The Plunge - My 2023 Pinball Year in Review

Home Lineup and Barcade Layout Transformation

If you've been following my posts last year, a lot of them concerned machines coming and going. In came Rush Premium, Deadpool Premium, Iron Maiden Premium, and Jurassic Park Pro. Out went Fish Tales, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Munsters LE, Popeye, and Deadpool Premium.

The net result is one less game coming in than going out (Deadpool counts as both), so currently I'm at 13 machines. Ripley's, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and Frankenstein are still on the chopping block. Also slated to go is Stern Pirates of the Caribbean, as I've kind of tired of that game and would like something different. Staying for now are Scared Stiff, White Water, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Hobbit, Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle, Godzilla, Rush, Iron Maiden, Jurassic Park, and my virtual machine (which I don't count as a machine in the collection). In last year's post I stated that I wanted to own a Deadpool (check, but didn't keep it), Rush (check), The Mandalorian (no longer likely), and possibly a Stern Jurassic Park (check) or a Ghostbusters (nope).

So if I sell all 4 games listed above, that would put me at 9 games, and possibly open the door to add a 10th game back in. Ghostbusters is too expensive, and I don't expect to see Harry Potter this year, so I'll probably just keep a spot open. If the rumors of a Metallica Vault are true, or a re-make of Tales of the Arabian Nights, I might have to seriously consider them.

Another mention from last year is that my goal was to move all the pinball machines from the second floor of the Barncade to the first floor. This past year I moved 7 of the 8 remaining games down, and only 1 remains upstairs - The Hobbit. That is not one I can move myself - that sucker is heavy! - so I'm waiting for friends to help on that one.

Personal News

The new position I was offered last year at work kind of fizzled out. As business began to slow, the one thing I was looking forward to in the new job - more travel - didn't happen, because when times are tough, travel is always one of the first expenses cut. So the new job almost immediately lost its luster. And unfortunately, that wasn't the only expense cut, as I ended up being laid off in November after 26 years with the company. It was bittersweet, but I have to say it was a good thing, transitioning me into semi-retirement, and I feel very happy and relieved. I'm going to rejoin the workforce, but only part-time and only after taking some personal time for myself. I now sleep better, have less stress, and I received a very generous severance package. However, I also have to be more cost-conscious with regard to my hobbies such as pinball, so if I add a new game, it will have to be the cheapest version. I also may have to sell the house at some point to move into something smaller, which means no more Barncade, and possibly downsizing the collection further. However, another benefit to this whole thing is the freedom to go where I want, when I want, and since I didn't get to travel for work, I'll do it on my own. So I have set a modest goal to visit 3 pinball shows this year (including the NW Pinball and Arcade Show), and to visit 6 new pinball locations. Next year (2025) when I'm more settled into this new reality, I want to ramp both of those numbers up considerably.

Steampunk Virtual Pinball Machine

Still on hold, I had zero time to devote to this last year. I did download more gorgeous games from the VP community, specifically VPinWorkshop. The games that this team are producing are stunning - some of the new versions look pretty realistic! Hopefully I'll have more of an update on this project soon.

Mods

It was an unbelievable year in collecting mods for me. For Godzilla, I picked up Stumblor's Lolly UFO and his Noodle Bar building, Jazzbourche's Atomic Godzilla, tdiddy's Drake building, Lermod's Oxygen Destroyer, and BC_gambit's spinning Jet Jaguar.

For Rush I bought a whole bunch of NinjaCamp's stuff, WilliPinball's steampunk gear flasher covers, and Space Coast Pinball's topper lighting kit.

For Jurassic Park I purchased Mezel Mod's Raptor Lookout Tower and Raptor Pen, Chainsawmod's Amber Pop Bumper Covers, Pino's Spinning Helicopter Blades, and a Stern Amber Plunger from a fellow Pinsider (sold out on Stern's website).

For The Hobbit I bought Flashinstinct's ramp and target decals.

For Creature I bought my old friend Swinks's Open Sign.

For Iron Maiden I purchased Art of Pinball's sculpted backboard (just in time as it sold out soon after that), Mezel Mod's Egyptian Archway, and Sleal16's Clairvoyant and Anubis figures.

Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle Topper

For Alice Cooper I purchased Magicchiz's topper secondhand from Pinsider FullTilt_Pinball. At first I was thrilled to get this because I couldn't afford it when Magicchiz originally released it. However, the topper arrived without the clock tower steeples and lightning projector. The lightning projector was not a huge deal as those can be purchased separately, but the steeples were part of the clock tower and can't be found elsewhere. After bugging FullTilt_Pinball for months after his promises to get me the steeples and lightning projector but never following through, he finally ghosted me and stopped responding. Bummer. The mod still looks awesome - the steeples were designed to be removed if the owner's ceiling height was too low - I just wish the steeples weren't missing because I don't have an issue with low ceilings. Here's the info on the topper from one of Magicchiz's posts on Pinside:

"I had the vision and idea for this topper and decided to make myself and 5 of my close friends in pinball one of these toppers. A total of 6 were made by me shortly after the pinball was released. After showing these and delivering them to my friends, my friends and I were inundated by others that wanted one. At the time I was NOT interested in trying to find all the parts, paint them, build them, etc. I then agreed that one could be made by a well-known company in the pinball industry for a friend of the owner. I helped them and supplied the custom pieces. So, one additional unit was produced. For a total of 7 ea. As far as I know the 1 off was sold a year ago. The 6, I assume, are still with my friends and the one on my game. I decided to make 13 ea of these toppers for sale this year. I am keeping 1 of them just in case “The Master” ever wants one for his pinball game. Thus allowing 12 toppers to be offered to the pinball community. So, with this being the final run by me, a total of 20 ea of these toppers will be out in the world. So, 20 of the 500 games produced by Spooky Pinball will have one of these.

1 time run, ONLY 12 toppers will be made...There will be NO more produced by me. They are too time consuming and I’m only a fan and hobbyist. It was my original conception. This is a three-dimensional topper that complements the Nightmare Castle pinball machine. This topper is NOT 3-D printed, and not an etched acrylic. Imagine having the master and monsters looking down on you from the castle steeples. Monsters are unique and were drawn by Zornow (the artist who did all the artwork for the game). This unique topper has 4 zones of full RGBW with over 16 million different colors and 9 mode combinations for each zone. With modes like flash, fade, etc. give you the ability to change the color in each zone and different effects. Clock, windows, Towers, Front. Full Lightning projector included with topper to really set the mood for your Nightmare castle pinball machine. This does require the pinball machine to be against a wall. These are all hand painted and manufactured by myself. So, none of these are totally the same."

Here's a link to the topper in action on Youtube

That's pretty much it for my year in review. After a year of no posts in 2022, I had 8 posts in 2023, and this is the 4th so far in 2024 and it's only early February! More to come soon...