Quoted from vicjw66:

So is there a SoCal Wonka? I suppose I have made a few bad decisions in life. But it could have been worse. I could be living in Wisconsin instead of living in the greatest place on earth.

Quoted from Whysnow:

the word is "podunk" and you obviously have never been to WI.
For a guy that lives in CA, you should just be able to buy all the Wonkas to play at your own home. I guess have fun playing 2 diamond jacks while you contemplate the poor decisions you have made.

Quoted from iloveplywood:

I honestly could not care less about arguments regarding which state is greater than another, but could we keep people's collection out of the discussion, this is a prime example why people hide their collections here and I enjoy seeing what everyone has.

Quoted from Calfdemon:

Ugh... SoCal born and raised and 6 years from retirement. Sorry, but great weather does not make up for everything else. This state (along with the rest of the "left coast") can fall into the ocean for all I care and the world would be a better place. While I wouldnt want to live in the snow, I think there are plenty of places in the USA, including Wisconsin, that would rank a lot higher than So Cal as a place to live.

Quoted from Whysnow:

it was a joke and in case you missed it, we are both just having some fun.

Quoted from Calfdemon:

Ugh... SoCal born and raised and 6 years from retirement. Sorry, but great weather does not make up for everything else. This state (along with the rest of the "left coast") can fall into the ocean for all I care and the world would be a better place. While I wouldnt want to live in the snow, I think there are plenty of places in the USA, including Wisconsin, that would rank a lot higher than So Cal as a place to live.

Quoted from jeffro01:

While I don't live in SoCal (NorCal), having lived in other states in the US, I can't even imagine living anywhere else than CA having lived here now for almost a decade. That's simply my opinion and not meant to suggest that CA is superior than any other state for all people at all times, I just prefer it here over anywhere else I've been/lived. To each their own... I wouldn't want to live in WI but that doesn't mean it's a bad place or not a good place to live. People get to make their own choices and the political jab you took, the "left coast" BS, is wholly unnecessary. I always wonder why some people who live in CA complain about it so much, why are you even here then? We're grossly overcrowded as it is so... Yeah...
Jeff

Quoted from Calfdemon:

Take the "left coast" comment as you wish, but the fact of the matter is that the left coast of the USA is well known as the "left coast" throughout the country. Its not something I made up. And I am still here due to my career and family being here. Trust me, when retirement comes, I wont be able to get out of this state fast enough. The weather here is great, the state has an unbelievable amount of beauty in it and there are parts that are still wonderful places to live, I'm sure. But the laws that are being passed in this state are quickly making it a criminal haven. Believe what you want, but while parts of this state are not necessarily affected yet by some of the ridiculous laws that have been passed in the past 10 years, it will be soon enough. There is a cancer in this state and it is growing very fast. You will feel it soon enough if you don't already. Burying your head in the sand will not make it go away. Many people may be in denial or just not see it living their lives day to day. But those of us that have to deal with it on a daily basis know what we are talking about.
Anyway, enough debate on how great or not-so-great California is.. Back to Wonka-vision and where one might be found to play in the wild (I am not the one that started the state bashing here).

Quoted from vicjw66:

Yep. Too far inland.

Quoted from Calfdemon:

Take the "left coast" comment as you wish, but the fact of the matter is that the left coast of the USA is well known as the "left coast" throughout the country. Its not something I made up. And I am still here due to my career and family being here. Trust me, when retirement comes, I wont be able to get out of this state fast enough. The weather here is great, the state has an unbelievable amount of beauty in it and there are parts that are still wonderful places to live, I'm sure. But the laws that are being passed in this state are quickly making it a criminal haven. Believe what you want, but while parts of this state are not necessarily affected yet by some of the ridiculous laws that have been passed in the past 10 years, it will be soon enough. There is a cancer in this state and it is growing very fast. You will feel it soon enough if you don't already. Burying your head in the sand will not make it go away. Many people may be in denial or just not see it living their lives day to day. But those of us that have to deal with it on a daily basis know what we are talking about.
Anyway, enough debate on how great or not-so-great California is.. Back to Wonka-vision and where one might be found to play in the wild (I am not the one that started the state bashing here).

