The Big Lebowski
Dutch Pinball, 2016You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider sd_tom.
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I think any thread of this kind is gonna get derailed until those who want refunds get them though, so maybe premature.
For us staying in, we've regained our composure and ready to look forward. But for those wanting refunds, who haven't gotten them yet.. They have a bone to pick which hopefully they'll get taken care of end of month.
yeah i was trying to compare fattrain's list of songs to the soundtrack and the pinball machine is actually better / official soundtrack missing some key items. I have bolded what is unique to each in case people are curious. How the heck did the soundtrack NOT have tumbling tumbleweeds?
The only miss because of it's prominence in the movie not on the pinball machine is Dead Flowers :/
1 The Man In Me (Bob Dylan)
2 Ataypura (Yma Sumac)
3 Behave Yourself (Booker T. & the M.G.s)
4 Hotel California (Gipsy Kings)
5 I Hate You (The Monks)
6 Just Dropped In. To See What Condition My Condition Was In (Kenny Rogers)
7 Lookin' Out My Back Door (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
8 Lujon (Henry Mancini)
9 Mucha Muchacha (Juan García Esquivel)
10 My Mood Swings (Elvis Costello)
11 Oye Como Va (Santana)
12 Peaceful Easy Feeling (The Eagles)
13 Piacere Sequence (Teo Usuelli)
14 Requiem in D Minor (Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra)
15 Run through the Jungle (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
16 Traffic Boom (Piero Piccioni)
17 Tumbling Tumbleweeds (Sons of the Pioneers)
18 Viva Las Vegas (Elvis)
19 Walking Song (Meredith Monk)
20 Technopop (Carter Burwell)
1. The Man In Me - Bob Dylan
2. Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles - Captain Beefheart
3. My Mood Swings - Elvis Costello
4. Ataypura - Yma Sumac
5. Traffic Boom - Piero Piccioni
6. I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good - Nina Simone
7. Stamping Ground - Moondog With Orchestra
8. Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) - Kenny Rogers And The First Edition
9. Walking Song - Meredith Monk
10. Die Tote Standt - Gluck Das Mir Verblieb
11. Lujon - Henry Mancini
12. Hotel California - Gipsy Kings
13. Technopop - Carter Burwell
14. Dead Flowers - Townes Van Zandt
This is pertinent.. more detail about some of the songs:
http://www.laweekly.com/music/the-definitive-guide-to-the-music-of-the-big-lebowski-4168132
Quoted from jazzmaster:According to T Bone Burnett, who put the OST together, that one was the hardest to get for the movie. Allen Klein owns the rights to the song and originally turned down T Bones's request to use it. Probably was a no go for DP, as well.
Wonder if the music will be locked in or whether or not there could be a hook to add it in / swap it .. You know, if we own the original soundtrack. BOP guys seem to be able to mod their computers.
I can watch it on my phone right now. It looks like the old video but just touched up with final play field.
Interesting, don't know how much of that was bit vs real (was it a cost, or is it really flat no Tv policy).
I found this thread by bookmaking the TBL game forum activity. It's handy:
Nate had a good podcast with some DP thoughts ; both about refunding and BOP2.0 network connectivity
Speaking of build order possibility (his mailbag section).. If everything went swimmingly for DP (unlikely, there will be challenges), and JJP continues with delay there is the slightest possibility of a TBL / TH simultaneous or TBL winning scenario. Remote! But seems within realm of just possible but highly unlikely
it really ties a gameroom together.
back to the test rig vid: This drives home the point here that they are a serious contender. I've only seen one other test mechanism video out there and that was by Stern, for the walking dead. Not saying the others don't do this and just don't share any videos of it.. but I think it's safe to say a few of the other contenders are more than likely not doing this level of testing.
Decent folger's can on ebay this week; actually says there's 2 available!
ebay.com link: 1984 Folgers Metal Coffee Can 39 Oz Automatic Drip Tin Dated 1984 With Lid
it's from a smoke free home though so, you know.. not totally authentic.
And Who the F keeps coffee cans from 1984 and sells them in 2014.. the can predates the internet and the movie.
Quoted from RTR:Is this the correct can? I don't feel like doing the research...
It is close, not 100%.. I would say close enough. The correct can has aroma roasted on the front, which is the one I got but I haven't seen any for sale since.
If you are color blind, maybe this will be ok, as it is the correct style.
ebay.com link: Folgers Coffee Tin Aroma Roasted Green 39 oz
Alright, I went ahead and paid april's final payment today.. game is 100% paid for (sans shipping). So stoked that we're getting close! Crossing fingers they transition smooth into manufacturing but know that's the hardest part..trying to temper expectations but its hard.. 
Website: http://www.thebiglebowskipinball.com/preorder
And latest email which had notes about chrome and rug.don't think this is on website. Would presume this is for any orders between expo and.. Dunno when they end pre order vs "order".. Maybe after April 1? I'd email them about it.
We have received many requests for rugs and chrome and we want to give all pre-order VIP's the opportunity to upgrade with these add-ons. The way to do this is easy: go to your personal page and just check the tick box when you make your next payment (or just this one). The price of the rug and chrome upgrade is $500.
Tomorrow I fly out to Australia for the rest of the month for work. Reflecting that when I get back it'll be April 3rd and excited for what's to come in Q2.
Man its an outright downpour today in boutique pinball world. Would love to see some DP NSNL/FB updates soon with some "road to production" type photos to lift my spirits
I want to see that pic but with some cabinents.. Thstvseems step one-ish.. Wonder if they are making the cabinets, having someone else do it as subcontract.. As import from usa seems overkill.
Rumors of a game showing up at TPF this weekend. Would be interested in what it is.. Old prototype (with legaldisclaimer stickers), a playfield swapped one, or a new / preproduction one. I don't expect the latter but boy would that be something.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-2015-texas-pinball-festival-thread/page/13#post-2325972
Well, he added that the audio / video clips from the movie are all submitted and awaiting final approval with universal right now and when they get that, then they can show us stuff "much" further along in the software department. Unfortunately the speed at which universal does anything is out of their control.
I wish I was in the country, I could of probably swung a quick trip over to Dallas this weekend. I still haven't been to a VIP party 
guess I will have to throw my own when my machine arrives!
Hope we get a thread like this here soon as well!
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/heighway-pinball-full-production-begins
I'm not worked up about Q2 timeline, just would appreciate some updates.. "The journey" and all as well as the reward.
And also, We (the royal we) have been a little slack on TBL quotes. I can't work one in right now, but here's a choice conversation plucked from the many available:
The Dude: What's in the fuckin' carrier?
Walter Sobchak: Huh? Oh, that's Cynthia's dog. I think it's a Pomeranian. I can't leave him home alone or he eats the furniture. I'm watching him while Cynthia and Marty Ackerman are in Hawaii.
The Dude: You brought the fuckin' Pomeranian bowling?
Walter Sobchak: What do you mean brought it bowling, Dude? I didn't rent it shoes. I'm not buying it a fucking beer. He's not taking your fucking turn, Dude.
The Dude: Man, if my fuckin' ex-wife asked me to take care of her fuckin' dog while she and her boyfriend went to Honolulu I'd tell her to go fuck herself.
Quoted from Tuna_Delight:Man oh man, the pre-order masses (including me) are clearly seizing upon any morsels of new info that can be found.
Poor google translate having a hard time:
ALTEN About half month rolls the very first Dutch pinball, The Big Lebowski TM, the production line. Apparatenfabriek ARA example, the machine built by Dutch Pinball. On a mega pinball show in Chicago is The Big Lebowski TM presented by Dutch Pinball, only through oral information and flyers. The company received many positive responses from the fanatical fans, Pinheads, the owners decided to leave the machine in production. The owners of Dutch Pinball have heard through the grapevine the name of René Versteeg names and contact him about the production of The Big Lebowski TM. After pondering a weekend Versteeg decided to go with Dutch Pinball sea. Now, eighteen months later, the first Big Lebowski TM is almost ready to be delivered. The game in The Big Lebowski TM is loosely based on the movie that flopped at the cinema but has sold well on DVD. The game in the pinball machine is complex and multifaceted, expect exactly what its enthusiasts.
