I don' know how well they'd go over but i'd serouosly lok at one for the weirdness alone.

I'm open to anything that advances creativity in pinball design and sometimes it's best to look to the past. A cocktail pin would also attract a different kind of buyer as well as the hard core collector. Options for buyers are never a bad thing and the one complaint I can give in these recent boom years of the big pinball companies is playing it safe, we need some early SS creativity once again.

It would be cool but not going to happen. For what it would cost them to design and build it, they’d have to sell it for $5k-$6k and everyone on Pinside would bitch about the price.

Throwing in my two cents: Working/repairing the circuit boards on these with your head below your waist is a real pain. I would never own any again.

As none of the big manufactures ever made them, I'd say no

Only if they remake Rotation 8!

rd

I’ve got one wall in the living room that would be perfect for a modern day single level TNA-esque throwback cocktail pin.

Most of the cabs were just so ugly to begin with and the gameplay was usually so-so, compared to their larger counterparts.

If a major manufacturer could make a sleek modern cabinet with a lower cost The Pin 2.0 style boardset and mechs, I think they’d sell a decent amount for under $3k.

Especially if the manufacturer sold new modular drop-in games/kits ala Heighway, P3 and P2K.

I’d definitely be in for one.

Hmmm...maybe a cocktail P3. A cocktail cabinet into which you could install the same upper-playfield modules that work in the regular P3. That would be pretty wild. What do you think gstellenberg ?

Andrew Heighway wanted one - I don't know how far Dave Sanders went with the design of that table. The LCD display on the PF would have been perfect.

It's a no brainier! There convenient, commercial and compact!

I could see people who would be interested in them.

Two player head-to-head games might also be desirable, especially on location in bars (as long as they don't take up too much space).

That new pong table seemed pretty popular at pinfest a few weeks back, and the head-to-head cocktail pin I brought the previous year seemed to get a lot of play.

They didn't go over big back in the day so why would they now? Just like head to head pinball, it never did catch on either.

John

There's a lot more home collectors now?

Indeed,
John’s forgetting that the majority of today’s buyers are home enthusiasts that would probably prefer a sweet compact Pinball machine which could ALSO double as an end table when not in use, rather than JUST a basic small end table.

I know I would. Even though it costs waaay more than said basic end table.

It really boils down to a creative and fun layout as the Archer/Maiden layout proved earlier.
If it shoots well and uses the provided layout to the fullest, I think it would be a slam dunk.
Keep the themes in the classic genres and unlicensed to save on cost, all while providing the artist/designer total freedom to create something special.

Correct, that's probably what 75% of Sterns and the others sales are now and maybe 25% operator? I just don't see Collectors putting one in there home. What would be the cost? $3000+? They would have to sell a huge boat load of them just to break even. I've had at least two that I can think of over the years and there both long gone now.

John

Well if HE was planning on doing one you know it’s a sound idea that couldn’t possibly lead to financial ruin!

They were always a neat novelty but I just don’t think it works for pinball.

It won't sell thousands for sure. But if the project is viable with a few hundreds - Spooky scale - why not?
I could be tempted.
Real advantage for me is that, space being limited, the wife wouldn't count it as a pinball machine and it would end in the living room near the sofa... it's also a fun way to initiate new people as it is far less intimidating than a real pinball machine.

Rotation VIII is not exactly of tournament caiiber (far from it !), but it's fun for casual play.

If there were just the right theme for cocktails and pinballs...hmmm maybe that's why I love my Night Moves so much I did love that movie Cocktail growing up, I swore by this time I'd be on a beach somewhere, flipping bottles and mixing drinks in a night club! lol

Cocktail (resized).jpg

And then maybe it could save a few more vintage machines from being hacked into ugly monstrosity coffee table furniture!

Yes, they would be great for those of us that are out of space. A modern table style pin would a cool theme would sell well, heck they’d be great for kids rooms. I do wish a modern joust style head to head would be made.

