I'm hoping there will be some from Brutal Planet. That and Killer are perhaps my favorite albums from Alice.
I suppose if I get on the wishlist wagon...:

Bed of Nails
Feed My Frankenstein
Dead Babies
The Black Widow
Cleansed By Fire
Brutal Planet
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Ballad of Dwight Fry
Go To Hell
House of Fire

I always seem to be the youngest guy at one of his concerts (32 now), but I don't know how anyone could leave and not be a fan. First saw him as an opener to the Black Sabbath reunion with Dio (Heaven and Hell) and my jaw dropped. I already liked Alice Cooper's music before that, but seeing him live put it over the top and led me toward seeing him live many more times (and reading his book :p). Always left in awe.

I see a lot of people complain about this theme (I know japespin isn't complaining), but I can't think of many music related themes that would top Alice for me. Will go well with this acoustic of mine :p (converted an online image for my vinyl plotter).

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Already trying to figure out what game(s) will go to make space/funds. A "Killer," monster of a theme

With the side by side, it appears different than the skull. Perhaps a castle archway?

That post was from over 2 years ago, before Rob Zombie was ever announced. I re-posted after Rob Zombie was announced, but the fact Spooky went back-to-back on my top music artist themed pins is just amazing to me And by the look of the teasers, Alice Cooper may go beyond my expectations

Ha! Thanks I do have a customer requested mod in the works for RZ that I expect to release by the end of this month (and I have ideas for others, but may do another game before getting to those).

Cabinet art? Looks like a pin in the reflection as well.

Are prior Spooky customers getting the first shot on these as AMH did with RZ? Looking amazing

He gets better looking for his role every day And still giving a top notch show.

I've seen that one and the guillotine a handful of times now (though I'm usually one of the younger guys at his shows and can only imagine what it would be like to even be alive in '72 :p let alone see Alice back then). Only once (on the Theater of Death tour) have I seen the spike box (he was in a box with holes and spikes were rammed through, cued with some sort of liquid spray to emulate blood).

Looks a lot like a blurry BSD in that pic (spacing of the bluish art and the button). And while I'd say I prefer regular shooters, BSD is my favorite pin, so I must not dislike buttons too much.

EDIT: On a side note, I listened to the H2H interview and Charlie seemed to confirm that prior Spooky customers will be getting first shot at Alice (unlike some, I think the 500 will easily sell out).

Is he what seems to be hiding behind the castle in the back left?

Sounds like you can kill Alice in the game and it chops his head (pinball) off to fall in a basket.

I believe they'll do it like their other games--prior Spooky customers get first shot at it through e-mails (100% of RZ LEs were gone nearly instantly by AMH customers). Not certain if that's how this one will be, but Charlie did say in a Podcast awhile back that ACNC would be offered the same way initially (of course things can change).

The guillotine does move: Can be seen moving around 7:58

. Sounds like it's part of a mode sequence as well for killing Alice.

Same with Swords of Fury and Judge Dredd. I'm not a fan of many of the Stern pop nests (the spaced out/open field pops on RZ were a big plus for me, and well-used, single pop bumpers like Black Knight/TNA are great as well).

Almost looks like a magnet between/below the flippers? Or is that an insert, etc.?

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Pretty sure they'll have to update RZ code at some point, and hopefully soon, as the game isn't reliable on the last release, and the beta that fixed that issue also sounds like it isn't 100%, but I have yet to try the beta myself.

What do you mean? It looks just like...oh... [perhaps I'll mod mine ] Though I expect 90+% of people won't think twice about the figure at the back of the machine that shows up every once in awhile, particularly with all the mood lighting this machine seems to do. Hard to nit-pick the figure when ACNC is such a giant leap up for Spooky, and enough of a leap to blow most Sterns out of the water when it comes to "world under glass" presence.

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While monotone speaking isn't necessarily unusual for Alice, I do agree it sounds pretty flat here (spoken intro to Feed My Frankenstein is fairly monotone, but has more character to it...if that makes sense). Would be a pain to do it after the fact if audio can be swapped, but I could see simple effects such as compression, EQ, and reverb helping, along with a light grit added to it (a program like Nectar 2 could certainly make those callouts more interesting). If I recall correctly, the callouts in Rob Zombie got some light processing as Rob himself requested it.

