The Attack from Mars Upgrade You NEED to See!

Cary Hardy·video·11m 24s·analyzed·Oct 9, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.021

TL;DR

Electric Playground releases licensed AFM interactive topper with 300-unit limit

Summary

Cary Hardy documents the installation of Electric Playground's new licensed Attack from Mars interactive topper in partnership with Planetary Pinball. The topper features seven light shows and mechanical elements, requires a node board and photo sensors to detect game events, and is limited to 300 units. Hardy emphasizes the product's value, removability, and official licensing through Planetary Pinball.

Key Claims

Electric Playground topper for Attack from Mars features seven interactive light shows and mechanical elements
high confidence · Direct product description from video opening; confirmed through installation walkthrough
Topper is fully compatible with both CGC remakes and original Bally Williams Attack from Mars
high confidence · Stated explicitly in product description; demonstrated on original Bally Williams machine in video
Limited to 300 units in production
high confidence · Stated explicitly: 'There are only going to be 300 of these things made'
Topper is licensed through Planetary Pinball partnership
high confidence · Stated: 'This topper is the first in a series of licensed Bally Williams toppers in partnership with Planetary Pinball'
Artwork created by Brad Albright
high confidence · Stated: 'features original artwork by Brad Albright'
Topper uses photo sensors to detect game events rather than direct code integration
high confidence · Hardy explains: 'They can't dig into the code and mimic or let the machine itself tell the topper what to do. This topper is merely going to be just interacting with what it's sensing with these photo sensors.'
Topper is completely removable with no permanent damage to the machine
high confidence · Stated: 'This mod is completely removable from your system no permanent damage is done'
Topper will be available to view in person at Pinball Expo
high confidence · Hardy states: 'You will be able to see this topper in person at pinball expo coming up next week'

Notable Quotes

“Greetings Earthlings! The Electric Playground proudly presents a truly out-of-this-world concept in their fourth topper release for everyone's favorite attack from Mars pinball.”
Cary Hardy (Electric Playground product description)@ 0:16 — Official product introduction marking Electric Playground's fourth topper release
“This topper is the first in a series of licensed Bally Williams toppers in partnership with Planetary Pinball”
Cary Hardy@ 0:51 — Confirms official licensing deal between Electric Playground and Planetary Pinball; signals expansion of licensed topper line
“They can't dig into the code and mimic or let the machine itself tell the topper what to do. This topper is merely going to be just interacting with what it's sensing with these photo sensors.”
Cary Hardy@ 9:23 — Explains technical limitation and design philosophy of aftermarket toppers; justifies complexity of hardware installation
“If you're a topper guy and you have Attack from Mars this is the topper for you”
Cary Hardy@ 10:12 — Hardy's recommendation positioning topper as premium option for AFM collectors
“There are only going to be 300 of these things made, so not everyone can have this.”
Cary Hardy@ 8:50 — Scarcity messaging; establishes limited availability creating FOMO appeal

Entities

Electric PlaygroundcompanyPlanetary Pinballcompany Brad Albrightperson Cary Hardyperson Attack from MarsgameCGCcompanyBally WilliamscompanyPinball Expoevent

Signals

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community_signal: Electric Playground providing comprehensive instructional video support for customer installations, reducing adoption barriers for technical modifications
high · 'Luckily, this company already has a healthy instructional video to walk you through the entire process'; Hardy follows video step-by-step, demonstrates ease after initial complexity perception
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event_signal: Pinball Expo hosting public demonstration and sale launch of new Electric Playground topper
high · 'You will be able to see this topper in person at pinball expo coming up next week'; 'topper releases the day after' announcement
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licensing_signal: Electric Playground secured official Bally Williams licensing through Planetary Pinball for AFM topper artwork and branding
high · 'First in a series of licensed Bally Williams toppers in partnership with Planetary Pinball'; avoids need to 'customly alter the artwork in order for it to not be infringing on licensing'
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market_signal: Limited production run of 300 units signals scarcity-driven collectibility strategy; topper positioned as premium alternative to standard plastics
high · 'Only 300 of these things made, so not everyone can have this'; comparison to Stern's standard non-interactive toppers showing value differentiation
?
announcement: Electric Playground officially announces AFM interactive topper with Planetary Pinball licensing; limited to 300 units
high · Video timed to release day of announcement; topper available for purchase day after; viewable at Pinball Expo next week

Topics

Aftermarket toppers and customizationprimaryAttack from Mars (classic and remake) ecosystemprimaryPinball licensing and IP partnershipsprimaryDIY installation and technical modification guidessecondaryLimited edition collectibility and scarcity marketingsecondaryPhoto sensor-based game interaction technologysecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Hardy presents the topper very favorably, emphasizing value, quality of execution, and recommending it to collectors. Some minor caveats noted (price, hardware complexity) but ultimately positioned as worthwhile investment for AFM enthusiasts. No criticism of manufacturer or design choices.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.034

