Rick and Morty Pinball First Impressions

Cary Hardy·video·15m 12s·analyzed·Feb 18, 2020

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

Rick and Morty impressed as fun, well-designed game with weak playfield art and challenging left orbit.

Summary

Cary Hardy provides detailed first impressions of the Rick and Morty pinball machine from Spooky Pinball based on a 2.5-hour developer stream. While praising the game's music, light show, call-outs, and non-standard shot layout, he identifies concerns with playfield art utilization and precision requirements on the difficult left orbit shot. He commends Spooky's developer engagement in chat, contrasting it favorably with Stern's approach.

Key Claims

The left orbit shot to the garage was completed only 9 times in approximately 1 hour 30 minutes of actual gameplay during the stream.
high confidence · Cary counted the left orbit makes during the stream viewing, citing approximately 9 completions across the observed play time.
Scott Denise intentionally designed the left orbit shot to be difficult because it is the only way to obtain the super jackpot.
high confidence · Cary cites Scott Denise's explanation on Kaneda's Pinball Podcast explaining the difficulty was by design.
The upper right flipper on Rick and Morty can hit nearly every shot on the playfield except the right ramp.
medium confidence · Cary observes from stream footage that the upper flipper has 'large variety of use' and lists specific shots it can reach.
Scott Denise has only used approximately 50% or less of the voice callouts recorded by Justin Roiland, with more music to be implemented in future code updates.
high confidence · Cary cites Scott Denise's statement on Kaneda's Pinball Podcast about remaining voice content and planned music additions.
Only one Rick and Morty machine will be available at Texas Pinball Festival, contrary to Cary's expectation of at least two.
high confidence · Cary states Charlie confirmed one machine will be at TPF and he had expected two.
The playfield art is poorly utilized, particularly in the upper 50% which has vacant space that could have been better designed.
medium confidence · Cary's critical analysis based on visual inspection of stream footage; subjective design critique.
The game experienced lock-ups at the 40-minute mark and 1 hour 32 minute mark, appearing to occur when tilting and losing the ball.
high confidence · Cary observed these technical issues during the stream and notes they are coding bugs to be fixed.
The magna-save on Rick and Morty requires skill and finesse rather than being a one-touch save like on Black Knight or Totan.

Notable Quotes

“I am not a fan of spooky pinballs, so I'm not here to defend them or to praise them. I'm also not a fan of Rick and Morty the show in general, so I'm not going to be very biased on that either.”
Cary Hardy@ 0:41 — Establishes his analytical independence and lack of bias toward Spooky Pinball or the IP.
“That is my only, and I don't even want to call it a concern anymore, but that was my only kind of thing that I pinpointed out on the very first showing off of this game was that very far left orbit shot.”
Cary Hardy@ 1:52 — Indicates his primary design concern evolved as he observed more gameplay.
“It's very obtuse, which I'm very fond of. So I've continued this stream footage where I left off last night.”
Cary Hardy@ 1:29 — Expresses preference for non-standard shot layouts on this machine.
“The light show is great. The music, Scott Denisey contributed and did a lot of work on this. It is also great... No complaints on that.”
Cary Hardy@ 5:05 — Praises core audiovisual design elements uniformly.
“I look at this playfield and it seems lacking... I actually have art is crap. I'm not going to lie. that's what I have here as I was typing it out as I was watching the stream.”
Cary Hardy@ 5:49 — His most critical design assessment, made contemporaneously during stream observation.
“You had eric right there in chat just answering questions back to back to back to back and it didn't look like he was sidestepping or being vague about anything just full frontal.”