Quoted from Calfdemon:

Take the "left coast" comment as you wish, but the fact of the matter is that the left coast of the USA is well known as the "left coast" throughout the country. Its not something I made up. And I am still here due to my career and family being here. Trust me, when retirement comes, I wont be able to get out of this state fast enough. The weather here is great, the state has an unbelievable amount of beauty in it and there are parts that are still wonderful places to live, I'm sure. But the laws that are being passed in this state are quickly making it a criminal haven. Believe what you want, but while parts of this state are not necessarily affected yet by some of the ridiculous laws that have been passed in the past 10 years, it will be soon enough. There is a cancer in this state and it is growing very fast. You will feel it soon enough if you don't already. Burying your head in the sand will not make it go away. Many people may be in denial or just not see it living their lives day to day. But those of us that have to deal with it on a daily basis know what we are talking about.
Anyway, enough debate on how great or not-so-great California is.. Back to Wonka-vision and where one might be found to play in the wild (I am not the one that started the state bashing here).

Quoted from jeffro01:

Cancer? Yikes... That's a pretty strong statement... If you're going to make a post like that at least come and say what you actually mean rather than using words like "cancer" or phrases like "criminal haven" then top it off by accusing others having their head buried in some mythological sand because they don't agree with you politically or whatever...
Jeff

Quoted from jeffro01:

Cancer? Yikes... That's a pretty strong statement... If you're going to make a post like that at least come and say what you actually mean rather than using words like "cancer" or phrases like "criminal haven" then top it off by accusing others having their head buried in some mythological sand because they don't agree with you politically or whatever...
Jeff

Quoted from trilamb:

Why the hell are you posting this nonsense in a pinball thread? What happened, did you get banned from the Stormfront comment section or something? GTFO with this.

Quoted from vicjw66:

Yeah, he could have saved himself a bunch of time and just said he hates brown immigrants.

Quoted from delt31:

well this thread is a mess. haha

Quoted from Calfdemon:

I thought I was pretty clear, and never accused anyone of burying their head in the sand. Read the sentence again... it was a statement, not an accusation towards anyone. We have left this topic behind already.

Read back a bit further and you will see how this started and how it progressed. You might also see that for most of us, we have already moved on.

Quoted from Extraballz:

Could you please point me in the direction of the Willy Wonka thread? Lol.

Quoted from jeffro01:

What a cowardly way to respond. Come in, say something that's inflammatory knowing full well that it was, then tuck tail and hide behind the "we've moved on" excuse. LOL
While I hate dragging this out as we're way off topic at this point, I can't stand this kind of passive aggressive crap so I feel compelled to react to it... Yeah yeah...
Jeff

Quoted from Pinballomatic:

I scored 1.087m this morning, knocking my wife off the GC score. That help?

Quoted from delt31:

