Author Topic: Spooky Pinball 1st Pin - Pinball Zombies From Beyond The Grave  (Read 77109 times)

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Offline swinks

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Spooky Pinball 1st Pin - Pinball Zombies From Beyond The Grave
« on: February 02, 2013, 10:11:56 AM »
Yes thats right another pinball manufacturer - with a non license theme

"Pinball Zombies From Beyond the Grave"  with  Jpop, Nordman and Heck involved.


Podcast is here
http://www.spookypinball.com/podcast-2/


here is what Charlie had to write:
"Hey guys... thanks for the positive comments! We've got a lot to do, and a lot to prove I know. And yes we'll hire that Bryan Kelly guy just as soon as he gets the guts to move to Wisconsin and work for $20 a week! Lol...

To answer a few questions... No, it's not a re-theme of BHZA or any other game. It's all original... J Pop and Dennis are just great guys who don't mind giving us a hand. In return, we'll help them every way we can from decals to full fledged mfg if they need it.

JJP printing is just fine. I'm proud as hell of what we developed there, and the company I worked at for 20 years is still running them on 2 shifts and they look incredible. I wish JJP and every other company out there NOTHING but the best.

We are NOT taking deposits... no kickstarter, no pre sales. We are funding this ourselves, and when I have a clear window to ship games, we'll gladly take your money!   I'm planning on 1/2 down, and 1/2 the day it's on the loading dock... No more than 60 days at the max to get your games. We'll sell them in groups (thinking of 25) as needed. We're not going to bite off more than we can chew and keep it sane. We'll hire as much help as is needed to keep that schedule.

There will be no LCD... for now. The goal is to give you a fantastic ORIGINAL THEME (I freakin' miss those!) game, at a price that is more affordable. No LE's... new game every year... fairly deep rules, lots of fun stuff to do... all I'm saying for now.

There is soooooo much more to all this than I can tell you today. And honestly, I got a pile of work to do! All I ask is you see the game, play the game.... and if you like it enough to purchase one, then THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!"
« Last Edit: March 20, 2013, 10:55:06 AM by swinks »
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Offline pinnies4me

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Re: Spooky Pinball - are going to be making pinballs
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2013, 10:23:08 AM »

"ORIGINAL THEME (I freakin' miss those!) game, at a price that is more affordable. No LE's... "

Hallelujah! I really am sick of the lack of creativity in current games theme wise.

I think the last non-licensed theme was....um....oh yeah - Coconut Island!!  *)*

“If you wanna escape, go up to a pinball machine. There’s a magic button on the front that takes you to a world under the glass and makes the the rest of the universe disappear.”

Offline swinks

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Re: Spooky Pinball - are going to be making pinballs
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2013, 10:35:54 AM »
here are a few comments from a pin side thread from the well known guys


Bran Kelly had to say:
"No deposits being taken by Charlie. He's building games all on his own dime. I don't want to speak for Charlie but by the sounds of things, his game will bring back some of what pinball has been lacking for years....t*ts and *ss and lots of locker room humor.

And trust me, he's got every aspect of pinball production lined up from operating system to cabinets to game design to artwork to parts fabrication, all the way to final production. Charlie's no fool and has many, many friends involved in pinball in one form or another.

Charlie has already sent me an employment application. The problem is, he lives 5 hours from me."


Ben Heck had to say:
Jpop wanted to do a zombie game and use me as the antagonist / villain. To which I said "Sure!" It was not, as some think, all my idea as an ego trip  

So John and I have been working on that for the past year. John is going for a more retro 50s/60s sci-fi feel. The artwork is very colorful and cool.

Chuck's game is a more modern take on zombies, more "Return of the Living Dead".

Where I come in is I have been working on an open source pinball platform to help homebrewers make their own game. It comes with a "flipping framework" and can be programed like an Arduino. It is entirely microcontroller (MCU) based and does not require a PC to run (just to program it) It's an amalgamation of tech from "Bill Paxton Pinball" and our aborted "Lost" homebrew.

I sold my first few prototype boards to Chuck to develop his own game.

