honesty > perfection

NSFW, but what the heck.

What's the timeline on seeing the backglass and playfield art?

They tried to have BG ready for Colorado. I've heard they would like to reveal BG at SFGE next weekend. Don't know if that's still in the cards and if that's the LE, the regular or both. I haven't heard an ETA on the PF.

I am really curious too. Im not sure on the theme, but I can certainly imagine some cool toys.

Hi there. Was talking to my wife about getting a Rob Zombie pinball. Was telling her about AMH selling out and the limited runs. I know it JUST sold out, but does anybody know what the resale market for an AMH can fetch right now? Above original asking price? Are there even AMH's for sale out there or is everybody holding on to theirs? Thanks!

-TheCreature

Charlie:
"Once we show the playfield and art, deposit of $1,000 confirms your game, NOTHING more until your game is done. You've got a couple months at my best estimate."

I believe it's worth $10k now.

Something tells me, working with Rob Zombie is a whole lot better than FOX!

YES PLEASE!!!

Not til christmas

I've seen 4 for sale, but I think three of them were pre-sales....in otherwords buy the place in line. And those sold for no loss, AFAIK. I bought one of them before they sold out just to help out a pinsider, and got a little discount to offset shipping. The fourth one I'm not sure if it was out of box or not...it was a few months ago and it sold within the day.

For now if you can find someone to give up their spot you could probably pay the original 5995. You might even be able to work out a deal with an AMH owner that's near the end of the line...they could use their spot to buy Zombie, then sell you their AMH if they didn't want two spooky pins.

They are available used for below NIB price. I have seen a few change hands on this forum. Just search for AMH in the for sale forum. Its a great game, but no game is for everyone.

Emailed and on the list yesterday. Very quick responses from Charlie and Kayte....especially considering how busy they were with the show and travel. Good communication, not taking all your $ until ready to ship (deposit req is appropriate to me), and planning a build quantity that is realistic. Their business model looks good, plus they delivered and backed up game one with customers sounding satisfied. Looking forward to the progress on this one!

I wonder if this launch was given any thought at all. I bought my AMH from Joe, so when I saw the announcement, I emailed Joe to secure my LE. He emailed back & said the I got a machine. Today I got an email from Joe asking if I was interesting in buying a RZ pin. I replied that I already received an email from him that said I was in on the LE. To which he responded that Spooky allocated them zero LE's so I was tough out of luck. So I'm out, there's no way I'm shelling out $6K get to get shoved to the back of the line after I thought I was getting an LE for two days.

I don't even know where to start with Joe. But Charlie, please, next time pick up the phone before announcing a product so that your (only) distributor knows what the heck your game plan is & doesn't result in screwed customers. If Joe had simply said, "no, you need to contact Spooky for an LE", then I would have been easily in time to get on the list. But now I'm unhappy & you lost a sale.

You have 150 customers and couldn't offer 150 LE's ?

I'd renegotiate that contract or you could have 100 customers pissed off.

P.S. I played AMH this weekend and its awesome. I can see why AMH customers would want the LE of your next project..

300 is still pretty limited imo.

Don't know yet, standard could look better too

The 50 are "spoken" for, but that doesn't mean they're committed. People may drop out, some may decide they like the standard art better, some may think the $500 extra isn't worth it.

Oh also when does Robin officially add this game to the list so it can be tagged?

I would hope after the entire game has been revealed at the very least. We've had enough of these unknown concepts existing in an "official" capacity IMHO.

Spooky is discovering that they have something hotter than they maybe realized. Obviously we haven't seen it yet, so let's not get too excited here, but my guess has always been that they'll not be able to meet demand. I'm sure Charlie's vision for this game is different than mine, but when I pitched it as a theme a couple years back or whenever that thread was I saw it as being something big enough that Stern could do it.

This is very much boutique pinball, but a small company. It's not going to be perfect or make everyone happy. Just how it goes.

It ATLEAST needs a murder ride ball locking system

I must say Joe is a good guy and goes out of his way for his customers. I'm sure both spooky and joe are going crazy with all the emails.

I like some of White Zombie's music, but I'm not a horror fan, so this theme doesn't do a lot for me.

