Those listed companies are all using the same mechs. A key difference though in all these platforms is the software and how the coils are actually sent electricity. I believe Spooky uses a system similar to STERN where the coils are pulsed with a square-wave to keep them on. This is different than the Williams style which engages a lower voltage when the flipper is held up. Plus all these modern pinball platforms allow you to change coil settings which obviously has a huge affect on how the game feels and plays. Poorly optimized coil settings will make a great game feel like shit.

How many people bought this and Halloween?

I haven't played every Spooky (just TNA, AMH, ACNC), but the flippers have always felt great to me. TWIP is an excellent resource, but from a polling standpoint I would just call this availability bias. That is, there are WAY more more B/W, Sterns, and JJPs on the market & locations than Spooky games. You vote for what you are familiar with.

Don't read too much into that. Try to see it this way:
A person sees a poll. He (or she) is asked which flippers he thinks feel best. He has played quite a lot of Stern and Williams and JJP, hasn't played a lot of Gottliebs and that was already some time ago, hasn't ever played AP or MultiMorphic and has only once played a Spooky and a CGC game.
Will this person ever pick Spooky, AP, CGC, Gottlieb or MultiMorphic?

I did not. There are way to many good games to have two games with identical layouts and rules.

Does anyone know where to buy the Matthew Frank comic art that matches the back glass in Canada? I found one in the states but shipping was going to be 30.00 so I was hoping to source one for a little less if possible.

Thanks!

I would check with a local comic shop. If they don't have it, they should be able to order it for retail price.

I don't fucking have to, because its not flawed. Math is either right or wrong, there's no grey area there. For the data THAT WE HAVE AVAILABLE it's correct. End of story.

If you want to explain that I calculated ratios incorrectly then fine, go ahead. You've already made the point that the data we have is statistically insignificant, which has nothing at all to do with the math I presented. I was just correcting what was already put out there. Otherwise, STFU. I can't do anything without more data, which none of us have. That isnt a flaw, it's a simple fact.

We went in on CE for both. Love Spooky and glad we can support them like this.

I bought halloween and fortunately enough won the raffle for an Ultraman CE.

ok. thanks

I am a big Flipper Snob. I think the Poll is really not that good of a indicator on flippers in the industry in general.

Spooky's Flippers are "Great" in my personal opinion. They are 'Snappy" and work just like a well maintained Flipper should.
Honestly from day 1 playing on a heavily routed AMH at Silve rballroom in STL, Rob Zombie on route, TNA on route and Alice
I've always loved the Spooky experience and flippers are very big for me. The upper playfield flippers on ACNC are very nice to
and have really enjoyed the unique feel that shape provides. They look nearly identical to the Ultraman playfield flips for most part.
Think there is 1 that is slightly smaller.

I think overall your statistics are going to off for the smaller manufacturers.

Personally I feel JJP has the WORST Flipper experience in the industry. ( Kills it for me JJP )

I still prefer the 'Stern' flipper experience overall. Or Williams Lightning era Flippers.
I like Stern Flippers but they seem to run a little Hot (potentially glitchy) lately.

I also find some of the later Gottleibs to have a great Flipper feel. So that might out me there.

Spooky flippers just have a classic feel to me and seem to hold up great.

Play a R&M with older code and/or with the taller flipper bushings and you might change your mind

Our Rick and Morty had major issues with the last software iteration, I installed the x-spacers sold on Pinside and they made a world of difference even after the code update. Do you know if they ever did put shorter bushing on R&Ms from the factory? The single wound coild controlled by software coupled with the excess space between the flipper bad and PF made for a bad combo. With the spacers and new code they work better than my Sterns and Williams games.

Im really a newb at pinball, but after 60 years, you would think something like flippers would be pretty much the same across the board. Or are flipper designs proprietary?

AFAIK Spooky never included the updated bushings from the factory, but they did send them out to anyone who made a request. The x-spacers were also a great solution and required a less complicated install. As for working better than Stern and Williams, you might be in the minority on that one but with the correct height and software, the R&M flippers work well (imo).

My guess is with Halloween and UKR, Spooky will go back to the standard thickness for the pf, and with the flipper control software ironed out, the two new pins will flip perfect!

It’s the most critical mech in the game and one of the more complicated ones as well.

It’s a delicate balance of responsiveness, reliability and heat dissipation and no manufacturer does it the same as another.

The mechanical design is - at a high level - the same across manufacturers, but there is variety in materials used, armature design, coil selection (single vs double wound), etc.

On the electrical side - there are differences in the driving voltage and hold pulse patterns (for single wound coils).

During "Flippergate" with R&M I was curious exactly how many games in a row folks were playing that experienced trouble. I play quite a bit, but i don't experience problems from overheating. Maybe the solution to the coils isn't fans for overheating, but instead require these folks to pay $1.00 for every game they play. .

Thanks for the explanation. Still doesnt make sense that it still varies from manufacturer to manufacturer after 60+ years. Why do manufacturers have to reinvent the wheel/flipper if there is one company that seems to be doing it right. Unless there is some proprietary stuff in Sterns flippers, cut the thing open and copy.

