I love Scott by but I don't live the flipping lifestyle, so I don't preorder anything. I would rather wait until there's good gameplay videos and reviews out, especially since IMHO Spooky doesn't have as well established a track record yet. I do like rooting for the little guys, but I'd be more confident if this was coming from JJP or Keith Elwin.

Anyway, I'm excited to watch the full reveal on Thursday and find out more...

I have no doubt the machine and art and audio will all be beautiful. What I want is some confidence the playfield layout and code will be great too. A bad game is bad no matter how pretty it is. Scooby is one of the best themes ever, it deserves to be a highly rated machine. Looking forward to the reveal on Thursday…

Sounds good to me, prices are too high now and I'm looking to buy a couple of pins in the next year.

A short gameplay video would be great, plus some good pics of the playfield and names of the designer and programmer would be nice to have, that would let us look at their prior work to make more educated guesses about what the machine will be like.

Well dang, this looks GOOD, I mean better than what I was expecting. All the artwork is amazing, the sound we've heard so far is amazing too.

The big key though is gameplay and rules. Please tell us that there will be some sort of gameplay video any maybe a preliminary rules summary before preorders go live?

So guys that have bought Spooky before, how does the order process work?

1. You have to join their Fang club
2. You order either from them or their distributor, and there is some ?? amount of deposit?
3. Is shipping included in the posted prices?
4. How long should we expect before we get the machine?
5. Presumably the balance is due when your machine ships?
6. I assume it's first-come first-served so the earlier you click BUY the sooner you get your machine?
7. Is is advantageous to wait until later in the production line as they might fix/improve minor mechanical issues mid-run?

Thanks!

Agreed, I'm mainly paying for layout and software - these are more important than art or sound or toys and that's what Spooky still has to demonstrate. We'll know more after the stream tomorrow.

As best I can make out the rules printed in the lower left corner of the playfield:

Start a Case Collect White Clue Shots
Character Modes: Complete Character ?? Shots
Captain Cutler Multiball: Bash Cutler's Dive Helmet
Mystery Machine Multiball: Hit Spinners to qualify Lock
Scooby Snacks: Shoot Drop Targets to light Scooby Snacks
Scooby Snack Multiball: Redeem Scooby Snacks for Rewards
The Gang's All Here Wizard Mode: Complete all Character Modes
We Would Have Got Away With It Wizard Mode: Complete All Cases
Scooby Where Are You? Super Wizard Mode: Complete both Wizard Modes

Sounds fine and relatively conventional so far as it goes but the real rules for any pinball are longer than that, this is just a summary and of course doesn't go into what you actually DO in those character and case modes or multi balls. Hopefully tomorrow's gameplay video will shed more light but I wanted to do my part to help bring some of the gameplay info we do have out into the open.

Everything was going so well up until this. No gameplay video is a really major roadblock not just for me but I expect for quite a few others. Can you clarify when "the same timeline as we usually do" actually is? Are we talking about a week, two weeks, or what?

I’m not looking to buy a Scooby just to receive a pretty wooden box that says Scooby on it. I expect to get a game that’s as good a layout and rules as other pins I could buy for a similar amount. I expect it to be as mechanically reliable as new pins from Stern and JJP. I expect the software to not crash or be buggy.

Failing any of these points and not providing a timely fix is what I’d consider being burned, because I could easily have gotten better value buying a pin with none of these issues.

Thanks for the video. After reading someone's explanation it makes more sense now, licensing for the game and licensing for "marketing" are different things, which is also why the video doesn't include the screen or audio clips that belong to the original IP - those need separate approval.

Anyway, it looks good so far and I hope we get something with real audio and the display included soon. Seeing the ball move is a good step, but it would also be nice to see how different shots are integrated with the modes and multi balls. ie - shooting a ramp is good, shooting a ramp and hearing Shaggy say "Jackpot! Now shoot the left orbit for Super!" or Velma saying "Clue collected, the next clue is on the center ramp" gives us more feedback on how the game operates.

Cheers!

Thanks for the Captain Cutler rules, sounds awesome! I like it when a mode is more than just "shoot this one shot for extra points".

Looking forward to hearing more about how the characters play differently (I'm imagining something like TMNT?) and I just downloaded the podcast interview to list to that while I'm working today.

Let me just say that I've never bought a Spooky machine before and have only seen one once, they don't seem to turn up in my area. I came into this feeling that you guys are a bit more amateur than better established companies like Stern and JJP and I'd heard all sorts of things about problems with Halloween. If it wasn't Scooby, I wouldn't even be here. But, so far everything you've shown has looked really good. Art is awesome, sound is awesome. Playfield is fairly standard but I don't see anything wrong with it, and now our first glimpse of rules sounds like you're doing a good job making them interesting as well.

