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The Last Pinball Medics in NYC

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source: Motherboard

With pinball gaining more and more popularity in the mainstream, Motherboard’s State of Repair sits downs and chats with pinball doctors Mike Hooker of Sayville, Long Island and Jon Ehrlich, owner of Brooklyn pinball bar Jackbar, to chat with them about the popularity of pinball games today and what goes into maintaining and keeping these complex machines running.


source: Motherboard

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Pinball Press
Pinball Press brings you news from the world of pinball – events, product reviews/updates, interviews and the people in pinball!

If you have any pinball news to share, hit Pinball Press on Twitter

 

 

 

Thrill Of The Chase: Attack From Mars Remake

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image source: Chicago Gaming Company

It’s not often that the stars align for us, but when they do, oh boy it’s exciting!

Speaking of celestial bodies, we have always had a fondness for space and the cosmos at large. We are fascinated with our planetary brethren in the family of the solar system, especially that red planet not too far away from us and its inhabitants.

So what the hell has space and Martians got to do with this thrill of the chase? Glad you asked! Put simply, when you mix pinball with Mars and its Martians invading our little blue marble, you get a very special and top rated pinball machine – Attack From Mars (AFM)!

This is no ordinary AFM though, it’s Chicago Gaming Company’s ‘Remake’, which comes in three different editions – Classic, Special and super duper Limited Edition. With the feature list as long as our arm (our arms are long!) on the Limited Edition, like the jaw-dropping 19¼” XL HD colour display that has to be seen to be believed, shaker motor, enhanced DCS sound system, cabinet side mirrors, RGB lighting to name just a few, this machine was always going to tickle our fancy.

Naturally, we gravitated to the fully blinged Attack From Mars Remake Limited Edition (AFMR LE) version! We have never been one for pinball toppers, but the custom Doug Watson one on our AFMR LE is absolutely damn awesome! Doug Skor and the gang at CGC should be immensely proud of producing yet again a beautiful and faithful classic pinball machine.

We sourced our brand new in box AFMR LE from the Australian distributor, Mr. Pinball. We were kept up to date on the freight by keeping track of the Maersk Line ship that was carrying our precious cargo. The container landed in Melbourne in late December, giving us the rare opportunity to have the machine up and ready for family and friends to enjoy for Christmas! Oh yeah, she was quite heavy, so thank you to Lucas Bardin from Bayside Pinball Club for delivering the machine and Stacey ‘Dr Curlytek’ Borg for helping us set it up – you guys rock!

As you may have already guessed, this is a very special machine which we love and are thrilled to have in our ausretrogamer fun factory. If you ever get the chance to play one of these Remakes, do yourself a favour, have a go, they will give you an enormous endorphin rush!

Off the shipping container and ready to go home!

There is a hole in the Fun Factory that needs to be filled!

AFMR LE has reached its destination

Unboxing the beauty – she is quite heavy!

The sublime topper is well packed too

Ready to be turned on for the first time…

What a turn on!

Attack From Mars Remake Limited Edition in full martian green glory!

Mesmerising playfield

A saucy saucer!

Returning to the battle!

Destroy that pesky saucer!

CGC and Bally present….

Attack From Mars!!!

There is finally a Limited Edition addition in the ausretrogamer fun factory

The detail of the theme is exquisite

The custom Doug Watson interactive topper is the best topper we’ve ever seen on a pinball machine!

The glorious playfield. Gotta save them cities!

What a view for the ruler of the universe!

The entire art package makes us smile

The RGB LED lighting needs to be seen to be believed

Even the little one approves of this classic machine!

 

Argonauts Pinball Club: Bumper Xmas Meet!

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Hey peeps, this Thursday (Dec 7) is the last Argonauts Pinball Club monthly meet for the year (at the Golden Fleece Hotel). The club meets will resume on the first Thursday in February 2018!

As it is Christmas time and hampers are the prize of the season, the Argonauts Pinball Club has got your pinball maintenance hamper needs covered. Just check out the awesome special prize pool for the top 3 pinball wizards! Argonauts Pinball Club’s Geoff Wills tells us that there will also be giveaways and something for those that have supported the club from the start!