Read on Tuesday, April 28th about The Big Lebowski TM Aaltens News.
spark is the right word for it.. it should be an exciting time right now.. with crickets over here I'm reading all the other boutique threads as stuffs happening over there... good or, unfortunately, really bad.. but it's happening. I'd love to be occupied with TBL news / growing excitement over my game. Heck, I still need to get rid of or move a game to the garage cause I don't have room for TBL yet 
DP needs to compel me to get serious about that problem 
Yes but what have you done for me lately? . The picture is nice. It doesn't speak to production line / part piles etc though and that I guess what would excite me the most given the phase we are in.
If they do/did get 300 pre orders, that bodes really well for them.. As I think a lot of folks are waiting for the cash/carry option after preorders.
Allentown maybe? Cointaker is going to be there and they are the first distributor (took a prototype to TPF)
Quoted from goalzzz:There's a short version on Aaltens Nieuws:
http://www.aaltensnieuws.nl/lokaal/allereerste_nederlandse_flipperkast_geproduceerd_in_aalten_3618924.html#.VTmCaFA84yo
Nothing really interesting so far, except that the article clearly states that "the first machines will be rolling of the production line in 90 days".
Full article will be published on the 28th of April.
Think I found the full article posted last night but it seems just a couple paragraphs longer than the original and most of it is Pinball history vs any scoops about the game. Does say 300 ordered though.. from the google translate of it. http://www.achterhoeknieuwsaalten.nl/lokaal/allereerste_nederlandse_flipperkast_3618796.html#.VT_ii3vNsjw
Quoted from Nilroc:I wonder who gets the first one delivered of the apparently 300 preordered?
I know it's not me.
I'm also very happy to hear things are moving forward.
This machine is so cool! Cannot wait until mine is in my gamesroom
I am not the first for sure but I did order within about 4 hours of pre order opening I'm sure. So I should be early. Not sure how they are going to handle shipping order (despite true serial numbers) since shipping them one at a time seems $$$ vs trying to fill containers. I also imagine with a repeat of bop 2.0 they may want to get some out in the wild locally in Europe first in case theres a problem / recall.. Just speculation
Quoted from JustLikeMe:I'm sure I ordered within an hour of the reveal and I'm in the UK, so hoping to be fairly high up the list.
Yeah i bet you get a game early for both those reasons
Quoted from zucot:What's in the pic of the playfield that can be seen through the cutout for the bowling alley mech? Doesn't appear to match the layout of the playfield.
that looks like a flipped over mask of some kind.. .prob some kind of test template or something
liking the gloss. they haven't talked about clearcoat levels or anything but looking pretty good here at least.
Thanks for sharing! I think that machine is the same one that got pulled early at TPF so good to see its running smooth. Doubtful I'm going to get to see one before it shows up at my house so always happy to see people impressed with the prototypes. Coupled with the innovative ideas we can see going on with bop2.0 (online scores etc) positive overall, just wish they were better communicators happy with the update for the most part this week.
Quoted from JimB:Everyone wants more, faster and better updates but I'm hoping for a quality product and that takes time. Fingers crossed.
Me too, I just don't think feel better communication is mutually exclusive with quality product. . It is good the product is looking high quality / williams-esque which does help let some stuff go
I sent these in response to NSNL, to "sales@" so who know who gets it:
1) The machine at allentown, what's the deal with the photo posted of it on a rug, but not "the" rug?
2) Noticed on the list of achievements, nothing about universal and the audio/clips approvals that you guys were waiting on a month ago almost. Any updates there?
Shipping begins this quarter (can assume end of quarter). This is what they have always held to .. If they meet this it will be the first time any of the startups hit a deadline they set back when they started taking orders (16 months ago). I do hope they stick the landing as someone else said.. Vs begin the 6-12+ months of delay period like everyone else.
True, I think people are willing to give them some leeway.. But only if they are up front about it. BOP2.0 had crazy delays and, true to their MO they weren't good about communication. I didn't follow every step but it seemed to be announcing a couple week delay, which doubled or tripled before they told anyone a new timeline, repeat.. Think everyone presumed it was cause TBL was huge distraction.. But who knows.
Quoted from Rensh:So many parts go in the TBL and it only takes 1 vendor with delay to f*ck it up.
Absolutely true. So given this weeks update that its all about paperwork and contracts right now to get all the parts in; the next 30-45 days should start to see stuff arriving and they should get a sense of any vendor having problems. Hope they share that with us as it builds good will / makes people forgive a bit slips that result.
Some other stuff that would be cool for them to address:
- at TPF and at Allentown town, the machine is getting hammered with non stop lines.. With some breakdowns. It would be cool to get a rundown of the breakdowns against fixes that ate already in place or being looked at for the production games. Like, the rug toy is getting s lot of love from DP and really really appreciate the video with test rig and talking of improvements. How about the bowling alley? Seems like its had some troubles on the road; anything going on there?
- is there every going to be a feature flyer produced? It seems a right of passage.
Quoted from genex:They did have flyers at other shows. I've got two different versions.
Ok I think I've only seen the viral marketing original one.
Quoted from rommy:How long after start are they predicting games will be available to everyone ? This would make a great Christmas gift.
Don't quote me on this, but it sounds like the timeline today is building pre order machines from Q2 thru sometime in Q3. So, it is conceivable Q4 you could buy one from coin taker (only distributor announced so far) and get it shipped. The good thing here is they are doing contract manufacturing.. Which to me implies they don't get started until they have all the parts, and so delays are going to be front loaded.. Once they get rolling, they're going to keep the line going for pre orders then into some inventory of cash/carry straight away. Cause the manufacturer may have other contracts to do afterwards / from there on there will prob be a min quantity required to rerun.
Yeah I will forgive you for dropping that question about rug. The question here was me wondering if universal having a problem with the rug using the lebowski font / needing approval. So i was thinking maybe they subbed it out till approval was given or rug was reworked. I would think everything about the rug would not need a license except that font /title as everything else is original work.. So even if they had to rework the rug to not say "big Lebowski" I would be totally fine.. Might even prefer it just being the red center / their original iconography in the perimeter.
Or as I heard.. Maybe its as simple as I heard someone spilled coffee on the one at TPF and so they didn't want to put a stained rug out there.
Anyways, I don't care if I ever get an answer, just my rationale
I agree, if they get any resistance from universal on the rug having the movie title, my advice would be not to fight it, just remove it. Everything else about the rug seems within fair use, but I'm no lawyer. And I said, I was only speculating on why some random rug might show up vs the one they designed.
From Feb 20 NSNL on the last rug news:It all started with a rug…
We’ve also been searching high and low for a supplier that offers the best quality for the Rug and we think we’ve found him! This is far from the most modestly priced rug available!
On the right in the photos above you see the rugs that we have used until today for shows. On the left you see the rug that you will receive. Needless to say: It will really tie the room together!!
Quoted from foxtj24:At allentown they did not get the rug there in time so they used a look a like rug. That was the only reason.
Gotcha. They could of operated it without a carpet at all vs spend the money but fair enough . Rug pissers must work for fed ex.
Quoted from PinB:Anyone know which U.S. distributors will be selling TBL (besides Cointaker)?
That's the only one mentioned so far, for machines shipping in Q4 sometime last I heard. Maybe more detsils as the pre order games start shipping
Shipping for north America, what's the plan there? I.e., fill a container, send it over , then shipped out by either Scott or Cointaker? And with bop2.0 you shipped to European customers first presumably to try to flesh out problems while can still local; can we expect that again here?
Family mode - care to elaborate. Are you using the TV edits (that are funny), bleeping it out, etc. Available on delivery or going to come later.
Ship it! (The question list). If they took the time to answer those thoughtfully it would be a big win for them and for us.
Really appreciate this run down of where we are; this is exactly what I was hoping to see. Appreciate they told us about shipping delay now and their causes vs waiting till end of June to see if a miracle happens (looking at almost all the other startups). Def a great way to start a Monday.
I'd hope IF the clip approvals went that sideways where things needed to be replaced, then we could have the ability (not supported of course) to correct it on our own / sub out fake for real on our own machines from our own dvd copies or whatever. I wouldn't think it would come to that; just as a last resort.
Have to realize (and barry stated) that many of those boxes is actually several different modes (rug modes, car modes, characters) so looks pretty good to me. Nihilists looks a little out of place there off to the side.. Wondering if that's still how it is
Nihilists and white Russian as side lobes of mode tree are fine. I just had presumed they'd be part of the wizard mode or rug modes. It would be awesome if you are able to and choose to play nihilists too early in the tree you get "like a child who wanders into the middle of a movie and wants to know" callout 
You'd think audio and video from the actual movie you're paying universal for would be easy / come with securing the license. Maybe it is but still universal has to dot i's and cross t's with the actors.. I.e., maybe the actors can't veto their use of stock movie footage but have to be informed / get their cut from universal, etc. I have no idea.. Licensing is hard.
