Great British Pinball Podcast Episode 13

Pinball Republic renovation update and market chatter on Alien, John Wick, and venue reopening plans.

Synopsis

Neil McCray and Scott Rundle discuss the reopening of Pinball Republic, a UK pinball venue in West Croydon's Westfields shopping mall, covering renovation progress, operational challenges (cash management, electrical upgrades, staffing), and market updates. Scott details his third Alien acquisition and other recent purchases (John Wick Premium, Jaws Premium), reflecting on code updates and game experiences.

Highlights

• Pinball Republic has been closed since end of February (5 months) and is reopening at new Westfields location in West Croydon by August Bank Holiday weekend
• The new venue will have approximately 35 games in one row and capacity for up to 60 games with current electrical infrastructure
• Pinball Republic is transitioning to cashless operations due to cost management and banking fees for cash deposits
• Scott purchased his third Alien machine (LV edition, unit ~700 in production run) after adding Sigourney Weaver licensing was secured
• Alien code is now at version 4 with new multiball and bug fixes addressed since initial release
• The Alien topper is manufactured in Israel and experienced color variance issues due to production challenges
• Pinball Brothers gave Scott early access and replacement units as compensation for issues found during prototype testing
• District 82 (US venue) organizes games by designer/era mix (modern/classic) in a layout Pinball Republic is modeling

Entities

• Pinball Brothers· company
• Spooky Pinball· company
• Stern· company
• Westfields· company
• Pinfest· event
• Swavesy· event
• Alien· game
• Black Knight· game
• Jaws· game
• John Wick· game
• Pulp Fiction· game
• Great British Pinball Podcast· organization
• Kato· person
• Mark· person
• Matt· person
• Neil McCray· person
• Scott Rundle· person
• Tim Sexton· person
• Tony Greenwood· person
• District 82· venue
• Pinball Republic· venue
• Santa Clara· venue