OK - I'm going to bring this thread back on track. Here are my impressions of this game:
I played a ton of Wonka today - by myself, loud music, it was very close to a home use experience. Shout out to Helicon Brewery who not only had the game but also was right there asking how it played and tweaked the flippers in about 5 min to get it to play perfectly (as it needed a little more juice). Doesn't get better than that place!
So here we go.
My biggest concern with this game was not how it shot but the music, effects, lack of JJP "stuff" and integration. After spending hours playing it and really taking everything in, I definitely have a position on this game.....and it's not good. Very disappointed. Just one man's opinion so play it yourself but I thought I would summarize my experience.
First the good stuff:
+Shots. Butter. Expected but def necessary to call out. It's a smooth shooter with clear shots that are visible right away to the player. I will say that my previous butter champion (DI) still has it over this game and that's primarily due to the layout of Wonka. For me, who is not very good at pinball, I could sit there all day and hit those ramps on Wonka. Right ramp is so wide, it's a joke to hit while the left ramp is still very easy. They just aren't very satisfying. The top right flipper is also very easy to hit that top ramp while the top left flipper feels the best when you hit the ball to the spinner on the top right. That's the best shot of the game. Surprisingly the Gobstopper shot was frustrating b/c I had many times where the ball would bounce out of the hole. I will also say that although ramps are easy, it's super outlane drain friendly which at times felt cheap and reminded me of how Pat wanted this to be quick ball times and good on route. Again, I'm not very good at all and dropped some major coin during my gameplay!
+Assets. Yes - many are worried about not enough speech or video, etc. Maybe it's the new code but the game def has enough video and speech that I didn't walk away saying there was a major gap. Now how they use it is another story but to say JJP didn't pack in real audio and video just wouldn't be accurate. Best use of it thus far is Gene singing. Loved those.
Now the negatives.....
- BY FAR the biggest issue with this game for me is the music and sound, including the narrator. Holy shit - JJP can update the code, add in 4 more toys, integrate it so you literally are in the movie but if they don't fix the music and sound, I would still pass on this game. This has to be the most annoying game to play I've ever tried....ever. It sounds like overkill but the effects when you hit the ramps and other areas of the game - as I was hitting them I said to myself - omg just shut the F up machine. It's that bad. It takes you out of the experience. It's painful. I sensed it the first time I played it and thought wow - it's even worse than I thought and it only got worse. The narrator is absolutely positively the worst I've ever heard as well. It really pulls you out b/c it's so bad. I can't think of any other machine I've played that even comes close to having such a negative impact on my experience.
- Integration. Yes JJP has the video. Yes they have the audio/speech but it's ALL over the place. They just put in random clips here and there and it seems like it's been put together by an amateur vs what we expect from JJP which is everything is in sync - like video and audio matching gameplay - this game tries to bring you into the world of Wonka but it's so mashed up and the video is just that with no speech of the characters (it's very jarring and really takes away from the impact).... everything just feels like it's being thrown at you. You don't really appreciate it b/c of that. They also seem to completely forget about the dark part of Wonka and just focus on the happy go lucky/over saturated world so you feel like the game is familiar in one sense but completely lacking in another
- Innovation/"Stuff". I stood over Wonka then looked to the right where POTC and DI stood and the first thing I thought was JJP was able to build this game and deliver as expected b/c the game is def diff than his others. The game comparatively speaking to his others titles is so much more simple, it's staggering. As a result, this is the first game from JJP that doesn't feel special. It's by no means a stern pro. But there is something lacking. The gobstopper toy is a major disappointment to me in person considering it just doesn't look good and the mech is just so who cares. The Wonka video in the back right doesn't look nice either (not visually appealing) and although it shows you some text, the entire wonkvision/camera trick just wasn't impressive in the slightest. The game really has nothing else that even comes close to magic. This is another area I was ready to be disappointed about based on online videos but it was even worse in person. Art is extremely generic. Also where are the magnets that effect gameplay? Yes it stops the ball for the flipper but there is no craziness in ball action. btw - I reached all of the MBs (I think).
- Lighting. I'm still scratching my head trying to understand how some people could even compare this games lighting to WoZ. Really? The little LEDs that are new to pinball, are just that....little lights and they did nothing for me. In fact the game seems to either go full seizure mode with all the lights on or just standard but there isn't that elegant WoZ look where it ties to the LCD like Toto escaping. I was really disappointed in this area too. It took away from the magical feeling. This includes the ompa lompa MB which just was pure seizure mode with no finesse to it.
btw - there was what appears to be extra clear or mylar around the sling posts. See pic attached (like a little clear lip around the posts). Not sure what that was but FYI.
Overall, games like Dialed-In which I was disappointed in upon reveal, was a TOTAL diff story after getting my hands on it. This game unfortunately is actually worse than I even thought mainly due to that sound/music issue and it feels just like a super watered down version of what I expect from JJP. It just wasn't special and for the first time, didn't have that wow JJP feeling after the first play.
I know JJP are going for the less is more, but it was sad to see. I was already off the NIB list but at this time, I'm even holding off from HUO unless they fix the major issues. JJP def makes MAJOR code updates (see hobbit) so I'm hopeful things can be turned around.
[quoted image][quoted image]