Alright, we are at my buddy Eric's house and we're gonna be installing the new Electric Playground topper for Attack From Mars. Greetings Earthlings! The Electric Playground proudly presents a truly out-of-this-world concept in their fourth topper release for everyone's favorite attack from Mars pinball. This thing is fully compatible with both CGC remakes and original Bally Williams games. This topper features seven interactive light shows and mechanical elements that bring to life all of your favorite in-game moments, making it the ultimate complement to a game that's been entertaining players for decades. The AFM Topper is the first in a series of licensed Bally Williams toppers in partnership with Planetary Pinball and features original artwork by Brad Brad Albright. Now guys, don't let all of this hardware intimidate you like it did me. Luckily, this company already has a healthy instructional video to walk you through the entire process of installing this on your own game. After you install this thing on your own game, it will look like this. This is the fine specimen that I just put the grand champion score on. And now we're going to be utilizing the top of this game. It's not a CGC, obviously. This is the Bally original. So the instructions are going to be a little bit different for CGCs. But this is what we're going to be utilizing. So we're just going to follow the Electric Playgrounds instructions verbatim and just see how everything goes. So all right glass is coming off we have got this portion of the topper put together so far we got the ethernet cable and the 12 volts feeding down back behind here we haven't got this screwed back on just yet we'll get that eventually but uh yeah but we're gonna get the play filled up get the balls out of here and get this all lifted up and start getting the underneath done okay so now we're basically doing the photo resistor that lets the topper know to turn on we got the wires run so these are all your wires currently back here now the instructions want you to zip tie up here so we're not following the instructions a hundred percent this is what he's wanting to do but these are all the wires that are coming back in here to feed up here to this but we're following the video rob just showing how it's going together so all right so we're done with the backbox and now we're ready to start i guess uh doing everything else. Now installing the node board. Put some hair around it so you can get that in there. Ready to move on to the next step. Here we are reinserting the nut that we removed down here because if we would have followed the instructions, you don't remove this one on the alley will did you lose track of where the okay so now we're installing the bracket over here for this one you can move that lamp over a little bit and tighten it up or that be fine words in here last but not least are the last two that are gonna be the UFO portion for the UFO flasher and the flasher that goes to this baby right here so we're gonna get these all wired up now start disassembling this this this this should be able to twist and come off and then we'll wire that in I guess I'll do that while he's doing this all right so we've got the flasher photo resistor for this flasher install we got the photo resistor for the UFO install now we just getting everything back together and I think then we should be damn close to being done And there we go Now we did have to adjust the potentiometer which is in the instructions There's a pot right here, potentiometer that you're going to have to adjust to make sure that this thing turns on whenever it detects the light that's in your backless. So we had to turn it down until this thing turned on. So now we're going to, I guess, test everything out, make sure everything works. Everything is working. Looks good. Yeah. everything's all hooked up and working as it should All the wiring is back here to this thing. Well you can see what the solenoid looks like back here. If I hit it again and wait a minute and see what it looks like back here. Think the camera might be picking it up but yeah that little solenoid, there's two of them. There's one in there and there's one back here for the UFO. so there you have it the afm topper from the electric playground what do you think of it guys i think this is an excellent alternative for those of you out there that didn't manage to get the cgc with the top tier topper and everything like that if you're a topper person you want a that interacts with your game and does as close as possible as it can to what CGC made, then this is the one for you There are some caveats One being the price is a little bit up there at but honestly when you compare that to other manufacturers like Stern that charges like sometimes more depending on the game and you see that this is interactive with the game itself, and not just up there like layered plastics that don't do anything, then you start seeing the value. And then you have there's only going to be 300 of these things made, so not everyone can have this. This is going to be a limited run of only 300. Now, another thing that you need to remember is that since this is considered a mod, it's not made by Bally Williams or CGC, they have to basically design and build a nervous system that gets mounted throughout your machine, photo sensors to detect certain lights or flashers, in order for it to actually communicate or interact with the game. They can't dig into the code and mimic or let the machine itself tell the topper what to do. This topper is merely going to be just interacting with what it's sensing with these photo sensors. And that's why it seems like a lot of hardware. And going to the node board, it may look a little intimidating. But once you get in there and you follow their instruction video, it's pretty simple. Now, a perk to this also is that it's going to be licensed. so they didn't like have to like customly alter the artwork in order for it to not be infringing on licensing they're in partnership with Planetary Pinball and then you have Brad Brad Albright that did a very good job of recreating the art package that you see on your Bally Williams or your CGC games if you're a topper guy and you have Attack from Mars this is the topper for you also something to note in case you were curious this mod is completely removable from your system no permanent damage is done if my video and explanation and everything wasn't enough for you you will be able to see this topper in person at pinball expo coming up next week this video should be launching the day of of announcing the topper to everybody and i think the topper actually releases the day after that so by all means all the links and everything you need in order to like buy this and any other further information that i wasn't able to get into this video will be in the links down below with a lot of attack from mars games out in the world and only 300 of these toppers being available are you going to be one of those let me know in the comment section down below and until next time guys peace out Thanks for watching!