Total Nuclear Annihilation production by Spooky Pinball

If I had money for climate controlled storage.... I'd already be doing this, or wouldn't live in a 975 sq ft. condo? There's a reason I've been through 41 games in 6 years. It wasn't because I didn't want to keep games...it's because I had to sell games to get games.

Toga Amalgamation

Mobile Alabama!

I love TnA and I love TnA.

"Scott Danesi's Total Annihilation" SDTA

Now it's an original title!

Aaron
FAST Pinball

That is good...hope he goes with that!

Short version: "Dannihilation"

So it's going to be made in a standard Spooky cabinet. Kind of a shame - really liked the idea of it in the original 80's style Bally cab - but I'm assuming it's cost prohibitive. But will the PF be steeper because of this? I'm guessing it would either need to be steeper or a bigger gap between the glass and the PF.

No , spooky is making a different cabinet for this game.

Really? That's great. On the podcast it sounded like it was the standard cab - maybe they meant a modified version.

I think it would be clever to "brand" the pinball with Scott's name, and keep it going for all future games... like

Sid Meier's Civilization
John Carpenter's The Thing

I hope they emphasize the TnA on the backglass. The letters not the...well...nevermind.

I'm pretty sure everyone "in the know" will just call it TA and the TNA name is the official name to keep the lawyers at bay.

Let's face it, there's already enough legal action in the pinball community these days. No reason to go fishing for more.

Knowing Scott, I would imagine putting his name in the title would make him wildly uncomfortable, and so ...I'm now all for it!! Take that you nauseatingly modest SOB!!

It is a modified version of Spooky's cabinet. It will look great when finished!

It's a custom cabinet that looks like Scott

So if i understood the podcast right, this will be the first game that doesn't have a limited run and no limited time frame to order? They will keep making them as long there is enough demand?

What do potential buyers feel about this?

A hypothetical.

Would you rather buy this for 7k knowing there will only be 150 units. Or buy at 6k knowing that they will make as many as they can (potentially less than 150, but potentially a lot more)

I have emailed Kayte and I am going to be buying one of these for sure when made.
I just want to own and play the game , I don't care how many they make or plan on making . I do hope they sell a bunch of these though , it is how much fun the game is to play that makes it valuable to me not the total number produced.

It's the game that worth the $ to me, not the exclusivity. I hope it's priced reasonably and they sell boatloads of them.

I like the not limited approach

Agreed. Pretty much eliminates the flippers.

At what cost would you be out?
It sounds like it might cost more than a normal spooky game

I can't imagine this will sell for any less than $6500. It kept being brought up how complicated the game actually is underneath the playfield. This will have an impact on the pricing. I haven't been able to play this game but it does seem fun and I'm definitely interested how this plays out

Scott had a design company before all this.. I'm assuming it'll have his name on it, maybe even a logo.. sort of like when pat lawlor was designing for stern and you'd see PLD on the back glass.

In this thread there is plenty to be said but Doc Brown said it best...

Brad

great_scott.png

On the Spooky Podcast they said it would be a Spooky Title, not a contract game release.

Aaron
FAST Pinball

Will there or will there not be nuclear power plant engineers in spandex leotards?

I expect it to be more than what spooky games are priced at now . I know the spooky price range is their target though .How close they can get to it without too many changes to the game is the unknown . That being said ,to answer your question if the price of the game goes over $8,500 I will have to be out . I will have to sell some games to fund the purchase of TNA. I am maxed out on space anyways , for something to come in something must go out.

Right I get that.. and CSI, roller coaster tycoon, family guy, nascar, ripley's were all official Stern releases but Pat got his company logo on it because he was the contractor that designed it. Spooky is officially building TNA, which is a game designed by someone not directly working for spooky.

It'll reach whatever it has to reach, regardless of some poll.

For those who have played it, does it seem like it has legs or would it be more likely fun to play occasionally but not like a game you're going to keep for long time?

I don't have any simple rule pins like Space Station so I don't know how I feel about TA.

I'm not saying TA is Space Station just that the rules seem more basic.

Is this initial euphoria for TA or do you think it's the real deal?

I only got to play it a little at TPF, but I think it'll have some staying power because it is seems pretty brutal. Kind of like a deeper Flash Gordon. Quick, fun games I think will be the way it plays.

With that said, if they are just going to keep building them then I don't see a need to rush to get one. If you're on the fence, then wait and play a finished one with art before deciding if you'll buy.

I want to see art before I decide, but I like different games so I may jump in before getting to play it again. Then again, the Alice Cooper pin and Star Wars have my interest too. So many games coming out right they are smart to not make it a single limited run, give it a chance to sell over the years as needed. That will also give Spooky games to make between runs of the other pins.

How do you feel about BSD? Simple rules, one basic goal, difficult to achieve, rewarding when you do.
TNA has the same feel to me. Simple rules, one (well, 9) basic goal, increasingly difficult to achieve, rewarding when you do.

Both of them make you want to play "one more game."