Glad to get a glimpse of the challenges at least. Wonder if Phillip Seymour Hoffman's estate is a challenge. With his death still quite fresh they may not be all about putting him on a pinball machine at this moment
yeah for songs go back to page 1 of this thread
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-big-lebowski-preorder-club#post-2174425
includes a youtube compilation of the songs included
I would just add, since it is a new game, you prob won't need a ton of tools. However a couple things:
- This game is likely to be metric vs all the other games that were made in USA. Will prob need a different set of nut drivers than the rest.
- IF you look at other threads of brand new in box games and see some people finding problems right out of the box. This is the norm.. doesn't matter which company, or how much money you spent, but these are complex electro-mechanical devices that, in our case especially, have to travel via container then by truck to our houses. Hopefully it is minimal, would pay attention here, see if there's any common issues that come up as other people unbox. But, anyway.. don't panic if it isn't 100% out of the box Keeping an eye on the BOP2.0 threads, DP seems on the ball helping people out, and we'll of course help each other out.
Interesting, they do have somewhere they are using mostly Williams/bally parts so I could see the mechs and stuff being imperial unit. Guess can tack that on to another FAQ in the future
Anyone think we would of seen the day where Phil's meltdown is relatively minor vs everything else that's happened since Jan? Man. And in the same light, not sure DP would of made it through if it happened today as there's even less tolerance for missteps.
Just sitting here thinking, this is why the contract manufacturing / "rent a factory" seems like a good play. They aren't buying solder paste machines / pick in place. Plus there's people there who do own it that know how to work them and things to watch out for that can eat up time. And, you still get the benefits of your hands on the process / rapid prototyping; i.e., the alternative being some mail order circuit house where you have to turn things around, possibly find a problem, then pay out your nose to have it redone quickly or wait. So, anyway, seems smart
hahaha.. i have to share this. I look for the folgers can's on ebay for you guys occasionally, been dry lately. Anyways, this is not "the" can but I love the note "Estate find" ...
ebay.com link: 1984 Folgers Metal Coffee Can 39 Oz Automatic Drip Tin Old Advertising WOW
Seriously, old folgers cans at an estate sale? I don't know why I find people selling old (not even antique, just old) coffee cans on ebay so fun. I am thankful to the man that had the right can that I got though.
Anxious to see my number, hopefully this week. I *think* I should be in the first container (first 30) as a first day at noon-ish PST orderer.. but you never know.
well tomorrow is last day before Shabbas so hopefully we see our numbers! But they did say it was "hopefully" this week so left themselves some wiggle room.
The NSNL seem to take some effort (due to the high quality touches) that I dont blame them for not wanting to do very often. However a little Facebook post here and there like they've done recently (but repeat material from NSNL) with some fresh minor content would be nice. Like, the box of parts from Scott arriving on the other side safely, etc.
List of major milestones though I think are NSNL worthy, all of which seem a few weeks (lets hope not a few months) though:
- clips/audio approved - I hope this announcement manifests with some game video highlighting some major lines in use.
- games on the line photos
- process for sorting out shipping (here's what you pay and to whom)
- games boxed up and heading out
Then I will post my own NSNL here of pictures from me unboxing .
to add, something to appreciate is that they are using bally/williams parts where possible (and other established things like P-ROC). For instance, believe the giant clear insert / panel over the bowling alley is the CFTBL / Congo window. so as long as PPS and Gerry can get those parts made, they already exist. Granted some stuff is just going to be custom regardless.. but maybe should help.
From watching heighway who's a little more forthcoming about what the issues are.. it's not so much can't get the parts, but getting them to meet expectations of quality. So we'll see.. definitely entering the phase where surprise delays can happen as parts show up and aren't right for whatever reason.
Quoted from burningman:The 900 pound palate of parts from Scott are in Rotterdam, so they should be at the factory this week.
Can you confirm the box made it alright? Just trying to pass the time until we get something more substantial like a/v clip approvals or games on the line. Box progress is still progress
Quoted from burningman:Rotterdam is about about a 1.5 hour drive from Aalten....so I would think it would be there. I'm talking with Barry later today so I will ask him...
Was Rotterdam customs? Can only imagine a giant box of a assortment of parts might get some scrutiny.
Quoted from jazzmaster:Only three days until the tenth of the month... any info you could slip under the door would be greatly appreciated.
Man now what am I going to post on the 10th??
Quoted from Tuna_Delight:Is there something significant about the 10th?
You're out of your element! Go watch the movie again!
Yep the feeling I have is that next month make or break Q3 timeline. September needs to be all about cranking machines out and shipping and then reshipping if anyone is going to see a machine in Q3. So back tracking, August has got to be all about assemblies and then games coming together. This month is likely parts stockpiling.. Like the giant box from USA I imagine for the basics (Williams/bally parts). Seems like their should be a stack of playfields (both full and mini) piling up somewhere right now if everything is going to fall into place right?
Luckily the outstanding (as far as I know) universal approvals for callouts/video clips is all software, it doesnt hold up anything but final launch software loads which can be just about when games go out.
Anyways, make or break it time at DP. Or it not Q3.. At least by Christmas!
Make or break for Q3 I mean (their latest deadline). I am starting to get a Q4 vibe just from the quiet over there but they've always been pretty quiet.. hopefully in a "slow and steady" wins the race kind of way.
Also, in other news over in the BOP2.0 thread looks like they've said they are getting ready for producing a second batch of those in August (per their website: http://www.dutchpinball.com/order) Guessing the BOP2.0's making it to shows recently brought in the last of the minimum necessary to do a run.
Quoted from lllvjr:I'm on the cointaker load. How do I get emails and videos with out waiting from here?
Can try to sign up for newsletter here: http://www.thebiglebowskipinball.com/contact
Or talk to cointaker, you might be on a load of 1 as they (cointaker) haven't been advertising that they are even for sale yet. Last I heard distributor sales weren't even to begin till Q4 / when games were shipping so you might be in a quasi state with cointaker letting you pre order one of the non preorder units (the rest of us have gotten added to the newsletter by buying preorder machines).
Can also PM Burningman, maybe he can get you on list
Well, we got a BOP2.0 is done as far as rules goes and cool video update. they did a really nice job with BOP2.0 even if it took a long time to get there. I take comfort in that.
That was covered in the list of questions Barry answered a bit back. No TV lines, think just swear words cut out.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-big-lebowski-preorder-club/page/5#post-2455940
Well, the renaissance faire treatment of artwork package on GOT makes me even happier to be in on this game!
Barry: get some NSNL out!
Looks like Barry and Jaap giving seminar at Chicago expo. Hard to imagine it's been a year already! Thurs Oct 15th, 5PM EST.
Hopefully someone will stream again
Yeah not that the plaque is really at all important, but it is actually nice looking. Most others phone that part in. Just need to get it in my house now.. Starting to think about the fact that I'm going to be out of the country for a week in late October and its possible that could turn into a problem for receiving my game (Murphy's law factor). Oh well, would work it out.. Just hoping getting it by Thanksgiving holiday week at the latest.
Quoted from fosaisu:It would be super impressive if these are actually arriving States-side by the end of October given that they aren't even on the line yet in Holland! That said, I hope they start cranking them out ASAP, can't wait to see one in action.
Yeah prob wishful thinking on my part
Quoted from pinghetto:Has the apron changed on TBL? In one of the parts pictures on the NSNL, it shows a couple aprons with notches for apron cards. The protos had the cut stars from the bowling alley. Maybe those aprons in the newsletter don't even belong to this.
Brian
Good catch.. I haven't seen a game in person yet the though, what were they to start with? Stickers? The metal cut stars were on the upper playfield I thought
I wonder where the colors are coming from ? They don't look like lights.. So colors. Wonder if it's normal apron (as we see in piles already) with some kind of façade metal face with the cut outs and colored film or something to give the effect. Operators prob want the card holders still. But agree.. The prototype ones look best.
Otherwise prob a change or maybe for preorder people only.. cause those aprons are sitting there ready to go.. Wouldn't be very easy to cut the bowling alley shapes now.