Entities

Cary Hardyperson Scott Deniseperson Jack Dangerperson Justin Roilandperson EricpersonCharliepersonSpooky PinballcompanyStern Pinballcompany

Signals

?
community_signal: Spooky Pinball implementing direct developer engagement during streams with Eric answering chat questions in real-time, contrasting with Stern's perceived lack of transparency.
high · Cary commends Eric for answering questions directly and non-vaguely during stream; explicitly contrasts this with Stern's approach as caring less about customer feedback.
?
design_philosophy: Playfield art design on Rick and Morty criticized for poor upper-playfield utilization and vacant space, described as 'lazy' despite quality cabinet art.
high · Cary's detailed critique: 'I actually have art is crap' and notes 'lot of vacant space in the upper 50% of this play field... work got a little bit lazy up top.'
?
design_philosophy: Non-standard, obtuse shot layout intentionally designed with difficulty as a feature; Scott Denise prioritizes challenge over accessibility, particularly with the left orbit super jackpot shot.
high · Cary praises the obtuse layout and Scott Denise explicitly explained on Kaneda's Pinball Podcast that the difficult left orbit was intentional design for super jackpot access.
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market_signal: Limited Rick and Morty availability at Texas Pinball Festival (only 1 machine vs. expected 2) suggests production constraint or allocation decision.
medium · Cary: 'I was expecting at least two but we're only going to get one so expect a little bit of a wait.'
?
community_signal: Scott Denise's design process involves intentional difficulty gating (super jackpot via hard left orbit) and phased content rollout (voice callouts, music updates).

Topics

Shot layout design and difficultyprimaryLeft orbit shot precision requirements and design intentprimaryPlayfield art and visual design qualityprimaryDeveloper engagement and community communicationprimaryCode implementation and remaining content (callouts, music)primaryMechanical features (magna-save, pop bumper, upper flipper)secondaryTechnical issues and bugs encountered during streamsecondaryComparison between Spooky and Stern manufacturing/philosophysecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.72)— Cary is genuinely enthusiastic about the game's design (shot layout, music, mechanics, entertainment value) and impressed by Spooky's developer engagement. His primary criticism is limited to playfield art utilization, which he considers 'lazy' but not disqualifying. He explicitly states he wants to play it at TPF and found it entertaining to watch despite not being a Rick and Morty or Spooky Pinball fan. Tone is analytical rather than promotional.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.046