As for the shots, I hear the same about Houdini, but I had no problem when I got a chance to play Houdini myself. I also don't mind the stop and go as some do (provided the screen animation/lighting integrates it all well).

Otherwise, I can't say I wasn't hoping for more obvious Alice Cooper imagery from the game--we get it on the glass and cab, but as you pointed out, even the Frankenstein isn't close to the Frankenstein associated with Alice (not sure if they were allowed to use that likeness for Frankenstein). However, as I'm perfectly willing to mod my games, I know some of that can be enhanced.

The "butter" option isn't a decal/sticker, which I believe is what you're comparing it to. "Cabinets are hand dipped in rich colored inks (no decals), lovingly rolled in automotive clear coat protection, and buffed to shiny delicious perfection" -- Spooky

$1k is certainly a steep premium for cab-art, but it's awesome that Spooky offers it to those that want that luxury.

Initially jumped the gun and sent an e-mail at 8 a.m est., then again at 8 a.m central, but part of the same chain, so hopefully it doesn't go missing in the pile of mail I'm sure they're getting. Been waiting to send that e-mail for nearly a year

I still have yet to receive such an e-mail. Sent my second e-mail at 8:01 central. As noted above, hoping it didn't get washed as it was part of a gmail chain. Would make for Spooky #2 presuming all goes well.

Sent another e-mail and got a response immediately. Seems Kayte attempted to send me an e-mail an hour prior and it disappeared somehow as I never got anything in my spam folder either, but at least now I know I've got a spot

Went with decal blades on mine as well (and plastic protectors--I may add the shaker myself once I see what it does--I didn't bother on RZ). I recently installed mirrors on my RZ, and I think they look great there, but something didn't look right about them on Alice to me. I think the mirrors are a bit too open/bright for the theme, where the decals give the sense of isolation (castle wall graphics could have also worked well). Highly subjective I'm sure.

As for the armor, the blue didn't look better than the silver to me, so silver it was, but I believe something like the RZ LE or another "vein" color may have looked nicer. However, as I have a standard RZ, the armor will match my other Spooky game (may or may not be a plus).

Ha!, seems I now have multiple customers and lurkers already anticipating the Alice mods. Hopefully I manage to get an early slot to start brainstorming with (invoice 1954--not sure that means much, though I did e-mail soon after orders opened).

Otherwise, it's Greg...but Dave...eh, close enough

My invoice shows that it's due 4/25/2018, so I expect it's the same/similar for others that got in day 1. I paid as soon as I saw it come in though.

While I can see why someone lukewarm on Alice's character, show, and music could see it that way, it's hard to say that photos of Alice aren't related to that character's game. Perhaps better than "bump" text to keep the anticipation alive (and certainly better than arguing about dimples, etc.). Though I suppose I could be in the minority of pin collectors that are equally sold on the source material as they are on the game. Admittedly the Coop/Elvira/Zombie pic was fairly epic and relatable to pinball

Thank you. That may be the best comparison shot yet of the armor and butter cab. Butter cab makes the standard cab look dull (still can't justify the cost difference for me, but a nice option for someone that has more disposable funds). Though I'm more confidant in the silver vein choice on this one from this photo.

Sounds like they nailed the feel of traveling through a mysterious castle. I feel like a lot is lost on Stern games where you always know the location of the ball. Lots of older games with subways that gave the sense that a pinball machine could do magic as the ball disappeared and showed up somewhere you didn t expect

This is my perspective as well without seeing the blue, but knowing the silver from RZ. The vein style powder-coats in general look much higher end IMO than at least any solid color powdercoat (due to the texture and multi-tone factors).

As for matching the coin door with the blue, if I were to consider going that far, I believe my preferred route would be an entirely custom color option. Perhaps RZ LE armor (copper vein?) would look nice on ACNC as well.

I used to collect those in the late 90's/early 2000s and agree 100%.

ACNC may be my favorite use of the LCD I've seen yet (while many others seem to meander with animation that seldom syncs with the ball action). I've been wanting an LCD game for awhile, but they keep falling flat for me (with perhaps the exception of Dialed In). While I'm still interested in an Iron Maiden at some point, the LCD graphics and interaction are disappointing thus far (though things like the combos adding necks to Eddie's guitar are the right direction toward making the LCD feel linked to the game as nearly any DMD does).

