BlahCade 214: We can’t just push reset?

This year has already started out a bit dodgy, but surely it can only get better starting from now.

In this episode, we ask a favor of YouTube content creators who received their pinball cabinets from At Games and Arcade 1UP.

In other news we talk about real pinball and whether it is better to go with trying to touch-up a bad paint job, or whether you should just take a deep breath and sand off the playfield art so you can lay down what’s known as a “hard-top” playfield overlay.

To round out this episode Chris gives us his 2020 movie reviews and ratings and you might be surprised what gets into the Best Movie category this year.

Watch and listen

You can jump straight to any BlahCade Minis in the Show notes section. BlahCade Minis are short episodes created from this video, sliced and diced for your viewing pleasure.

We’re also on the following platforms:

Don’t forget to leave us a review or comment wherever you watch or listen: we appreciate you doing it!

Show notes

08:55 — Review frustrations and suggestions

We’re a bit frustrated by the reviews by other YouTubers for the AtGames and Arcade 1Up pinball cabinets because all they are doing is focusing on the hardware and not the software. Hopefully, our pleas will be answered and we’ll start getting some software-based reviews about what these cabinets are offering from their built-in titles compared with Steam.

19:08 — Concerns over solenoids versus transducers

And speaking of hardware reviews, there is some debate on the lifecycle of the solenoids used in Arcade 1UP versus the transducers in AtGames. Solenoids (or contactors) as they are called in the pinball cabinet world are different beasts from regular flipper mechanisms. They are designed to run with little to no maintenance.

Arcade 1UP has positioned four contactor modules around the cabinet so you get a different sensation of where the hits are coming from on a table. AtGames have positioned their transducers right on the main control panel area with routed out holes so they are as close as possible to your hands.

Their design opted for two transducers instead of four. Is that going to be enough in comparison

30:00 — Focus on the software, dear content creators

What is the aversion to focusing on the software being offered in these packages?

What is the advantage of buying these machines when you can just play them in vertical mode through your PC?

What we’d both like to see is a deep comparison of the software experience between the cabinets and Steam (or Android if that is considered closer).

31:00 — To paint or install a hardtop?

Chris has a pretty hammered Firepower playfield. Those who know this playfield know that it has tricky areas on it from a touch-up perspective.

So Chris is pondering whether he should sand down the playfield to bare wood and then install what is basically a fancy playfield overlay on the top.

Planetary Pinball has one for sale

Chris is daunted by the process, but just take a look at how well this guy does it!

52:15 — Chris’ movie list for 2020

Even though we went through one of the worst years for the movie industry, 2020 still had some great movies. Chris managed to watch a total of 86 movies. Sixteen movies on the lists were made specifically for Netflix. Chris only saw one of the 86 movies in the cinema, for obvious reasons.

Most cinemas looked like this during 2020.

Often the list is used by Chris to shop for BluRay that he wants to add to his collection, but not one movie got added to this list this year. 😢

Listen in for the rest of the show for a pretty solid list of movies to check out on your streaming services. I even got to catch up on some movies this year so I had some opinions to offer in this segment. I think this might’ve been a first since we started recording. 😜

Thanks for listening

Thanks for watching or listening to this episode: we hope you enjoyed it.

If you liked the episode, please consider leaving a review about the show on Apple Podcasts. Reviews matter, and we appreciate the time you invest in writing them.

Say thanks: If you want to say thanks for this episode, click the link to learn about more ways you can help the show.
Cabinet backbox art: If you want to make your digital pinball cabinet look amazing, why not use some of our free backglass images in your build.