What's up guys and welcome back to my channel where I talk and do everything pinball. So if that sounds interesting to you then hit that subscribe button down below. Deadflip slash Jack Danger and Scott Denisey with Spooky Pinball and Crew did a stream at a local arcade in Wisconsin showing off their Rick and Morty pinball machine. The stream lasted about two and a half hours, and I'm going to discuss with you some of my first impressions of this game. Let's start this out with complete transparency. I am not a fan of spooky pinballs, so I'm not here to defend them or to praise them. I'm also not a fan of Rick and Morty the show in general, so I'm not going to be very biased on that either. Although I am a Scott Dinesi fan based on the work that he's done when it comes to TNA and now this title. I don't want this to be an extremely long video so I'm going to try to shoot through a lot of these points with just simple answers. Let's talk shot layout. This is not your typical layout that you're going to see on a lot of games these days. i.e. Stern Pinball's fan layout when it comes to its Elvira, now Stranger Things, and among many other titles, it's not a fan layout. It's very obtuse, which I'm very fond of. So I've continued this stream footage where I left off last night. I've only honestly watched the first hour and a half of this. So now as I'm still continuing to watch this, as I do the recording, I just actually increase the counter on which someone has hit the left orbit shot. That is my only, and I don't even want to call it a concern anymore, but that was my only kind of thing that I pinpointed out on the very first showing off of this game was that very far left orbit shot that directs you to the garage. This was a shot that felt like it was going to be very difficult to make, like on the very tip of the flipper, and even then, it's not going to make it every single time. To give you an idea how often you're going to hit that, the first hour and 40 minutes of the stream, that shot was only completed eight times. I counted it because, like I said, it wasn't very common to hit it. Now, during the time of recording this, it's been hit one more time, and we are at the 1 hour and 40 minute mark, and so it's about 9 times in an hour and 40 minutes of time on the game. Now, some of that game downtime was due to a couple of crashes that occurred, as well as the first 8 minutes. So, typically, an hour and 30 minutes, I would say, is a good guesstimation on gameplay for this. They started out with like 34 credits on the machine. They're now currently at 13. But on the most recent episode of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, Scott Denisey was on there and explained that, yes, the left orbit shot is difficult to make, and it was designed to be that way. He wanted that shot to be difficult because in order to get the super jackpot, that is the only way that you can obtain it is that very difficult shot to make. Upon just observing and not actually playing it, I'm going to say that is probably going to be a little frustrating, but that might change upon playing it. Now, the other left orbit with the spinner also seemed to be a little clunky at times. Oh, there's 10 times. 10 times that that actually left orbit has been made now. This guy has actually made twice But back to the subject at hand that left orbit with the spinner is clunky a lot of the times because i noticed that when people do tend to hit it and it gets clunky they actually you probably not going to see my mouse over the screen very well right here but they tend to hit this very edge of the post right here which causes it to bounce and kind of do a little bit of a rattle here yeah and other times they'll usually hit around this point right about here before it turns into a nice curvature to swing your ball around they'll hit right there which causes it to rattle around you can't really uh just hope just hit that general area and expect that ball to take off there's going to be a little clunkiness to it so there is going to be precision that's going to definitely be needed so for those of you that are accustomed to those games that just flow whenever you hit a ball in general direction this game's going to be a little irritating to you those are really the only two shots that i want to say that really kind of stuck out to me when it came to things that really needed to be mentioned and brought up uh everything else seems to flow and do just fine so let's talk about the live show the live show on this game is great i mean That's really all there is to it. It's as simple. We've already seen it in some of the previews. The light show is great. The music, Scott Denisey contributed and did a lot of work on this. It is also great. The sounds, every time it hit a certain target or anything like that, it went with the theme of the machine. Those were also great. No complaints on that. The call-outs, the call-outs are great. So when you hear certain words or phrases throughout the show, they just seem to work. There was nothing that really stuck out to me and felt like it needed to be removed or was off. Playfield art. Now, this is my only complaint. I mean, I look at this playfield and it seems lacking. Now, on my notes here, I actually have art is crap. I'm not going to lie. that's what I have here as I was typing it out as I was watching the stream now for me I just feel like there's a lot more content that could have been put across this play field but we have a lot of vacant space in the upper 50% of this play field I felt I feel is poorly utilized you have a lot of material to work with here and it just seems like it's the work got a little bit lazy up top. That's just how I feel, but I think that there could have been a little bit more effort into that, especially since the cabinet looks great when it comes to the use of colors and art on that. Center scoop is deadly just like TNA, meaning that when you hit that center scoop, it's going to come very fast. That's what she said. So I also have noted here that the upper right flipper has a large variety of use. It's not meant just for one shot. This flipper can actually, I say, make every single shot if you hit it correctly. You can hit the far left orbit, the other orbit, the targets, the center scoop. I don't think you can hit the right ramp. I don't think you can. I don't recall for sure if that was made, but I'm pretty sure you cannot make that right ramp with that upper flipper. But I want to say, yeah, looking at the trajectory, I don't believe that flipper can hit any of the ramps. But, oh, it looks like that ball got, that in my notes I got this in my notes That another time that they had to fix that issue right there So with that being said that upper flipper does a lot of work when it comes to shots for this game so that good it not just an additional mech or device on the play field you have to use it so the pop bumper on this