There is a distinction between prototypes or pilot machines and regular production games (not even counting the initial whitewood). Artwork and details can vary from one proto to another of the same machine (I've seen three Capcom Kingpin protos and each one had different coloring in the playfield artwork). Scared Stiff pilot run games had numerous details (that we all know about and love - good thing that other people have offered most of them as replacement parts) that weren't in the production games. Capcom made 14 proto Big Bang Bars but never made any regular production games. Gene Cunningham made the first actual production run of BBB, albeit limited to the board sets he had available. I would not call Gene's BBB games remakes.

And now the world will come to an end, because I never thought I would ever agree with teekee about anything.

He seemed to be short 28 people for the 150 minimum he needed (see Kingpin offer sheet). I wanted it to happen, since I have an empty silkscreened Capcom Kingpin cabinet and I could have had Kingpin number 16 to go with my BBB number 16.

kingpin offer.jpg

I believe you are well-known and respected in the pinball community (by me included). But, please, leaving BBB NIB for years and then selling it reeks of buy-low-sell-high profit taking, and anything negative said after such a sale reads like sour grapes to cover your choice of money over the rare machine. But you are certainly entitled to state your opinion.

Knocking the game after he's already sold it and made his profit it won't hurt a flipper, especially with a game like BBB where he isn't very likely to ever have another one to sell.

So you are saying that you have a playfield plastic set for BBB then?

The really high price of that BBB is due to its extreme rarity in Europe. All BBBs sold to people in Europe were completed by IPB first in order to ship them before the effective date of an import ban on the type of solder which had been used on the Capcom PCBs that Gene used up on BBB games. It may be illegal for anyone in Europe to buy a BBB from someone in the USA and try to ship over there. How'd you like to live in Europe and pay big bucks for a BBB from the USA and have customs seize it?

I have IPB BBB #16 and someone would have to make me an outrageous offer before I would consider selling it. (That statement is not meant as trying to solicit any such offers.)

It is their job to enforce import laws (see article copied below, as published by The Ames Library). An individual may be able to slip a small package past them (they don't open everything). But who would risk trying to pass a complete assembled pinball machine whose production date suggests it probably contains the banned solder?

Composed of lead and tin, traditional solder is widely used in the electronics industry because as it heats up, it will suddenly melt. This is in sharp contrast to many metals that undergo a slow transition from solid to liquid. A solder blend of 63 percent tin and 37 percent lead acts like a pure metal with a single melting and solidification point. In addition, tin-lead solder is able to wet and adhere to both surfaces it is attaching, and once hardened, it conducts electricity efficiently and stands up to long-term use. Despite these abilities, lead has long been recognized as a highly toxic material that can cause brain damage. Its use in paint was banned in 1978, and it was later removed from gasoline. With these concerns in mind, in 2006, the European Union put strict limits on the amount of lead permitted in electronic devices sold there. Given the global nature of the electronics industry, the EU ban is in essence international in scope. Estimates cited by the EPA show that American companies could forfeit $240 billion in sales of electronic components over a three-year period if the nation does not continue its development of lead-free solder alternatives that meet environmental regulations imposed by the EU and other governing bodies.

You lucked out. But try importing to Europe a complete BBB game and see if that gets by customs?

That depends on if BBB gets remade in much bigger quantities by someone like PPS. The value of the relatively few BBB games that currently exist can only go up if there are no other remakes of it.

Those who preordered BBB were also given the chance to preorder some unique spare parts for it. I purchased $500 in spare parts including a spare ramp, plastic set, a couple extra sets of the target decals, an extra tube dancer figure, an alternate pink tube dancer figure with blonde hair, the optional plastic rings that mount around the left side tube, and a couple other things (that was more than five years ago and I can't remember everything). I didn't feel the need to buy a spare playfield for a game that would be HUO in a collection of 15 pins. If I were to ever sell my #16 BBB I would probably include the spare parts with the game. Maybe someone sold sold their BBB for a high price and then sold their spare parts separately in order to make even more profit?

It is human nature to shower praise on things which you are smart enough to own and to show distain and dilike for those things which you did not or could not acquire. For this reason ratings for BBB are lower than they should be. Of course, I would be fine if BBB is never remade.

Was that comment directed towards me? I have AFM and BBB directly opposite each other at one end of my pinball room. Looking in that direction I have to decide if I want to kill aliens or have a drink with them.

That puts your opinion of BBB in perspective: you have it about the same level as AFM, a game which most people love. I think that those who don't share your opinion that AFM is an average game should not put any value on your opinion of BBB. If you're not a good judge of one why should anyone think you're a good judge of the other?

I played a Kingpin several times back in 1996 without knowing it was a prototype (a friend and I didn't know the arcade we frequented was one of three test locations for new pins back then). I liked almost everything about the game, including the modes, call-outs, dots (I remember one mode where the crook on the DMD would keep yanking bags of cash out of a safe if you made ramp shots, but would fall asleep and snore if you weren't making ramps), slot machine, and hotel in the upper left hand corner. I remember they needed ramp protectors at the ramp entrances because they were fairly close to the flippers and would take a beating without them. But I felt the one thing that did not work was the gimmick with a gradual loss of flipper power (status depicted in light inserts on the playfield) where you had to keep making ramp shots in order to add power back to the flippers. The problem was that as soon as the flipper power dropped low enough that the ball couldn't make it up the ramp - ball over. Other than that it was a really nice game.