BlahCade Pinball Podcast

It's an annual tradition of having Zen COO Mel Kirk join us to discuss everything happening with Zen Studios and reflect upon what was a massive year for the studio. We discuss Pinball M, AtGames ALP 4K, and what to expect in 2024. The interview is shorter than the ones we have done in the past because we used to ask about development stuff, which Mel is no longer close enough to. Interview su...

Zen Studios just announced 14 new tables coming to Pinball FX within 1 week of each other! What?? We start the show by looking at AtGames's changes to the ALP 4K and some new SKUs they announced in partnership with Zen Studios. We then delve into all the new things and discuss the announced quality-of-life patches coming to the game. Show notes: https://www.blahcadepinball.com/blahcade-268/

We unbox the AtGames Legends Pinball Arcade Control Panel, look at the Pinball M demo, and show some differences with South Park in Pinball FX compared with Pinball FX2. Show notes at https://www.blahcadepinball.com/blahcade-267/

The announcement about the partnership between AtGames and Zen Studios came out of the blue, so here we are reacting to it! Yep, Zen has moved on from Arcade 1Up and instead has partnered with AtGames for their upcoming 4K pinball cabinet. We've got plenty of questions and only a few answers. Check out https://www.blahcadepinball.com/blahcade-266/ for show notes.

Join us as we discuss which of the 34 remaining tables from The Pinball Arcade we'd like most to see next come to Pinball FX. Oh, and also some IMAX talk and the fact that Chris might experience a hurricane for the first time in SoCal. Check out the show notes at https://www.blahcadepinball.com/blahcade-264/

Our favorite sort of episode: one filled with speculation! Zen soft announced Pinball M , a mature-rated, horror-themed pinball experience coming soon. We dig into what is, what might be, and what should be with this new product line. Show notes: https://www.blahcadepinball.com/blahcade-263/

Get comfy because this is probably our longest show yet! We go over what we think are the best of the 29 tables (Williams and Zen Originals) that are new in Pinball FX, as voted on by you, our viewers. If you are a new adopter of the Nintendo Switch version or new to the Pinball FX platform, we hope these results help you start a strong collection. Show notes with the nominations and results at ht...

We had the opportunity to send several questions to Peter 'Deep' Grafl, the lead pinball designer at Zen. Today we share his answers with all of you! Show notes and other links at https://www.blahcadepinball.com/blahcade-260/

Here we go again, our favorite thing to do: speculation! Zen's latest Pinball Show gave us lots to chew on, and chew we do: Is South Park coming back? Will we see a Harry Potter table? Are Twilight Zone and Whirlwind next on the Williams collection? But first, Chris declares his addiction to Oakley frames and old-school watches. He will happily accept offers of any frames you might want to par...

In a change of pace for us, we discuss actual pinball machines! Three new machines have all been announced in the last few weeks, with Play Mechanix's Pulp Fiction grabbing Chris' attention. Now if only we had a spare $10,000 lying around. We also look at JJP's The Godfather and Stern Pinball's Foo Fighters to balance out the discussion. Can Zen Studios learn lessons from these new...

We're taking a spin on Peanuts Snoopy Pinball and Garfield Pinball , the last two carryovers from the Zen Pinball Party mobile app, into Pinball FX.    Show notes: https://www.blahcadepinball.com/blahcade-256/

Whelp, PinFX is here! We look at how Zen went about their "festering" of Bally's The Addams Family and discuss some of the tweaks made from Early Access. Then we play a bit of pinball, mainly the two new Gearbox titles being _Borderlands: Vault Hunter_ and _Brothers in Arms: Win the War_ pinball. Show notes: https://www.blahcadepinball.com/blahcade-255/

Zen's Pinball FX platform is officially coming out of Early Access and onto PlayStation and Xbox consoles on February 16! Chris and Jared take a look at 80+ titles available at launch and give some clarification to title transfers. Show notes at https://www.blahcadepinball.com/blahcade-254/

Before we play, we first discuss what was curiously missing from Arcade 1Up's CES announcement: pinball cabinets. Who could Zen have partnered with to produce the next generation of cabinets? After that, it's off to play _Plants vs. Zombies_ and _Ms 'Splosion Man_ . These two tables never came to FX3 and almost certainly won't to PinFX either. This is a video-heavy episode so if you are a podcast...