A head to head with some opto sensors to also allow computer interaction for single player with the kids maybe?

Yes, they should make them again.
To late to add a poll?
With the p-3 system, mirco playfields, these could be done in the 3k list price range.

Never happen, they would cost more, not less, than a standard pin. How many wives would want a black pressboard thing in their living rooms? In order to “work” as a furniture item it would have to be made in hardwood and finished. Wayyyy more money.

Veneer costs more than full graphics?

Mine already has three pinball machines in her living room. She’d love to add something that could hold a chess board and some candles.

Couldn't you just buy a bar stool and you'd have about the same thing?

It would cost around the same to build one of these as a full size pin if you think about it.

- same development costs
- similar playfield cost
- same electronics cost
- same labour costs
- similar parts costs (same flippers, slings etc)
- cabinet much the same
Etc
Etc

Maybe $3999 like a Spider-Man Home Edition? That’d be a fair comparison.

Honestly, I don’t see a huge queue forming to buy a new cocktail. A few, for sure. Maybe a good project for a small outfit.

rd

As much as I want to see a new iteration of the cocktail I hate to say it but I think your right, the clientele just isn't there.

One of the many problems with a cocktail - besides that they make pretty crappy pinball games - is that they don’t even make a very good table.

You ever try to use one as a table? There’s really nowhere for your knees
To go.

Ok most are pretty crappy but not the Gottlieb/International Concepts games (1989 Night Moves & 1990 Caribbean Cruise), both original concepts and kinda shows you what would happen if a professional team were on building one! If you use the optional bases that raise them up a foot or so they actually will make a killer bar table man.

Are we starting to get into tall pub tables with a couple bar stools and a mini playfield machine with undersized balls built in?

This is the reality of the arcade/pinball collector....

Cocktail pinball and video games take up MORE space than their full scale counterparts.
Ask anyone who has a large home arcade. They'll tell you. These things serve no purpose.

Never played a cocktail pin. It would be fun to see what a modern head to head pinball game would be like. Doubt it would sell well, though. I know I would rather have a regular full size pin if I am going to spend a lot on a game.

Better solution would be for two pins to be able to play head to head using the internet. Pins could be side by side or 1000s of miles apart. You could have streaming video of each others gameplay and be able to chat. I guess coding would get a lot more complicated but that's where everything else is heading.

Both Gottlieb and Williams made them.

Two traditional "80's style" video games back to back take up around the same space as one Pinball game.

I think if you had a 2 player cocktail pin that was tight and fast with lots of ramps and crazy wireforms (like roller coaster tycoon) that spit the ball directly toward your opponent it could be a fun challenge. Add in multiball, it would be chaos. You could also maximize on space by putting small lcd screens in the game above ramps or lanes to vary points and strategy. The constant two way battle of lining up your shot and defending from and incoming ball

Williams? What cocktail did they build?

I'm unsure about Williams but Bally/Midway certainly did - "Rotation VIII":

http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2019&picno=11133&zoom=1

From what I can gather is that the Cocktail Table format is not successful, as a revenue generator. What Bartender or Bouncer is going to ask a drinking customer to move away from the table if they were not playing it. If the table is with other games in a combined games area, the Cocktail Table format does marginally better.

Williams built Joust.

image-5 (resized).jpg

Not a cocktail.

That's what I always kind of felt too but it is, what else would you call it?

Head to Head pinball.

Rotation VIII was just Midway I believe. I bought two of them from an operator in Devil's Elbow, Mo for $155.00 each in 1987. Could not keep them running and sold them both later.

Correct.

It's also in that range of that Alvin Gottlieb soccer or football 2 player? But it's shorter than them and has woodgrain, I still say its a cocktail. It also has the notoriety of being the most expensive cocktail out there.

alving_soccerball1 (resized).jpg
soccerball2 (resized).jpg

...a Bally co. lol

image-9 (resized).jpg