I found the David Fix from American Pinball talk on Saturday afternoon at Pinfest super-interesting. I'd seen a lot of grumbling about various things on Pinside, but didn't really understand the context, and it was really nice to hear from someone quite high up in the industry. Pinfest also had every American Pinball machine, which was interesting as you don't really see many around - I'd only previously managed to play Houdini and Oktoberfest (at The Pinball Office) and Galactic Tank Force (at London AEG).
Just wondered what people thought?
WALL OF TEXT FOR THOSE INTERESTED... I'm in an interesting position because I rate Galactic Tank Force (GTF) in my Top 25 of 190 'pins I've ever bothered to rate on Pinside' with a score of >9/10, but BBQ Challenge is currently my worst-rated pin of all time and my review of Houdini has been multiply down-flagged and inspired actual owners to rage-DM!
i thought David Fix was very commendable in addressing some of the issues American has had with quality on the GTF tank target and magnetic balls, as well as tackling upfront the rumours about American going bust. I really respected him for that. I'd come into the session wanting to learn more about the industry, but also because I'd felt the American Pinball pins I'd played (excluding GTF) seemed to have fundamental problems with layout that reduced their 'kinetic satisfaction' (Keith Elwin's term, I think) and I wondered *how* pins were leaving their factory that simply weren't consensus fun to me to play.
I did feel (and apparently this came up in a Pinball Magazine interview I haven't listened to yet) that he is very focused on 'mega-collectors' - people with more than 20 pinball machines who are buying as an investment in the States or who enjoy owning lots of different titles, especially rarer ones. He opened the session asking who owned 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and over 100 pins, and I did wonder what he'd expected to see from the audience as it turned out there weren't many owners of those massive collections at the room. Pinside rumour has it that he mentioned in the Pinball Magazine interview that he thought BBQ Challenge would go up in price due to low sales and rarity, and - thus - collectors should get in and buy (I'll need to check that's correct).
He spent a lot of time talking compellingly about build quality and the replaceability of parts for future repair, which was welcome and especially relevant after Haggis Pinball has just gone bust. He also talked a lot about Heighway and the issues with 'reinventing the flipper' causing problems with replacing parts. He was obviously very quality focused, which is great, but he never really talked about a gameplay philosophy and most of his sales pitch for BBQ Challenge was about Barry Oursler's family (he was obviously much-loved within the industry) and how the pin would 'make you hungry'. Personally, I don't play pins to get me ready for lunch, so that didn't really work for me.
Anyway, I'd seen a lot of discussion on Pinside from people who really didn't like the theme of Galactic Tank Force. I find it quite charming. I was more perplexed by the theme of Oktoberfest (I doubt they've sold many in Germany!) and BBQ Challenge. As I put in my BBQ Challenge review on Pinside, pinball is a high energy activity about speed and pounding targets with a ball, which tends to lend itself to themes like racing, speedboats, listening to lively music, or fighting monsters and aliens. Ramps can be roads, bridges or even stairways. Barbecuing and drinking beer in tents are, by contrast, (relatively) calm leisure activities that don't really lend themselves easily to pinball, for the same reason that no one has made a pin about watching TV or passing out drunk on your couch (and, if they did, it would be the drain animation)!
Anyway, I wondered what others thought?
Just wondered what people thought?
WALL OF TEXT FOR THOSE INTERESTED... I'm in an interesting position because I rate Galactic Tank Force (GTF) in my Top 25 of 190 'pins I've ever bothered to rate on Pinside' with a score of >9/10, but BBQ Challenge is currently my worst-rated pin of all time and my review of Houdini has been multiply down-flagged and inspired actual owners to rage-DM!
i thought David Fix was very commendable in addressing some of the issues American has had with quality on the GTF tank target and magnetic balls, as well as tackling upfront the rumours about American going bust. I really respected him for that. I'd come into the session wanting to learn more about the industry, but also because I'd felt the American Pinball pins I'd played (excluding GTF) seemed to have fundamental problems with layout that reduced their 'kinetic satisfaction' (Keith Elwin's term, I think) and I wondered *how* pins were leaving their factory that simply weren't consensus fun to me to play.
I did feel (and apparently this came up in a Pinball Magazine interview I haven't listened to yet) that he is very focused on 'mega-collectors' - people with more than 20 pinball machines who are buying as an investment in the States or who enjoy owning lots of different titles, especially rarer ones. He opened the session asking who owned 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and over 100 pins, and I did wonder what he'd expected to see from the audience as it turned out there weren't many owners of those massive collections at the room. Pinside rumour has it that he mentioned in the Pinball Magazine interview that he thought BBQ Challenge would go up in price due to low sales and rarity, and - thus - collectors should get in and buy (I'll need to check that's correct).
He spent a lot of time talking compellingly about build quality and the replaceability of parts for future repair, which was welcome and especially relevant after Haggis Pinball has just gone bust. He also talked a lot about Heighway and the issues with 'reinventing the flipper' causing problems with replacing parts. He was obviously very quality focused, which is great, but he never really talked about a gameplay philosophy and most of his sales pitch for BBQ Challenge was about Barry Oursler's family (he was obviously much-loved within the industry) and how the pin would 'make you hungry'. Personally, I don't play pins to get me ready for lunch, so that didn't really work for me.
Anyway, I'd seen a lot of discussion on Pinside from people who really didn't like the theme of Galactic Tank Force. I find it quite charming. I was more perplexed by the theme of Oktoberfest (I doubt they've sold many in Germany!) and BBQ Challenge. As I put in my BBQ Challenge review on Pinside, pinball is a high energy activity about speed and pounding targets with a ball, which tends to lend itself to themes like racing, speedboats, listening to lively music, or fighting monsters and aliens. Ramps can be roads, bridges or even stairways. Barbecuing and drinking beer in tents are, by contrast, (relatively) calm leisure activities that don't really lend themselves easily to pinball, for the same reason that no one has made a pin about watching TV or passing out drunk on your couch (and, if they did, it would be the drain animation)!
Anyway, I wondered what others thought?
player like me) 2.5 billion .
I've seen this first hand, with the same machine. (Boards are fine)
and 
I also fancy a White Water 2, that would be a great pin!