So make sure you keep this Thursday free and get down to the Golden Fleece Hotel to play in the end of year Argonauts Pinball Club special monthly meet.

For more info on the Argonauts Pinball Club competition rules and conditions, head to Pinball Score now or like them on Facebook to keep up with all things pinball.

Argonauts Pinball club – Top 3 Pinball Wizards Hampers!

Choc-full of pinball maintenance goodies!

1st Place

2nd Place

3rd Place

There is always plenty of action at an Argonauts Pinball Club meet!

image source: Argonauts Pinball Club

 

The Making of Star Wars Pinball

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Just a couple of weeks out from the release of Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, Stern Pinball celebrates the 40th anniversary of the original film trilogy by giving us the making of their Star Wars Pinball machine!

Just in case you didn’t know, Star Wars Pinball was created by Stern Pinball’s all star development team including legendary game designer Steve Ritchie and Hall of Fame programmer Dwight Sullivan.

May the Force be with you all!


source: Stern Pinball via Facebook

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Pinball Press
Pinball Press brings you news from the world of pinball – events, product reviews/updates, interviews and the people in pinball!

If you have any pinball news to share, hit Pinball Press on Twitter

 

 

 

Pinfest 2017 Highlights

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If you were one of the lucky patrons to have attended this past weekend’s Pinfest 2017 at Caves Coastal Bar & Bungalows in Newcastle, then we envy you!

Not only were there heaps of pinball machines to play from every era, patrons also got to see and experience Homepin’s amazing new Thunderbirds machine. Homepin have done an amazing job, not just on the theme and design, but also by setting up a factory to mass produce pinball machines! We will Mike Kalinowski and the Homepin team all the best.

If that wasn’t enough, Australian Pinball League’s Norbert Snicer also caught up with Andrew Kress who built his own Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy machine! Yes, you read that right! Andrew’s creation is unique and sophisticated, featuring multiple LCD screens and an awesome playfield to boot! To say Andrew’s machine was impressive would be a gross understatement. Pinfest 2017 could claim that it was the only place on the planet where you could play the only Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy pinball machine.

If you were like us and missed out, here are a few highlights from Pinfest 2017: Festival Of The Silver Ball:

An impressive flyer for an impressive event!

Norbert Snicer chats with Homepin’s Mike Kalinowski and checks out their new Thunderbirds machine!

We are quite excited by Thunderbirds and can’t wait to play it!

The crowd lines up to play some pinball!

Stern’s new Star Wars pinball machine proved popular

The sweet sound of the silver ball!

There were pinball machines to enjoy from every era!

Every generation enjoys flippin’

Andrew Kress stands proud in front of his creation: Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy!

The impressive Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy playfield
image sources: Australian Pinball League

 

Pinball Machines Almost Banned in 1978

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Just like the pinball prohibition era in the US, an Australian council (Heidelberg, Victoria) took it upon themselves to ban pinball machines. This ABC TV report from July 13 1978 shows how close our silverball pastime came to being driven out of milk bars, cafes and fish and chip takeaway shops!

If this ban had gone ahead, we may have required the pinball wizardry of Roger Sharpe to reverse the ban order! Luckily cooler heads prevailed.


source: ABC TV

 

Masters Of The Universe Future Pinball: I Have The Power!

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When our friend Rusty Pinball made us aware of the Masters Of The Universe Future Pinball machine, we were thoroughly impressed and absolutely gobsmacked! Look at it, it’s beautiful to look at, audio is amazing, nostalgia tingling full motion video and a playfield flow that oozes Eternian spirit!

Not taking anything away from TerryRed’s masterful digital version of MOTU pinball, we just can’t help but wish it was a real table that we could bump, slam and tilt on! Oh yeah,we can also imagine the real MOTU table with a Castle Grayskull topper – how cool would that be?!

The thought of a real Masters Of The Universe pinball machine is truly making us weak at the knees. We just hope Jersey Jack Pinball is listening *nudge nudge wink wink*


source: TerryRed

 

Stern Announce Star Wars and Jersey Jack Release A Flashy Trailer For Dialed In!