It is my intention to make these boards available in the future to other homebrewers, after Chuck finds the kinks for me.




Charlie said this:
"These games will be suitable for any use... home or commercial. Do I intend to push them towards operators? Not really. You guys are really the market we're focused on.

I can't do this without our buddy Ben Heck... or anyone else that's tied to all this. Not even remotely possible, and I owe them all big time. They can do things I can't... I can do things they can't. Together, we can do anything.

J Pop's zombie game is a whole other animal than ours... two totally different price points and approaches. He's in his shop, we're in ours. He's cool with our game, and I'm WAAAAY cool with his! And not just because our ego maniac buddy Ben is in it either.   I Keeed I keeeed.

But to be clear... yeah... this will be a full sized commercial kick ass coin op piece of equipment that will look, play, and sound great in your home or a bar."

and

"25 games at a time. If orders are knocking our shop door down, we'll hire more assembly help and get done as many as we can.

Pinball always has ups & downs (duh right?). We're in a surge right now for sure... our goal is to be as big as we need to be, but not outgrow ourselves so we can get by in the lean times that are bound to come. Do I hope it stays this way for decades? Of course! But hey... history says the odds of that are slim. Either way... we're in this for the long haul.

People are privately asking me for the price point. I have a number in mind, but until Heather the Hot Accountant has tallied up every nut & bolt on the BOM I can't really give one. Having said that... I'm hoping to give a killer commercially ready game under the price of anything else you can buy. Period!

Thanks everyone! It's been quite a day to say the least. "
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Offline oldskool1969

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Re: Spooky Pinball - are going to be making pinballs
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2013, 10:39:00 AM »

"ORIGINAL THEME (I freakin' miss those!) game, at a price that is more affordable. No LE's... "

Hallelujah! I really am sick of the lack of creativity in current games theme wise.

I think the last non-licensed theme was....um....oh yeah - Coconut Island!!  *)*



a BIG +1 from me also  #*#
If it isn't broke, it isn't pinball.

Offline Homepin

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Re: Spooky Pinball - are going to be making pinballs
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2013, 10:44:00 AM »

"ORIGINAL THEME (I freakin' miss those!) game, at a price that is more affordable. No LE's... "

Hallelujah! I really am sick of the lack of creativity in current games theme wise.

I think the last non-licensed theme was....um....oh yeah - Coconut Island!!  *)*



I agree 100%
Replacement Pinball PCBs that remain faithful to the originals

Offline Wotto

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Re: Spooky Pinball - are going to be making pinballs
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2013, 11:18:53 AM »
Original , horror themed, oddball humour, and at least aiming for a price not stupidly around 9++k ...................at LAST !
DW Drums rule !

Offline Strangeways

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Re: Spooky Pinball - are going to be making pinballs
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2013, 11:36:08 AM »

"ORIGINAL THEME (I freakin' miss those!) game, at a price that is more affordable. No LE's... "

Hallelujah! I really am sick of the lack of creativity in current games theme wise.

I think the last non-licensed theme was....um....oh yeah - Coconut Island!!  *)*




At last. Someone has the balls to do it the RIGHT WAY. Creativity, innovation, no pre order deposits, no massive LCD, no LE, Pro, Premium to confuse people. Just a "meat and potatoes" pinball machine. EXACTLY what the public have been screaming for !
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Offline Cow Corner

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Re: Spooky Pinball - are going to be making pinballs
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2013, 01:10:14 PM »
This sounds very promising, I am looking forward to future updates.
" It's not the right time to be sober, now the idiots are taking over"

Offline swinks

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Re: Spooky Pinball - are going to be making pinballs
« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2013, 03:31:13 PM »
to get the thread back on track, Charlie is a very talented guy and his podcast for the last 2 years has been very entertaining and I am sure he has gained many direct contacts from this part of his pinball passion. He has over 20 pinballs in his personal collection with many being the horror / spooky theme

he currently direct ink prints all the WOZ cabinet, playfields and plastics for JJP as they are friends, then Charlie is friends with Ben Heck who hang out together (and Ben is supplying the operating system and Charlie is the test pilot) as well as Jpop and Brian Kelly. He also has geek boy Blue Shirt on side who is under the wings of Heck and Pop so he I am sure he will be valuable for programming etc. So he has alot of contacts and his day job is signage hence the custom Godzilla as well as doing the JJP gear.

