The Circus Maximus Group , Python's Pinball Circus

To me the rebirth of Stern starting with ACDC qualifies them as a new manufacturer too. Not only are they in a new factory, they are building machines for Planetary and not to mention WNBJM.

Day One Pinball.

Should be Chicago Gaming for MMr. Planetary is just the (re)licensor.

Jersey Jack Pinball. What they did with WOZ in 3 years (from scratch) is amazing. I remember pre-ordering a standard from a distributor a while back and wanted a refund a few months later which was granted without issue. I later bought someones LE spot and it was transferred easily. I've talked to Jack and Butch at shows and both have been nice to talk to. JJP's support is stellar and I was able to easily order a new LE topper when I accidentally cracked mine. Code support for WOZ has been amazing and both Keith and Ted have been open about code progress, rules and feedback from the community.

spooky, hands down. they designed, are building, and shipping a quality, original theme game that is fun and challenging.
all from their little factory with no drama, no snake oil salesman bs, no bait and switch.
they truly deserve all the kudos they get. they are a true success story. bravo spooky.

Jack didn't just build games, he built a company. I think they are the ones setting up for the long haul.

I don't have a favorite.

They are all great for various reasons.

Pinball is healthier now thanks to Stern for keeping pinball alive in the worst decade ever in coin op.

Jersey Jack Pinball really got the ball rolling for changes to pinball as we once knew it.

Planetary Pinball Supply and Chicago Gaming Company made remakes possible.

Spooky Pinball proved dreams can come true.

Multimorphic is heading to the next generation of pinball.

Dutch Pinball and Heighway Pinball really brought excitement to the table.

I'm glad we get to witness all of this. What a great time for pinball.

LTG : )™

Hard to compare because there's so much difference between what companies like PPS, JJP, Stern, etc are doing, and trying to do.

Skit B!

Too soon?

They're all my favorites for the simple reason they kept pinball alive, and thriving.

I'd suggest any voting is provisional until a company has shipped more than ONE title.

Why?

Well, the "one-hit-wonder" syndrome is certainly a possibility, but more importantly, since nearly all are reliant on prepayment, it's impossible to determine if ANY of them are Financially Viable while they can continue to "rob Peter to pay Paul" with their revenue.

Day One , the only new company to build a game and sell it without taking any pre-order money at all.

From the poll ,Spooky for sure . They made a great game that is really fun to play . While they do take some pre-order money they don't take full payment until the game is ready to ship and they give their customers realistic time frames on when their games will be ready .

Agreed.

JJP is obviously the most successful so far, but WOZ was plagued by delays and issues (mostly referring to the light boards, every pin has some form of gremlins, that was just a big one, and of course the shipping was slow), I think we're all waiting to see how it goes with Hobbit. Will it get built faster, have less physical problems etc. Jack is still surrounded by rumors, be nice to see those vanish because they were proving their success. If Hobbit gets on the line and ships well, and Lawlor's game is announced as a "buy it, we're ready to build" thing they'll be in a really good position. Even the haters will have to admit it. JJP obviously has high tech stuff, and lots of really solid animations on that big LCD, Keefer on code (best asset they have?), it's modern pinball. My only real ding to anything would be they're pretty pricey, you're firmly Stern LE and above territory if you buy from them. Plenty of collectors can play ball at that price range, but there are a lot of people who simply can't/won't pay that much for a pin.

Heighway is obviously a company I'm biased towards, so let's not pretend I'm neutral here. For the record, I'm not an employee, just a contractor on Alien, but obviously I count as a serious insider here. But I'll try and stick to facts: Andrew has a proper factory, and has shipped a finished and successful project (Bacardi) and his first game is on the line right now, probably going to be shipping within a few weeks. LCD screen(s), RGB LEDs, etc. Again, modern pinball. But competing more in the Stern price range, not quite as expensive. Not the Pros, but firmly against the Premiums. I think we're all waiting for Alien though. That's sure how I felt even before I got involved. Full Throttle could be a sleeper hit, but Alien is what generated the excitement. I feel great about it of course, but show and prove, that's all that counts!

