Editors note: this is a guest contribution from Dr. John Cosson, who has been collecting pinball machines since 2004 and competing, restoring, and encouraging the hobby since then. He has been active in the pinball media space since 2017, including hosting his own podcast, The Aussie Pinball Podcast. He has no financial or personal involvement with Mike Kalinowski or Homepin.
First Impressions of Blues Brothers Pinball by Homepin
I managed to secure the first production game of Homepin's new game, The Blues Brothers, and had it air freighted over the other day. Mike Kalinowski, Homepin's Founder, has developed the game at a budget price to appeal to the “non typical” buyer who just wants a game in their home but not the premium price attached to most current games. At $6950 AUD, which includes standard delivery this compares very well with the latest Stern Pro model at $12,450. However, no comparisons should be made between the machines as they are very different in many, many ways.
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The game comes well wrapped, although no carton for mine. This may not be the same for standard delivery. There was no damage to the game when unwrapped.
Just a reminder, there is no strap holding the backbox to the playfield, so don’t unwrap fully if resting on the rear of the machine to attach legs unless you want it to open unexpectedly.
First impressions of the game – the art is very basic, build quality felt solid but not overly heavy, booted up immediately. Noticed a couple of potential little digs to the US customers?
The vinyl decals are thick and textured. The playfield is hybrid - similar to Haggis Pinball’s production method with the artwork printed underside of the PETG layer. I’ve been assured by Mike [Kalinowski, Homepin founder] that there will be no “debondng” of the art as happened with some Haggis games due to a different process being used. Side rails are metal rather than wood, and the “slide rail” system is similar to that used by Multimorphic with rollers on wood.
The backbox is standard in appearance with a translate rather than backglass, being held by a light steel bracket. The speaker panel hinges forward to reveal the 4-speaker system, and sound is completed with a standard sub-woofer. The power supply is located in the cabinet floor in front of the sub. A coil replay knocker is present.
3x 6-digit displays are used for scores and information. Lights under the player display show whether the current display is for player 1/3, or 2/4. When over 1 million points are recorded, the score will scroll. These displays are also used in the diagnostic, audit, and adjustment menus.
The score display
The score panels also count down the number of spins needed to complete spinners to begin Band Multiball. Alternating the two spinners will decrease the count by 10s rather than 1s.
All insert lights are via light boards, with LEDs for thorough illumination. Lit star posts on the slings are a nice touch. The elevated light bars make this a bright game in even the darkest venue.
Opto-spinners
Opto lane switches
Save gate on left outlane
The playfield has been recognised as being based on Stars by Stern Electronics. Additional features include the save gate on the left outlane, the target to open the gate (when qualified), and the saucer to start multiball modes. On the rights is a small loop shot to build bonus.
The double drops build bonus multipliers as per Stars and also qualify other multiball modes (all modes are multiball at this stage). There are the two opto spinners, with the left on the bridge jump ramp. Jake standup targets area accessed by the left orbit to the pop bumper. Behind the Elwood drops is a captive ball used to hit a target with opens a gate to lock balls. 2 balls locked starts the 3-ball Rawhide multiball.
So, how does it shoot? Quite well. As most know, the code is open source, so things can be added as it evolves. That said, lead programmer Dick Hamil did a great job on the release code, making it playable for most who approach it. It is a long-playing game, and there is no adjustment for the outlanes, so I don’t think it will be seen in tournaments. BUT, as Mike has said, he makes his games for casual players to have a bash, and those who want a low maintenance affordable game for their home. I think he has finally achieved that with this game. 3 songs from the movie (Peter Gunn, Rawhide, and Shake Your Tailfeather) add to the atmosphere (by the way, the game is LOUD – Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle LOUD).
Source code is available to check out and modify, and songs and sounds can be adjusted if the owner prefers. There are plenty of opportunities for the modding community to add car toys and hats or just recommend it to a new person who wants to get into the hobby and not spend a small fortune on a new game.
The game comes with a topper, which is comprised of two layers of plastic with moving figures and RGB LEDs with two side spot LEDs all coordinated with game play.
Homepin's Blues Brothers represents excellent value for money. Comparing it to games from other manufacturers isn't fair as it isn't designed to be in competition with them. As a stand alone entry level machine for a new owner who wants a game to play with friends on a casual basis I would recommend it.
Additional Videos and Info on Blues Brothers Pinball
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