There was a time in New York City when pinball was illegal, and NYC Police Commissioner William O'Brien went around smashing machines. This dark time lasted over three decades, but in the end the pinball machine won. Even if it didn't, we'd like to believe that the Sunshine Laundromat would still exist today as some sort of prohibition pinball speakeasy.

The Greenpoint laundromat—located at 860 Manhattan Avenue—has around ten machines right now, set up right in the same room where you are laundering your clothes, so bring lots of quarters.

During the NYC Marathon over the weekend, the joint even hosted a Pinball Marathon—check it out below, courtesy of Citizen Productions.

See the video via http://gothamist.com/2013/11/06/pinball.php

At Pinballz Arcade, people can hear the clanging of tokens in hands and the pinging of pinballs whizzing through machines — sounds of a seemingly bygone era that continues here
in Austin.

Darren Spohn and his wife Mikki opened Pinballz in 2010 and have provided Austin with its pinball fix ever since. Spohn has run tech and IT companies in town for 15 years, but his love for pinball machines began long before that. 

“I asked my wife ‘Do you mind if I get a pinball machine?’ and she said ‘Oh, that’s fine,’” Spohn said. “I bought it and I said ‘Well, I actually bought two,’ and then like a week later we’re out at lunch, and I said ‘Hey, I’ve got to tell you — I have seven of these now,’ and it just kind of blossomed from there.”

What began as a personal collection has now grown to more than 100 pinball machines and a cadre of old-school video and ticket-rewarding games. 

“We really felt that the town needed something different like that,” Spohn said. “It needed a kind of cool, ‘Cheers bar’ approach to running one of those. And we figured we’d give it a shot, and we opened it three years ago, and it’s been very successful.”

Pinballz is family-oriented during the day, but when the sun goes down, the atmosphere gets downright adult. Gamers stay late into the night on weekends, which may or may not be aided by the casual BYOB policy for those 21 and older.

A specialized arcade such as Pinballz did not exist in Austin outside of giant family entertainment centers. 

With more than 200 games, the biggest challenge facing the arcade is simply keeping everything running, from AC/DC pinball to Dance Dance Revolution and from the classic Skeeball to a custom-built big screen Street Fighter.
“We have over 100 games and things go constantly wrong on those,” Spohn said. “We don’t charge a lot of money for our games, so it’s a challenge with what we charge to keep everything running at 95 percent or higher.”

William “Billy” Renquen has worked on these games since the arcade opened. A certified master auto-mechanic by trade, Renquen keeps the flippers flipping at Pinballz in addition to running his own auto-shop.

“When we first opened three years ago, they were running maybe 60-70 percent, and I was fixing five to seven games a day,” Renquen said. “It took me about a year to catch up and have all of them running at once.”

Machines go down daily at Pinballz, and it’s up to Renquen and his team to get them back up.

“The machines are high maintenance,” Renquen said. “They vibrate a lot. There’s a lot of movement going on, so they fail pretty constantly — some more than others. You just work as fast as you can and as hard as you can … It’s a pride thing for me to keep them all running.”

Pinballz harkens to the early days of arcade gaming. It’s not merely the games that bring back nostalgia for an era the college generation missed.

“To us it’s rewarding that we brought in a place like that — that really ramps up Austin,” Spohn said. “It’s that really cool feeling that we brought something unique to Austin.” 

via www.dailytexanonline.com/2013/11/03/pinballz-arcade-provides-a-nostalgic-gaming-experience

Fox Orlando has a quick little write up about our friend Curly Wiemer and his passion for pinball with a link to his website. Video is however missing for some reason. Perhaps it will be posted shortly. Check in below.

Curly Weimer bought his first pinball machine in 2002 when his son took him to an auction. 

He took it home and played it for a while.  Then he fixed it up and sold it for a tidy profit.  That's when he says he became hooked! 

Since then he's retired from the construction business he owned and has a pinball business.  FOX 35's Tom Johnson shows you how he became one of Florida's last, true, pinball wizards.

More info: www.littleshopofgames.com



Read more: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/23840334/lake-county-man-is-true-pinball-wizard#ixzz2jKNXV4m2

Jack and the team over at JJP released an update today which covered the pace at which Wizard of Oz machines are being produced, software updates, new game deliveries and a couple of tidbits regarding the production of their upcoming game The Hobbit and a video of the new Hobbit trailer.

