Thanks for the perspective, it’s true not every game is the same, I love TNA for example which is quite different from other pins.

it looks empty online but in person it feels even more empty. not saying it's not fun but the layout would get old fast if this was purchased for home use. To me this is a on location pin only. The play-field is way to barron. And because of that the code feels like an after thought when you're shooting so far back.

I played pro and premium before I ordered Venom. I like the sparseness of the playfield.
With TMNT, Foo, not so much on JB, that the middle playfield area had obstacles, obstacles that would knock my ball right back down the middle with little time to do anything about. I prefer Foo pro over premium. Foo has a lot of shots, it feels like it has everything a pin could have. Annnnd, that's a little more than I want to deal with right now. I prefer the option for 2 flippers, shots in front of you and go.

And I agree that if someone was spending 10k on a pin and you could either get Venom vs Foo or GZ, that you get "more" by skipping Venom.

Oh my!

Ah… the look of new LEs on the line…. Makes you want to go clear a spot for it to get ready!

LEs (resized).png

I guess you played it at pinfest mate? It's not going to wow everyone, but those fast locks had me grinning almost immediately, I really liked the non-stop flow of it all and it's unlike anything I've played from Stern for a long while. I'm not quite sold on the code yet, just not sure how it will hold up long term but we'll see - I think this one will go great in my collection.

I was trying to think of what this game reminded me of and I think it's The Shadow, not sure why, I guess it's the same designer but also the way you can relentlessy keep returning the ball to your flippers at speed.

Same games as Pinfest but played at Beercade. Couldn’t hear a thing, or get a feel for the code at all. Just commenting purely on the layout and what I like. I’m sure you’ll like it.

It’s got to be PreLe all the way on this. Mind you, I didn’t get the rattly u-turn shot so much on the Pro as reported here. But the pro is an extremely basic layout - can’t see the value there at all.

The 1st defeated Knull on location I've seen was yesterday at 3 hours and 33 minutes played.
Thats some damn good replay factor there for us operators!

Gotta agree with that - although the pro has the fast locks, its really lacking the features the game has a tagline for (ie, change the game). Thought the premium was pretty cool in that regard it's subtle but does actually (and noticeably) change up the way the game physically plays according to your host - such a great idea. I know diverters are nothing new, but they are always dynamic/changing during a game under certain modes/scenarios - and as far as I know they've never been used to physically alter a playfield into a choice-based different state.

There's actually huge potential to do even more with the idea - for example, imagine a Jersey Jack with all their mechs and lighting doing a similar morphing playfield it would look like a freaking Transformer. Oooooh just imagine JJP Transformers!

Edit: Disclaimer - I've actually never liked shooting any JJPs (maybe the exception is Dialled In), but I really do admire the effort and showmanship that goes into their games, they are pretty spectacular to look at.

Played a Pro yesterday. Art is great, love the call-outs, didnt know what i was doing, but thank god its got the fast locks or it would be slow af. Ill play on location, but Id buy a Deadpool pro over Venom pro.

agree with this sentiment. have about 20 games on a Venom pro; got a DP pro at home.

I have a hard time following the progression for some things in this game. Like am I going to start Rampage or a Toxin Team Up? Wait where did Carnage come from?

I am sure the way the LED insert colors are blinking Dwight will tell me I SHOULD know, but for me it isn't intuitive at all. Took me a couple days to figure out the grid...

You'd be hard pushed to beat Deadpool that really is one of Sterns finest. I just sold mine after a few years of ownership and it's a really special game. I had a pro, sold it , bought a premium and sold it... and I wouldn't rule out getting hold of an LE in future once I've had a bit of a break from it.

I'm not expecting Venom to be quite up to that level - but it's a very different game, and damn it still looks great.

This is not surprising most people would do so or already have since DP been out 5 years now. DP is one of the best pins ever and the pro is nearly the same as the premium.

Yea kind of a generic statement. I only through out deadpool because they are similar themes.

I understand, both comic anti-hero and both Zombi Yetti art.

There is often a great variance between a pro and premium such as GoT which is very different from the pro. Other games have all the same shots and layout but just minor differences such as Maiden or DP.

Venom is one with a lot of changes to the premium with the swinging Doppelgänger and the shot changes (added ramps).

I've been playing on location, with zero distractions and perfect sounds. I stick my by comments still.

I have quite a few (over 50) plays on a Pro, and I can tell you the fast locks are pretty awesome from my perspective. It’s really not the “lock” part it’s the ball staging and how fast they keep the game going during basically all aspects of play. That being said, I feel like the pro needs more. One more mech at least.

