Does anyone know when AP might announce a game?

Just that alone would be huge. If AP put out a statement today that said "NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENT PLANNED FOR JUNE 30th" or something, that would be enough to entice me. And since it's "planned" it could always be pushed back.

But keeping us in the complete dark is a turnoff, and I'm already looking to buy something else instead. I don't want to wait forever.

AP needs to take a page out of the Spooky playbook. Here's what Spooky did:

-- (Dec 2020) Announce a new game anticipated end of 2021
-- (Jan 2021) Small announcement of "next game"
-- (Feb 2021) "We're excited about next game"
-- (March 2021) "Next game hopefully to launch in 6-8 months"
-- (April 2021) We're driving to the location needed to discuss plans for our next game
-- (May 2021) Here's a tiny screenshot of an image, maybe related to our next game

Spooky didn't give details or plans, just snippets to keep us engaged. As a result, I'm already saving funds (omg... again) to buy yet another Spooky pin. I love the communication.

If AP did that, I'd be inclined to do this as well. Stern pumps them out too much to give a hoot, their last game appears to be a swing and a miss, and JJP concerns me with their failed playfield promises. CGC is what... 7 years between games?

If AP can dangle the hook just a little bit, people would bite.

Right, but what is that? 1 week? 1 month? I expected to hear something from AP back in January. Here we are, nearly June.

I think I'm pulling the trigger on something else. I'd like to buy an AP but no communication = my money goes elsewhere. I would have bought nearly anything by AP at this point, but now it'll have to be something special to make it happen.

I emailed AP directly, and this is a nugget I just got:

"We are not ready to make a formal announcement at this time, but trust that we are getting closer. Next couple months or so…."

This is all I needed. Good stuff. At first I was deflated but now that I can create a visual timetable in my head, it makes me excited again.

GO GO AP!

Source for this rumor?

When I first heard this I thought there was nothing I'd be interested in, but then I realized I was being silly.

Beastie Boys? If anyone made that I'd be forced to buy it.
Snoop Dog? I don't know much of his music but it'd be funny as hell to hear his callouts.
Eminem? Maybe too rich of a license but the music would be top notch.

I hope it's Beastie Boys based on my guesswork. That would be in the range of a dream theme for me and my wife. There's not many games that could be made that would force our hand, but this is definitely one of them.

Besides their one song -- which is over-played and tiring, and a mix of rock and pop -- what else do they have? Maybe I'm out of touch but I can't name any other song of theirs.

I don't want one hit wonders.

Run-DMC (also spelled Run-D.M.C.) was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run-DMC

I'll be honest though, I don't know the difference between the two.

Depends what the conversation is. We are talking about themes for pinball so I think it's OK for any of us to chime in. If the topic was only about music and music alone, I'd definitely take a step back.

Oh? You know for a fact? Intriguing! This is good to know.

This is indeed true. I am a teacher by trade and in the last two calendar years I think I've met ONE student who likes rock. The rest are rap or some variation. And TRAP music? If that makes sense? I also coach and I let kids listen to music and the stuff they choose is always the same rap-type stuff.

If you're talking about location games then these types of things would do well, but most pinball sales these days are for home purchases, yes? And if you were to take the temperature of the average NIB pinball buyer, I'm more than certain that they would not be interested in rap over rock, which is why we've seen dozens of rock pins and zero rap ones.

That being said, someone has to be first into the market and I'm glad AP is the one taking that step. I'm fully invested in whatever they come out with next. If what you state is true about "current relevance", then I'm all eyes and ears!

I'm speaking from a position of ignorance because I'm just a guy with a laptop, but for every game I search on the pinmap, the home games out-rank the on-location games 2-1 minimum. I don't have access to sales records, just assumed if that's what I read on the pinmap then it's probably a good microcosm of sales too.

No, I'm not saying that. I said the average pinhead collector would prefer a rock pin over a rap one, not that it has to be a 40-50 year old band or anything. I'd love to see a Foo Fighters or Linkin Park pin.

Highgate? Can we be friends?

I have a feeling that AP is a company that everyone wants to buy from. They have solid products, great rulesets, fun layouts, and they pack their games and charge fair prices. The next game could be the one that blows this company up (in a good way).

AP is kind of in a lucky spot right now. You can't get anything NIB anywhere. You can put yourself on a list for Mando or TBL or Alien or GnR, but you can't go out and buy any of these games right now, so a lot of people's money is on hold for the time being.

The other side of that, however, is that Spooky, CGC, and Stern may be out with a new game right at the same time that AP is ready with theirs. Tons of competition and it's pretty much a race to see who can deliver the best one first. You definitely don't want to be fourth in this race.

Oh damn I forgot about AP!

They should do what Spooky did and give a tease, and keep releasing something every 1-2 weeks without giving it away.

I'm fine with them announcing/revealing the game when they are ready to ship, but a tease would be great, like the way Spooky did it.

Take a pic of a toy and post it.
Take a pic of the backside of the playfield.
Take a pic of the DMD showing an image in color.

Small stuff to let us know it's happening and make us want it and talk about it and generate a buzz!

This thread blew up so I thought something was announced...

rats!

Holy crap. I was so focused on CGC and Stern's next release that I forgot about AP.

This is why you gotta leak stuff!

Stern's blockbuster is right around the corner.

The time to release this game was pretty much January through June. Might as well wait until October now.

I would say their competition is anybody who releases a pin, because a lot of people have NIB money and want to spend it, but not on more than one game at a time (like me!).

I'm not buying a JJP with their poor quality builds and boorish themes, but I am absolutely interested in Stern or CGC's next release. I'm ready to buy, and I would have jumped at the chance to buy an AP anywhere between the months I mentioned above. That way I'd be able to support AP, and sell it if I wanted to buy something else down the road.

Now that Elwin's next game is going to drop, there's no way I'm buying anything until I see what he's made.

A friend of mine is getting the Premium and I was going to buy the pro... until I saw the pricing and the difference between the two. Unlike other Sterns, these two are world's apart. So I'm just going to play his instead.

That being said, I still have some NIB $ laying around. AP could surprise me with something awesome. I'd wait for a while though... Godzilla is going to take away so much enthusiasm.

Yeah this for me. I gotta pay 9k to get the premium.

Might as well wait and see with AP and CGC at 9k. If AP were to offer a great looking game at 7k or 7.5k, they would definitely take a step forward in the market.