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Rush Pinball Machine?


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Pinball Machines?...hey!...what do I know?..again,where's the money in this? From my experience with them is that they are a big pain in the butt!!...you know,sorta like owning a boat...you know what they say about owning a boat..."bust out another thousand"

These things are not going to sell like hot cakes so it's a real head scratcher

 

I've always heard that a boat is really "just a hole in the water that you pour money into".

 

I'm assuming that pinball machines are not great investments either.

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1641479923[/url'>' post='4980144']
1641421715' post='4980068']Pinball Machines?...hey!...what do I know?..again,where's the money in this? From my experience with them is that they are a big pain in the butt!!...you know,sorta like owning a boat...you know what they say about owning a boat..."bust out another thousand"These things are not going to sell like hot cakes so it's a real head scratcher
I've always heard that a boat is really "just a hole in the water that you pour money into".I'm assuming that pinball machines are not great investments either.

 

I’m kind of a pinball enthusiast and can give you a little insight…The newer machines (late 80’s and up) are actually pretty reliable. I have a 1992 “Fish Tales” machine and over the last 20 years, I’ve spent maybe two or three hundred bucks on repairs and maintenance: Bulbs, worn out ‘rubbers’ for the flippers & bumpers and new balls (the balls oxidize after a couple years and will scratch up the playfield). A speaker went out, but a $30 replacement from Radio Shack is all it took.

I bought it only for sentiment reasons: It’s the pinball machine my wife and I would play at a neighborhood bar back when we were dating (the exact machine). I had nostalgia in mind rather than hopes of it becoming collectible or valuable.

 

The new Rush machine could possibly be a good “investment” mostly because it’s made by Stern. All of their new machines are released in the same 3 tiers: limited edition, premium, and pro. The LE’s always sell out. What’s different with the Rush release is the there are 1,000 as opposed to 500 Limited Editions. They’ve done other 1000 releases, but I think Rush is the first of the rock band themed tables. Collectors buy them and spend crazy money. There’s a L.E. “Elvira” machine out now that sells in the $20k range…it’s a 40th anniversary model limited to a run of 199 machine which followed the 2019 Elvira super-limited-signature edition that had a run of only 50! AAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!

(Just like with baseball cards, the company will win the collectible “game” because they control the rules and the inventory.)

 

 

Bottom line: it’s an expensive toy. Less expensive and more reliable than other expensive toys (motorcycle, boat, snowmobile). It can’t really be an investment because in order to profit from an investment, you have to sell! And as a Rush fan…just the thought of letting it go would be tough.

Edited by I Forgot
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Thanks for the footage 1-0-0-1-0-0-1 and currygoat11, I love these guys and everything they put their hearts into!

 

Musings, as an investment I would think you could play it once, twice very gently?

Or the whole "the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys" becomes a much bigger ownership thing in the future. Let's hope.

 

Looks like some interesting new magnet-play with the ball.

And regarding the playing of entire songs, is that only while you still have the requisite balls in play? Does a song start over every time you pull, the hope is you play long enough to hear the whole song?

And I suppose - NO TILTING!!!!! That was a bit of an art.

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And regarding the playing of entire songs, is that only while you still have the requisite balls in play? Does a song start over every time you pull, the hope is you play long enough to hear the whole song?

 

From the description in the announcement, at the beginning of each ball, you can choose whatever song you want to play. It’s pretty vague what happens to the music after you drain the ball. In one of the pinball forums, there was a discussion that the song chosen in the beginning could run as the theme the entire game. Previous rock tables have done that. We’ll learn more tomorrow at 6:00 pm when we get a live stream of the first play. Here’s the link: https://www.twitch.tv/deadflip

 

One thing I picked up on is the drum effects (possibly during “drum solo multi-ball”). In the one video, you can hear the pop bumpers play drum fills when struck by the ball. :31 mark you can see and hear it:

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And regarding the playing of entire songs, is that only while you still have the requisite balls in play? Does a song start over every time you pull, the hope is you play long enough to hear the whole song?

