I'm in, #75, you first people figure out if there are any bugs and gremlins for me.

Looks like they stacked double digit sales during the Twitch stream. Love it.

KT just confirmed my check arrived at Spooky, #75 officially mine.

10ish a week I think? I figure 2-3 months after they start building mine will be ready. If it's not exactly that I'm not stressed though.

AC isn't ready, it's not going to compete with TNA on the line for a bit now.

As was noted, the 50 thing is overblown, they're just building games, there's no "wait until we have 50 before we start yours" situation.

Charlie said they're building 10-12 games a week I believe. Call it 10. 5 weeks per batch. All just unofficial estimates of course, but I don't see a year wait at this juncture.

My personal hope is that TNA is hugely successful and Spooky can afford to get AC really polished before they even reveal it, you only get one chance for a first impression.

KT emailed to say my game #75 "will be on the line in the next few weeks", though what that really means for numbers and orders I have no idea. I'm excited, but now I gotta get off my ass and put my ACDC lower playfield properly back together so I can sell the game. I was working on a mod for it, but at this point I doubt I'll bother going forward with it.

TNA is the only thing about pinball in 2017 that excites me, see if that holds true for 2018 too. Won't surprise me!

I've got scans of my lower playfield, selling the game just means I couldn't test things. Assuming I ever got around to doing it, I've only been putting it off for like 3 years now.

I dunno, I wonder how many people would even be willing to remove their lower playfield to install something.

Nice BBS wheels.

I used to drive a MkIII GTI VR6, love that era of VWs. I took out the stock head unit though, so it didn't have a tape player anymore ...

#75 is on the truck, I have a tracking number.

Haha, this is true, slipping in games during the day is a non issue.

I'm looking forward to multiplayer the most. These days I mostly host fighting game nights, Street Fighter players etc, and they don't have much curiosity about pinball. I haven't pushed it, but when TNA is here I'm definitely going to teach them to play, this is the perfect game for a bunch of competitive-but-new-to-pinball players.

The scoops use Mantis-style protectors, where there's a metal band inside the hole, that's gonna be all the protection most people would need. I have no plans to Cliffy mine.

I'll post more thoughts on the game later, I want more time to play it before I say anything. I have some quibbles and things I might work on, I'll be honest with anything I don't like, but overall the game is amazing, Scott killed it, Spooky did great work, I'm totally impressed.

That D shot is just evil.

It's not at all like that though. There's nothing random about it, it's part of the risk/reward strategy choice of the player before you. I suppose you could have cases of collusion where one player tries to help the other, but that seems rather far fetched for pinball competition.

I play with competitive players. People like Bob Matthews and Jim Belsito. Nothing but respect for them and their skills and drive to compete. But tournament players can sometimes feel like they're sucking all the fun out of the game. Deal with the randomness, that's pinball. You still gotta play the game. Locking balls isn't particularly hard or risky, it's not something that breaks the game.

Utterly different though really. Because what you're not accounting for is your own game. Yes, the player before you might have left locks. Now you're in the same position, and could leave locks for the next player. It's simply part of the game, locking balls comes with a certain risk. And every player has to factor that in, and it affects everyone.

Then that's pinball! Play Donkey Kong if you want a more predictable challenge.

Being a little random is part of the game.

This is my opinion on things like this:

There doesn't need to be an option to make games play the way some people want. There's already a thread where someone asked Scott to make it so the music could be replaced! That's ridiculous to me, that someone would ask for that. Scott crafted an entire soundtrack from scratch, to match the game that he envisioned the way he wanted.

He wants lock stealing. If that bugs you as a TO then run games one player at a time (frankly I find that more interesting to watch for a fast game like this anyways), or, just don't use it at all.

It's a feature of the game design, it helps make it unique. I don't think that the creator should compromise and add an option that if turned on changes the character of the game he wants people to play because some people prefer it that way.

My 2 cents, only opinion that really matters is Scott's.

Yup, easy and no fuss. I’ve updated my code maybe 5 times now, all from OS X on a standard FAT32 formatted thumb drive.

Playfield protectors are hot garbage, and utterly unnecessary for home use games. If someone tried to sell me a game with one of those protectors on it they'd have to either cut their price or remove it before I'd take it.

Your game, do whatever you want, but if you're new to pinball stop being paranoid about your playfield.

If you want to stick a grandma couch cover on your game go for it, I don't play on your game, you do, whatever makes you happy.

Trying to teach my fighting game players how to play TNA. I think they dig it, but none of them are pinball players, so it's hard to capture their interest.

IMG_6829 (resized).jpg

Head to head like Joust? Not sure what you mean.

You're right though, pinball is you vs the machine, fighting games are you vs the other player. Different appeals. Fighting games are pretty unique that way honestly.

Could be fun. I have side by side candy cabs, but I'm definitely not buying side by side pinballs.

I love TNA because it’s hard, and I sold Star Trek because it was too smooth and boring. Funny how tastes differ.

Just turn your game down? You're seriously asking Scott to change something in the game because some customers don't want to hear the bass. Turn the volume down if people don't want to hear it. Work on a headphone jack, whatever, but take a little initiative instead of thinking the game should change to cater to you.

No such thing. It's just a game after all. TNA is awesome, but any pin gets old after a while.

I'm with HoakyPoaky, hard games have better longevity, but it's really about personal taste.

For instance, some people love super deep games, like LOTR for instance. That's the opposite of what I want to own, because I'll see it, think "you need a long game to really get anywhere on that pin" and walk past it without hitting start. I don't have the time and patience for that.