A game you play occasionally and a game you won't keep for a long time are not necessarily the same thing. It is not super deep and doesn't have very diverse gameplay. That's not a bad thing, it's just different than "modern" games and not like anything in your collection. Newer / current games often have a diverse enough ruleset to make how you play it different depending on what you want to accomplish or how your game is going. Older 80s games may require strategy to score well, but they're a bit more rinse-and-repeat.

I'm a huge 80s game fan, I have 10 games from the early 80s. TNA has more complex rules (strategy) than my old Ballys, but it's still kinda step 1, 2, 3 to score the best. It's great fun and I want one badly, but if you're used to games with more diverse objectives and more "things" to shoot at, TNA might not survive long term for you. To me, it would be a GREAT addition to a decent size or larger collection. It may not be as satisfying in smaller collections, although it definitely has the challenge that creates that ONE MORE GAME draw.

This is a great example and a more succinct way of saying everything I said above.

If you had to compare it with another game that's a good choice...and high praise. Starting the reactor does feels a bit like shooting for castle multiball.

I've played BSD but can't say I really have played it enough more just shooting around.

All my pins, it seems like Tron and IM are the most simple (really IM more so).

I love IM and don't get tired of it, but I would probably not want to have it as my only game. For me adding TA would be adding to a large collection of pins with deep rules (Tspp, LotR, TWD, AcDc ... ... IM). so likely it would be fine.

I think that it's nice that they are not putting a limit like 500 (max) so I can play before I need to decide.

Everyone's talking like the game is finished. The software is still a work in progress you know, there's plenty of time to add more "complexity" to the rules depending on where he wants to go with it. I mean, there's a strategy on how to max out your reactor scores that no one seems to get at first glance, or how you should leverage the multiball.

I'd say the BSD comparison is doing the game a disservice.

a game like this is a good fit in collections of a half dozen games or more. Nice to have a game that is going to give you an adrenaline rush, without having do a lot of thinking and strategizing and that is not going to take 30 minutes to feel like you had a good game.

I used to have BK2K that has similarities, fast, great sound, great lights, a game where you really feel you are battling the machine, and right now I don't have a game that really fits this sort of slot in my collection, TNA could fill that slot.

Except TnA has the incredible pounding soundtrack and looks to be way more of an adrenaline rush than BSD, but I get what you're saying about doing a few hard things well.

Did you catch near the end of the podcast where Scott said he was going to show everyone what happens when you destroy the 9th (final) reactor?

I was horrified to hear that, spoiler alert man! You should have to work for that, not be fed it before anyone has even played the game.

TnA would do great in a small collection of 2-3 pins just fine. I don't think of it anything like bk2k, but more so like a classic Bally on steroids. If you like centaur, frontier, etc... But a faster pace with in your face gameplay and deeper strategy, then i think you are on pace.

The shortness of game for avg time could be more like FT or bSd! But that is about it.

If my collection was only 2 or 3 pins, I don't think it would make the cut, but certainly could for some.

I guess we have different views, Centaur is one of my all time favorite games and I have had it in my collection for a very long time and while it has its 'intensity' when in multiball I definitely see TNA more like BK2K as far as the rush you feel when playing it as well as the sounds, lights, etc and how those tie into that feel. While TNA is an 80s style game, the pace of play, rules, etc. makes it more of a late 80s game on steroids feel, vs an earlier 80s game, imo.

Hell my Blackout is about as simple as you can get. Knock down the drops & put it in the saucer to score a Blackout. And that probably happens in less than 10% of the games played.

As long as a pin's goals are hard to achieve & keeps you coming back for more, it really doesn't matter how deep the ruleset is. Some people even prefer these "simpler" type of games from the early 80's. For example, I have a lot of friends that come over that are not "pinball people". And when they come over, Blackout gets played the most. They don't care about score, they just want the satisfaction of getting that fricking Blackout!

So when these same people come over to play TNA, with the synthwave music blasting & the lightshow almost gives them seizure when they finally manage to destroy their first reactor, I fully expect their heads to explode.

Really looking forward to Jack Danger's next stream of TNA on 5/12

I don't know BSD that well but there are other goals than castle MB (I assume).

I'm curious if TA rules are: start reactor and destroy the reactor (do that 9 times), would that be the same as if IM was the only (or main) rules are: raise Iron Monger and destroy Iron Monger (do that 9 times)?

I guess anyone can just turn the stream off when this happens as to not spoil it.

My impression is that's the main objective, thus my earlier rinse and repeat comment. Now, easier said than done, but I think that's the general thing. Much tougher and more variety of shots than the IM example. Isn't Iron Monger raised by shooting the orbits (I don't have IM)? TNA uses the entire playfield as parts of the start/maximize your score while destroying the reactor, so that comparison isn't really fair.

Like a lot of early 80s stuff, it's all about the layout and how fun/challenging the objective is, since in reality there isn't a ton of variety in objectives. In the time I've spent, this game was a F'n blast and for people that can embrace the narrower focus, it seems like a home run.

Yes! Don't show the end before I have even played the game! Will watch the stream but tune out if/when they do that

When is the stream?

May 12th