 

From the description in the announcement, at the beginning of each ball, you can choose whatever song you want to play. It’s pretty vague what happens to the music after you drain the ball. In one of the pinball forums, there was a discussion that the song chosen in the beginning could run as the theme the entire game. Previous rock tables have done that. We’ll learn more tomorrow at 6:00 pm when we get a live stream of the first play. Here’s the link: https://www.twitch.tv/deadflip

 

One thing I picked up on is the drum effects (possibly during “drum solo multi-ball”). In the one video, you can hear the pop bumpers play drum fills when struck by the ball. :31 mark you can see and hear it:

 

I will be watching that stream, thank you I Forgot.

Twitch bookmarked!

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I've always heard that a boat is really "just a hole in the water that you pour money into".

 

I'm assuming that pinball machines are not great investments either.

 

The quote I recall was David Bowie saying "the best two days you'll have owning a boat are the day you buy it and the day you sell it."

 

A pinball machine would probably not be quite as big a drain on the resources though...

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I thought I saw a comment here about disappointment that Neil's voice was not used for the "Attention All Planets..." sound bite.

But they really thought about it.

Says Ed:

 

I said to Geddy, "Do you know what kind of effects are on that voice? Because it's

highly filtered and affected." Hardcore Rush fans will know it's Neil. A casual listener

will just think, "Oh, it's like a voice actor or whatever." I thought, "Well, how are we

going to get that?" I said to Ged, "Do you know how they got that sound?" He's like,

"Well, they didn't have a lot of options," because it was 1974, "so it's probably this, it

might be this."

Kenny Luong, who was engineering the session, he's done a bunch of work with

BNL, amazing engineer, he goes, "So Ben from Simple Plan is married to Terry

Brown's daughter." Terry Brown produced all those Rush records from Fly by Night

to maybe Moving Pictures, I want to say, if not even after that. He goes, "Well, let me

see if I can get in touch with Terry." He texts Ben. 20 minutes later, we have a text

back from Terry Brown with the signal chain that he used on Neil's voice on 2112.

 

And watching a YouTube video about it and looking closely at the artwork, there are three "cards". I think one is a bass guitar, one a guitar and one with X on it.

Is that perhaps a tribute to Neil's passing?

 

And I don't think the character artwork should be re-worked, it's air brush artwork, it should look a little different, in my opinion. Yes there are differences between models, but I wouldn't want to see a photo shop pic of them on my game board.

 

And why the year 1978 on the "rolling clock" art, exactly? Interesting to me.

 

Cheers.

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The three "cards" artwork is a bass guitar, a guitar and a set of drumsticks forming an X. I had wondered about that too until I saw a close-up shot in one of the videos. It is a bit blah, just the two sticks on the white background. Maybe an arc of a drumhead with the sticks laying atop it would have been better.

 

The year 1978 is at two locations that I can see. Yes, on the Time Machine device, but also along side the right-side ramp (the one with the Hemispheres "Rush" on it. There are four "squares" standing up and each square has one number on it, 1 - 9 - 7 - 8. There are pictures on those squares too, but I can't figure out what they depict. You would think Geddy and Alex might have suggested that Stern use the year "2112" in those two spots instead of 1978. The thing about 1978 is that it was the year Hemispheres was released.

 

I'm also sort of surprised that they used an image of Tom Sawyer that relates to the actual Mark Twain book, as opposed to the song by Rush. It's the actual Tom Sawyer character on a raft on water. I wonder if Stern would have needed any clearance on the Mark Twain Tom Sawyer image. Hope they don't end up getting sued because they didn't get permission. If it's even needed, of course.

 

The image of Alex, Neil and Geddy on the playfield is even more odd than I at first noticed. One review of the machine noted that the image of Alex is very well drawn. Then the image of Neil is a bit downgraded and finally, the image of Geddy is pretty much cartoony.

