This morning I shot a 2 minute video of Gary Stern playing The Walking Dead pinball at EAS in Amsterdam. I'll shoot some more video and upload that later on, probably to the Pinball Magazine website. Enjoy! www.facebook.com/pinballmagazine

Played over 20 games on it this morning. fun layout, fun game. i'm not familiar with the show, so don't know if it ties in well. interesting skill shot in both layout as in challenge. very short ball times. the prison magnet may lead to stdm. left outlane also seems to have a magnet in it it took me quite a few games to start multiball, which I think is good. modes and multiballs seem stackable. music is very energetic and hyping the player. voicecalls are few at the moment. didn't hear any anoying call outs yet very fun, interesting and challenging game. absolute winner for Stern.

just uploaded a few more short clips to Facebook.

I'll try to shoot a decent game that will be more representitive the upper right corner reminds me a bit of scared stiff. the ramps initiate a combo shot sequence, which I like. the right ramp and the shot thru the pops are tough. extra ball is easily lit, but shooting it is tough too. easiest to achieve during multiball.

I just uploaded a new video to youtube. Filmed a guy who put up a 30M score and got to Prison Multiball. He was close to Well Walker multiball as well I think. This may give you a better idea about this game, although nothing beats playing it yourself

You mean these?
walking dead instructions.jpg

I like Mustang too, so don't get your hopes up

Just got home and watched my own videos. The one I uploaded to youtube was shot with a digital camera and looks a lot better than the one with Gary flipping the game. Besides the sounds from IMVE and ST there was also a lot of noise on the showfloor from the next door neighbor with their inflatable stand.

The ramps may seem steep, but are doable. I had very few balls not make it all the way round. When the ball comes back they're very catchable, or they hit the slingshot first. Most stdm drains come from the prison magnet.

In the youtube video the player actually does stack Prison MB and Well Walker MB, which explain the 4 balls in play. unstacked Prison MB is 3 balls, unstacked WW MB is 2 balls.

The music in the video is indeed pretty crappy, but from what I could here the soundtrack is pretty cool. I was hoping to shoot a video with better sound when the show closed, but in order to get people to leave they had to cut the power and wouldn't turn it back on.

I did play IMVE as well, which has weaker slings than TWD. That could just be a setting, or the contacts may need adjusting. TWD as I played it is a very fast game which is mostly played at the tips of the flippers. A lot of shots come back at the tips, which makes it quite challenging. As I'm not familiar with the TV show I can't judge how authentic the voicecalls are. They didn't bother me. Not even after playing 40+ games today.

The current software seems to be far enough along to keep novice and average players at the game. After playing the two MBs I found the game focusses more on the other games / objectives. The small yellow inserts light up in various combinations. Didn't figure out yet what they do / accomplish.

I didn't see any RGB lightng in the pro. The head in the prison does not move and you can't lock balls in the prison. In fact there is no locking balls at all. Spell PRISON or WELL and after another shot the mode starts. Then you have to shoot all the red arrows to start Prison MB, or shoot the Well Walker 6 times to start WW MB. At least, that's what it looked like to me.

I've seen some complaints about the ball being too much in the popbumpers. Basically that's the only place on the playfield where you can catch your breath as the rest of the game is fast, fast ,fast. The right loop shot goes through the pops into the loop, the left loop most of the time ends in the popbumpers, so no chance of looping that. Both ramp shots are very loopable and each rampshot has combo shots aligned to it. I put in a couple of high scores, with the highest being 54M. Love the 2 X Playfield Value feature, but don't know yet how to start that. EB is lit when killing 7 walkers, which basically is making every shot in the game once. I did spot a small 'bug'. The EB shot feeds the ball back to the shooterlane. However, if you drain when EB is lit and plunge the next ball it automatically awards the EB. I also had a few times that I started one of the Multiballs by just plunging the 2nd or 3rd ball.

So is it a fun game? Well, if I didn't like it I don't think I would have played it 40+ times

Playfield in attract mode video:

part 2. This also shows the ball entry and skill shot:

In between all his appointments Gary had time to show his favorite new pinball book: PINBALL by Santiago Ciuffo (available on www.pinball-magazine.com)
Gary Stern with Santiago Ciuffos Pinball book.jpg

The prison has a magnet in front of it, which throws the ball around when you hit it. The Well Walker has a rubber stop mounted on it, which absorbs the energy of the ball. It doesn't hold it, or do anything with it (at least on the Pro).

At the show I also talked to both Gary and Stern investor Dave Peterson. Dave had some interesting news. The parts that I could share, mainly about Stern moving, I wrote down in a new post on www.pinball-magazine.com. I also added a post about new posters by Santiago Ciuffo being available as of now. Check it out!

I think this game will be a huge earner for operators. Regardless of the toys I found it very addictive and fun to play. Just hope many will feel the same after playing it.

The red dmd on this game actually looks pretty fitting with all the red in the cabinet art.

Maybe my expectations were low, as I don't know the theme, but I found it a very fun game to play. Funny thing: I doubt if there will be many people on location looking at the game, or playing it, and then start thinking about what the game doesn't have. My guess: that won't be many. They will just play the crap out of it

About the lack of a scoop to hold the ball: The game I played yesterday played bloody fast and crisp. Slingshots were very snappy, which couldn't be said for the IMVE slingshots next to it. I like slings to be snappy. I also liked the fast pace of this game. Aside from the ball being held up in the popbumpers and on the magnet when Prison Multiball starts, the extra ball shot (which feeds to the shooterlane) also brings a 'stop' moment in gameplay, although the ball is autofired (into the pops) right away.