It's that time of year again when Zen Chief Operations Officer Mel Kirk visits the show and talks all things Zen pinball. Get tons of info related to the upcoming console releases of Pinball FX, The Addams Family, and the decision behind removing ticket pricing. And, of course, Mel's responses to our questions go several levels of detail deeper than you'll get elsewhere. Our interviews are not mar...

We do a play-through of the indie game The Pinball Wizard by Frosty Pop and then do the same for Zen's latest Bally recreation World Cup Soccer '94 . There is some bonus TV talk at the show's end. If you're looking for new entertainment, perhaps some of these shows could be right for you.

In this episode, we talk about the game Inks and how it is now available on Android. We do a Let's Play of this title and talk through the chilled-out elements of the gameplay. We also discuss the 12 "new to Pinball FX" Star Wars tables added, along with the Hasbro My Little Pony table from Zen Pinball Party. These tables also get the Let's Play treatment, so check the video for that part of the s...

We speculate a bit about what is coming up from Zen in Pinball FX for September, October, and November.   We then dive into the live play of Zen's latest, Homeworld: Journey to Higara Pinball .   Is this Zen Original a "buy now" or "don't bother"?   Show notes at https://www.blahcadepinball.com/blahcade-246/

It has been a bit of a quiet year regarding commercial digital pinball. Chris and Jared break down what has happened throughout this year and predict how the year may end based on what we know now. There is also a break from the usual pinball talk with a discussion about the new Predator _Prey_ movie and a few other returning shows to check out.

Well, people sure did have things to say about our previous episode featuring RetroPlay! We try not to kick the hornet's nest once more and probably fail.   You decide.   But we start the show with Jared talking about the BPAP 2022 festival in Brisbane, and we finish with a "Let's Play" of Zen's latest original table, "Grimm Tales".   There's some bonus play of Williams' "The Machin...

We usually stay clear of VPX discussions. But we saw what Retroplay is doing with a new app in their cabinets that takes all the hassle out of installing VPX tables, so they work well. With this being a major frustration point for Chris and me, we decided to talk with them. David Gilmore joins us for an in-depth discussion about the software and hardware solutions he has created to make pinball mo...

It's the end of an era! The digitalpinballfans.com forum is closing at the end of July 2022. We go down memory lane and talk about how the site hugely impacted digital pinball's growth and our reason for existing as a podcast. Oh, and Bride of Pinbot got announced, so we talk a little about what we've seen. Check out the beautiful graphics in our show notes at https://www.blahcadepinball.com/blahc...

This week, we discuss Pinball FX's latest new table _Swords of Fury_ . We also dive into the announcement about Zen Studios collaborating with Toho Studios for a trio of Monsterverse tables due to crash through buildings in late 2022. Then, of course, cabinet mode is now available in Early Access. Is it worth trying out at the moment? Show notes available from https://www.blahcadepinball.com/blahc...

A must-watch episode as Zen's very own Mel Kirk joins us once more on the show to talk about the current state of Pinball FX, where the platform is heading, and how your feedback affects the game. The effort for Pinball FX is "a marathon, not a sprint" as Mel repeatedly says throughout this interview. Get your runners on and pace yourself for another great chat. Extensive show notes are available...

Join us as we look at Zen's roadmap of future tables. We also offer our first impressions of the new World War Z table from the Paramount Pinball collection. Finally, we share our opinions on the three latest Zen originals: Noir, Curse of the Mummy, and Sky Pirates. Read https://www.blahcadepinball.com/blahcade-239 for the show notes and imagery from World War Z.