TNA is great because you can play one game, or a bunch, there's not commitment.

I used to own a Scared Stiff, one of my all time favorites in terms of theme and presentation. It's too easy, once I hit the wizard mode twice in one game I stopped playing it. Sold it after a while, even though I loved it, because I'm not running a museum.

Here's the truth: you can buy a game, enjoy it, get tired of it, and sell it for another. You don't have to marry the game.

But if you want a straight up answer? I think TNA is a great pick for longevity and fun, yes.

I sold my ACDC to fit TNA, and for me it was a big upgrade in terms of wanting to play.

Here's the fix, I need to do it too.

I need a pic of the back of Scott's sweatshirt!

None. He pays people to say that, it's sad really.

I think it's weird that Scott created his game, and wrote all the music for it, made the music a huge part of the theme — every reactor has a fully custom song, the music even interacts with the shooter lane — and people want to ask him to let them take it out and replace with their own music. Stop and think for a moment, if this was your game, and you spent 2 years making it all work together, would you be flattered when someone asked you to let them take your music out? I wouldn't be.

Scott is my friend, so of course I want to stand up for him, but I'm really speaking about what it's like to be a creator in a community. People can 'suggest' things in pretty insulting ways. Probably they don't mean to be, but that doesn't really change that fact that they are. Try and have some respect for how hard someone worked for this.

It's fun to customize pins. I'm not trying to be a hypocrite, a lot of people have changed their games with my translites. You bought the game, I consider it yours to do with as you like. But take charge of it yourself in a personal way, and don't ask the creator to do the work for you.

Sometimes suggestions are rude, it's okay to call that out. It's how we learn.

My TNA is next to my Tron, they're a good pairing. Also both good pins for new players, easy to understand. TNA especially, I'm teaching a lot of people to play that I never bothered to show my pins before.

I tossed the stock balls and replaced from my stash, I didn't think the ones that came with my game looked that great. But I do that with every new pin I get.

I am entirely comfortable writing everything I did in public, thanks though.

TNA's power supply fan is definitely loud, at some point I'm going to fix it, because I don't care for the noise when I just have my games on.

It's the new way of things apparently, when the Spike fan kicks in it's almost as bad.

It does.

When I adjusted the gap on mine to be a little more sensitive I also hand pressed the targets in hard repeatedly to break in the foam, and that seemed to help.

On my game we gapped all the switches to be sensitive, and I 'broke in' the foam by hand compressing it hard a bunch of times. After that I'm much happier with the response.

Gross, no way

Shipping is no big deal. I'm not planning on selling my TNA at the moment, but if I did and someone wanted to ship that's fine. They need to make the arrangements, and deal with any headaches, and I just have to be here for the truck to show up. Done it before, no big deal.

True that, good point. I've only dealt with known people with good reps. Still a risk I guess, but hasn't been something I've worried about. If I don't know who you are? That's different.

No.

I'm thinking of leaving the club, don't really want to, but need to move a pin to fit another project and for various reasons I need my other games still. But I'll tell you what, I waited until last night to do the best mod to TNA, wish I'd gotten around to it earlier to enjoy the benefits more. Put a silent fan in the power supply! I can't tell you how irritating I find jet engine fan noise. Fine when the game is running, but it made me not want the game on in the background when not playing.

$10 and a little time with a socket, screwdriver, and soldering iron. Highly recommended. Here's the model I used:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000234W04/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title

I haven't put the glass back on to see how quiet it will really get, but big noise reduction even with it off.

Yes, it's that simple. If you have a yellow wire on your new fan just ignore it, that's for speed control, power supply won't use it. Just need red and black, match them up, done.

I hate to say it, but NIB feels less desirable now than a game that's been unboxed, checked for quality control issues, had a washed out backglass replaced etc. Something to keep in mind, you might have to deal with some stuff after you open it the way things have been going.

As far as the game itself goes when set up right? I think your collection would benefit from it.

All you have are new Sterns, and they're all going to offer a certain kind of experience. Might be different games, different vibes, but they're going to be longer play times, more rules, more stuff. Games with ramps and modes etc just play a certain way.

TNA rounds out a collection like yours nicely because it gives you a quick pickup game. It's hard to feel like you had a satisfying experience on a modern Stern if your game only lasted 10 minutes. 10 minutes on TNA can make you feel great.

There's a reason more mature collectors tend to stop just buying new games and start finding older games have an appeal.

I'd try and play it first though. Never a fan of buying blind because someone else told you it was fun.

Nah, you're being entirely reasonable about this.

Businesses close for the holidays, that's fine, but if you're selling an expensive product, and well, struggling with quality control, you need to consider that people are going to need help. If you can't get back to them right away at least make them feel like they're being heard and will get a response in a reasonable time frame when you get back.

I wouldn't necessarily go this far, but I think it's not really far off. Buying a "boutique" game comes with more risks and knowledge checks, as well as the need for more patience.

But even with a Stern things happen. That's pinball.

You'll be fine. Spooky will help you if there are issues, and Scott is always around with good advice, and if you get stuck the community has your back. Don't worry about it, and enjoy the heck out of an addictive and fun game.

The issues are frustrating, but they're not deal breakers for owning the pin.

There's no need, has the best built-in sub of any pinball ever made. Pinwoofer can't compare to a custom ported and sealed bandpass enclosure tuned for the machine.

https://www.scottdanesi.com/?p=757

sub (resized).png

sub2 (resized).png