The Great British Pinball Podcast Episode 10
Send us Fan Mail Scott and Neil talk TPF, Pulp Fiction, Barn finds, second hard market and buying game and the pitfalls, this is part 1 - 10.2 will follow shortly with a full debrief from the Brits invasion of TPF.
Kineticist’s take
GBPP hosts discuss restoration work, game acquisitions, and manufacturing reliability in UK pinball community.
Synopsis
In this episode of The Great British Pinball Podcast, hosts Scott Rundell and Neil McRae discuss their recent pinball activities, restoration projects, and experiences at TPF (The Pinball Factory). Neil details an extensive 5-6 week restoration of a heavily damaged barn-find Roadshow machine, while Scott shares observations about pinball in media and discusses reliability issues with Williams 90s games. The conversation covers manual quality across manufacturers, the value of detailed schematics for restoration, and Neil's recent game acquisitions including Pulp Fiction, Lethal Weapon, and Flash Gordon.
Highlights
- Williams 90s games like Star Trek, Judge Dredd, and Demolition Man are not actually bulletproof and require significantly more maintenance than operator-friendly games like Indy 500 or The Shadow
- Elvira had design issues in the initial LE release (missing ball guide post on the house, misaligned VARC) that were supposed to be corrected in the Premium version
- CGC's Pulp Fiction manual is exceptionally detailed and to-scale, comparable to vintage Williams/Bally manuals, making it valuable for both restoration and mod-making
- CGC's Elves game will be completed before the end of the year, though Neil expressed doubt about UK delivery timing given potential November completion
- Modern switching power supplies are cheaper and lighter than vintage transformers, though some debate their reliability compared to traditional transformer designs
- Stern's Pro model pinball machines are significantly more reliable than Premium models, with Premium models requiring occasional tweaking
- Butch Pealey (formerly at JGP, now works for CGC as 'Boots') is known for creating detailed, professional manuals with proper scaling for mod-makers
- Attack from Mars was unexpectedly delivered Christmas Eve with no prior notice, arriving with a silver coin door matching 1970s-style aesthetics
Entities
- Chicago Gaming Company (CGC)· company
- Flippin' Out Pinball· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- The Pinball Factory (TPF)· event
- Attack from Mars· game
- Cactus Canyon· game
- Cyberpunk· game
- Elves· game
- Elvira· game
- Flash Gordon· game
- Lethal Weapon· game
- Pulp Fiction· game
- Roadshow· game
- Pinball Republic· organization
- The Great British Pinball Podcast· organization
- Butch Pealey· person
- Craig· person
- Kyle· person
- Martin· person
- Neil McRae· person
- Paul Boucher· person
- Scott Rundell· person