I can agree with that. I expected a bit more signature snarl from the callouts, but for an Alice Cooper fan, anything from the man himself is appreciated (compared to an unrelated voice actor such as TWD, etc.).

This is what I questioned the first time we got a snippet. Seemed like they weren't processed yet. While it's obvious from the raw audio that there doesn't seem to be as much heart into the callouts as anticipated, I am looking forward to hearing the polished versions

I agree with some of this, though I have yet to play the game, so I can't comment on gameplay, but it looks like a fun game as is (glad to know it will be at SFGE). Many games work just fine without post targets. If the center target bank lowered (like Dominos/AMH) for "sewer" access (better yet, "go to hell"), that would have put it over the top for sure, but I'm liking the game more every time I see new pics/videos, and am personally glad there are no pops with this layout.

6:27-6:37 may give a fair idea of what to expect (similar to TNA effects with full playfield lightshow).

Alice certainly knows how to perform. Very puzzling as to why the callouts are so bland.

Neat, I didn't know that behind the scenes look at it was available, but I did get to see it in person that year

As for the callouts, if they start out bland and ramp up with achievements in the game as suggested (perhaps similar to BSD), then what we've heard so far could actually work well to build excitement. Otherwise, I'm loving everything I see on this game and fail to understand the post target criticism--the majority of my games don't have targets at every post (or any).

Still no notice for me. Must be a lot of prior Spooky customers in on it if you're that far down the line (not a surprise with how many AMH buyers got in on RZ). And if you were a day 1 order as a prior spooky customer, does #314 suggest they got close to sell-out interest on day 1? (assuming you're not the furthest prior spooky customer down the list and that non-spooky customers go further down the line). It wasn't entirely clear to me how our place in line was being determined.

Wondering if non-prior Spooky customers could get in front of prior Spooky customers if they ordered through a distributor. Starting to assume I'll be in the 300s as some others that ordered in the same way/time I did. So it may be awhile before there are any mods (have already had some specific requests).

Congrats, but it's odd that much earlier numbers are going out to some that ordered weeks after initial sales, and those that ordered within seconds are in the 300s. Still don't have my number yet, but a high one will just mean I get an IMDN sooner rather than later

Not yet. Have been hoping for the email, but I figure they're busy, so I haven't asked about it.

Thank you

Awesome, I'm #37 (and yes, I have a few mod ideas I'd like to figure out once it's here )

"How few days go by to make up a century."

For now I think you need to send Kayte an e-mail if you want your number.

I read this on release and would recommend it

And the playfield looks awesome. Gives a much better idea of how the shots are spaced out on the "Danesi lock" area as well.

Nice I was at that show

Oh my...I think I'll be taking inspiration from that giant pinball smashed into the wall for my own arcade decor. Hmm

One of my favorite things in pinball is having the ball disappear for a bit (it allows my imagination to draw me into the game). Whether it be behind awesome sculpts like ACNC, a subway, under another ramp such as Swords of Fury, etc. In SoF, I always love seeing the ball disappear through that right ramp and pop out on the upper playfield.

If the ball disappears and your mind goes blank, well, it's the exact opposite for me, so I can only be left feeling that you're missing out on half the magic of pinball. It's like a Hitchcock scene where a violent moment is suggested, but not 100% shown. It allows your mind to create something far greater than what could be shown. Do I just want to see a ball go up a ramp in plain view, or do I want to see it enter a castle and give me the visual of the ball going on an adventure through what the screen suggests is inside? If a magician does a trick, do you want to see the method as it's being done, or would you prefer the magic of being fooled?

I did end up getting an Iron Maiden while I wait, but I'm undoubtedly most excited for ACNC. Pinside has proven that NO game is universally loved, and not every game has to try to make the most people happy (Stern plays it too safe IMO)--that would make for an awful game selection.

I for one am glad that we're seeing more imagination out of Spooky than just a pop-nest on a bare fan layout.

Perhaps the very few people that have them are enjoying their game and don't want to get bitched at for adding to the pool of crappy cell-phone videos (not everyone has a Jack Danger set-up or the know-how to capture good pinball video [I certainly don't anyway]). No way to capture in-person audio either (which I expect is amazing based on TNA). Heck, some of us hardly have any time to play our games, let alone suffer the demands of some Pinsiders. Undoubtedly, Greenhornet is at the ready to take a dump all over the next cell-phone clip that surfaces.