Also included in the update are details and pictures of Jack and Ted's visit to Hollywood and the premiere of the 75th anniversary IMAX 3-D release of The Wizard of Oz.

It looks like the gang all had a great time. Check out all the details after the break.

Sony knows you like playing pinball, but they also know you tend to reach for the volume rocker after you launch the ball into the first bumper and it sets off a cacophony of sound. They know that all that pinball experience needs to be perfect is background music that overpowers those obnoxious pinball sound effects. So they've brought in hits from rock bands both new and old to provide the soundtrack for Pinball Rocks HD, an experience Sony's pitching as the loudest pinball game ever. It's well-rated on iTunes, but now that it's available on Android, it's really ready torock.

This free rock club is jammed with content, with over twenty missions and three bonus games. The pinball machines are a thing of a beauty, with some ranging from the usual velvet and neon affairs to toxic wastelands and rundown barren streets. But at the end of the day, it's all about the music. A new song plays whenever you crank out another ball. Some of the machines pay due respect to some of the performers.

Bands include the likes of AC/DC, Alice in Chains, Three Days Grace, The Sword, Norma Jean, Anvil, Bullet For My Valentine, Slayer, and many more. There are in-app purchases within the app where you can purchase tracks and download them into your music library, along with the option to acquire cheats to enhance gameplay. These things aside, this experience is available for free.

Read more via androidpolice.com

Without sight of a press release Stern pinball today leaked out a video for their new pinball machine based on the previous two Star Trek movies directed by JJ Abrhams that have been a huge commercial success. 

Designed by the legendary pinball designer Steve Ritchie who also designed the 1990's Williams Star Trek pinball this game has been a long anticipated title release. At this point there is no actual video gameplay footage of the game but rather still images cut into a pinball trailer. There is lots to be gleaned from the video so use the pause button frequently to see the details of the game.

You can also follow a thread on the pinside pinball forum if you desire more details and commentary.

Let us know what you think so far in the comments below.

Live long and prosper......

The gang over at cubed3spoke to Barnstorm Games on the Pro Pinball revival as well a working with Nintendo and Kickstarter.

Read the interview here cubed3.com

Infinity Amusements is ramping up its push to produce digital pinball machines.  The size, buttons and feel of a traditional cabinet, but with a huge video screen laid where the pinball once rolled.

We first saw the Digital Pinball machine at PAX AUS a couple of months back.  Since then the team at – the newly formed – Infinity Amusements has been hard at work attempting to get to market.

A number of variations of Digital Pinball Cabinets are in the works with the team dubbing them as Infinity Pinball Entertainment Systems.  Surely they will become known as iPES.

The team has announced a crowd funding campaign to help:

Instead of playing on your mobile, tablet or game console you will now be able to experience Digital Pinball the way it's meant to be played... In an authentic pinball cabinet. 

In less than 24 hours from now we will launch our crowd funding campaign on IndieGoGo. Our goal is to raise just $7,000. This will allow us to manufacture the two prototypes required as well as build an initial line up for those early backers.

We will be offering a limited amount of specials during this campaign such as $500 down and get $500 off the final product. There are many more perks starting from as little as $2. So even if you are simply interested in supporting us that would be very much appreciated. 

“I honestly had no idea that when I started this initial project that there would be so much support and interest from the general community.” Said Mark Libman, company head  “This is a very exciting time for those interested in Pinball that have fond memories from their youth. More importantly a new generation is about to enjoy this in ways that were never thought possible.”


Read more via www.itwire.com

Ed Boon, Founder of NeverRealm Studios, shared via Twitter today that the next DLC for Injustice: Gods Among Us will be announced later this week.

In his recent twitter post, a clue was given out where he showed a video playing the “FunHouse Pinball Music”. Who could be this next DLC character? We’ll find out later this week.

Check back with us this week as we update you on this latest character that will be joining Injustice.

Last year Pro Pinball creator Adrian Barritt attempted to reboot his critically-acclaimed PC series with a host of crowdsourced Pro Pinball remakes. Unfortunately for Barritt, theKickstarter campaign was unsuccessful. Now, almost a year later, the virtual pinball wizard is at it again with a more modest Kickstarter campaign to only remake one of his games, 1997's Pro Pinball: Timeshock.

This time around he's been vastly more successful. Within only a few days Pro Pinball: Timeshock: Ultimate Edition has achieved more than half of its £40k goal with 39 days still to go.