I'm only at 30 plays, thats cool if you like them. To be clear, I don't hate them, I don't even dislike them, they just don't wow me very much at all.

I don’t have that many plays on venom yet (maybe 30). I have mixed feelings on the locks. Before playing it, I was expecting it to make the game play blazing fast. After playing it, it didn’t feel like that at all. There were a few times where I think, “oh shit yeah need to be ready for that.” (Think the staged ball in the portal on R&M) but for the most part it just slightly accelerated the ball return. After getting use to the shots a bit, I haven’t felt like it plays super fast like I was expecting. The tendency to play it safe and trap up (as pointed out in previous posts by @yancy) seem to be panning out.

It did feel different to me, the fast locks, soon as the ball went up a ramp, the next ball came out of the fast lock, and that was different than anything I've seen before. I liked it; the other oddity is watching another ball move around that isn't in play.

I wonder if once you get used to them, the fast locks just become "meh?"

After 15 games I beat Grendel and Knull for the first time yesterday, unlocking Wolverine.

The unlock system and way the game is structured is interesting and definitely good for operators, as normally I would be done with a pin on location once I beat the wizard mode, but I am interested to go back and do it all over again to unlock the remaining characters.

The only complaint I have thus far with the code (from what little I understand) is that both Grendel and Knull both have waaaaaay too long of ball savers. It’s like the game forces you to finish it and it takes away from the feeling of accomplishment that I’ve felt with every other pin I’ve beaten.

I’ve seen that. Hopefully they will tweak the timers and hope there’s a setting in the menus for people to adjust.

I hate endless ball save because I want to feel like I earned it if I eat a mode.

I wish some of the battles were 2 ball MB like in Iron Maiden Aces High so that if you lose a ball the battle ends. It might make them more interesting and risky.

It would be cool if the ball save time and perhaps other difficulty levels were adaptive based on how many characters you've unlocked on your profile so that Grendel and Knull become more difficult to beat as your play level increases. This could be done by automatically adjusting the game level settings. After defeating Knull the first time your game settings go from easy (default) to medium. Defeat Knull twice and all game settings default to "hard" for your profile.

I'm getting excited for my VENOM pro to replace my BEATLES gold tomorrow!
Beatles had a good run overall but will be going back to my mom's house.

Storing overflow pins at my mom's house is not something I've thought of. Guessing the conversation won't go well if I ask, but it's worth a shot.

On a side note, it's ridiculous that the bell in the tower is literally hanging from a ZIP TIE in there. Was a SMH moment when I saw that.

I think there's an achievement for every host you beat Knull with, so just keep going back.

Just scored over 5 billion on the Grendel fight. Is there a known issue with this fight? I am not very good, so kept failing to get all the balls locked in phase 4, so after some time Grendel kept regenerating and sending the balls I did lock back out to me, including a refresh on the ball save. This must have happened 5 or 6 times before I was finally able to get all the balls lock and make the final blow shot.

Pretty sure the Grendel exploit is just keep spamming the center ramp. I have only fought Grendel once and didn't know it was an exploit. Heard it later on a podcast.

Yeah I heard about that in a stream also, but didn't do that in this case. Might be something different.

I just had an opportunity to play the Pro at my local distro and I'll admit, the game was a pleasant surprise and exceeded my expectations (which were admittedly low going in). I did notice the barren play field right off the bat and my first game was a little slow but by the second game, the PF didn't matter. I figured out the shots and man, it was fun! I really didn't know what I was doing, but I found all of the shots to be satisfying and what they say is true - this pin is really fast. The fast lock/release things are cool too. I even posted the GC score of 437M on the floor model on game #5, so that was cool.

With that said, my overall impression is that it's a fun game that I'll look forward to and enjoy playing on location, but I don't think I'll ever see it in my gameroom. If I go with a fan layout, I'd be looking at Elvira, SW or Munsters before this one. If it did make it into my home, I'd fill it up with mods and toys to populate the play field much more.

That one may have been fixed in the .91 update. Honestly not sure as I don't track that stuff very closely. Clearly a lot of balancing needs to happen on Venom. All these crazy 10+ billion scores will likely be a thing of the past after future updates.

I dunno. Star Wars is another Dwight game and it has max zeroes scoring.

Don't think I ever have a pro in the line up. Honestly not sure how long the LE I wont from Project Pinball will hang around. Way too early to know on this title. I do enjoy shooting it more than Munster, so I would never take that swap. SW, eh, maybe, but they seem very similar to me. Elvira I think I would definitely do.