I'm still really looking forward to playing it though! I don't like NASCAR either, but NASCAR pinball is one of my favorites.

Fred...

I said you got 'A' machine because that's ALL I knew at that time based on Charlie's announcement and I specifically stated as such in my email - and I quote from my email :

'I will need to find out what they are doing with the LEs.'

At that time Sunday I had not spoken to Charlie and I didn't know the plan. I didn't know how many I was getting and of what variety. I specifically tried to not call, text, or email back ANY new non-AMH customers back because I didn't have the info. I told everyone to email me and I would get back to them strictly because I didn't have info. I was returning calls yesterday and today to new folks after I spoke to Charlie Monday AM. You on the other hand as an AMH customer I knew you were guaranteed 'A' game and I stated as such and then followed up with 'I need to find out about the LEs'... That does not equate to me guaranteeing you anything on an LE. I'm sorry you are disappointed and I am sorry there was a misunderstanding. Obviously that is not what we want. We were all busy and hectic and doing our best. It is what it is with the LE numbers and was not in my control. I am sorry for the miscommunication between us and if I wasn't specific enough with the above, but I certainly did not try to deceive you in any way if that is what you are alluding. Short emails back and forth vs a phone conversation can lead to wrong assumptions on both ends. I try hard to please everyone. Again my apologies it didn't happen in this case.

Joe

Ooooo! Murder Ride

See, you get it. You are doing it right. Thank you for not screwing over your customers and giving everyone THE SAME THING in terms of toys and features that can TOTALLY change how a game plays.

Nice to know whether you get a standard or an LE, with Spooky, you still get things like - oh I don't know - SERVICE RAILS.

Can you imagine if a tier level design had been given to games like BSD?

"Ok, on the LE/Premium model, you get the Mist ball that actually wiggles across the playfield, and you have to hit it with your free pinball to start mist multiball."

"Ok, on the Pro model, the little green lights will light up in sequence, and your ball has to travel over the light that is lit to begin multiball. No magnet assembly or moving ball for you."

or TZ...

"Ok, on the LE/Premium model, you get an actual gumball machine, clock, and mini-playfield to interact with. The gumball actually gets loaded with the ball you shot into it, and it unloads a new ball for you. The clock works in some specific modes and keeps actual time in attract mode. The mini-playfield works with magnets as your flippers, and you have to get the ball into the hole at the top of the pf to beat the power."

"Ok, on the Pro model, there's a plastic plexi-glass picture of a gumball machine back there. There is a clock on the DMD. There's no mini-playfield - just hit the piano scoop or the jackpot VUK to beat the power."

-_______-

Thank you, Spooky, for doing it right. As soon as I gain the capability to pop $6000 on a pin, I'll be doing business with you.

accidental 2x post

Check with Spooky and see if there is a wait list for the LE. With no deposit required some guys are sure to drop out. I'm on the list for an LE, but will be waiting to see if the final product is too horrific for my three year old. I'll also be waiting to see if the $500 extra gets me something I want. If it's just an art package, and I like both, I'll drop out for sure. Why spend an extra $500 just to have a machine that's slightly rarer?

You really think every single AMH customer would be a repeat customer? We had a lot of people upset AMH didn't have a "family mode"... and it is very mild in the adult humor department with cute kooky ghosts as the villains. I had one guy cancel his AMH order because of this, and he told me to take him off our sales list because we "obviously don't care about people with children". Offering half the games as LE's isn't limited... it's half the run.

Look, we underestimated the demand... sorry. Our intent was not to create drama, it was to offer something special to those who supported us when we really needed it.

We had taken AMH to shows, waited until it was close to production ready... had over 100 people on the "I want it" list. When we sent that initial email out for sales, in the first 2 weeks we sold 1 game... Think about that... 1 GAME. After we poured our entire life savings and 2 years of insane amounts of work into this, with no plan B if Spooky failed. Know who bought that game? Joe Newhart. Then he took it to shows, and started to help sell them to help us. Not a "show game"... HIS OWN PERSONAL GAME.