So why was Barritt so successful this time after his previously less than stellar campaign? "In my opinion, last time around we tried to do too much all at once; Completely remaster the 4 original tables, whilst creating a totally brand new one," Barritt told me in an e-mail correspondence. "This meant we had to ask for quite a lot of money, an amount that many thought was unreachable. Understandably some people don't want to risk backing a project that they don't think will succeed, this can then turn into a self fulfilling prophecy."

"This time we boiled down the Kickstarter to absolutely minimum, one table on the simplest platforms to write for. This enabled us to ask for a lot less and hit to 50 per cent point in just a few days."
He also noted that the downloadable lighting demo helped the Pro Pinball series get a lot of likes on it Facebook page, which he hopes are being converted into pledges.

Aside from Pro Pinball in the 90s, Barritt has remained a developer in the virtual pinball industry, having worked on such titles as Mario Pinball Land, Metroid Prime Pinball, and Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckon at his previous company Silverball Studios.

£5 pledges will receive the Timeshock remake for iOS or Android upon its estimated December release, while those who donate £10 will reserve it on a platform of their choice.

So far Timeshock is in development for PC, Mac, iOS and Android, but Barritt said he'd like to add stretch goals for OUYA, Linux, XBLA, PS3, Vita, 3DS and Wii U releases.

Ultimately, Barritt would still like to make remakes of other Pro Pinball titles such as: The Web, Big Race USA and Fantastic Journey.

The current tally comes to £22,493. Additionally, Pro Pinball: Timeshock is looking for support on Steam Greenlight.





By Jeffrey Matulef Published Monday, 5 August 2013

Last year Pro Pinball creator Adrian Barritt attempted to reboot his critically-acclaimed PC series with a host of crowdsourced Pro Pinball remakes. Unfortunately for Barritt, theKickstarter campaign was unsuccessful. Now, almost a year later, the virtual pinball wizard is at it again with a more modest Kickstarter campaign to only remake one of his games, 1997's Pro Pinball: Timeshock.

This time around he's been vastly more successful. Within only a few days Pro Pinball: Timeshock: Ultimate Edition has achieved more than half of its £40k goal with 39 days still to go.

So why was Barritt so successful this time after his previously less than stellar campaign? "In my opinion, last time around we tried to do too much all at once; Completely remaster the 4 original tables, whilst creating a totally brand new one," Barritt told me in an e-mail correspondence. "This meant we had to ask for quite a lot of money, an amount that many thought was unreachable. Understandably some people don't want to risk backing a project that they don't think will succeed, this can then turn into a self fulfilling prophecy."

"This time we boiled down the Kickstarter to absolutely minimum, one table on the simplest platforms to write for. This enabled us to ask for a lot less and hit to 50 per cent point in just a few days."

He also noted that the downloadable lighting demo helped the Pro Pinball series get a lot of likes on it Facebook page, which he hopes are being converted into pledges.

Aside from Pro Pinball in the 90s, Barritt has remained a developer in the virtual pinball industry, having worked on such titles as Mario Pinball Land, Metroid Prime Pinball, and Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckon at his previous company Silverball Studios.

£5 pledges will receive the Timeshock remake for iOS or Android upon its estimated December release, while those who donate £10 will reserve it on a platform of their choice.

So far Timeshock is in development for PC, Mac, iOS and Android, but Barritt said he'd like to add stretch goals for OUYA, Linux, XBLA, PS3, Vita, 3DS and Wii U releases.

Ultimately, Barritt would still like to make remakes of other Pro Pinball titles such as: The Web, Big Race USA and Fantastic Journey.

The current tally comes to £22,493. Additionally, Pro Pinball: Timeshock is looking for support on Steam Greenlight.


[Editor's Note: While writing this story I nearly let slip a typo where I called it "Timesock," which sounds like the raddest 80s movie that never was. Just imagine: Corey Feldman gets a pair of ugly holiday socks for Christmas that his mom picked up from a gypsy on a street corner. Then, begrudgingly, to make his parents happy, he wears them to Christmas dinner only to discover that they WARP HIM THROUGH TIME!! Of course, his bully will naturally encounter a pair of Timesocks too and they'll compete in King Arthur's court to win the hand of a maiden played by Molly Ringwald. Timesock: coming to theaters this Christmas!]


Via eurogamer.net