I look forward to the next Jack Danger stream, or getting my game--whichever comes first. I like everything I've seen thus far (was iffy on the non-Alice Frankenstein until I saw how well he's integrated on the LCD).

While I agree with that, Spooky did keep us updated on the ramp issues and such they had to work out before considering a new stream. That with TNA production and the ACNC code/system hiccup, it does seem drawn out (thought I may have my game by Aug./Sept. when I got my number), but the clues have been there as to why there has been a delay. Still, there are very few people that have these in their home for an isolated video (is it less than 10 people?).

I have some ideas that I may get to. Been meaning to weld together an interactive (moving) topper for TWD for a long time too (sold my Stern topper back in Nov. to make progress in that direction). Several things planned for when I get my ACNC

I like the silver vein coat, and the fact it matches Rob Zombie makes it an easy decision in my case. I doubt anyone buying NIB pins will think of the extra $125 as a "concern" (butter cab cost being more of a luxury IMO).

I don't disagree. My perception is that the $125 wouldn't seem like a big deal if you *really* want the blue coat. If there's any hesitation at all, then the silver vein looks great and you'll be happier saving the $125 (sometimes our emotions and subconscious can guide us better than the marketing). I think some see the $125 upcharge and think "upgrade," but I personally see the silver vein as the better finish (I get that colors are a very subjective thing). Either is leaps and bounds beyond the average Stern armor.

Alice is Home (#37) Also a shot of the RZ armor next to Alice (Alice has the thicker vein). I thought they would be the same, but the coat on Alice looks far more "Killer" in my opinion

EDIT: Does anyone know what the difference is between the 4 magnet save options? (Original/Pattern1-3)

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I decided to paint the graveyard. Took the before image from the thread gallery, but the original coloring on mine was the same.

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Acrylic with a matte clear Added a slightly better photo for color (various mixed yellow and green shades for the grass). Went with a Black coffin to better differentiate from a mound of dirt and figure it goes with the vampire. Adding the dirt path between seemed fitting to me as well.

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Yes, we were warned it wasn't a full review, then we get to hear confidently pushed statements riddled with confusion..."way too tight...waaaay too tight..I don't get it...I don't get it...*huh!?! There's a Frankenstein toy in there?!?!*" A lot of it just doesn't come off as an opinion, but more like facts you're trying to convince people of, and to top it off with the *I'm a better than average player* statement comes off as *I'm more skilled than most of you listening, so take my word for it*.

I could gripe about some things on RZ, and was worried about some aspects of ACNC before playing one, but they really knocked this one out of the park IMO, so to hear you guys say that Spooky needs to get a guy that has been designing games for 20 years to tell Charlie how to fix his mistakes comes off as very strange for me, particularly if Nick hasn't played enough games to know the most prominent toy feature exists--that start to the Frank multiball is awesome (being able to hear and FEEL that intro makes a difference compared to a stream as well). In my opinion, removing one of the shots would have diminished the game, not improved it as Nick claims. IMDN gets tons of praise (only other LCD era game I own), and it deserves much of it, but I find ACNC to be superior. It's loaded with satisfying shots and shots that change function (thanks to the diverters, drops, rear magnet, and Alice mode shot), and the use of subways is incredibly welcomed. Those aspects are a big part of why I love BSD so much, and ACNC is the game that feels the most like the B/W era to me since the 90s, so I'd be glad to see another game designed by Charlie in the future--his improvement from RZ to ACNC is remarkably significant (I expect that's some combination of more experience, some success behind him to risk taking it to the next level, and a stronger Spooky team overall [everything is better about ACNC]).

That said, I do appreciate what Podcasters do and your show, but in this case, I have to agree with others that some things seemed a bit arrogant and off-putting. Again, this is largely due to the clear lack of experience with the game, where it's obvious the bold claims are merely assumptions being pushed as fact (closing with statements about it not being worth buying because you bricked shots with only one game on it isn't fair to Spooky--I'm NOT that great of a player and don't have that problem).

Yes

Agreed, though part of my frustration with it is how disposable entertainment has become. Used to be that we'd get an album and listen to the whole thing over and over, truly absorbing what the artist was going for (often times requiring re-listens to "get it"). Now we have so much available at our fingertips for free, that unless something grabs our attention INSTANTLY, we ignore it and we're off to the next thing. Same with video media. Just disappointing to think this "Hot Take" suggests we currently have so many options in pinball that some think it's not worth giving a machine a fair shake before moving on to the next. In my experience, things that quickly grab attention often fade just as quickly, where something that takes more time to get into is more rewarding in the end.

