Nudge Goes Soft: Four Pinball Things We’re Frickin’ Thankful For
Words by Doc. Pics by Gene X and Gina Collecchia
Look, in a vacuum this article probably doesn’t exist, but believe it or not Nudge is written by real live human beings with, uh, real lives. And what has life been like the last couple months? HARD. I dunno about you, but we’ve been dealing with a lot. And in addition to that, it’s felt like pinball culture is going thru its moody teen drama phase.
Just this week we had Kaneda (perpetual pinball shit-stirrer) mix it up with Colin Alsheimer (new shit stirrer) of the Kineticist. It seems that Kaneda wasn’t invited to a pinball media mixer, which culminated in ze bad boi of pinball trying to call Colin live on-stream to shame him about it. I’m sure both sides will find this paragraph inaccurate and unfair to them both – which is how it should be.
We do that shit too sometimes
Yes, I just wanted more Gene and Gina pics in this cuz they rule
But even before that, we’ve just had so many bad vibes floating around in the pinball-verse. We aren’t immune! Just last week we did a (albeit tongue in cheek) knee-jerk pinball power ranking article. Some people really hated it! That’s on top of the str8 up hate we get on R/Pinball. Man, redditors really hate us, but I can’t deny that when we post there the pageviews go way up. I don’t wanna stop posting, but I can’t help seeing some of those comments even if I turn off notifications. They’re bummers, man.
But you know what? I can’t change anyone but me. Last week, I walked around this park a shitload and just listed things I was thankful for. I thought maybe we’d try that with pinball. So here’s something that might become semi regular or could be a one time thing. Who knows?
Here is some pinball shit to be thankful for…
There have never been more pinball machine manufacturers producing at one time than there are right now (probably)
There are more active pinball manufacturers right now than maybe ever. Did I make this up? No I did not – but it feels right. Yes, Stern rules the roost – but JJP, Spooky, Chicago Gaming Company, American, Multimorphic, Haggis, Dutch, and a buncha other randos are currently producing games. As I type this they are manufacturing actual games you can find at various places expos and not just kickstarter pages which will probably never exist IRL.
That’s wild. No matter how you feel about them, every company at this point has something to offer. Spooky gets some shit, but for me their playfield art and general aesthetics are second to none. Multimorphic isn’t my cup of tea, but there’s no denying that they’ve built a cult following and continue to push the boundaries of what their games can do. Plus, we have a Pulp Fiction game now. That rules.
The Pulp Fiction game is everything we wanted it to be
Look, only the real freaks are reading Knapp arcade every week looking for clues in the pinball minutiae for signs of what the next game out will be. I was one of those freaks with Pulp Fiction rumor. Oh, I was in, baby. I was extremely online.
And what did I want? I wanted a game that felt faithful to the movie, while being a fun and stylish machine. What did I get? EXACTLY FUCKIN THAT. After countless plays at MGC, it’s safe to say I was in love with this thing from the start. It’s not hard to see why with a game designed by literal pinball all stars.
You already know how we feel about David Thiel – but suffice to say the sound design of this game is next level. Mark Ritchie hadn’t made a game since King Pin and casually knocked it out of the park. I’m not gonna pretend to be a pinball reviewer, but this game makes you feel cool while you play it. I think my local spot is getting one – dear god, let it be true.
Arcades are better now than when you were a kid
It might feel sacrilegious to say this, but we’re living in the golden age of arcades right now. For real. Yes, you might miss the arcade pizza parties of your youth, but the nineties (or if you’re real old, the 80s) are NOT a better pinball experience than you’ll get now. These days there’s a grass roots feel to most successful arcades in big cities. Like, it’s as much about the pinball as it is about the people.
Whether it’s The Electric Bat in Arizona or Jackbar in New York or Logan Arcade in Chicago or LITT in Minneapolis or Revenge of in LA or Walts in LA or EightyTwo in LA or AYCE Gogi in LA… we really need to get out to LA. But anyways, all these places foster a real sense of community. Sure, they hold tournaments, but it’s about more than WPPR points at these spots. It’s seeing your friends every single week. You dig?
Pinball itself rules
I (Doc) went through a couple of hard weeks after Issue 3 dropped. For me, Nudge had started to feel more like a chore than something I looked forward to, which has not historically been the case during the last 2 years of Nudge. Wanna know what brought me back? Pinball. First it was a couple good games at the Shadow that my buddy John left at my house. Then I went back to the arcade to check out the JP – I just had that itch.
And from there it was game on. I’m thankful to live in a time during pinball when there are new games out every six months, and you’ve got operators that (for the most part) actually care about keeping their machines nice. I’m thankful for Brian Eddy and Jack Danger and Tha God Keith Elwin.
Point being, 2023 rules, at least when it comes to pinball. It’s OK to take a second and recognize that.