Yeah they have a lot of reasons to get these pre orders out the door cause I think they have a lot of fresh money to make with the cash and carry model that comes after. But, it also means they need to do a good job with us.. If we're whining about stuff, nobody will buy.
Quoted from Dr_Spaceman:Anyone else notice the Wrestlemania translite to the left in the pic with the 2 cabs?
So TBL is a retheme of WWE . I prob shouldn't even joke about that, people love conspiracy.
Quoted from rommy:Any updates on when this might be available to purchase and play? Are we looking at more than a year or less? Dream theme for me - but no preorders ever.
Less
The apron thing, that's one thing I wish they'd done already is really locked down the feature list of the game.. All we have to go on is the prototypes really as far as apron expectations.
Hopefully the first production machine is done here soon to set or reset expectations.
But yeah +1 on the cool apron, but seeing a pile of standard aprons there kind of puts it in the unlikely category for me. Guess there's hope that it was always a mod to existing apron vs custom.
Not the kind of thing that merits its own NSNL but maybe they could fill Burningman in on what the apron deal is and he could let us know.
And he didn't have a licensor to deal with. But, JPOP is also is incompetent.. So.
Do hope even if manufacturing hiccups carry the day right now the universal approvals of showing us some software come soon.
5:00 PM CST
“The Big Lebowski(tm) Pinball"
Speakers: Jaap Nauta, Koen Heltzel & Jean-Paul de Win
Moderator: Gary Flower
Looks like the speakers today are definitely Manufacturing + Software focused, which is good as that's what we want to hear about; we will still miss you Barry
Haha, when I saw they had moderator I imagined it's due to all those cuss words last time. But I guess having a moderator means there is a Q&A portion? (I noticed a lot of other talks don't have a moderator listed).
I haven't seen anyone come out and say they will be streaming so guess we're relying on attendees to take good notes. Plus, I would think a NSNL would come out today/tomorrow to coincide with the talk?
So anyone there that commit to reporting back there from the talk? Looks like no streaming volunteers but maybe there's an achiever out there that wouldn't mind live-blogging a bit to pinside?
2 hours to go!
Summary so far on pinball news.com:
Jaap started by playing a short video featuring the swearing used in last year's presentation before looking at the developments over the past 12 months.
He addressed the problem the company faced over Phil's departure, the raft of refunds, and the fallout which damaged the team's reputation. He explained why the brought in Roger Sharpe to help deal with Paramount Pictures and clear up any licensing issues.
Jaap then detailed the changes made between the prototype and production models.
The amount of wiring has been greatly reduced by using more PBCs under the playfield. The backbox has also been tidied up, resulting in fewer interconnects.
He then talked about the licensing restrictions on using the original music which demanded the associated video from the movie had to be shown in its entirety which, Jaap said, would be impossible. So the game will use newly-created versions of the songs.
Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:Think I remember awhile ago that DP was not going to have open source code and that NO music swaps would be possible. Can someone get DP on record answering this question?
I don't think anything has ever been said either way about music swaps, so check your memory. Maybe closed source part.
So moving past what sounds like a pretty "pinball is hard" themed reality check talk.. Do the protos on the floor have new code on them?
Quoted from iceman44:I thought the last update stated no Goodman.
No, the last update explicitly said Goodman callouts were IN.
But.. They also said licensed songs, unfortunately I've lost some confidence today.
As a software engineer, I have to correct the open source stuff throwing out there..we do not need open source to change the audio.. Stern isn't open source and you can change the audio just fine. They just need to leave the door open to change out the assets.. No encryption, etc.
Sorry . If you ask them about open source, the answer will be no. But asking them about whether they are going to make it hard to change the music assets or not is a valid question.
Quoted from Fishbeadtwo:Is anybody working on a Hitler reacts video yet?
Nihilists are on it
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/expo-tbl-extended-gameplay-video
Watching it for a while, is anyone planning on mirrored pinblades or anything?
Wondering if you took the border of the rug (the one that comes with pre orders) and got someone to do pingraphics if it would look good or not
Quoted from Fishbeadtwo:Not to change the topic here or anything but does anyone know if the call outs will have family and nsfw settings? Like Good,an saying"this is what happens...." Or Bunny saying her famous" I'll ........" ?
Yes, there is a family mode.. It will bleep out curse words (we asked about using the funny TV alternatives but the said unfortunately no). Either way, I think if I have people with kids over (I don't have any), TBL will probably be left off.
Quoted from zucot:All that matters now is a shipping date.
If they can't provide that because they don't have confidence in it, then give us a date by which they can announce a ship date with real confidence.
If they can't even do that, then the game is nowhere near shipping.
Agree. The claims that at DPO there will be several production protos will be a good indicator as well (if they make it)
We planned to send this NSN before Expo, but, due to some unforeseen circumstances, we didn't make it and of course we couldn't reschedule the seminar at Expo. We're very sorry some of the news in the presentation was told first at Expo instead of a NSN like we always do.
This NSN is the update about Expo 2015. The lines to play TBL were not as long as last year but the three proto's we had in the booth of Cointaker were played constantly. The new software was received very well and we got some good feed back about the call outs.
We have planned to show the first (pre)production machines at the Dutch Pinball Open on November 7th and 8th. After this we are also planning to show the new games in the US as soon as possible!
Our seminar at Expo
Some of you may have heard or read about our seminar at Expo 2015.During the seminar we had good and bad news. One of the 'bad news' was about the music in The Big Lebowksi™ Pinball. Buma Stemra assured we had the license but months later it turned out we only had the right on the music and not of the master. When we went after the master Roger Sharpe told us that we only were allowed to use the music uncut. So we have to show the movieclip for 3-4 minutes. In pinball this is impossible so we decided to give up the original music. Click here to listen to Jaap explaining this at the seminar. (Sorry for the bad audio quality, this was filmed with a phone in the audience. Pinballnews.com will probably have a better version of the total seminar soon).
Before & After
One of the 'good news' were the pictures of the differences between the prototype and the production machine. You probably would like to see these pics so here we go:Only a very small bundle of cables between cabinet and backbox in production model.
Much more cleaner backbox setup.
The new speaker panel with the new display. We chose a new display which has a better aspect ratio and the new display is also a complete integrated display panel which looks much cleaner than the separate circuit boards on top of the prototype display.
We really love the new bottom of the playfield. It's so clean!
A detail of the bottom of the playfield.. Can you tell the difference
Some details on the playfield that have changed since the prototype.
And yes... The apron...
One of the things we changed on the production model was the apron... After getting a lot of reactions about the lack of having a place to put score cards on the game we thought it would be better to change the apron back to a 'standard apron'. Well, not completely standard, because the logo would still be on it and it would still have the Achievers Edition plaque...Since we had a couple of emails regarding this change we will re-discuss this and probably go for a 'keep both worlds happy' solution. When we finalized this we will let you know.
Gameplay videos
Another thing we showed at the seminar were new game play videos. These videos show some features of the software and are completely approved by Universal. They also show clips including all the main characters of the movie including Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore and John Goodman.Click here to watch the videos: Character modes, Let's go bowling, Multiball and Rug Modes.
One of the changes we already made is the female voice. This was the first recording that was made and we are not completely satisfied with the result - this will be changed in the future. However, we love the - very deep & dark - male voice!
Shipping date
One of the questions during the Q&A at the Expo presentation was when the first games will ship. We answered we didn't know yet.And we really don't know. We would like to ship them yesterday! We are close to shipping the first game but we need to revise the main circuit board and this takes time. Please hang in there Dudes...
We'll send out more updates as soon as we have more 'new shit' to show you guys!
Until then, stay tuned.
Quoted from highdef:I didn't mention the decline of bars and nightclubs over the past 10 years:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-your-favorite-neighborhood-bar-is-closing-2015-10-09
http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/14/news/pubs-uk-beer-alcohol/
Factors include online dating, longer work hours, student tuition, smoking bans, Netflix, lower alcohol consumption, crappy music, and so on.
The pin community is certainly doing its part, but the landscape is definitely changing.
I would say bars are evolving.. Barcades is a new trend. Beer bars vs just "bars" are all over the place. Gastropubs where the food isn't shit. They have to up their game to compete, which isn't a bad thing necessarily.
For those attending, do us pre-order people a favor and play the hell out of the 5 games.. my understanding is that there will only be a difference between these games and what's shipped out to us is if they find something at DPO they need to tweak.
