lot of work (and expense). This year they may have cut back on hauling other people's games. Wouldn't surprise me in the least. Hauling all those games across the bay is a lot of work.

I did find it amusing that so many would complain about not enough DMD games at a show like PPE. Their goal is to teach folks about the history of pinball. When you go to a show like that, you should expect more older games. On the other hand, the PPM is the only place in the bay area getting all the new Stern's. A museum getting all the new games. Go figure.

Did you see it advertised anywhere that the game would be there on Thursday? I sure didn't. All I saw was Saturday. And I was looking closely.

Ball lock animation is great as is the sound, but I am worried about the power of the flippers.... looks like a pita to get the ball up the ramps... Thanks for the video btw.

The center ramp is tight and needs to be a good shot

The left ramp (really a VUK to the castle) has a drop target that you have to hit three times before you can get to the castle. That is one reason there looks to be a lot of rejected shots. Once the three hits to the drop target are accomplished the target stays down according to a write up from Pinball News (they took the video).

pinballninja.com

Thanks for posting cfh....great overview

Looks to me like direct shots from the flippers to the center of the ramp are still not even making it up? For instance the shots at 2:00 mark. It looks like it needs to be more of a "perfect" shot than just a "good" shot. Just saying... And that is with a game that must be set up to 6 degrees or less based on the way the ball is floating. As I said before this should not be tough to fix...and I am sure they will.

Awesome video Clay, thanks for posting. TONS of old games I've never had the pleasure to try yet!!

I'm more of a DMD guy, but I really want to add a nice EM to my collection someday.

Thanks for the video, Clay! Looks like a super cool show. You gotta love that color DMD in the TAF!

I got a chance to play WOZ and I have to say, I dont think the ramp shot is a power issue at all. It is an accuracy issue, you have to hit the ramp right. I think the ball loses a lot of its momentum if it hits at the wrong angle. I made numerous shots up the ramp and I could tell when it was going to come back to me right when I saw it hit the ramp.

Overall very interesting playfield layout, I liked the flow. The game definitely has an amazing build quality. I can't have an opinion on rules as there is still a lot missing and the game was set to two ball to give everyone a chance to play.

This is great to hear. Is it at gorgeous in person as it is in the videos?

George Gomez's seminar should be wrapping up in the next hour or so. Hoping for someone to post info on some tidbits he might have given out for the next release/releases (if any).

I couldn't disagree more with you on this. If they are saying that they are representing the history of pinball in general, then they need more solid state games. Pinball machines with flippers started in the late 40s and solid state started in the late 70s. That means that the history of pinball is roughly divided in half between EM and solid state. (I admit I am ruling out many of the preflipper machines, but the PPM doesn't even keep many of those around) PPE is definitely not half and half, there is over 3/4ths EM at PPE.

Also, if they were staying true to a historical perspective, they would have a larger diversity of manufacturers, even within the solid state/DMD. Their one System three game was Cactus Jacks (don't even think it was theirs), they had a couple Data East alphanumeric, but I can't think of any DMD, the one Sega was off the entire time, and the Alvin G wasn't theirs. Pretty much every modern game there was Bally/Williams, or a Stern.

DMD is a major part of the history of pinball and most DMD games are old enough to be thought of as history now. The first DMD was released in 1991 and the majority of DMD games were made between that point and 1999. That means the vast majority of games are 13-21 years old. At what point do they become old enough to deserve a place at the museum?

It was inferred in a PM, I didn't make the show this year so there were 4 less DMD games.
I will make Pin A Go Go so maybe WoZ will be there.

No.

Gomez didn't really say he was going to do Avengers, he just kind of chuckled about it. He did however make a joke about- "If we were really good detectives, you would see that the cover of my sketch pad is of 'The Dark Knight Rises'..." which elicited some mixed reactions. The best part of George's lecture was the brainstorming session of designing a new pin. Basically Gomez sketched in real time the ideas we were firing off about a (updated) haunted house themed machine. The sketch of the PF and lists of things to go into it were then given to PPM to use as an auction tool to raise money for the new museum. It was a nice gesture and a fun time for sure!
It gave us a little taste of what happens when the pro's go to work in the morning to build a new game. Is it too late to change careers?

A Dark Knight Trilogy LE would be a huge cauldron of win for me.

Man Binks,
You sure have a bunch of buckets, cauldrons, containers, etc... lying around your place, huh? You aren't Gargamel, or possibly Miracle Max in real life, are you???