I've never preordered a pinball before but I'm getting closer... Looking forward to watching your stream and listening to the podcast interview and then I'm going to have to make some tough decisions and talk it over with my wife.

People are posting order numbers, but these seem to be from all Spooky orders ever. How can we tell how many Scooby's have been sold or are left?

I bought my pins 20+ years ago for 1200, 1250, 1500, and 2400 for an Attack From Mars since it was a newer machine at the time. All chicken feed compared to prices these days and my Godzilla cost more than all four of them together.

I'm watching Scooby from the sidelines while our family figures out how to fit into this strange new world of much more expensive pinballs. I'd still like to collect what I can, but I have to be VERY selective and do a ton of research before I can commit ~$10k for a new toy.

On the plus side, pinball has proved to be a great bonding opportunity with my mildly autistic son and it's worth the cost for that alone, it's my only hobby that he shows any interest in at all. We talk about rules, we talk about mods we want to do, what games we want to try out, what pinball news I heard about and of course we play games together too.

Anyway, I love Scooby and I hope it's a great game but I'm the kind of guy that wants to research, watch videos, read reviews, and try machines before purchase so I'll keep waiting and see what happens.

Can we shoehorn Captain Caveman in there somewhere?

Hoping to see some gameplay videos soon so we have better stuff to talk about.

I'll see your George of the Jungle and raise you a Grape Ape.

Hair Bear Bunch

Comparing the under-playfield pic to the playfield pic I'm not sure why that tower is so big. I see the VUK for the brown wireform, but I think the boards are only mounted vertical because there wasn't a convenient place to put them flat. Not sure what that tallest part in the back is for either.

OK, so those two "circuit boards" are probably the drop target resetters then. I didn't recognize them because none of my machines have drop targets

I would mainly watch the videos to help me decide if I want to buy a Scooby or not. If you already bought it, the videos are much less important.

They said January, so there's about 2 weeks left. It's coming. I'm excited to see the gameplay videos, but I'd really like to see some good reviews on YouTube after they get in people's hands too. Plus they should have machines at Texas Pinball and we'll get a ton of impressions then.

I'm interested (Scooby is a top theme for me), but waiting for videos and probably until after TPF to see what gets announced there. Besides, I'd rather have one from later in the run anyway after those little mechanical issues are ironed out.

I just hope we’re still on track for a real gameplay video in January. 8 days to go…

A couple of questions for the Spooky guys (if you are allowed to say):

Will the upcoming gameplay video reveal much about the rules? It would be great to get more idea of what some different modes are like, how distinct they are, how complex, what they can stack with, etc...

When do you think a proper rulesheet will be posted?

Thanks! With the long wait for better information, my Scooby fever has been on low for a while but now I'm getting excited again.

It's common these days for games to ship with incomplete rules that will be filled out in later updates. But I would hope that at least some modes are pretty final other than points tweaking, enough that they can be useful examples for us to get a better impression of what the game will be like.

The earlier example they gave about the Captain Cutler mode makes it sound like modes are going to be a bit on the elaborate side, not just "shoot these fixed four shots to solve the mystery".

If you don't remember it...

"Here's a sneak peak for The Ghost of Captain Cutler. Bash the dive helmet, inner orbit, and hand targets to add oxygen to your scuba tank. Dive down to the lower playfield to collect orange clue shots in the Graveyard of Ships. Blue standup targets will replenish a small amount of oxygen. Run out of oxygen and you’ll have to return to the upper playfield to replenish your oxygen supply."

It sounds fun to me, but it could also be rather hard if it takes a lot of shots and travel up and down so a good gameplay video might help clarify that as well as show how different the other modes are. For me, I'd like them to be interesting but not clones - they should each have a different feel to them. Or maybe Cutler is the most complex given that he's more prominent in the game and the other modes are a bit simpler.

If it does take a lot of shots to do a mode, then perhaps that hints that Scooby is going to be an easier long ball time game to permit you to make all those shots more easily.

I'd assume it's either a USB stick or SD card, and maybe a wifi option if you want to download it straight onto the machine.

I agree, enough bickering - bring on more Scooby info! By my calendar we should be seeing that gameplay video in the next 5 days...

Meatloaf confirmed as next Spooky theme

To my eye, offers even less for your money than a topper. At least you can see those when you're playing.