Quoted from Concretehardt:Was it a NSNL? I didn't get it
Yeah maybe they are still coming out..I know the last one was 20 min late for me vs the rest of you guys. It just arrived.
Yeah, I just want the game I will worry about songs, mods, etc after that so hoping things go well this weekend!
Yeah noticed the button. Seems permanent change as the bowling ball buttpn was apparently a point of failure on the protos. I am guessing operators also appreciate normal button as well for newbie instructions "launch ball". Don't think yellow is final color though, prob orange which will blend in better I think.
I will miss it as, like the apron, it was a premium touch. Do like the hybrid apron solution.
Want the game in my house more than griping about button. Plus, this seems like an easy one for mod crowd.
Having never seen the apron in person, I didn't think they were lit stars in the first place. Just cut outs with metalic backdrops. So, prob can't judge a lot from photos.
In the photo all but the furthest of the games had the left sling shot area pretty dark. Assuming that's just the timing of the photo with the attract mode.. Would be good to see normal light distribution photos soon.. This is the first of us seeing the light pipes in action right?
Quoted from JustLikeMe:This is really disappointing - I understand the delays in the manufacturing process, but I'm baffled why a game that was meant to ship in Q2 is still running alpha code. If the five pre-production models hold up well this weekend and they soon begin to manufacture games, can we expect them to ship with this alpha code too?
The reality is, BOP2.0 just had its code finalized-ish a couple months ago. And the team is small. Hence, TBL is lagging. The good thing is that BOP2.0 hopefully fleshed out a good framework and TBL will go quicker
No idea on IP assets.. Sounds highly complicated now with no licensed music, and not being allowed to cut away licensed music from video. So navigating all that I'm sure has put a wrench in some things. Feels like they should get games shipping with some version of approved code in parallel of them navigating the license waters against whatever their original IP asset plan was.
As far as NSNL, still hoping for one, but their MO is no news till good news. So I will imagine we get something when they've overcome the circuit board issues they talked about during the talk AND anything new that popped up at DPO... Which would put them as being able to start the production line.
I'm sort of thinking feb for game in my hands at earliest right now as very soon the holidays are going to start slowing down things outside of their control (vendors, universal's responsiveness, etc)
Quoted from thedarkknight77:Spooky, Heighway, those are two new companies that you can trust, everyone else are just wanna be boys............
Neither of them are making this title, or frankly anything I'm interested in at this moment.. Go troll somewhere else. I guess I'll go further in denial and add you to ignore as well.
Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:Ones destined for the US are being made _________. Can someone in the know fill in the blank?
In the Netherlands? What are you blatherling about?
Yep. Earlier they talked about filling about 40 per container and shipping them over for distribution. They're using a contract manufacturer in the Netherlands (where all the pics are coming from presumably). It will be interesting to see how fast these things come off the line when going.. Would hope fast as these are professional manufacturers on contract so they want to get them out as fast as possible (likely fixed cost per unit given to them from dutch pinball )... So time is money lost out of the CMs pocket (speculation, but usually how things work). Also puts incentive that they force DP to have all their ducks in a line before getting started with inventories as the CM won't want to stop in the middle with people standing around doing nothing if there's a shortage.
Dunno what to say about the 3%.. It's probably what PayPal's cut was from the transaction, so DP doesn't want to be out the $250. But, at least in the states companies would prob eat the $250 just for good will.
Hopefully people backing out during home stretch hour is sending signal to what matters to customers.. And how they communicate (or hold back).. These 11th hour revelations of things not measuring up to the expectations they set (music, button, apron, clip rules) is admittedly pretty lame. So, hopefully game #2 they learn from this.
Still thinking they game will be pretty good as people seem to love it and they do care about quality.
Hopefully soonish too... At least before Hobbit anyway
Nice I remember hoping the playfield art was going to use that artist / be that style. If I only had known the licensing issues with that given all the other ways their hands have been tied since then its amazing the playfield art is as nice as it is.
Quoted from pinballslave:err... what's that bit mean? Have they reduced the rule set?
I was referring to Jaaps talk from DPO. He said that because Hotel California is playing during the scene that introduces Jesus, they can't use the video clip cause they are not allowed to remove the music score from the clip. This seems like they are backed into a corner.. no licensed music + no video clips where licensed music exist. Wondering what audibile level does music eliminate a clip.. Is it because the Jesus scene had it in foreground or that it had it at all ... if you listen close, the music fades to background but not eliminated until well into the dialogue.. 8 year olds dude.
So, there are a multiple scenes like that.. With music in foreground so much that one can imagine the same rule will apply.. Like the entire trampoline scene has music in foreground as well... So its unfortunate in retrospect they picked the trampoline for the kick back as there may be no clips allowed to go with it. Taxi scene is well off the charts on the out list under these restrictions I bet as well.
Anyways stuff has gotten complicated for them and I'm not optimistic at this point that the game will be exactly what they wanted to give us. Hopefully some of which is fixable for home use. And enough clips do skirt all the limitations to still give the movie vibe.
To add: I think part of the problem now is, it's <3 weeks from the 2 year anniversary since i and others put the first deposit down. That is plenty of time to build up expectations, and for a long time they were being met. So, kind of a bummer man that the various setbacks are being realized here at 11th hour.
If the SW demoed at Expo and DPO was farther along and we could see that there is enough content still available to work with that it's still going to be awesome, maybe I'd feel less tepid about the whole thing right now.
It's just that the theme IS the dialog.. so, clip approvals is pretty core to tie the whole pin together.
I think it will be a fine, quality pinball machine though.. That part I'm not worried about at all. Granted, $8500 is a lot more tolerable than the current price.. Now that JPOP has crashed and burned, TBL at current pricing is the most expensive machine on the market.
Concerns for me are just around theme capture I guess, which is the only reason I'm in on this. Otherwise I would of gotten a MMR ... And still possibly be waiting 
Was wondering about that, but i'm not in the business.. Not being able to scrub out the music seemed to be more restrictive than typical, was thinking about those same examples. I would of figured Roger was translating lingo for them but maybe he's not.
Quoted from Rarehero:Part of me wonders if this business about the scenes and the music is a miscommunication - the Dutch guys have been confused by the nature of U.S. licensing lingo before - perhaps they're confused about what the licensor is/isn't allowing about is just playing it safe. I'm just thinking about other games that use video clips or audio from movies...Spidey, TF, Iron Man, BDK, WOZ, Hobbit - they always scrub the existing BG music out - but they're allowed to use clips & voices.
Unfortunately video seems like somewhat harder to just toss in later. There would need to be something to replace.
So picking apart the Jesus intro
Clearly , from 0 to 1:30 is what Jaap was directly referring to as out. But you can still recognize the words up through 1:40 where it drops into background 'noise'. Then volume back up slightly when Jesus starts talking at 3:25. I would hope 1:40-3:25 is clear, that's core dialog. Looking beyond that, Jesus is pretty much out I would guess since they turn the volume back up into 'recognizeable' (but still background)? All depends on what these rules really are I guess. As always, just my opinion man.
Definitely hope they quadruple checked that they really can't remove the BG music.
2 years on December 23rd, 2013. If you recall, at expo 2013 they started a mystery count down timer.. It wasn't until the timer ran out on Dec 23rd that you could pre order. At that time they said games would ship Q2 2015. So they are about 6 months late from their target .
What you are keying off of was their huge presence at expo 2014. That was a year in, during about an 18month quarterly $1500 payment schedule from the Dec23rd,2013. Prior to that was a year of really cool reveals of pieces and parts to the game. Was a great ride.
However, sitting here today we've known what the game will look like now for 12months.. Just down to software, which is where all these licensing challenges are popping up.
we got in at $8500, not sure where the price was at by Expo 2014.. maybe the same still?
Yeah after expo 2014 they were trying to close the pre-order window for all the goodies (rug, chrome). Phil meltdown I think left the window open a bit longer as there was too much turmoil.
Quoted from kaneda:Nothing is worse than waiting for a pin that seemed done. But here we are.
Hah yeah given the progress they showed leading up and including their expo 2014 unveiling of 3 working games.. There were a few of us (me included) that were wondering if they were actually going to ship early vs 2015-Q2. Then Phil meltdown sort of sobered everyone up.. And really started the long slog towards production we're on now, and hopefully close to the end of.
Thanks for the quote guys..
