Disclaimer, this post is about an unannounced set of test units that were seen online at an unidentified Dave & Busters location. Any number of changes (as well as the outright cancellation of the games) can take place with them before release.
UPDATE! Multimorphic has officially announced the arrival of P3 at Dave & Busters. Scroll down for more.
A couple of weeks ago, we ran a story about the appearance of the PinballFX2 platform on test at a Dave & Busters location, and today we have another virtual pinball machine showing up at D&B to discuss.
UPDATE: Multimorphic has posted an official announcement of the machines spoken of below, stating that they are at the D&B in Austin, TX, feature a really cool new lighting system (more of this on other pinball machines please!) and providing the video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7H8wHbWIQ4
There is no guarantee that this will appear at all Dave & Busters locations, but I imagine that if you really want to see pinball at your local D&B, ask them if they’ll add P3 as well.
Original Post: Thanks to JDevy to pointing this out to me, a picture shared on the Reddit website that shows a pair of Multimorphic P3 Pinball machines at an unknown D&B location. The pic came like this and is blurry, although I did work on it to enhance it as best as I could. Per Jdevy, this costs 9.9 points to play (sounds a bit high, but I’m not adept on tracking D&Bs prices) and it does not feature tickets, which makes it different from Pinball FX2:
Now this is not the first time that we’ve heard about the P3 pinball platform, although I have not heard about any locations hosting one until now. Generally I’ve seen it in photos at pinball conventions, but it’s probable that some locations out there have one or more setup for play.
As a quick crash course if this all sounds new to you, P3 Pinball was designed as a cross between mechanical and virtual pinball tables, providing a modular setup that allows easy swap outs of the upper portion of the game to convert the table over to something new. Here’s a trailer:
For the game that is seen here, it is a title that is not available to the public yet, per the official game page on the P3 website. It’s called Heads Up and is a networked connected game where players can “challenge opponents anywhere across the world in a heads-up pinball showdown” or against a linked machine in the same room. Also per the website:
Heads Up! creates a shared playfield across two connected machines, presenting the exact same targets to both players. Shoot green gem shots, and you score points. Shoot red portal shots, and your ball goes to your opponent, allowing them to rack up more points. It’s simple in concept but layered in strategic complexity.
It does sound like an interesting and unique concept(for the competitive internet play; locally linked pinball machines has been done before, but for whatever reason is a rarity), bolstered further by the mixed & modular platform. It’s also noteworthy that D&B is listening to complaints about pinball, but seems to be finding ways to get around the maintenance problems that are inherent with the game.
We’ll keep our eyes and ears open for more info on this one – what do you think about this as well as Dave & Busters’ apparent move towards possibly providing some non-traditional pinball options at their locations?
