Since it was first teased by the failed outfit Skit-B Pinball back in 2012, plenty of fans have wanted to see a Predator pinball machine gracing their game rooms. What Skit-B teased looked really cool, but where they never got a license from Fox (while taking customer pre-oreder cash), it ended up as one of the biggest fiasco’s that the pinball community has seen this side of the Deeproot Pinball scam.
Leaving all of that baggage as water under-the-bridge, the Pinball Brothers are here to save the day, by getting a license and giving Predator fans what they would want – a game based on the original movie, and not all of the offshoots and failures that the franchise has seen since. Let’s check it out:
The Predator Pinball Trailer
Let’s start with the trailer and a line from the website:
This is the most ambitious most ferocious machine we have ever built. A battleground under glass. A war story in chrome. A tribute to the era of real action heroes, real danger, and real consequences. It kills for sport. It hunts for pleasure. And now, it’s hunting you. Got time to bleed? Then step up, hit start, and let the hunt begin!
I believe that this has nothing to do with the Skit-B design, although I do recall that one having the cool effect of “Predator vision lighting” that I wouldn’t complain if they borrowed.
The Predator Pinball Cabinet
Predator uses the standard Pinball Brothers cabinet design, which features an LCD in the backbox (which is not as large as what some of their competitors do), although it is surprising to hear that it’s a widebody game. There are two models, the standard game for $10,995MSRP, then there’s the Trophy Model which is an extra $1495. There is no difference in the playfields; the Trophy Edition comes with: “Yautja icon cut out “Starry Green” Jungle Warfare Trims; Shaker Motor; Invisiglass; Backbox mission lightning; Limited game exclusive Predator poster; Predator merch package; and a Jungle service kit.” Not sure what is in that last thing, but at the very least it’s not asking for $3k+ for those upgrades like some LE models do (although to be fair, those usually change/enhance somethings on the playfield).
Here’s the playfield. I’m not sure if it’s a slight optical illusion due to being a wide body, but it does seem like the flippers are slightly offset to the right-of-center. It uses wireform ramps (always a plus) and has some great sculpted toys…including the one that everyone would want, a sculpt of the Predator himself. The detail of the serrated Predator blades is also a very nice touch. The “choppa” has spinning blades and is also a physical ball lock. The chaingun feature on the bottom left is perhaps the most striking element of the game, at least judging by the trailer.
As you can see at the bottom, the “apron” as it is called (the area that covers the bottom part of the playfield – sometimes these have art, sometimes just card holders) has 4 red segmented LED displays that represent the “Yautja” symbols that one sees on the Predator’s wrist computer – these won’t always be alien gibberish though, they’ll also show the player things like time remaining, depending on the mode.
The Predator Game
The game comes “packed with original movie scenes and clips,” which is a nice touch that too often pins seem to miss. Best assumption is that the license costs too much, but I have to wonder when I can see something like this using those clips, but Stern can’t include any at all in some of their newer titles (see: NedryJurassic Park Pinball). Players will use the three flippers to complete missions and tasks that are all based on the original film.
PinballNews.com has more details on the game modes, including a flyer that shows the various missions and multiballs that are built into the game.
Thoughts
I think that this looks cool, although the jury is out on how it plays. It’s cool enough that were money no object, I’d jump on one. Not sure if I’ll see one out in the wild (I haven’t seen any PB games near me yet), and the price tag is too high for me to jump on right away – especially when there are a lot of pinball options out there right now. That said, I am looking into selling off one or two of my pins to get something else – if I heard about some on-site performance of this and it showed up as a contender, then that could sway me.
But, such is the issue with pinball machines from an operator perspective these days. No pinball builder tests these games out for earnings, they just keep being built and marketed with collectors at the top of mind. I have to wait for months to ask some other ops about a particular game, and it’s kind of a “luck of the draw” as to hearing similar results from multiple ops on how one piece might do. Where might Predator land on that list? I don’t know, and I’m not in a position to be taking those risks anymore.
If pinball makers want to sell more games to operators, then they all need to change how they do things – the old ways aren’t cutting it when you keep asking $10k for games that likely won’t pay themselves off until I sell them years later. If you’re afraid that they won’t earn well, then design better games and test and correct that until they do make money. To turn a phrase from Predator, “If it earns, we can sell it.”
