Credit Dot Pinball: The Update Thread

[spiroagnew]

Yep...time to sell your regular premiums...the "ultimate" edition as arrived...

NEWS: Stern’s “Custom Dirty Donny Premium Edition” Metallica
http://creditdotpinball.com/2014/05/29/news-sterns-custom-dirty-donny-premium-edition-metallica/

Excerpt: "That five grand pinball machine you bought two years ago? Yeah, if you are any sort of fan you are going to have to buy this spruced up edition with new art or different coloured trim. Or in the case of Stern’s Metallica, a set of custom painted plastic playfield toys…and not much else."

 

[spiroagnew]

OMG! WTF! A WOF code update! Well, not really...but kind of.

NEWS: Wheel of Fortune Code Update (kind of)
http://creditdotpinball.com/2014/05/30/ ... e-kind-of/

EXCERPT: "The game has its fans, but it was a flop when it was new and it has not fared well in the secondary market either-–being relegated to D-Lists and the third page (currently #212) of the Pinside Top 100. It is also one of those games to famously bear the heavy cross of “unfinished code”, which seems to bother the community to no end."

 

[DRANO]

Neat story! Love Kieth's response.

I especially found the pic atop your entry humourous

 

[spiroagnew]

Found a copy of Roger Sharpe's watershed book on Kijiji. Decided to dig into what Mr. Sharpe had to say back in 1977 about our beautiful hobby.

FEATURE: Roger Sharpe's "Pinball!"
http://creditdotpinball.com/2014/06/02/ ... s-pinball/

EXCERPT: "A large part of the book is dedicated to chronicling the history of the game, which, now, can be taken for granted, as we can piece together our own history using various sources on the web. However, nothing of its kind would have been available in the 1970s and Mr. Sharpe’s documentation of pinball history and culture brought legitimacy to a pastime that had always been thought of as residing on the lowest rung of the cultural ladder, and thus, had its history discounted and ignored."

 

[DRANO]

That's a nice find!
I hunted around for a decent copy of this book myself a while back.
The photography is excellent.

I guess there's always ebay

 

[Menace]

I manged to snag a hardcover copy of this book a few years ago for cheap off Ebay. For anyone that is a serious collector definitely worth checking out.

D

 

[spiroagnew]

Got to interview one of the founders of ColorDMD about their product and the Canadian spelling of "colour".

PEOPLE: Randy Perlow of ColorDMD
http://creditdotpinball.com/2014/06/04/ ... -colordmd/

EXCERPT: When Ted Turner decided to colourize some of Hollywood’s classic black and white films, cinephiles were outraged. Film reviewer Roger Ebert labelled the move towards colourization “vandalism”, and further stated, “What was so wrong about black and white movies in the first place? By filming in black and white, movies can sometimes be more dreamlike and elegant and stylized and mysterious.” Nobody was this upset when Randy Perlow and Chris Enright waged an all out war on monochrome pinball displays. By installing one of their ground-breaking ColorDMDs, you too can eradicate the drab orange dots from your gameroom.

 

[DRANO]

Rob.... I think you need to get Randy to color-ize your avatar :lol:

 

[spiroagnew]

I'm a big podcast junkie, so getting word out about the blog on two of my favourites was a big deal...Don/Jeff and Nate are an asset to the community. Give them a listen.

PODCASTS: The Pinball Podcast/Coast 2 Coast
http://creditdotpinball.com/2014/06/06/ ... t-2-coast/

 

[spiroagnew]

Busy day. Another post. While doing research for this article last week on Stern's Facebook page, I went back this evening to find they wiped clean a bunch of wall posts, ones that existed earlier in the week, to Sci-Fi related material. Is something afoot?

NEWS: The Stern Facebook Conspiracy (or is it?)
http://creditdotpinball.com/2014/06/07/ ... -or-is-it/

EXCERPT: "However, the pinball conspiracy theorists have a field day when the social media department posts links to stories and photos from franchises that appear to have absolutely nothing to do with pinball. Is it just a total coincidence that all of the subjects of the shared media would make decent pinball themes? Probably not."