Man, I am scared to watch the movie again until game is out.. Little worried I'm going to sit there with a notepad (mental or actual) and note all the scenes that have foreground music. Was just sitting here trying to think of a quote and first thing that popped in to my head was I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in... Then it dawned on me that that isn't even dialogue, that's Kenny Rogers. Then I realized that song is the entire dream sequence. 
Trying to reserve judgement that they can still do something or let us hack it into something. But otherwise, darkness has washed over this dude. 
Yes, I agree.. Replacing some background music is one thing. They would have to purposely do things in ways to make it ameanable to swaps. Luckily, since we are sitting here and sounds like clip approval has been a challenge the entire time, its likely this has already been somewhat modularized by the developer(s) to avoid getting jerked around by which clips were going to be available (to make it easy on himself). So I have above zero hope
Also, unlikely but wondering if they would consider open sourcing the thing if what they end up being able to provide legally is less than stellar.. which would allow tweaking for home use vs total rewrite.
Quoted from Rick432:Theoretically, since I know licensing laws are different in different countries, couldn't DP make an EU edition, that uses more extensively the music and video clips with proper clip length, etc. But also make a US edition that is more nerfed, but compliant with licensing?
Who knows.. Nothing about this world makes sense to me. Guessing because at end of day, its universals license to do with as they please. So there's s probably what you can legally do vs what would piss them off you have to weigh. And who knows, Euro could be even more problematic to deal with than if it was USA company.
A lotta ins, a lotta outs, a lotta what-have-yous.
I will add, looking at the full landscape of games in development right now.. I'm still most impressed with this package. The fact that it happens to be my dream theme is a blessing and a curse. Curse cause I have such high expectations about theme integration
Quoted from iceman44:I'm glad I saved my $$ for locally made Spooky.
Think there's room for both titles. I have no interest in any of the Spooky themes so far, so me its not a DP vs. Spooky thing.
Quoted from Tuna_Delight:So is Christmas, as they say. 2016 in this case.
Well hopefully closer than that
Figuring we are about due for a NSNL.. Close out the year with where they are, progress against the issues from DPO,etc.. And what they think still is obstacles still left for Q1 (hopefully not much).
Think we're all there. Long wait and a case of over promise under deliver due to licensing issues will do that to any one.
I still have to get rid of a game to make room
Quoted from jrawlinson_2000:Dang that looks like one complicated board....
A positive with that is its prob expensive, so they are unlikely to want to respin it a third time.. So likely really made sure the fix was root caused and fixed soundly.
Happy 2nd anniversary first day preorder club its been a long road but taking stock in things here I'm feeling thankful I could afford to go on this journey and hopeful about Q1 shipping. Confident they will give us the best possible experience within the hoops they are having to jump through with the license.
Edit: oops remembered the date wrong.. Checking emails it was 12/27/13 when the count down timer stopped.
Personally giving them another week or two before I get restless for a NSNL. With the holidays, prob not a ton got ton since the 18th (last NSNL).
I still need to make room for the game. Somebody has to go out to the garage or auction block. Luckily my NGG sound board just shit itself so I have a project / candidare if I cant get it working by then.
Quoted from sd_tom:Personally giving them another week or two before I get restless for a NSNL.
Ok count me restless . Got my NGG fixed and had great time at Arcade Expo this past weekend.. So need a NSNL with some progress to continue the trend.
We usually get one when we get kind of rowdy.. If you look at the cointaker TBL thread, we are there . Rarehero seems pretty confident games are getting built, so they must of gotten past the board issue, or decided to build what they can and integrate them last.
Either way, if theres a line of machines being assembled in any fashion, that would be sweet to see. Also wondering if we are close enough that they will need to sort out shipping details with at least the first batch of us urban achievers soon.
agree.. positive news about the gameplay (software / license / clips situation) is actually more an open question that the building of games right now. And, unfortunately, since October, everytime they have spoken up about at least the license assets, the story has gotten worse. Seeing Aurich be very open and frank about the Alien license, it's definitely a parallel situation over there. So yeah, it would be nice to get something like a gameplay video of some fleshed out modes and how they're fairing with navigating around the restrictions. I was just watching the "what makes a man?" speech clip yesterday on youtube and that too had music throughout.. which, after Jaap's talk at DPO and the Jesus scene, would put it in the out pile. So yeah, something positive here would be great.
for those that have played it; which I realize the 'show' code isn't even the above diagram.. what multiballs, if any are there now? Do we know how many balls this game is? Says '3 locked balls' .. so 3, maybe 4 with an add a ball?
Also, so it looks like doing well in bowling alley provides an assist to the character modes. Seems cool.
(trying to fill the dead air mostly )
Hopefully before Feb at least. And I hope it's all good. No more license complication announcements please
My inbox told me it wants a NSNL. Getting late for one today.. Hopefully tomorrow. Friday I am at a client meeting and can't handle the distraction
Have heard sometimes them having communication delays with NSNL is that Universal has to approve aspects of those official communications as well and they aren't nearly in as big a hurry as we are. What I've heard anyway, second or third hand FWIW.
Anyways, do hope some positive news kicks loose soon like everyone else. Much longer and I may be out of pinball as a hobby before it gets here.
Quoted from Rensh:You nailed it. Licensing ain't easy.
was hoping I heard it wrong. You'd think they would have some leeway at this point if the games are <60 days from shipping. I mean, once the games are out there, there will be YouTube videos (heck, there already is).
It's a production line update (with a very tentative productio schedule), and invitation to see the factory on the 12th. Videos of test setups (haven't had time to watch yet)
Not a lot else, was hoping for a software update. I guess at this point it looks like software will be a surprise
Quoted from Rarehero:I'm sure we'll see software around the 12th
True. Charge your cameras if you're going !
If you want the NSNL guts, thread here: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tbl-production-schedule-released#post-2950384
We haven't seen any clips associated with car bash target yet / car modes. I would presume this is part of it
Jaap showing up to TPF
http://texaspinball.com/tpf/lets-go-bowling/
I may have to make this happen.
Quoted from zr11990:Im making sure I heard the guy correctly before I post.
Prob best to drop drama stuff like this in JJP areas.. We got a nice Beach front community! Welcome to the club though.
Hensbrooker hasn't logged in since mid-Jan. but hoping he'll come back to let us know if there's a game in his house
I did check in with Hensbrooker this week, he is still among us. So, whether or not DP keeps us updated on how much the plan is matching reality.. His game being delivered will be a big moment.
TPF is here.. Anything going on in the rumor mill? Hoping the games do well and the code shows continued progress. Anyone going to Jaap's talk? Hoping we get production updates during the talk and/or a NSNL comes out to coincide with the show.
Quoted from zucot:Weren't they supposed to have final games nearly ready to ship by now?
Yep, and who's to say they don't? These are new games at TPF; not the prototypes that have been taken around previously.
So, 45 min into Jaaps talk by my watch. Rensh, we're counting on you for letting us know anything new.
Quoted from Concretehardt:Wow I can't believe not one comment on how the new TBL's played, code updated ect?
The lines still look long per DPs Facebook post.
Yay! Did they talk at all about how shipments will be carried out? Did they serperate out first shipments from first North America shipments?
Did the code slides look like the diagram we already got or evolved?
Quoted from karl:TBL Live on Deadflip now. Jack just played against Jaap
https://www.twitch.tv/dead_flip
Thanks watching random people now play it!
The twitch feed is now archived. So can watch the beginning with Jaap and Jack talking a bit.
Code framework seems fleshed out but still kinda early from what I can tell? That or the modes are very subtle.. I did see a rug mode start light up Walter and dude shots but otherwise didn't feel like a 'mode' / DMD was basically running as it had been.
These are engineering prototypes.. Which are very close to production units. Def not the prototypes. They haven't shipped to customers yet so if they find some stuff at TPF hopefully can incorporate a fix.
Glad these games are getting beaten up what looks like non stop all day long! Better for us owners.
Just watched it, liked the talk.. Does cover a lot of software. Looks like maybe everything just about is stackable and so maybe isn't as much a 'mode' based game as some of us were thinking it might be. The word mode here might be better described as achievements? Hence, the code might be farther along than is obvious as there isn't going to be obvious modes in as far as a lot of fanfare / music / lighting changes etc to announce enter/exit of a mode. Going to rewatch the dead flip video with this in mind.
Is that what others who have either played or also watched the above video took away as well?
Thank you Rensh!!!