 

Another thing pointed out by that reviewer, is that for $11,000.00 for the LE, you would think you'd get something with autographs from Alex and Geddy. Even if it's just on the special paper (or whatever it is) that is going to have the autograph of the guy who designed this particular machine. Along with a few other Stern autographs. Alex and Geddy would only have to be signing 1,000 times each. That really isn't that much.

 

Sounds like I'm doing nothing but complaining. As I wrote in my previous post, I absolutely most definitely hope to buy one of these machines one day. I think it's really awesome that Stern chose to work with Rush/Alex & Geddy on this. And that Alex and Geddy went along with it.

Edited by Geddyleegenes
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The three "cards" artwork is a bass guitar, a guitar and a set of drumsticks forming an X. I had wondered about that too until I saw a close-up shot in one of the videos. It is a bit blah, just the two sticks on the white background. Maybe an arc of a drumhead with the sticks laying atop it would have been better.

 

The year 1978 is at two locations that I can see. Yes, on the Time Machine device, but also along side the right-side ramp (the one with the Hemispheres "Rush" on it. There are four "squares" standing up and each square has one number on it, 1 - 9 - 7 - 8. There are pictures on those squares too, but I can't figure out what they depict. You would think Geddy and Alex might have suggested that Stern use the year "2112" in those two spots instead of 1978. The thing about 1978 is that it was the year Hemispheres was released.

 

I'm also sort of surprised that they used an image of Tom Sawyer that relates to the actual Mark Twain book, as opposed to the song by Rush. It's the actual Tom Sawyer character on a raft on water. I wonder if Stern would have needed any clearance on the Mark Twain Tom Sawyer image. Hope they don't end up getting sued because they didn't get permission. If it's even needed, of course.

 

The image of Alex, Neil and Geddy on the playfield is even more odd than I at first noticed. One review of the machine noted that the image of Alex is very well drawn. Then the image of Neil is a bit downgraded and finally, the image of Geddy is pretty much cartoony.

 

Another thing pointed out by that reviewer, is that for $11,000.00 for the LE, you would think you'd get something with autographs from Alex and Geddy. Even if it's just on the special paper (or whatever it is) that is going to have the autograph of the guy who designed this particular machine. Along with a few other Stern autographs. Alex and Geddy would only have to be signing 1,000 times each. That really isn't that much.

 

Sounds like I'm doing nothing but complaining. As I wrote in my previous post, I absolutely most definitely hope to buy one of these machines one day. I think it's really awesome that Stern chose to work with Rush/Alex & Geddy on this. And that Alex and Geddy went along with it.

 

I'd really like to know the story of how the collaboration came about. Sounds like Ed was a major influence.

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Fortunately the fact it won't work outside North America makes it easier to resist any temptation to buy one :D

 

Sterns sells machines all over Europe, South America and Australia. Shouldn't be a problem.

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I'm assuming that pinball machines are not great investments either.

 

Usually not. However, the market for pinball has went crazy. Games that used to go for hundreds now go for thousands. I purchased a new Stern KISS Pro four years ago for $4,900 new. Rush Pro is $6899! Stern can't make them fast enough and they don't have a lot of competition.

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These things are not going to sell like hot cakes so it's a real head scratcher

 

Well, the 1000 LEs are all sold out. There seems to be a LOT of interest in Rush as a pinball theme. Us pinheads that like pinball and love Rush are going crazy with joy and excitement. It led me to this fine forum!

 

As to the maintenance of modern machines... I've had very little trouble. Occasionally, a switch get flaky and may need a little adjustment but the built-in diagnostics screens are really helpful to test each component and troubleshoot. Plus there are 100s of pinheads that will go out of there way to help you fix issues.

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In my humble opinion the drumming card should simple show the drum stick ends, or more like two drum sticks, not an X, to be more clear.

Yes Ed was an influence, bridging games with music, and he has always been a Rush fan. And as RushFanForever has linked in earlier posts, the Barenaked Ladies used some Rush bits in their own songs.

 

I think it would be fantastic to be playing on a pinball machine, listening to Rush songs and when you hit a certain score you hear:

 

"This is me in Grade Nine!" :D

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