The world’s first and only pinball machine based upon the irreverent rockumentary This is Spinal Tap has begun shipping to customers, as announced on Twitter by one of their distributors.
Designed by Australia/Taiwan-based Homepin Factory, this is their second licensed pin, but it is one that, in a way, follows the path of Weird Al pinball (comedy+music)…but it’s also an old movie license. The official site for the game lays out the many features, including a 27″ backbox LCD, an orange DMD right below that, two flippers, steel wireform ramps, and a few toys based upon the band’s instruments and props seen in the film. It also sounds like they’ve designed it to be relatively easy to troubleshoot and replace parts but that’s always something you have to wait to hear about from field experience.
As for how Homepin’s perform out in the wild – I’m not really sure. I did come across one at the Pinball Hall of Fame in Vegas earlier this year and it was cool but that doesn’t tell me much about what I’d want to know as an operator. Given where Homepin is based, I do imagine that it’s more common to find their brand in Australia.
Homepin lists a few distributors on their front page, although the only one I can find listing it at the moment is Retro Arcade Specialists UK LTD, where it’s about £4000. Translated into USD that’s about $5k, which is what Stern Pro models used to be, several years ago. So from a price standpoint its competitive; As long as it holds up to the rigors of an arcade and can earn well then it’s in a good spot.
What are your thoughts on this game, from what has been shown?
Unfortunately, Homepin has a record of making really, really bad pinball games, and This Is Spinal Tab is no exception.