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| THE ROLLING STONES |
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As expected, the game had its public debut at the IMA show in Düsseldorf, Germany this week. It is then expected to be shown at the EAG-Expo show in London next week. Initial pictures showed up on the Belgian Gameroom.be forum where member Pascal posted these two images:
These were soon followed by more pictures on the German Flippermarkt.de and Flippertreff.de forums. So let's take a look at the game. The following pictures were taken by Helmut Broichhausen, so thanks to him and Peter Scheldt for bringing them to Pinball News readers.
The pictures reveal the main toy of the game is a moving Mick Jagger target which travels in an arc across the centre of the playfield to block certain key shots, much like a cross between Dracula in Monster Bash and the buck in Big Buck Hunter Pro. The aim is to hit the Mick in six places on the arc to light the corresponding musical notes.
All four members of the band - Mick, Keith, Ronnie and Charlie - are included in the game, but they are shown on flat plastic pieces as opposed to three-dimensional models. They are also represented by four rollover lanes at the top of the game where two more flat plastic pieces are used to show speaker stacks. Whether a limited edition version of the game will feature real models is something we will have to wait to see.
The Rolling Stones features two ramps - on on the right with the iconic lips and tongue mounted above the entrance, which doubles back down the right side of the playfield, and one in the centre which curves to the left to end at the left inlane.
The right ramp is the place to collect extra balls and specials when they are lit beneath the ramp entrance, while between the two ramps, a lane much like the Sniper lane in 24 can be used to lock a ball. On the left side of the playfield are three V-I-P standups which give a mystery award when completed, in the same way Pappy's Porch works in Big Buck Hunter Pro.
The guitar standups on the right side start a combo scoring feature when completed, while small orange standup targets dotted around the playfield build towards Rock Star Multiball
Another task in the game is to collect album covers (or the albums themselves) by shooting various shots. Collecting them all leads to Stones Multiball and, as is customary, large red arrows indicate the key shots for jackpots during multiball modes. The green inserts with crossed drumsticks suggest the main shots can also have multipliers applied. There are seven objectives to be completed; World Tour, Fast Scoring, Rock Star, Records, Licks, Combos and Stones Multiball. Completing them all starts the wizard Encore mode. There are four typographic grammatical errors clustered together above the World Tour insert where it says "70's 80's 90's 00's", all with superfluous apostrophes.
In addition, although they got the UK's Union Flag correct in the artwork over the centre ramp, they got it wrong on the Australian flag. Oh, and the US flag has an extra white stripe at the bottom, and the stripes should be equal heights. Tricky things, flags. The exterior combines images of The Stones themselves on the cabinet with classic album artwork on the backbox sides. The left and right sides feature the same images on both the cabinet and backbox.
That concludes out first look at The Rolling Stones. We'll have much more on Stern's latest game in the coming days and weeks, so check here or sign up to our Pinball News Update Scheme to be notified.
© Pinball News 2011 |