I do have a bunch of vinyl, but unfortunately only have one Alice album in that format (and it's my preferred way to hear some of those tracks [perhaps the vinyl version has a better mix/master?]). I'll at least look up the album they're offering. I'm wary of a lot of modern vinyl that essentially winds up being a rip of the lesser quality CD version without the vinyl medium in mind.

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Not saying there aren't bricked shots in ACNC for me, but my response was in regard to the 80% bricked shots claim, which isn't close to accurate. I don't have any issue with any of the shots (unlike RZ that has a right orbit shot that's a bit frustrating for me and doesn't feel very satisfying even when making it).

And yes, my IMDN is the Pro, so the Premium does add some better variety with the evolving left and middle ramp (plus another mode), but it doesn't carry the same sort of magic for me. I like balls disappearing behind some nice atmosphere/sculpts and popping out somewhere unexpected (at least for those that don't know the rear magnet/subway, etc. exists). I completely realize it's a personal preference. Too many Stern games allow the player to ALWAYS know exactly where the ball is and what it will do. I prefer to be surprised.

I was thinking this too. They don't look like they should be hard to hit (I could hit Met ramps all day), but I often brick the Maiden ramps (more than ANY ACNC shot, and I have way more games on Maiden).

They provide good content to the pin community (freely available), so no reason to push them aside over one over-reaching "hot take." They're good for the hobby, and I'm sure they didn't intend to upset anyone. The point has been made, and I expect they'll be more careful in how to approach a "hot take" in the future.

I do generally like mirror blades, but went with decals on ACNC. They isolate the creepy castle with better atmosphere IMO. More importantly, those sculpts are right up against the cabinet and I find it jarring to see the mirrored image of them in this case.

Discussion seems to have migrated to the Club thread : https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/alice-coopers-nightmare-castle-club-enter-at-own-risk/page/8#post-4957338

I had the issue with balls dropping into the cabinet from Frank when I first got the game, but this was simply a servo position issue that was quickly remedied through the service menu (needed to be lowered enough to load a ball properly, but if you've done that, I'm not sure).

Would be interested to know the points the ball gets stuck (in case I can create a mod to fix a common issue [or aesthetic mod to double as a fix). Thus far I only know of the graveyard issue as posted by Magicchiz.

Finally have this roughly together now. I was lucky enough to receive #6 of 6 from magicchiz Can't thank him enough for this incredible topper

I had the challenge of my ceilings being slightly too low for the topper to fit, so I had to adjust the height a bit, and my lightning effect may not be as grand with the lower ceiling and odd wall, but it looks AWESOME! Much better in person than I was able to capture (John's clip does a much better job at showing off his work). To my surprise, even with my existing light panels running in the back, I was still able to see the lightning (hard to tell in the video/photo). I intentionally let the lightning creep onto the ceiling a bit (unfortunately gets a bit lost if I start it on the upper black panel).

I'm sure I'll be experimenting with all of the different color options/brightness settings for awhile. Very well thought out lighting locations and color separation options on this.

[[not sure why the video is at 480p, but hopefully it's just Youtube being slow to fully upload]]

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Thank you! Debating a bezel of some sort to surround the screen. Not sure yet if they will be offered as a mod, but if the interest is there, I expect I'd figure out how to make it feasible to produce (I don't have a cnc, but could look into a service for the blank panels or just hand make each one).

Pain and Thrill knobs reference the lyrics from Poison.

Was going for a lab equipment look. I didn't get the lighted speakers, and thus no grills either, so I wanted to add something to at least my game. The factory grills would fit on this as well (I just made some simple rings in CAD for mine).

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Monster has a fair bit of play to it, but mine has never had an issue since adjusting the servo (ball used to fall into the cabinet when I first got the game [easy fix]). I've talked to others that mentioned such movement for the monster, so that seems normal.

USB drive works for the updates (not sure if you really meant Zip drive--haven't heard of anyone using those for quite awhile ). If it doesn't, format the drive and try again, or try a new USB stick (not all of them work and I'm unsure why).