Quoted from cjmjmm2006:

Thanks for the assessment delt. I will add a few things and see what your thoughts are.
First, I agree 100%. Aside from the magnet stoping the ball I didn't see any action anywhere else on the field that showed reaction to the magnet.
Second, I was not really able to drain out the side of the game. I am not sure why, luck maybe? Game seemed set too easy as far as draining on the outlanes.
Finally, I tend to not value the sound/vid on these games until we are at the end so I am hopeful this game will get it's time in the lime light. Either way in its current form you are correct.
I appreciate you stopping out and giving the game a try. I hope you will make future visits to check it out again or just to play the other games we offer the public. Thanks man!!

Quoted from Pinballomatic:

I scored 1.087m this morning, knocking my wife off the GC score. That help?

Quoted from Whysnow:

That truck takes a little longer to get to CA from NJ, then to WI...

Quoted from jeffro01:

Not so great early reviews... Then again, I tend to be the kind of person who likes cheesy audio and all of that so having only played it a few times at GSPF where you really couldn't hear much of anything I'm still extremely on the fence...

Quoted from Aurich:

Just watch Karl's stream, he's got the most pro setup in the biz imo, and you can hear everything loud and clear and make your own call:

Quoted from Aurich:

Just watch Karl's stream, he's got the most pro setup in the biz imo, and you can hear everything loud and clear and make your own call:

Quoted from kermit24:

I wonder if they would ever change the callouts this late in the development? I think it is warranted. They are absolutely terrible.

Quoted from delt31:

What's really unfortunate is I can't use pinbrowser to replace the effects, music or sound either. There are many talented people on these boards who could do an even better job than me on replacing it and that would be an immediate solution but no, it's closed software.
Case in point, I have an iron maiden now and find their music (specifically the lead singer) so annoying but thanks to pinbrowser it's all been replaced.
This is something we never really thought about for a JJP game b/c it's typically a strength. This is bad though - even the wonka pumpers are starting to realize the same.

Quoted from delt31:

What's really unfortunate is I can't use pinbrowser to replace the effects, music or sound either.

Quoted from delt31:

What's really unfortunate is I can't use pinbrowser to replace the effects, music or sound either. There are many talented people on these boards who could do an even better job than me on replacing it and that would be an immediate solution but no, it's closed software.
Case in point, I have an iron maiden now and find their music (specifically the lead singer) so annoying but thanks to pinbrowser it's all been replaced.
This is something we never really thought about for a JJP game b/c it's typically a strength. This is bad though - even the wonka pumpers are starting to realize the same.

Quoted from cscmtp:

My Iron Maiden plays all Megadeth songs and its soooo much better. A shame it can't be done on this pin too

Quoted from Amused_to_Death:

What blows my mind is that Wonka is a MUSICAL and you wouldn’t know it by playing this machine. Am I the only one scratching his/her noggin trying to figure out why I can SEE Veruca Salt singing I Want It Now, but I can’t HEAR her?

Quoted from Amused_to_Death:

What blows my mind is that Wonka is a MUSICAL and you wouldn’t know it by playing this machine. Am I the only one scratching his/her noggin trying to figure out why I can SEE Veruca Salt singing I Want It Now, but I can’t HEAR her?

Quoted from TheGunnett:

My wife really wants this game but I’m getting a sick feeling in my stomach reading these forums. Anyone ever list a game for sale before they receive it ?[quoted image]

Quoted from Parzival:

Happens every game, I wouldn't worry too much.
Everyone gave up on Pirates before launch as well