I'm sure the current code would be fine for us mere mortals, but every serious player I've seen discussing the scoring imbalances has said there are definitely some things they are going to have to fix. I don't doubt it will continue to be a high scoring game, but I don't think the intention was 10+billion games regularly. Dwight in the team are still in the balancing stage.

Thanks for all the entries so far for the FREE GIVE AWAY of our RAVENCROFT Institute for the Criminally Insane!
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ravencroft-institute-for-the-criminally-insane-venon-mods-by-crcades/page/2#post-7784301

At 50 entrants I will begin unlocking several other tiered prizes to be awarded for more WINNERS!!! That's right, the more entrants that jump on the more that will WIN! Keep watching the original post at the link above for details as they're added!

Pass this along, and remember to follow CRCades, the more entrants the better the chances of WINNING!

Played a Venom Pro today. Holy dimpled playfield already, Batman. Probably made some dimples myself honestly. That ball on the mid ramp likes to fly off when not hit right. Dimples all over the metal ramp insert, too. Pretty wild to see with it being so new.

As for the game, didn't know what I was doing. Didn't have particularly great games as I was trying to learn wtf I was doing. The XP could be more intriguing than I thought. I really enjoyed the fast locks, those were cool. Multiball is a frenzy to hit whatever and watch as half of it is bricks into posts. Shots are satisfying when you're hitting them on purpose. Art looked fantastic in person.

All that said, no desire to own one. Will play here and there on location. They had a Spiderman next to it so neat duo next to one another. Actually enjoyed my 2 games on Spiderman more.

Just a few games so can't pass complete judgement yet. Vote is for DP remaining Stern's top Marvel effort by far as others stated.

Again, that beating the playfield already showed. Wow. Soft top coat Stern. Real soft.

OK, we hit 50 entrants on Pinside! As I promised, I will begin unlocking several other tiered prizes to be awarded for more WINNERS!!! That's right, the more entrants that jump on the more EVERYONE will WIN! Keep watching the original post at this link for details as they're added!
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ravencroft-institute-for-the-criminally-insane-venon-mods-by-crcades/page/2#post-7784301

Pass this along, and remember to follow CRCades, the more entrants the better the chances of Everyone WINNING!

1st Place Prize - RAVENCROFT MOD - Institute for the Criminally Insane -VENOM MODs by CRCades

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--- UNLOCKING AWARD (74-99 Entrants) ---
1st Place RAVENCROFT MOD + choice of CANAGE/VENNOM Shooter Rod and Plate FREE!
2nd Place RAVENCROFT MOD

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--- UNLOCKING AWARD (100 qualified Entrants) ---
1st Place RAVENCROFT MOD + choice of CANAGE/VENNOM Shooter Rod and Plate FREE! + $50 in-store credit (1 time use,no expiration)
2st Place RAVENCROFT MOD + choice of CANAGE/VENNOM Shooter Rod and Plate FREE!
3nd Place RAVENCROFT MOD

No, I got a Beatles for my mom but warned her if I do ever need it on location I may need it.
Last year I then needed it for a location.
So it is now going back to her house soon.

How ironic, last week I dropped 22 pins and arcades at my Mother-in-laws garage to clear room in my shop storage that’s way too full as it is. Sick sick hobby…. makes me look like a pin hoarder.

I recently started setting overflow up at some friends business. Free storage and they have some pins to play. Win win.

Mine wasnt dimpling. Thin clear but no dimples. Maybe sterns still using multiple suppliers?

The flying off the ramp is because the flippers are maxed at 255 so they fade later. They calm down after an hour or so of play. So, uh, play longer?

I played both the Pro and Premium at the Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown and it's definitely a mid teir modern Stern machine imo. Art and audio are great, but the gameplay and code were fairly meh, edging on above average. This machine felt fairly different between the Pro and Premium too, which is why I always opt to reserve my judgement on a pin until I play the Premium or LE. This is one I'd definitely throw a few dollars in on location, but would never have a desire to own.

I'm not even pretending like I had long games. In fact, i have downright stunk all week. Just my impressions after a handful of plays in a location that had a few pins I wanted to try out. Venom certainly wasn't bad and I'll throw more dollars at it, but it wasn't gotta have it either. Verdict is still out. Gotta put more time on it and try a premium while I'm at it.

Placed my order for a premium today! Distributor says it will ship Monday!!!