The Great British Pinball Podcast Pinfest Special Episode 14

Great British Pinball hosts preview Pinfest 2024 schedule, games, and tournament logistics.

Synopsis

Neil McRae and Scott Rundell preview Pinfest 2024 in Daventry, covering the event schedule, tournament formats, presentations, and detailed game lineup. They discuss logistics, criticize some tournament scheduling decisions, and provide personal recommendations on which games to play, highlighting both underrated titles (Venom, Barbecue) and classics worth experiencing.

Highlights

• American Pinball sales in the UK are not strong, with few games available for purchase at reasonable prices
• Godfather at Jersey Jack has excellent playfield layout but terrible, overly complex code with excessive menus
• Venom Premium is underrated and deserves to be played despite negative perception; it's easy for new players and has wide-open shots
• Tron LE is a good Stern game from the noughties era but not worth the hype; market downturn has affected its resale value
• Legends of Valhalla is 'the worst game I've ever played' and was torture to play at Pinball World Cup
• Gary Flowers runs the real UK Pinball Hall of Fame but some folks created a 'fake' competing awards, causing confusion
• Tournament scheduling is problematic: Open qualifying ends at 6pm Saturday with playoffs at 7pm, clashing with other events and Saturday night fun
• Robocop (Data East, early 90s) is a standout classic with excellent back glass and music despite being alphanumeric rather than DMD

Entities

• American Pinball· company
• Data East· company
• Jersey Jack Pinball· company
• Stern Pinball· company
• Pinfest 2024· event
• Alan O'Grady· person
• Brian Allen· person
• Chris B· person
• David Fix· person
• Dennis Nordman· person
• Gary Flowers· person
• George Gomez· person
• Keith· person
• Neil McRae· person
• Scott Rundell· person
• Steve Ritchie· person
• Toby Sixto· person
• Barbecue· product
• Elton John· product
• Galactic Tank Force· product
• Godfather· product
• Legends of Valhalla· product
• Robocop· product
• Tron LE· product
• Venom Premium· product