Gather round pinball fans, there’s another new face in town. It is very easy to be skeptical of such newcomers, especially given some of the history of what has happened with “boutique” pinball makers (Skit-B, Heighway, John Poupadiuk, and so on). That said, it appears that these guys have taken those situations to heart and have only unveiled their existence to the world after they have built their first units. That is not only smart, but also very welcome.
The company in question is called Team Pinball, hailing from Cardiff, UK (which as a note, is the same city that Sega Amusements International is based). They are a small team who have been working on their first title for about two years; for many of the nitty-gritty details, hit up Pinball News for the full-story.
The Mafia Pinball Joins The Fray
In the meantime, let’s take a quick look at their first game: The Mafia. The art follows a 1920s/30s gangster design with the playfield layout sticking to a basic EM-style layout. This means no ramps or toys, but it does enjoy modern “guts” from a Raspberry Pi3 and their own R-board design, RGB-LED lights and a 10.1″ LCD display integrated into the backbox. Taking a page from other successful boutique game makers like Spooky, Team Pinball is keeping each release limited in number. In their case, they are looking at 100 total units to be produced (I imagine that if demand is strong, that might change).
Here’s a trailer of this non-licensed, original game:
Here’s a list of game features from the website:
- 2 standard size flippers
- 100 RGB LEDs for inserts and general illuminations
- 2 Car chase orbit shots
- 1 Thompson gun spinner
- 2 Bullet stand up targets
- 1 Casino stand up target
- 1 Train stand up target
- 1 dancer roll over switch
- 3 Gin letter roll over switches for bonus advance
- 4 Boss letter roll over switches for ball saver
- 1 Detonator captive ball: double scoring for 15 seconds
- 1 Diamond stand up target
- 3 Money bag pop bumpers
- 2 Sling shots
- 1 Bonus collect exit to the shooter lane
- Wizard mode
- Hurry up
- Boosting spinner value
Only problem with this news coming now is that I won’t be able to include them in my book that I really hope to launch this week 😛 Definitely next time though!