In my mind those are the two "serious" players. And I say that really only because they both have real factories of their own. They both have the potential to ship units in real scale. They could really compete against Stern if they get some momentum. Would I like to see Alien sell more units than Hobbit? Sure! But I wish JJP nothing but success, I'm first and foremost a fan of pinball in general. Just to make sure that's clear.

Spooky is awesome. No drama, just get it done. Built an original themed pin from scratch, and earned every sale they got. I'm excited about their next release, I'm predicting right now that it's going to sell out orders of magnitude faster than AMH. They're not competing in the Stern Pro range either, but solidly against the Premiums too. I think it's a reasonable place to be, hard to beat Stern's Pro price these days. They have one big weakness though, and that's the lack of a factory. If Spooky #2 sells out fast it could be a wait to get your game if they don't build up capacity.

Multimorphic is doing perhaps the most wild and interesting thing in pinball out of everyone. The P3 is very ambitious and very different (and very expensive). I don't think any of us really know what's going to happen there. I think out of everyone there's the most "wait and see factor" here. Just too early to call anything, they need to finish a game, and sell everyone on the concept.

PPS is a funny one. Because Rick is really not building anything himself, and doesn't have a factory, but he has powerful licenses and tools to get things done in partnerships. We don't really know what's coming after MMr, which I think we have to call a success now. I have some little insight into possible future stuff, and it's pretty interesting, and might be full of surprises. I'd say a big wait and see, but lots of potential. To me what will be the most interesting is seeing how/if they branch out from pure remakes, so there are new ideas coming out of that camp too. Only so far you can advance pinball with just things from the past. Also to be seen, and it's a big one: prices. Lots and lots of potential for lower priced games, but we have to see.

With Dutch Pinball I'm personally counting TBL as game one. Bride 2.0 is pretty cool, but it's not a full pin, and it's not finished. Very neat idea, looking forward to playing (and hearing) it more. But TBL is the first real big one. Apparently it's on track, but we don't know, communication isn't so great. And it's a damn pricey game too, especially if you didn't pre-order. Can they make it a success, and then ship a second title with less drama and a lower price point? They don't own a factory, but maybe their rent-a-factory model will be enough.

Too soon for this poll. Only companies with shipped games should qualify. Let's take a look at the landscape a year from now.

Stern for sure. How could anyone top the BBH???

Agreed. All the newcomers have had a rocky start getting their first machine out. Machine 2, 3, and beyond should give a better idea of the direction they are heading.

Stern has a leg up since they are already an established manufacturer. Many of the new companies are still getting the kinks worked out in their supply chains and assembly lines.

At this moment, however, each one of them has brought new and exciting things to the world of pinball.

No pre order

I suggest waiting till they sell games without pre pay

Ones that can deliver obviously. Survival is the next step. Some have delivered but only one game.

People still have preorders.

No product yet, either.

Good thread - it made me go out and look at all of the new vendors. I have to say - that I don't even remember The Big Lebowski at the theater - but of all the new machines - I like theirs the best. The bowling alley lower playfield is well done and I really enjoy the artwork. JJP would be neck and neck with Hobbit.

Honorable mention to Lexy Lightspeed - it incorporates some really interesting new concepts - but misses for me because of the sparsely populated playfield - and although it looks really cool in play, (love the flippers) and the fact that the playfield changes. They need to figure out how to incorporate the LCD playfield and still be able to have it populated with pop bumpers, drop targets, etc., or better yet come up with some new type of interaction (maybe magnetic pops under the playfield that "move" based on the playfield graphic).

Anyway - I was not a big fan of The Big Lewbroski - but checking it out on youtube - it's my favorite.

Many that have seen Lebowski up close say it reminds them a lot of a classic Williams game with some modern feel (color dmd), which seems a sweet spot many want. So if TBL delivers on that impression it may put Dutch Pinball out front. Spooky and Andrew haven't seem to captured that magic yet in their first offerings IMHO. They do however carry themselves well and communicate the best so hope they can get a game that grabs people. Jersey jack.. I dunno, for me personally their never ending delays on stuff I can't let go, even though I don't have any of their games. Surprised so many let it slide but I guess shows a lot can be forgiven.