Yeah so for those without patience..
Character 'modes' sound like:
- hit the character shot to spell name
- after that, character can be collected at scoop
- which activates a 30 second blinking arrow for that character for which you get extra points.
- you can choose to hold off collecting character and for every additional character you spell before collecting at scoop, they become an add a ball multiball when you do finally collect. There is also a point multiplier for the additional cashed in characters at once.
Now in dead flip video replay I haven't seen a multi collect yet but did see someone spell Jesus, collect, and then his shot lights. Saw a guy hit the shot and got the 'Jackpot' callout. It wasn't Jesus themed or anything, nor did any additional Jesus clip play. So, a little anti-climatic.. If they can add some light shows and stuff and maybe more character focused, would be better.
Bowling - spell bowling, start bowling. The purpose of the challenges were not discussed
White Russian - lite white Russian ingredients to light a white Russian multiplier. No details provided.
Mark it zero - in and outlanes then to scoop to get a saucer hurry up.
Rug modes - knock rug back to reveal scoop, make scoop, get a movie clip then random white arrows will light.. Make those Then make scoop (this part a little fuzzy.. Says 'relock' in the power point.) Get video clip.. Mode is complete.
Dude ramp multiball - two light locks, lock 2 balls, get multiball
Mystery awards - spinner 30 times, then to scoop to collect mystery award.. Looks cool.. Jackie treehorn doodles.
Super Jackpot and car modes not discussed nor anything to do with nihilists.
So after sitting on it overnight. Some thoughts:
- these aren't necessarily the rules I expected.. I'm a 'modes' guy in the traditional sense (IJ, etc) and this is not that it seems.
- This looks geared towards tournament folk with risk/reward points strategies. I am wondering a bit how this plays out in home environment. People like ACDC in home, so certainly doable.
- however, I also own NGG which isn't mode based but plenty of fun.
- I really hope that what we saw at TPF is basically the tree of the achievements/code but is not the final amount of fanfare for actually completing things. There is little/no light shows that I can tell.. Completing something looks/feels no different than not doing it. Yet the attract mode is the most impressive light show ive ever seen. Gotta feel like you did something when you complete this stuff! I know the theme is subdued but we are playing pinball here!
Anyone else reflect on this TPF new shit or am I the asshole?
If you didn't watch Jaaps talk all the way through, you may have missed when he walked through all the service menus. That part looked good.. And to address :
Quoted from sven:the bowling toy and how much it will be used
So in the service menu's you can control how many shots are already lit /spotted before the game starts for all the major shots. Jaap said they had bowling cranked up to have most/all letters of BOWLING already spotted for the player so that even in a show environment where you just get 1 game, everyone could get a good chance to play the bowling alley. So the fact that it would normally take 7 shots to start it would of made it a lot more rare than the dead flip stream.
Wonder if there a way to turn profiles off? I saw a lot of people confused in the dead flip stream by adding multiple players because the profile select and other splash screens were in the way.
I mean, on route (if any TBLs make it), let's face it.. It'll either be skipped, or full of 100 people named after various vulgarities .
Similar is true when I have a party at my house for non pinheads, pinball is intimidating enough without login screens. For those situations I'd rather it be turned off, or if I must, have an auto-login to some dummy profile / skip the whole prompt.
Before (Phil era) they said they will only refund your money. Have to ask them if anything has changed.
In the dead flip video, starting at the end of minute 34 you can see a rug mode started , then a double cash in of Maude and Jesus with the add a ball.
Some things to improve in my opinion:
- use the letter trails for these shots, at least for the character mode 30 second window to add some flair. I actually like the whole add a ball thing rule otherwise.
- rug mode.. So the second you start it, the rug closes down / resets. Why not leave it open and additional shots to rug are worth something.. Plus it makes you feel like you are in a rug mode, vs it looking like it just moved on to being reset. And why, in jaaps talk, are the shots 'random' per rug mode? Why not tie them to the characters in the scene. And, I have no idea how the rug insert is chosen, but if you can start a rug mode that you want to start (rotated on some feature.. Ramp/autoslings whatever), because you are good at the associated shots.. That would be better. Like in this instance, the scene is Maude on the zip line painting.. So, should be Maude and Dude? Instead.. Looks like Donny and Jesus lit.
Other nits-
- dude arrow was lit whole time. I assume this was because lock was lit? But only one of the lock lights was lit.. So..?
- guy complained about sticking flipper. Obviously, needs a look at.
- I don't want any more stranger callouts.. The 'Jackpot' one is getting on my nerves already just watching videos. I don't know where we are with disembodied quotes.. But there is plenty of lines to cover positive and negative progress that could be used without switching to the video clips (if allowed) or using the custom stranger ones.
Well, the code at least can change with feedback possibly (or maybe was just demo code anyway). The game is gorgeous, it is capable of awesome light shows (see attract modes ) so the package is there.
Further thoughts on the rug modes. So let's say you start this particular scene, two shots light up (Maude and dude, not random). You get those. Then it advances to the conversation with Uli .. Maybe something where the spinners make Uli giggle.. So have to get one hard spinner hit to complete that phase. Within this scene, the dude makes a white Russian.. So make that a completion criteria as well. And maybe not make this linear if that's too hard / not fun (white Russian probably just picked up while hitting the ball around vs aimed at), just have to do all that in any order to complete or something.
Just spit balling here to make the rug modes more special than what was described at the TPF talk. Maybe he was just describing the show code vs planned implementation anyways so my comments are moot.
Quoted from Dr_Spaceman:Have to believe those are placeholders, but they did not indicate that as far as I can tell.
This is our concern dude. If the word placeholder would of been spoken anywhere I don't think we'd be talking too much about it. It wasn't, and the only hint towards completeness that was indicated was that 4 out of the 6 mode trees (the inserts along the bottom) were in the games out on the floor.
Anyways, I'm liking the discussion regardless
This was the week for first customer shipments per TPF talk right? I'm guessing though they needed to needed to look at a couple things after TPF. I do hope things are close.
Yep. So Hensbrooker should be showing up soon with unboxing. However, these statements were made before the games at TPF (and still during Ohio show) had some issues. As DP has said before, they are focusing on quality, not schedule.. So if something has to be reworked, I imagine it will be. Hopefully not a major issue like another board revision that costs a month.
But absolutely, lack of communication about it sucks.
I've always had Barry respond to an email and give me reassurances of progress. But, I hate bugging them too often as they are busy / crunch time. Easier to vent frustrations here, but if someone is really upset, prob best to contact them.
I need a pick me up today, my day at work is going to be non stop meetings. A NSNL to mull over on my phone would hit the spot.
Anyone in the first 40 doing the air drop?
Debating:
Pros:
- get it sooner; which is good.. I'm out of patience
- no middle man; I like cointaker just fine but still an extra stop
Cons:
- cost
- if the game showed up damaged to the point of having to refuse it.. I have no idea how that would work with international. I don't even know how it would work with cointaker, but in this case I might be able to get coin taker on the phone while the guy is still there
- every air drop delays getting to a full container; so as far as caring about my pre order brothers, it's a con.
- code maturity isn't looking great, so you get a game and still have to wait.
So with that, I'll likely do boat vs plane.
Yes, I recall that as well, but that was when there was a Dutch pinball USA (Phil). Cointaker I imagine will just relay them out.
The boxes have all the stress patches on them so you can tell if it was ham fisted at any point... Which will give us a hint on whether we need to open the box while the delivery guy is still standing there even if it looks ok. Stuff can still shake loose regardless (see also, any NIB unboxing thread).
Actually looking at it now, pretty sure you can't get the game out of the box without setting the tip indicators off? So unlikely cointaker is going to unpack just from that. Hopefully they would at least inspect those stickers though.. If they were set off during boat ride, maybe then it is work looking at
Quoted from hawkmoon:After a year of waiting,and the first one goes there???
Umm.. Dutch Pinball is in the Netherlands; Hensbrooker is in the Netherlands. Hensbrooker has serial #2.. DP promised to ship in order/serial # Thusly.. duh.
Dang. Well, yeah.. A lot can happen in the year of delays, plus the 2+ years to get here at all.
I promise to open mine up, the day it gets here! Hopefully at #17 it'll be old news by then
Congrats! Also guys, I'm definitely taking the slow boat now as I just spent $2k on a new pellet grill .. That was what would of been my air freight cash
Just looking at the in home pics again. This game looks real nice in a home environment.. I.e., it literally ties the room together more than some of the flouresent / bright color schemes (they certainly have their place too). A small thing but nice.