I think the way he is approaching it is great, custom theme, make small runs (25 at a time) and sell based on the interest. As for costs of setting up and doing runs of 25 - I think it is achievable but yes agree you need some sort of spare cash but not millions - maybe as small as $100-$150k as he can cover the graphic design and printing as well as programming and control system, just needs the playfield design and routing and you are away assuming his signage business has the room to do the assembly ??? would not have a clue on this but this is small cost in the scheme of things. Stern's overheads are huge because of the big and fast runs, the labour they hire and the big factory. Lastly he is passionate about spooky themes and has a good sense of humour so this is a great start.

Good luck Charlie and who knows a few may come down under. I sent a email with a few questions and told him of AP and this thread so hopefully he visits and can answer questions directly.

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Offline swinks

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Re: Spooky Pinball - are going to be making pinballs
« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2013, 03:39:02 PM »
some more details

"All shall be revealed (the game, not Heather the hot accountant) pinball people. I'd love to have it at MGC, but that would really be pushing it. I'd rather have you see it and play it than talk about it. 

Elvira... anyone who has heard our show knows we are HUGE fans. Dennis wants to do the game... we'd love to build it with him. To me, gotta have our buddy Greg Freres involved or it just wouldn't be all it should be (or even slightly feel right). Time will tell, and stranger things have happened.

What a day... thanks everyone. We'll get there!"



So looks like Dennis Nordman is up for it and possibly Greg Freres so Charlie has a dam good crew on this
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Offline Retropin

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Re: Spooky Pinball - are going to be making pinballs
« Reply #10 on: February 02, 2013, 03:54:41 PM »
If he has a signage business that is capable of reverse printing straight onto acrylic then id say its a big business.. this is not a cheap machine to buy and i only know of a couple of places in the Brisbane region that can cater for this. When i or any of my business colleagues have need for this we sub the work to them at wholesale rates.
Chances are he has screen printing capabilities also.
Own CNC routing and most likely laser cutting services etc.

Charlie would be in a very good position to manufacture a pinball, with his resources and contacts id say he is on solid ground.

The whole idea sounds very exciting.. id love to see a snippet of whats coming.
Id love to buy from one of the new manufacturers... its a balance of theme and price for me, so i look forward to the end result because the theme has already won me over

Offline swinks

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Re: Spooky Pinball - are going to be making pinballs
« Reply #11 on: February 02, 2013, 04:00:09 PM »
I agree Retro, I am keen as well.

Got a short email back from Charlie - he is concentrating on making a good pin first and then will worry about the 240v 50hz power issue. But he is making the games to be RHOS compliant for overseas shipping which is good.
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Offline Crashramp

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Re: Spooky Pinball - are going to be making pinballs
« Reply #12 on: February 02, 2013, 04:32:45 PM »

"ORIGINAL THEME (I freakin' miss those!) game, at a price that is more affordable. No LE's... "

Hallelujah! I really am sick of the lack of creativity in current games theme wise.

I think the last non-licensed theme was....um....oh yeah - Coconut Island!!  *)*




At last. Someone has the balls to do it the RIGHT WAY. Creativity, innovation, no pre order deposits, no massive LCD, no LE, Pro, Premium to confuse people. Just a "meat and potatoes" pinball machine. EXACTLY what the public have been screaming for !

+1 Amen!

Offline RottyGuy

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Re: Spooky Pinball - are going to be making pinballs
« Reply #13 on: February 02, 2013, 05:19:07 PM »

the theme has already won me over


What is the theme ?

Offline swinks

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Re: Spooky Pinball - are going to be making pinballs
« Reply #14 on: February 02, 2013, 06:04:00 PM »

the theme has already won me over


What is the theme ?

"Pinball Zombies From Beyond the Grave"
https://swinks.com.au

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