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Whoa, what a way to start June!

Stern Pinball finally announced their new machine, the Steve Ritchie designed Star Wars! Funnily enough, the announcement came via a brief spot on The Star Wars Show (see embedded video). Stern has promised that Star Wars Pinball will take players to a galaxy far, far away! More information, photos and pricing to come – we can’t wait!

Stern’s new STAR WARS pinball machine makes a cameo appearance on The Star Wars Show!

source: The Star Wars Show

Also going all out was Jersey Jack Pinball. With the announcement that their latest machine, Dialed In! was in production, the New Jersey-based factory went all Hollywood by producing a very flashy and cool promotional video to show off Pat Lawlor’s brilliant original concept game. Mark our words, Dialed In! is destined to be a top 10 pinball machine of all time!

Jersey Jack Pinball’s DIALED IN! official trailer!

source: Jersey Jack Pinball

Wow, wish every month starts  like this! Stay tuned for more pinball news!

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Pinball Press
Pinball Press brings you news from the world of pinball – events, product reviews/updates, interviews and the people in pinball!

If you have any pinball news to share, hit Pinball Press on Twitter

 

 

 

May The 4th Be With You: A New Stern Star Wars Pinball?

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With the internet rumour mill running amok regarding Stern’s next pinball machine, we wonder if they will announce a new Star Wars themed pinball machine on ‘May The 4th Be With You‘ Star Wars day? We can only hope!

If you weren’t aware, there have been quite a number of Star Wars themed pinball machines over the years, from Hankin’s wide body The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Sonic’s Star Wars (1987), Data East’s Star Wars (1992) to Sega’s awesome Star Wars Trilogy (1997) and Williams’ Star Wars Episode I (1999) built on the ill-fated Pinball2000 platform.

If Stern does announce a new Star Wars pinball machine, then we cross our fingers that it will be a mix of the Data East and Sega Star Wars machines. Oh yeah, we would love some Dark Side and Light Side LE machines too – hope you are listening Stern!

What are your predictions for Stern’s new pinball machine? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook.

May the force be with you!

One of our favourite Star Wars themed pinball machine, Sega’s Star Wars Trilogy

A close second, Data East’s Star Wars

You either loved it or hated Williams’ Star Wars Episode I

The first Star Wars themed pinball machine, Hankin’s The Empire Strikes Back

Straight out of Spain, Sonic’s Star Wars
source: Internet Pinball Database

 

The Time Mattel Made A Pinball Machine

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What the hell – Mattel made pinball machines? Well, A pinball machine! Yeah, that’s right, Mattel dipped their toe in the pinball market with their one (and only), Las Vegas Pinball!

We only ever associated Mattel with the Intellivision and our fave childhood action figures, Masters Of The Universe, so when we stumbled upon this anomaly, we thought we’d let the rest of you know (Ed: unless you all already knew!).

Before you get excited, Mattel Electronics’ Las Vegas Pinball was never intended for commercial use, hence why you may not have seen it at your local pinball parlour. The playfield is standard fare for a pinball machine of this vintage (the late 70s) – couple of pop bumpers, slingshots and four stand-up targets to keep you flipping.

The interesting part about this Mattel pinball machine is the ability to select one of three game versions (similar to modes on modern machines), Beginner’s Luck, Cool Hand or High Roller. Coupled with selecting the game version, Mattel also included a handicap switching system, allowing players to select a choice of  3, 4, or 5 balls for their turn at play. This feature allowed competing players to give any player a handicap advantage of one or two extra balls, if desired.

Mattel had another cool feature called Double Or Nothing, which could only be used once during a game – prior to shooting a ball into play, the player presses a button on the front of the cabinet to activate this option for that ball only. Then, lighting all four targets doubles the player’s score. Failure to light all four targets penalises the player of all the points earned on that ball. Sounds pretty cool to us!

Which ever way you look at it, this Mattel Electronics Las Vegas Pinball machine was quite nifty for its time – we just hope we find one in our travels so we can have a go!

Have you played this pinball machine? If you have, tell us what you thought of it on Twitter or Facebook.

source: IPDB