What did you do today in the hobby?

[dr.nybble]

Got up the nerve to heat up & knock out unlevel inserts in my NOS Egg Head playfield. All came out cleanly.

My son is busy torture-testing all of my machines! Replaced Q6 on Monopoly that had failed. Bought replacement opto boards for X-Men LE it seems to lose track of balls.

[mrmikeman]

Met a fellow pinhead from London today. He brought me a scooby CE and took away my CCrLE.

[Azatotht]

My son cleaned Arena's inserts and fixed/changed bulbs under the pf when needed.

We lost sound again but now we know it's a connector so we won't be working on this too seriously until the game has been cleaned and is playable.

[cait001]

added Jigsaw to my lineup
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... k-ola.html

[cait001]

Met a fellow pinhead from London today. He brought me a scooby CE and took away my CCrLE.

now there's a great trade! Exciting, can't wait to hear your thoughts on Scooby

[mrmikeman]

Met a fellow pinhead from London today. He brought me a scooby CE and took away my CCrLE.

now there's a great trade! Exciting, can't wait to hear your thoughts on Scooby

So far we are happily impressed. I'm not playing a lot though as there's a massive update coming this week with additional modes and callouts. 1st mini wizard mode will be coded as well. 1 mini wizard remains and also the final wizard mode. Hopefully later this year it'll be complete.

I am really enjoying the sound track on SD
So groovy, man!

Some of the callouts are so funny too. Shaggy saying "rip the spinner man!" is soooooo cool

[Azatotht]

My son took me out for a burger and a pinball afternoon yesterday.

Got to try James Bond LE, Foo Fighters LE and Rush LE on top of the already cool lineup at Amusement 2020.

We were lucky to arrive just after a party in the small room and could play Jurassic Park without any other machines noise for a while. I like it so much better when I can hear everything...

Jame Bond: felt weird at first, layout is special especially the left 'floating' upper flipper. Liked it afterward, it's a fun change from fan layouts. I did not really understand wtf I was supposed to see under the left upper flipper, online pictures shows figurines under there but all I could see was a black window. Is it supposed to be lit ? Or just while playing specific mode ? Blue powder coat is nice, left side of the cabinet looks so much better than right, I'd put it in a corner of the room.

Foo Fighters: beautiful game. Layout a bit special too. I wish I could hear the music and sound effects, I could definitely hear the racers row behind us... Green powder coating is nice but is the same exact color as the Turtle LE they have besides it. Kinda ruins the exclusivity IMO, if you have both games of course. They both looks great on their own thou.

Rush: easiest of the 3 I would say. Easiest to keep the ball in play obviously as we barely touched the rules on all three of them. Very nice backglass, we thought we wouldn't like the cabinet art but it is not too bad in person. Again, I wish I could hear the music better.

Backglasses: looks so much better than translites.

LEs: are so expensive compared to the Pros. We like the cosmetics better for sure (expression lights, backglasses, powder coating). We like that they are putting these out for us to play instead of pros, but I don't know how I could justify the price if I was to buy something today.

Toppers: Rush LE topper is cool. 2000$ cool ? I don't know, if I owned only 2-3 games and theyre were already Premiums or LE, I'd consider the toppers eventually (if the lineup was to stay put).

I really like Spike 2 games.

[mrmikeman]

Problem with toppers is that after getting a few, the other games look naked. Then they all need toppers.

[Azatotht]

Went to try Venom Pro with my son.

Wasn't hoping for much after seeing the negative reviews online but I did like it actually. Will have to find a Premium now to compare and see if the extras are worth it or not but it is a beautiful game imo, even thou there are not many toys or funky designs on it. Fast playing game.

Speaking of extras, we did play Avengers Infinity Quest Pro too while we were there. We did play the LE last week so we had it fresh into our minds. I may like the Pro better for this one, more flow and I don't really care for the big gauntlet. Pro is a solid playing game.

There was a Star Wars Pro too, played a few games but didn't really care for it. Might be the premium for this one, the pro was meh.

Had a nice chat with another enthusiast, always cool to meet other pinheads.

The tour continues, we have a few other places to visit. We have a lot to catch up since I've been out of it for a while now.