We could be avoiding this by having no distributors and no LE's. We talked about just selling direct on this because we have sooo many distributors asking us all the time to give them games, and realistically at this level you can't afford to give up that much. At the end of the day, we couldn't do that to a guy like Joe. He busts his ass, he donates tons to charity, he puts games in children's hospitals... he cares... a LOT about pinball in general.

I'm glad we did this the hard way. Just makes me appreciate even more where we're at now. Really, it's all going to be the same playing game... our intent was not to cause drama. Trust me, I freakin' hate drama like you can't imagine.

Let the first world problems go... please. Buy it because you like the game, the theme, the art... whatever it is you enjoy about this game. Don't buy it because it's "limited". The 250 regulars are going to look bad ass, play just as fast and crazy, and be missing NOTHING where it matters... IN THE GAME.

Whew! Now I feel better. Go play some damn pinball!

Awesome RZ announcement video on the spooky website... check it out!

Don't worry about it Charlie. It's your business so do what feels right to you. You will never make everyone happy so there is no point in trying. A lot of people emailing now will dissappear when money is required. It's refreshing to me to see a company trying to be honest and open and do things the right way. Looking forward to my AMH in a couple of months.

In the grand scheme of things of late... I think that speaks volumes. We'll have half the AMH's out the door in the next few weeks, and that feels pretty awesome.

Has it been mentioned why some of the obvious songs are missing?

Thunder Kiss '65
More Human Than Human
Super Charger Heaven
Black Sunshine

Don't fit the theme? A licensing issue (Rob/White Zombie)? Builders choice?

Those are all White Zombie songs. I'm sure that would be an entirely different license from the one for Rob.

Joe Newhart is an awesome dude. One of the best guys in pinball. Glad I've got to know him the past couple years.

Don't worry when we make Game #3, Bible Adventures, demand won't be so high...

Man, if this machine had White Zombie songs mixed in, I would be clawing for an LE.

Ben I hope you're not kidding. I think that would be a great game.

The LE chase just needs to stop. Charlie, you are doing it right. Reward the loyal. And this is just a different art package. Relax people.

What I don't get is why Spooky didn't charge more for a licensed pin. Surely they could have charged another thousand per pin. $300,000 is a lot to leave on the table for a boutique, no?

double post

Thanks man... You do your best that's all you can do. Most times it's enough.

Oh, and you'll be happy to know I've been on a buying spree stocking up on all the shit I keep borrowing from you each show... I got the pin lifter stand last week. However, i'm not buying a better power drill though, I'm just planning on stealing yours at York, or Replay FX if you are there. The one with the red duct tape... Start sleeping with it, that mothers mine ! : )

That's what I thought, but it would still be awesome to hear those songs. Come on Rob/Spooky!

I would assume adding WZ tracks would have additional license hurdles...though we could all pick our favorites. Meet the Creeper would be my #1 choice for the machine, but that's irrelevant.

I suppose people that make films like "Saw" don't care about people with children either. Seems ridiculous to order a pin with "Haunted" in the title and then having a complaint like that. That parent wouldn't take their kids to see a horror film, and they have the same control over what pins they're exposed to. Gorgar is scarier looking than AMH...hell, Funhouse is scarier looking that AMH.

I personally love horror (have since I was 3 or 4) and would be part of a market that would appreciate a very adult oriented horror pin (adult in horror level...nudity would be a negative). Entertainment is quite subjective, and you can't please everyone :p

"Oh no, there's a pixel out in the corner of my laptop screen!"

You must make this game. If done right, it could be epic!

Aaron
FAST Pinball

Bible Adventures needs to happen. The old testament is just so much fun! Noah's Ark multiball, knock down the Walls of Jericho, cross the Red Sea before the Egyptians get to you, escape Sodom and Gomorrah, climb the tower of Babel...common this thing will SELL! No licensing fees either. Just a little eternal damnation for our souls.

Yeah. The Old Testament is a real hoot. Abraham Go Kill Your Kid For Me Multiball. Total party.

...or a tower of babel mode where important instructions are shouted at you in other languages.

A bible game would be...biblical lol

I actually think it would be awesome!

Also, kaneda shut up, don't ever tell someone to charge an extra thousand for a game. They already expensive enough...

sin of Onan multiball? game ends if you don't finish...