game is not as deadly as you might think it is very unique i am completely on board with having it i like it a lot but i think more often times than not it usually hits the very top of the pop bumper where the rubber bands are actually at not the pop bumper skirt itself when it does hit the pop bumper and it fires that thing can go a great distance it's actually gone all the way up and hit the scoop i've seen it make it almost all the way up ramps or a ramp the only one that could make it up but that pop bumper does hit hard the game locked up a couple of times once at the 40 minute mark and the other time that i've seen so far is at the 1 hour and 32 minute mark that i tend to notice that this happened whenever they would tilt it and they lost their ball so there's a coding bug there that's going to be worked out they've been talking about it so there's just a couple of things to note there was a lot of cool coding that i've seen in this game so far as well including i think at this point right here with the pop bumper blinking the way it is i'm thinking that pop bumper is currently disabled there's a certain mode or feature in the game where certain things just don't work so as of right now i believe the pop bumper doesn't even work it'll just kind of like this buzz out it'll make an audible tone to let you know that yes you did hit the pop bumper but it's just not working at this time that's something scott denisi also mentioned on kinetics pinball podcast is that as far as code goes for this game there's so much more that's going to be implemented they've only used maybe maybe 50 but not even 50 of the callouts that Justin Roiland has verbalized for them scott even says that he still has more music on the way for the game as well is this game going to be available at texas pinball festival yes uh charlie did mention they will have one game there i was expecting at least two but we're only going to get one so expect a little bit of a wait in order to get your hands on this game in the upcoming Texas Pinball Festival. So watching the stream now, it looks like we're having a little bit of an issue here. They've got two balls in the shooter lane that they're going to have to mess with. I'm sure we've got Eric over here explaining what's going on and whether or not they're going to be working on this or what. I don't know. I can't hear it, but there it goes. They just got it to fire out. But that is mentioned in my notes that up here in the upper right hand corner where there's a rollover switch it got stuck a couple of times and even a couple of balls so that may just be a little bit of a tinkering issue right there i don't think it's going to be something that's broad across all the models just something that needs to be adjusted on that i like the use of the magna save on this game where it's not a one and done this is not something that's going to just instantly save your ball this magnet save actually requires a little bit of finesse and skill so it's not going to be something and it's even mentioned in canada's pinball podcast as well that it's not going to be something that's going to be hit that button whoo my ball is saved like on a number of games like black knight or hell even totan's got like a cage system that can catch your ball things like that this is going to be something that you're going to use which for me a lot of the times happens where it's bouncing around the in lane and out lane and you just kind of want to give it a little bit of a nudge to throw it in the in lane or out for the flippers and that is what's very useful about this is that if you use it appropriately you can have a good amount of magna saves to save your ball many a time see jack danger just used it a little bit right there to save his ass so it i like that feature a lot the game looks fun like i was able to watch this game for like i said an hour and a half and i'm still watching it right now and it's entertaining whereas watching other games uh stern's last couple of titles i felt a little bored i mean with elvira yeah it felt boring but honestly i actually enjoyed elvira i just don't agree with the pricing on it but other than that that game was fun uh stranger things still don't think it's fun to play or watch this uh as of right now i want to play it and it's entertaining i didn't make it you almost made it jack but not quite that would have been 10 but it's fun to watch and i cannot wait to play this at texas pinball festival so i can really see if it is as fun as it is to watch and i think that's basically all i've got to mention here that i've got listed in my notes about things that I've noticed and wanted to mention. Oh, almost forgot. Something that I really loved about this stream, and I really wish for future companies and current companies, mainly the top tier one, that they would start doing whenever Jack Danger is doing their streams, is have the coder or designer, somebody really heavily involved in the production of this game, monitor chat and answer questions on the fly this was something that was great you had eric right there in chat just answering questions back to back to back to back and it didn't look like he was sidestepping or being vague about anything just full frontal just this is what we're doing we have no plans for this we might be doing this well we'll look into that in the future i mean that was amazing and that is something that i believe the reason why a lot of people are looking to spooky as a good company because it seems like they really care about us the customers slash fans whereas you have stern that seems to be caring less about what we think and more about making the almighty dollar now every company duh wants to make the almighty dollar but when you show some caring for your customer base and answer their feedback directly like the way they do it is much better you can be a good business still make your money but also listen to fan feedback and answer our questions that is just like the the no duh thing to do but like i said this game is one of those that you're definitely gonna have to have a few games on to get the shot layout down especially if you're used to the fan layouts or making a shot and it doing something this is going to be an adjustment for a lot of you but i feel like if you can get used to this title then you can probably understand why i lean towards the games that don't typically have a fan layout i like the obtuseness i like the left and right shots things like that make it a little more interesting spice it up a bit but those are my first impressions of the stream let me know what you thought about the stream in the comments section below. If you like what you've seen here, give me that thumbs up, and if you haven't already, do not forget to hit that subscribe button down below. That way, you can be notified of whenever I upload something for your viewing pleasure. Until next time, guys, peace out. Yes, sir.