 

[spiroagnew]

This one has no local flavour, but I did get to interview co-organizer (and Gameroom Junkie) Patrick Wall about the Southern Fried Gameroom Expo in Atlanta, GA...and the jitters of being a first-time show organizer. I wish these guys the best of luck. They have really set themselves up for success.

PEOPLE: Patrick Wall of the Southern Fried Gameroom Expo
http://creditdotpinball.com/2014/06/09/ ... room-expo/

 

[spiroagnew]

Got to quote MAACA's own R.A.B. in this article. A huge thanks goes out to him, as well as Drano and WARLOCK, two Volley owners who shared pictures and knowledge about the game. I'll admit, Volley is my favourite EM.

FEATURED GAME: Gottlieb VOLLEY
http://creditdotpinball.com/2014/06/10/ ... eb-volley/

EXCERPT: "I’m not a tennis fan. I know the basics and will watch it, but only if it is on a waiting room television at a dentist’s office or auto garage. I went through a brief phase where I had a turbo crush on Martina Hingis and watched a lot of women’s tennis in the 1990s, however, today it is not a sport that I follow. My love of tennis these days is limited to Volley. Gottlieb expertly crafted this single-player game–it is easy to learn, pretty straight forward and a ton of fun."

 

[DRANO]

Great read Rob!
Obviously I'm a bit of a Volley fanatic anyway, but I loved that you spent more time on the historical and social context of the game and time period rather than just the game itself.

 

[mwong168]

Great write up Rob, I wonder who is the person in the article who went through 4 Volleys? :lol:

 

[spiroagnew]

"Went through" is such a harsh term. "Upgraded" is more like it.

The Volley article is killing it in terms of views. EM lovers coming out in force!

 

[DRANO]

Lots of EM love in Canada.
I fear EM fans don't post much (with their dial up internet connections and all that ) but I'd love to see more EM topics and discussions for sure.

 

[spiroagnew]

Got my hands on a copy of the Pinball Magazine publication PINBALL, a photography book by Santiago Ciuffo. All photos were taken in his native Argentina, and that in itself puts a unique spin on the project.

FEATURE: Santiago Ciuffo's Pinball
http://creditdotpinball.com/2014/06/11/ ... s-pinball/

EXCEPRT: "A couple of weeks ago I reviewed Roger Sharpe’s landmark publication “Pinball!” and wondered aloud if the recent Pinball Magazine publication of Santiago Ciuffo’s book “Pinball” would serve as a companion piece to Sharpe’s book or run in a completely different direction. I’m happy to report, it does both."

 

[spiroagnew]

Do Stern PR people not check facts? Do they not know VAULT and GREED are forever linked in the pinball community thanks to the Addams Family? Anyhow, Stern announced their Vault line of pins...

OPEN VAULT SPELL G-R-E-E-D
http://creditdotpinball.com/2014/06/12/ ... t-edition/

EXCERPT: The impact seems minute at first glance: a company is remaking a product that was a dud when first released, but has since increased in popularity and a demand now exists for more. Anyone who has ever wanted an Iron Man, or even thought about owning an Iron Man, can now have a Vault Edition for a MSRP of $5495USD.

 

[Monkeybug]

So I finally got around to spending some time going through the articles on the blog. Great stuff. Keep up the good writing!

 

[spiroagnew]

Here is an interview with Ken Rossi, organizer of "Pinsanity". It is an annual 32-person tournament held in Mr. Rossi's suburban New Jersey home. The popularity of the tournament has been eclipsed by the popularity of Mr. Rossi's incredibly designed posters. Demand for them is incredible, and if you want one, act fast, there are only a few of this year's left! A link is at the end of the article.

PEOPLE: "Pinsanity" Organizer Ken Rossi
http://creditdotpinball.com/2014/06/15/ ... ken-rossi/