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BlahCade 209: Pre-order This!

Jared Morgan Jared Morgan Follow Nov 09, 2020 · 5 mins read
BlahCade 209: Pre-order This!
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Mandalorian and more digital pin-cab news.

With news about Disney+ “The Mandalorian” being graced with a Zen Pinball release, Chris and I get stuck into what this might look like on the show.

It’s another week and that means that there is more news to tease apart about the pinball cabinet products vying for your dollar this holiday season. We also take some time to look into Zaccaria Pinball a bit deeper than normal (by request).

Let us know what you think on Twitter or YouTube.

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Show notes

03:50 — The Mandalorian announcement

What is the Mandalorian going to shape up to be?

Will it be a single pack or three-pack offering or will it be something else.

Chris reckons there might not be the scope for an offshoot table considering that there aren’t that many characters developed enough yet to do a spin-off.

14:30 — Zen originals are coming back

Why? Because they are profitable for them. 😉

They don’t need to pay for the Scientific Games license for Bally Williams tables.

What may also happen is that the Zen originals tables (think Tesla or V12) may become padding for more licensed Arcade 1UP cabinets in the future.

22:00 — Cabinet news updates

Is Toyshock going to bother with their second-generation product now that AtGames has trumped them with a dual-screen?

Will the AtGames second monitor be a feature on all competitor cabinets moving forward?

Will all v2 cabinets have WiFi and leaderboards?

Will the lack of backglass be a blocker for games like JunkYard’s “Window Shopping” mode.

Will Well-played Arcade be able to keep up with the other two main players?

Chris and I speculate on all these questions and more in this latest cut of information.

42:00 — Well-played Games and Zaccaria

We decided to do a bit of analysis on the Zaccaria tables and how this package stacks up with the other competitors.

The offering is not going to be the original solid-state tables, but the remake (DMD) tables.

53:00 — Zaccaria Deluxe (video screens)

Zaccaria has been forging ahead with their Deluxe tables over the last few months. These tables have imaginative layouts however the sound package and video screen just don’t add anything much to the overall “story” that the table is trying to convey.

All these tables feel like you’re playing very early builds of these tables and it’s so frustrating. Because these tables are really unique and interesting. I really want them to be better and really give players a taste of what is possible with these tables.

Even tables like Centaur or Gorgar with only five or six callouts tell more narrative story that these Zaccaria tables. 😦

66:00 — Star Wars tables aren’t that awesome

Now that we know what tables are on Star Wars Pinball Cabs, it turns out that the first wave titles are really not that attractive.

Hopefully, they release the others on a wave 2 cabinet because that will be a much better offering.

67:00 — RTFM on Zen original tables

I decided to read the table instructions on the Zen originals and my games dramatically improved after doing so.

Read 👏 The 👏 Instructions 👏 folks.

70:00 — Pinball university and LWI(D)P

Chris is now a professor because he has a course on how to understand the wonderful world of digital pinball.

Also, check out the Last Week In (Digital) Pinball posts that Chris is putting together.

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Jared Morgan
Written by Jared Morgan Follow
Technical writer, product person, VR junkie.