[cait001]

For the LCD games, even the ones that are considered the worst are still a blast for me to play. (Venom, Aerosmith, Star Wars, etc)

I've published a few big things.
A writeup on famous French gamemaker Jost, including 4 catalogues going back to 1890.
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... naire.html

Sega in the 1960s: bringing together my research on Sega, including lineages of all their famous early machines
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... 1960s.html

identifying games at a 1961 gun corner in Japan
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... 1-gun.html

scan: The Costa-Haskell Collection of early and important Coin Machines (1997)
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... early.html

scans: 月刊コインジャーナル [Monthly Coin Journal] 1994-10 & 1997-10
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... -1997.html

Niche Mechanisms 007: basketball ball-popping
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... -ball.html

Cash Box Amusement Machines 1955-1983
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... -1983.html

scans: 月刊コインジャーナル [Monthly Coin Journal] 1992-09 & 1993-07
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... -1993.html

Exploring the arcade in 大当りパチンコ娘 (1952) aka Oatari Pachinko Musume aka Jackpot Pachinko Girl
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... atari.html

exploring the arcade in 私刑（リンチ） (1949) aka Rinchi
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... inchi.html

scan: Parts Catalog & Schematics for 1967 Rifleman - ライフルマン by セガ (Sega)
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... -1967.html

scans: schematics and instructions for 1968 Periscope [single] - ペリスコープ by セガ (Sega)
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... s-for.html

The Fort (1870s) tabletop game from Guelph / Toronto, Ontario
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... -from.html

scans: Play Meter 1984 has been fully scanned
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... fully.html

scans: Play Meter 1983 has been fully scanned
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... fully.html

and last but not least, a post to document all of the differences between earlier model Rock-Ola Jigsaws and later model ones
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024 ... ences.html

[mrmikeman]

Went to the Quebec City pinball show over the weekend. Brought the P3 (Princess Bride) and Labyrinth, both big hits. They had about 60 machines and got 800 paying visitors. Next year they booked a different venue (bigger) and are planning on 100 games.

Every new game was there. John Wick, Venom, Jaws, Elton, Godfather, Looney Tunes, Galactic Tank Force, BBQ, etc. it was great!

[semicolin]

Drove to Wasaga Beach with Cait and made some questionable decisions.

[sylvain]

Bravo, nice picks! Hope I'll be able to go next year.
Asteroids is a nice and fun classic.
And a 1974 Bally Bali bingo - seems a nice project

[mrmikeman]

Finally brought the Quebec show games back in the basement after work today. We had our asses kicked by Covid. Felt somewhat better today so took care of that. Re-arranged the game room at the same time. There’s even enough room for Looney Tunes.

[mrmikeman]

Delivery day!

[Azatotht]

Beautiful game congrats !

[mrmikeman]

Got the summer games out of storage. Assembled them late last night with the expectation that EMs don't ever work after being disassembled and moved. Well shit. Both pins and the jukebox work fine. I just need to check the bowler now but that one has a broken speaker wire so will fix that first then see if it turns on

[cait001]

Delivery day!
IMG_7138.jpeg
IMG_7144.jpeg
IMG_7157.jpeg

amazing pickup, and WOW your lineup managed to somehow get even better. Congrats!

[mrmikeman]

amazing pickup, and WOW your lineup managed to somehow get even better. Congrats!

Thanks. Lineup is locked-in now. I can’t imagine wanting to get rid of anything and no more space or money soooo……

[Sparky]

Sold a pin for a good cause...

Corruption of today's youth. Lol

[Azatotht]

My son got corrupted and bought his first pinball machine

More soon...

[cait001]

My son got corrupted and bought his first pinball machine

More soon...

*the crowds awaits the reveal*
but there are obvious suspicions, reading upwards...

[Azatotht]

My son got corrupted and bought his first pinball machine

More soon...

*the crowds awaits the reveal*
but there are obvious suspicions, reading upwards...

Soon… very soon !

[Sparky]

2 pins out the door, and very happy owners lol.

Hmm... empty space...

[Azatotht]

Today was special, my son’s first game came in.

Sparky sold us this beautiful Lightning that we bought together. He is really happy and so am I, spending so much quality time with him now working and playing on pinball machines.

It is also the first game to get back in the basement since the flood in 2022, the other one being the summer garage game.

Sparky really got me back into this hobby. We both had our share of bullshit in 2022-2023 but we’re still pinballing. I’m blessed to have a friend like him.

Drum rolls, here it is !