I've backed a couple things on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

Never received anything on any of them.

I don't care what it is, or who's building it, I'm never doing a crowdfunded product again.

The Big Lebowski?
RAZA?
Alice in Wonderland?
Predator
Big Bang Bar (took y?ears longer than promised)
Fathom (taking years longer than promised)

What am I missing here.

Designing a pinball machine is easy.

Building a prototype working pinball machine is hard, but a team of five talented people can absolutely do this between mechanics, art, programming, and design.

Manufacturing hundreds of pinball machines and sourcing the parts is a miracle in the making which has only been done a handful of times in our lifetime.

How many people have been screwed over on the pre order pinball machine model?

If Stern was making these I might be in on one and sell something to make it happen. If you had one at a show, I might trade you a nice machine for it, but I am not paying in full for a machine from a company with no experience making pinball machines.

Sounds like a good use of my money. Putting my money to work for me.

Too soon to ask for a kickstarter.

Nah.... not I.

With the dollar amounts involved and the % that kickstarter takes, I think it's the wrong platform for a pinball. Something a couple hundred dollars max is kickstarter applicable IMHO... and even with those many companies either just break even or lose $...

Isn't this an Italian design company? And don't the Pinball Brothers have a pinball manufacturing facility in Italy making Aliens (slowly but surely)?

Why not partner with them?

I thought this looked familiar.

I am assuming that this is this pin here. Here are more photos and the link to the 2 year old thread.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dragon-s-lair-prototype-etpinball-
DL1 (resized).jpgDl2 (resized).jpg

DL4 (resized).jpg

Nope. Too many new pinball companies that have failed over the years.

I could make it digitally in a few weeks, for nothing.

What was the last pin that was to be crowdfunded on Kickstarter.... Vonnie D's Pinball Gremlins?

That went well.

Hahaha fuck no. If you got enough monies to gamble then by all means give it a wHirl.

And the theme...kind of played out.

This will end well! They always do!

Where is the poll so I can vote no.

Also, Dragon’s Lair is a shit video game. I remember the day our local arcade got it. It was the first game I remember to cost $.50 and there was nothing to play. It was just timing the joystick or a button presses and memorizing each scene.

Nothing fun about that.

Ancient pinball proverb:

He who kickstarts a pinball machine kicks himself in the jewels

Nostalgic for Dragon's Lair, get yourself a 3/4 scale cabinet for $600 from a company with a solid history of delivery.

https://arcade1up.com/products/dragons-lair-arcade-cabinet

Also check out this thread for a mini Dragon's Lair arcade toy.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/mini-dragons-layer-toy

The best thing about the Kicsktarter biz plan is once things go south, they are conveniently no longer involved. It's between you and the dude who organized the project.

Exactly! There was nothing to play. Just move the joystick in the direction that was expected, at the expected time, or you get to watch a death animation. You couldn't just wander around enjoying a world of cartoon graphics.

I never understood the love of this game.

And nobody would care because digital pinball stinks.

Because when it came out
It was unlike anything we had ever seen
It was mind blowing back in 83
When it came out.
I was 15 then .
Sure it seems not much now but back then at least for the first year it was captivating.

Not compared to Space Ace of course!

Yeah, I was 13, and my mind was really blown. But then I tried playing it, 4 times I think, and I was like "This thing just wants me to move the joystick in a certain direction (or push a button), at a certain time", and I was done with it. But, I did have a couple of friends that kept sinking quarters in it, and they got the patterns down. I admit, it was fun standing back and watching the animations when they were playing and getting quite far into it, but I was done with it.

agreed , but I sucked so it was more fun watching someone who knew what they where doing playing it.

Hahaha, I always forget about Space Ace. Dragon's Lair showed up in a few local arcades, but I never saw Space Ace.

Absolutely NO.

I won't be putting money toward a new manufacturer of pinballs.

My friend Marc (of Marco pinball parts) told me once "If you are a billionaire who wants to be a millionaire, start a pinball company".

I'd be glad to be wrong, but this is almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Even if they get a single machine produced... they have to get established and be continuously producing machines or the parts needed to keep Dragon's Lair pinball in service will become unobtainable.

Count me out.

After I memorized all the moves and could finish the game easily I went through and died in all the ways I hadnt died yet so I could watch the animations. Game was cool but once you finished it not much point in ever playing again. Pinball machine looks cool but I would never pre fund it.

Setting money on fire would be more fruitful than contributing to this...at least it would generate a little warmth.

Art looks great, but like most , I dont have the money to throw away. If I did, I would probably be making my own game. To all the people bitching about the game being just about timing your joystick movement and buttons, ya might look at every video game ever, cause thats what they are. Even pinball is about hitting buttons at the right time and nudging the cab instead of a joystick. You can drink a beer a thousand ways, but at the end of the day you are still just drinking it. I hope it succeeds even if Im not backing it!

Do we even know if they actually have the license to use the Dragon's Lair theme? Or will this be Predator all over again?

He was pretty adamant in the past about having the license and threw a big hissy fit over someone selling a vitual pin with Dragon's Lair cabinet art because he thought his license covered that.

There are DVD versions around. I have Space Ace packed away somewhere.

Laserdisc was the wave of the future at the time. Arcade graphics were way behind DL, Mach III, Cliff Hanger, Time Traveler.

Gameplay wasn’t great on any of them as I recall. All of them got a bunch of my quarters back then.

The arcade by my house called RocAfellas had one. They had folding chairs set up with a monitor mounted on top so people could see. The game got played non stop for about 6 weeks than it was just like any other. Bet it pulled in 800 per week in the beginning

Why not just take this to spooky or stern and offer a deal for them to produce it? Then it’s legit. Game looks cool though

Never.

I hate kickstarter. I bought some stupid remote which doesnt even work from it, cant return it. I also bought something else, I dont remember but that was also a piece of crap. It should be called crapstarter.

But the pinball machine does look cool.

This seems like a potential candidate for American Pinball. Legends of Valhalla started out as a homebrew and is now being manufactured by a company that has proven they can produce.

I see this being DOA if they continue to go the kickstarter route.

Not a chance.

Crowdsourcing pinball manufacturing just doesn't work, especially with someone who is inexperienced in that area.

Making a one off homebrew and making a design that is ready for mass production is a huge distinction. I'm sure the Riot guys can go into more detail about the difference.

That he built a homebrew doesn't mean that this is close to being suitable for mass production.

He has said he has an agreement with Digital Leisure.

I'll just rip the band aide off and send them an email to ask them if they can say anything about it. Let's avoid the Predator situation where no one was willing to ask until years into the process...

Don't forget about Cliffhanger. Probably better than both DL and SA.

Dragon's Lair is the ultimate theme for today's asset-obsessed pinball collector. Press a button, watch a clip. Press a button, watch a clip.

Which makes perfect sense for a pinball machine where you always have ample time to look up at said assets /s

if he was experienced, he wouldn't be crowdsourcing.

Hence, we only have licensed themes. People want to play a movie (Where they already know the plot!) in the form of a game of pinball, creativity be damned.