Numbers are starting to trickle out. Ultraman CE #122!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, got my number, I am in on a Bloodsucker edition and as I understand it fairly early in the BS run, and I have number 423 coming. I would guess at least 400 of the UMs are CEs. Good news is by the time my game is shipped all the bugs will be worked out, mods will be widely available, and they will probably be on v3 or v4 of the software. Apparently I will also have a VERY rare game . At least I will get to play Halloween in the near future because a friend is getting a very early CE.

I'm in at #209.

100% of all people who read the above post will immediately check their email.........

UM CE #207 maybe someone will put together a list like in the RaM thread

Did you order directly from Spooky, or a distro?

Distro

No news here yet, but dang that's a high number BSE. Gonna be a rare trim level.

Owning many games the average price of the game is much higher for home users. Until we sell. Than I figure +- diff & numbers of plays. Route owners usually win flipping fast to us. So in end everyone's best interest would be bulletproof flippers. Was it a very small % of games? Might be picking one of those up one of these days and it's a good thing to. know if I stumble on a trade..

I haven't played Rick and Morty - so have nothing to add there. ( missed out on that one )

I still love spooky game feel with the other titles I've played and looks like you can fine tune them.

I am good with that! I would not be surprised if there are less than 50 Ultraman BSEs made. There has to be at least some SEs ordered too and they will probably be even more rare, like a Rick and Morty SE.

Indeed

Yeah, looks like distros have begun sending out numbers on both threads. Nothing here yet for my Spooky direct order.

they have A LOT more numbers to get through...

Manufacturing and programming costs are different and there are trade-offs. Maybe you want the most robust flips - that costs more. Maybe you want the most powerful flips - costs more.

So yea the basic design is 60 years old but there are still pennies to be pinched and choices for manufacturers to make.

Will be interesting to see if the new Ben Heck boards make a difference to flipper feel.

Like playfields, we are willing to pay more for quality. To me, having anything but the best flippers and pf is doing your customers a disservice. This is not meant for any manufacturer, I just find it odd that such an important part of the pin isnt 100% figured out, by now.

Oh, so you're just that guy?
Play nice or you are going to your room.

100% true. I wouldn't give a rats arse what that poll says. Most people have very little time on MultiMorphic, Spooky and a CGC games. The there are so many variables to account for and the fan boys.

Something fun arrived

PXL_20210722_022853350.jpg

The guy who's right? Yeah, I am. Thanks for not making any kind of cogent point.

No number on my BSE from my distro yet.

Agreed, ESPECIALLY on route games. Those flippers can't hold up to location play for shit. If I had a dollar for every time I've touched a WOZ, Hobbit, or Dialed In with terrible flippers that can't make it up the ramps or to all the shots....Well, my Ultraman would be paid off already.

I am subscribed to the Spooky YT channel and get notifications when they post new videos. That’s likely to be the place a gameplay vid gets posted and then pasted into a Facebook post and wherever else. I was hoping this week would be when that happened because I think on a podcast from early last week that was the time range they hinted at. I know you can’t always control things, but hopefully that doesn’t slide too far out. Bug is their video guy and is not the one doing invoices, so that shouldn’t cause any delays. Looking forward to it, doesn’t really matter if it’s a feature overview that goes into more depth than the promo vid, or if it’s raw gameplay.

I bet they are working their butts off over there trying to get us Gameplay video. I don't think Bug actually does the video editing, and there are licencing approvals to consider. They WILL get us gameplay as soon as possible. Luckily for them all the games are already sold and they have time till they start shipping to us

I would guess they are working their butts off trying to streamline the assembly line so they can start cranking out games.

I doubt a gameplay video is a priority since the game is sold out. It will probably happen whenever Bowen can spend some time on it and after the code has firmed up a bit more.

Charlie says Bug does their video editing at minute 40 or 42 on Kaneda ep 600. They have said that before, but I couldn’t remember when/where. I only listen when he has Ben Heck on because Ben is a riot. I saw in TWIP that a team from Spooky was on so 600, so I checked that one out too. I happened to hear that brought up, but I’m not hung up on it either way.

I really don’t care who is doing what over there because it seems like they have always been a good team. They have to get IP owner approval for everything, so they don’t really control the schedule. They said they were trying to get Jack Danger by the end of July.

Bowen might be the best person they have to do a demo, but then I think you might see too much. I want an Everyman to do a demo. Give them a few hours to play off camera and get a feel for the shots and a few rules, and then start recoding and take a few clips from it. Charlie said he wouldn’t want to know too much, and I agree. I just want a little bit of video to get a feel, and then not see anything til it shows up.

The brutal part for me specifically is I want to see the 7-ball lock/multiball because that just sounds awesome. Yay, pick the wizard mode as the thing you are most jazzed about. Nice job DT1, good luck getting there.

Any announcement from deadflip on a stream date yet? Have given up on seeing anything from Spooky Luke.

He said "Hopefully by the end of the month". Its the 22nd today.

Hey guys,

Been offered a low number (<20) by distro for my UMCE. As this is my first Spooky, would you accept or wait to see if any issues?

Thoughts appreciated…

Take it and don't look back...

You will be fine, I'd guess. Number 20 UKR CE will be behind the first 50 friends and VIP games and behind a bunch of other JCH CEs.