A magician never reveals his secrets.

What the! Dark Knight. That would be even better. Oh dear god please dont make that and Avengers. I need a little break between buying pins...

No, they're not. Look at virtually every collection here, including your own. People are buying up DMD games as fast as they can. They don't need to learn the history of those games. They already know it.

A generation is 30 years. How about we start there? I understand why they responded to the complaints about the show. It's their biggest fundraiser every year. Not a lot of history is being taught over the weekend. They responded and the show grew. Everybody was happy.

However, when the only location getting all the new Stern's in an area of 7 million people is a non-profit museum, that ain't right. Virtually none of the new home buyers flooding the hobby are playing on location regularly. That's the problem. The hobby is evolving from communal activity to a private activity. This is a very sad time in pinball's history IMO.

I have no beef whatsoever with the PPM folks. I play the new games there regularly and consider some of the people there my friends. What disappoints me is what folks are missing by not playing on location.

Thanks for posting the video! Great stuff.

Didn't Gomez already make the Dark Knight? Not sure that I'd want him to make another one of those considering how the first one turned out (bad voices, bizarre toys, software and design issues)

Sunday lines today weren't that bad at PPE.

Was sad to not see Gary or George there for Sunday, but I'm sure they have a busy schedule this week and had to fly back.

WOZ went down for a bit for maintenance, but was up afterwards for more plays from the public.

Light traffic on the B/W games (some using color DMD's), and lines weren't too long on the newer Sterns (3 X-men Pros on free play).

Finally had a chance to get some good plays on CSI. Damn good game!

Afterwards, I must have spent close to 5 hours just playing AC/DC Premium (rotating out to make sure other people experienced its awesomeness). "Back for more?" I don't know about it being better than Spiderman, but godamn, ACDC pinball is addictive as hell. The game is brutally evil at times with the drains, but you keep coming back. *Angus Young chasing devil girl in replay cutscene*

I'm not sure how to put this without sounding like a jerk (well...that's most of my posts ;P), but straight up: showing up to PPE expecting more DMD/modern titles than EM is like going to CAX hoping you won't see any arcade games in the mix. Every show has it's own vibe/physical make up and PPE has always been very heavy with the *old* stuff that you just don't see a lot of anymore. The JuJu folks do what they can to cover the bases, but they will never win the entire Internet over (can anyone?).

If you want a lot less EM in your future shows, check out PAGG. If you don't like the line up there, it's the entire Bay Area/SacTown community's fault...but it's all for charity, so I wouldn't publicly complain about it too much.

It's as addictive as hell is exactly right!

I swear I can't stop playing it. Most addictive pin that I've ever owned, surpassing IM.

Got to see / play some games I hadn't played in up to thirty years. Some I'd only seen once before.
Had a blast playing Genie, Embryon, Laserball, Pharaoh, Galaxy, Hercules, Meteor, Circus, Flash Gordon, and Wizard.
Played a few games I never saw before: Star Race, Solar Ride, Dragon, and a lot of other EM's and imports I'd never seen.
... also played a few stinkers I had forgotten how bad they were: Disco Fever, Spectrum, Road Kings.

Bout to call fattrain and ask him if I can rent out a living space underneath his AC/DC Premium machine

PPE was definitely better this year. (for me at least...) Even though it's an EM heavy expo, I still had time to play plenty of DMD's on Friday and Sunday. Saturday was all about the EM's and I got to play some titles that normally wouldn't be on my radar. It was really awesome to finally see/play Retro Pinball's 'King of Diamonds'. The game was so well made and it of course, plays waaay faster than the original; the clear coated PF looked amazing. If I had more room and the price was a bit cheaper, I'd get this in a heartbeat. Like drbond, I too caught up with the earlier DMD Sterns. CSI was a bit better than I remembered and I actually liked Monopoly a little more this time around. I got to play High Roller Casino with TDA and he trounced me by hitting 777 on the slot machine jackpot for something like 40+ million! I thought we were playing AC/DC for a second...
The PPM staff did a great job again this year with the variety of activities throughout the three days.
I was hoping to win the X-Men pro while on the drive home but alas, they did not call. It was also nice to hear about Jack's $50,000 challenge to PPM (They get a WOZ free for the Museum if they hit the goal!). I didn't get to stick around to see how much they raised so far, hopefully a decent amount. I believe the deadline is September 30th.

Here is a pic of this year's show floor.

IMG_1616.JPG