Walk-Thru of Houston’s Amazing “Electronics Parts Outlet”

A place that’s been on my bucket list to check out, is a business in Houston, TX called “Electronics Parts Outlet” – located in an otherwise demure strip mall on the west side of Houston, this place is one of the premiere surplus electronics stores in the country. It also has a vibrant maker community around it. Come with me as we explore the isles and the many wonders you can find.

A look inside the latest Multimorphic P3 Pinball Systems: Heist & Weird Al’s Museum of Natural Hilarity

In this video designer Stephen Silver shows us the inner workings of the P3 system. It’s a very interesting and efficient design that makes the game surprisingly easy to service, with lots of features not found in typical pinball machines.

First Impressions: James Bond pinball – do we have some problems with this layout?

NOTE: This is just an initial “first impression” and I reserve the right to change my mind – the code is very early and obviously unfinished.

I’ve had a chance to put a dozen or so games onto the new James Bond in both the pro and the premium and I thought I might jot down my first impressions because that is also what casual players are first-time players might experience. so here are my thoughts.

Also, after I did this video, I probably put another 40+ games on both the pro and the premium versions. I still think my initial first impression holds… HOWEVER, I seem to recall I had some similar concerns with Gomez’ design on Deadpool (specifically the cross-playfield katana shot that I thought was going to be very difficult to achieve and frustrate players — however, that shot ended up NOT being a critical shot in the game’s progress so even though it was difficult, it wasn’t required). This may be the same situation with the far left ramp shot (that feeds Jet Pack Multiball) but it also seems that this shot may be needed to qualify some of the modes — not sure, but if that’s the case, it becomes more difficult. I do know that Gomez can turn around things like this with tweaks to the ruleset, but I continue to feel, the feed from the plunger/pops to the slings creates a high degree of drains without getting flippers on the ball. This will be a game to watch to see if they can address this via the ruleset… I just don’t know.

In summary, here are some of my concerns:

  • Upper skill shots are very predictable and consistent
  • Pop bumpers are like Avatar… the ball can get stuck up there longer than is probably ideal
  • Pop bumpers feed ball to the outlane or the slings – meaning like Avatar and Ghostbusters, you can lose the ball without ever getting a flipper on it
  • To compound the previous issue, the lower left kickout will throw the ball back into the pops regularly
  • The left ramp shot is very difficult to make – not only is it very tight, but it requires maximum velocity and if you miss it can go SDTM or to the slings
  • It also appears that the left ramp shot may be required to qualify modes – a hard shot that will frustrate players
  • The lower left kickout area just looks and feels “unfinished” from a design standpoint – it covers a large area and the ball often falls into it and then kicks up to the pops — it just seems like an odd playfield feature that might have been a cheap compromise instead of something more expensive like a subway entrance or exit
  • The upper left flipper has a number of shots to make, but they’re not easy and those right ramp shots appear to be necessary for various modes
  • The right outhole shot feels even more difficult than the one on Godzilla (and Godzilla has a pop bumper to help you hit it) and it appears to be very important in starting many modes, so a lot of key shots are particularly difficult
  • The center loop shot appears to be easy but it’s much more difficult to hit due to the switch that registers the hit being at the top of the orbit. It has a very narrow feed and not a very wide opening, and it’s slightly angled. This is the lock shot for Bird multiball – the most obvious and easiest multi-ball and it’s frustratingly difficult — and if you miss, it can go SDTM

It seems obvious the software has a LONG way to go, and can fix some of these problems, but I’m concerned it can’t fix others. We’ll have to see.

2022 Houston Arcade Expo Walk-Thrus – Pre-show, show and the swap meet

I finally got a chance to get back to the Houston Arcade Expo, one of my favorite pinball events. I’ve got a bunch of videos I’ve shot of things and here’s the first few.

Pre-show walk-thru
Opening day walk-thru
Saturday morning swap meet in the parking lot

First Impressions: Stern Godzilla. Which is the better game? Pro or Premium?

We’ve been having a lot of fun with this game lately – I’m still not qualified to do a “pinball showcase” because the ruleset is so complicated (and partially unfinished) that I’m not ready to do that, but I can comment on what I think of the game and which version is the one you might want depending upon your priorities?

First Look: Zaccaria Farfalla – interesting restoration project

Here’s an interesting project. This game was dropped on me in partially disassembled state, and I have limited experience with this hardware platform, so I’m being extra careful to make sure I get everything in order. Watch with me as I survey this amazing cool game!

Rare Gottlieb “Caveman” Pinball – first look and restoration!

This is a very interesting game I had a chance to pick up and couldn’t resist. A 1980s System 80 game – one of two very rare, low production hybrid pinball/video game machines Gottlieb made. Let’s take a “first look” at what I have… more videos to come of the restoration!