The only product out there are ones you can go pickup with cash this weekend

100% Agree with this. All of the ones to succeed are really doing great things

Well, Monday through Friday as commercial distributors usually are only open M-F 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Agree 100% as well.

Have to vote JJ. WOZ is a beautiful fun machine.

Stern in new building but not new to making machines. And drop target issues for a long time, poor not complete coding (shame).

I give them all props for the new wave of pins but from an armchair voter.

Jersey jack for the win.

Spooky Pinball for sure.

It's tough to tell who's the best these days. It's just really nice to be in this hobby at this time in life. So many options for different tastes.

...and I could actually go pick up a WOZ with cash on Saturday...

...if I didn't already have one.

If they have not produced games yet are they really a manufacturer?

Reminds me of....

600961_620063301340036_1827025942_n.jpg

Lexy, the first game, has quite a bit of physical features. 8 ball physical ball lock, 3 pops, 2 ramps, 1 fixed mode scoop, 6 programmable pop-up scoops with 6 matching walls (rgbled lit), an additional mini-led for additional mode info and gameplay, and also several shots that feel like virtual ramps as balls feed out of the vuks instantaneously as the ball hits certain shots. It packs a lot of game features into the upper third of the playfield where 99% of physical gameplay features are on most pins. However, if a game designer wants to, additional features can be floated over the interactive screen. Check out the video on the main page of multimorphic.com to see just how versatile the platform really is.

JPop and Skit-B take the cake. and the dough.

STERN IS KING IN THIS BUSINESS !!!!
When the other have a huge library of games then we can compare ....

image.jpg

image.jpg

It's all about the drama. JJP comes with lots of it, Spooky has basically none. So that doesn't really surprise me.

Notice the lack of "Spooky, where is my game?" threads. I don't think I know of anyone who just trolls Spooky threads. Plenty of JJP haters and trolls, with made up and legit gripes.

You are right - Lexy broke new boundaries like the wall, etc. I will go to their site to see how versatile the platform is - it is also hard to know if I would like the gameplay from videos.

Certainly no arguing that - STERN is the last titan of pinball. I just didn't seriously consider Stern for this survey because they are not a "new" game company.

I can only comment on games I've played, and how that makes me feel about each company.

1. JJP gets massive props for WOZ. It is a jaw-dropping overwhelmingly beautiful thing of creative beauty. The feel, the sounds, the attention to detail. Quite remarkable for a "first pin"

2. Stern gets big props for STLE. It's smooth as butter, and the stainless steel all over it looks great. Nothing else Stern has ever made has blown me away like STLE.

3. I've never played AMH, so I can't comment on what it's like in person.

Each vendor is a leader in certain aspects:

1. JJP is the leader in terms of total creative ART package.
2. Stern is the leader in terms of factory line output and best price.
3. Spooky is the leader in terms of code updates.

-mof

Stern because at least they are putting out a product I like.

That is the truth, people really need to see it in person and play it to judge the gameplay, and for that matter, the whole art package of the game. I personally feel like there is no way you can do the game justice in videos, as you really need to experience how it all works together. Lexy really is a fun game with lots going on, and because the screen can dynamically change to let you know what you need to do, it is by far the easiest to understand game I have ever played. And the game just keeps getting better and better as the code gets more mature.

What you can see in the latest video, I think, is just how versitile the game is as a platform for future developers. That is what the modularity video is all about. Everything about this system is designed to let game designers focus on the fun part of the process (design) and minimizes the unfun part (manufacturing) that seems to trip up so many well intentioned new designers today. In addition to giving them all the tools to ship complete games without having to build a huge pinball machine factory, it also is designed to provide a built in customer base that will be hungry for new games. That kind of foundation is huge for talented designers, and as the system grows it will feed itself in a virtuous circle. I can't wait to see how future first and third party games turn out on the platform.

I love Lexy as a game, but I love what the P3 platform means for the future of pinball. I also love seeing kids get excited about it. I really hope my collection is worth something when I die because a new generation falls in love with the idea of a physical ball rolling around an exciting playground under glass. I think the P3 platform is a key part in making that happen.