Quoted from Pdxmonkey:They told me their plan is 21 for first container.
Congrats on your game and really hope the half container plan is correct. Game make it alright / one piece?
Quoted from Pdxmonkey:Too many White Russians last night...
Going to be a common problem getting out news from all the unboxings of this game I think
Any updates to the rules described at TPF? Sounds like if anything, they just finished out the framework/bones of code with little/no meat on them.
Character 'modes' sound like:
- hit the character shot to spell name
- after that, character can be collected at scoop
- which activates a 30 second blinking arrow for that character for which you get extra points.
- you can choose to hold off collecting character and for every additional character you spell before collecting at scoop, they become an add a ball multiball when you do finally collect. There is also a point multiplier for the additional cashed in characters at once.Bowling - spell bowling, start bowling. The purpose of the challenges were not discussed
White Russian - lite white Russian ingredients to light a white Russian multiplier. No details provided.
Mark it zero - in and outlanes then to scoop to get a saucer hurry up.
Rug modes - knock rug back to reveal scoop, make scoop, get a movie clip then random white arrows will light.. Make those Then make scoop (this part a little fuzzy.. Says 'relock' in the power point.) Get video clip.. Mode is complete.
Dude ramp multiball - two light locks, lock 2 balls, get multiball
Mystery awards - spinner 30 times, then to scoop to collect mystery award.
Cool. So in your personal opinion, as someone who traveled the road already with bop2.0.. How much more do you think is coming? Are we seeing 50% done right now or more like 80%?
Quoted from Rarehero:If I could magically have it now - I'd still want it now
But yeah, I can chill a few more months.
Guess it's easy for me to say, I'm a first boater
Quoted from JustLikeMe:Yup. Haven't heard of any more games shipping yet,
Looking at the serial # list, yeah we have an accounting gap on pinside .. Goes from #3 directly to your #8. So the next four to ship prob aren't pinsiders. So obviously, things aren't flying off the shelves. And also, with the rumors of them moving buildings.. Wonder if that's basically 1-2 weeks of no machines being made to do the move.
Quoted from ff6735:Where is the list again? I know I've seen it in the past but can't seem to find it.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-big-lebowski-urban-achievers-list
Sad to see how old that thread is.. Hence, why we are whining about the production schedule.
Quoted from JustLikeMe:Good to see that more than the first three have landed now - really looking forward to getting the email saying that number 8 is ready!
Have you gotten said email yet?
Quoted from JoshODBrown:I got to play The Big Lebowski for about an hour all by myself in the early hours of the last day of the Edmonton YEGPIN Pinball and Arcade Expo a couple weeks ago. I filmed 10 minutes or so of footage across 2 games where i got a few different modes/multi ball. The video is our Canadian Arcade YEGPIN video, but ive linked it to right where the Big Lebowski footage starts, as to not bore you all with the other stuff. LOVE this game, and almost considered selling off my Ghostbusters and a couple other games to finance this thing. I hope to get to play it again some day!
» YouTube video
Thanks for sharing !! Def looking more polished since TPF! Code concerns fading fast!!
Quoted from Bing_Party:Awesome video!!! I don't know what to do
Yeah and I saw your question earlier.. It's tough. Many of the people in the club, myself included, paid $8500 and paid for it in installments starting in Dec,2013 when it was just the theme. It's now a year late from original ship date so those that are still in on the game want to see it through. So, not the place for totally unbiased opinions.
Ghostbusters looks good too, been debating on selling IJ and NGG to add GB premium to TBL and go to 2 games.
For the nihilist showdown, Doing the light show that introduces the mode for the entire mode would be cool as well.. Visually distracting
Quoted from Nilroc:The instrumental music is ok. I hope they keep it open source so you can customize the music.
I will give the instrumentals a chance. Already in the videos I see more variety of music now, so it's coming along. Plus they can up tempo the music to sort of liven it up as well. Possible the originals might be a little too mellow.
But yes, I will be curious to how locked down the music tracks are. I would presume it'll be open. I mean, stern seems to have made the call to not take extra measures to protect it (they had opportunity with Spike, but pinball browser easily adapted)
Quoted from Bing_Party:Thanks man! Is there any concerns about Dutch Pinball as being a reliable pinball maker? Very little on them. Are they just a one off maker or is this there start and they intend to move on to build other machines?
They have not talked about future plans in any detail other than there is a future.. Further, They don't talk much about anything at all.. Their communication sucks, know that above all . They are a no news till good news kind of outfit, and even the good news takes us harassing them to pry it free.
Things used to not be this way, but there was a meltdown on pinside by their marketing guy and they didn't replace him and since then they just keep stuff close to the chest (trust issues maybe now?). However, not all is bad.. If I get antsy (I try to keep it to once a month or less), and email Jaap or Barry, I do get a response at least.
Quoted from Rarehero:I wonder if they can come up with a better name than "Character Multiball". Maybe something clever based on which characters you have collected when you start it. For example, if you have Dude and Maude = Coitus Multiball. Donny and Walter = Out of Your Element Multiball. The combinations could get really funny.
Here's what I think are all the permutations for brainstorming. A large amount don't work.. but i'm thinking those could be "A lotta ins, a lotta Outs" or "Stranger" or just leave those as Character Multiball
Dude
Dude & Maude
Dude & Walter
Dude & Donny
Dude & Jesus
Dude & Maude & Walter
Dude & Maude & Donny
Dude & Maude & Jesus
Dude & Maude & Walter & Donny
Dude & Maude & Walter & Jesus
Dude & Maude & Walter & Donny & Jesus
Maude
Maude & Walter
Maude & Donny
Maude & Jesus
Maude & Walter & Donny
Maude & Walter & Jesus
Maude & Walter & Donny & Jesus
Walter
Walter & Donny
Walter & Jesus
Walter & Donny & Jesus
Donny
Donny & Jesus
Jesus
Quoted from burningman:And singing along with game.....
So.. you're saying you can get the original song list into the game
Quoted from JustLikeMe:I've extracted the file locally and browsed through it a bit... Don't think it will be particularly difficult to switch out the music.
Each folder contains a .wav file. I imagine if you replace the .wav file with another of the same name, it'll work.
I've only found the rug mode music files so far.
They could have put checksum verification on the wave files to make it not that simple but promising.
Thanks for the write up.. it's you guys that are going to get us excited again after the fatigue with delays! I'll do my part when the first container arrives
Yes on their FAQ and restated more recently at TPF there will be a family mode. Basically it will bleep out the curse words. Jaap seemed to indicate it isn't there yet so .. guess by being back of the line you wouldn't have to leave it in the box till family mode was implemented
Quoted from Mike_M:Damn... got me thinking about putting in an order. Can't possibly imagine how long I'd have to wait though.
Any idea if TBL will have a "family" mode that will cut out swearing? Of course if the code just has individual movie files I suppose I could edit them myself. No way that's going to get past the wife with 4 and 6 year olds in the house.
Yeah loving the animations as well, which helps add some definition to the modes. Light shows are good too so far.
Well, I think it was good we whined about the clips when they were talking about the music tracks making certain clips unavailable. It was after us complaining I think they went back to Roger and got the permission to remove the licensed music from the clips. But hey, that's just my opinion man.
Game is looking great now!
Thanks. So how is the walter ramp to shoot? I saw you back hand it once but not from a controlled ball. And did making it 7 degree pitch for your Donny shot mess with being able to make the ramp more/less?
The deal with the bowling and shows is the menu system let's you configure how many letters are already spotted for the shots. I think for TPF they had B-O-W-L-I .. maybe even the N.. already lit, so 1-2 shots to start bowling.
Imagine the default is zero lit so 7 shots is going to make a big difference.
I love though how they are using the bowling alley additionally as a giant RGB insert for setting the mood of a mode / nihilist showdown.
Ice got burned on JPOP after being someone who attacked others for being naysayers on the game(s). So, feel he's painting other things with the same brush and might be a little mad the one pre-order he DID pull out on, actually is shaping up nicely. The man is passionate but annoying since tomorrow he'll say something opposite, just as passionately. A flip flopper turned up to 11.. best not engage as it's just too frustrating.
It's also the preorder club thread; should move along Iceman. Your revolution is over. condolences.
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Indian Land, SC