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Homepin - New pin announced on FB

Big Phil

Big Phil

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"Our new pinball machine that is all in Chinese and primarily aimed at the China market is very close to finished. For those re-posting this information please note "primarily" does NOT mean ONLY! "

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In the comments, someone says it's called Chinese Zombies. Not sure if they're joking or not.

How about an official post, @Homepin ?
 
Playfield looks a little bare 🤔😁

You can't have too many ghost themes. Good luck to them.
Imagine if they crack the Chinese Market. We will be able to buy Pinball tables from China for 1k in about 5years. Free delivery too 😂
 
I remember at Pinfest 2018 during his talk that a Chinese focused pinball was mentioned and was in the works by Homepin, nice to see it wasn't a lot of hot air!
 
Big Phil said:
In the comments, someone says it's called Chinese Zombies. Not sure if they're joking or not.
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Definitely not joking. The art is covered with Jiangshi - which are Chinese hopping zombies. Seriously - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiangshi

The fighting game enthusiasts amongst us (...okay I'm not aware of anyone here that is) would recognise these as being what the Darkstalkers character Hsien-Ko is modelled off. Maybe some people here would know if I mentioned she was in Super Puzzle Fighter? No idea...

On theme alone - as if the photo is letting us see anything else - I would love to give this one a go.
Wonder if they're going to pinch the Attack From Mars aliens design... or maybe the Scared Stiff spiders? They would all fit a treat.
Genuinely quite a savvy move to go for a relevant horror theme to try and crack into a new market. People generally are a lot more open to being bewildered when it's part of the 'package' of a spooky theme. Game did something inscrutable, ball moonwalked out of an outlane, that weird mechanical thing made noises? That loud bloody knocker? It's HAUNTED!! COOL!!
 
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It's good that Homepin are keeping the DMD manufacturers in business 😂 Best of luck to them, hopefully the Chinese will get hooked on pinball then start churning out their own insanely cheap machines and give Stern a run for their money
 
Pretty sure I've seen a kung Fu film with hopping zombies or vampires in [emoji3]

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 
hmmm.. Good old DMD ! The only manufacturer not using an LCD in 2019/20.

Art is just as bad as Thunderbirds. Technology is years old. JJP/Stern/American Pinball etc are all moving forward with technology. HomePin is not.

Think he would be better off sticking to making copy PCBs.

Really pushing the boat out 'announcing it on facebook'. Do not think any HomePins will make it to the UK again.

Nice find @Big Phil - bought a smile to my face.
 
Hello All,

Yes, this is one of the several Chinese themed pins we have been working on for some time now. It has ALWAYS been my opinion that the USA is very well catered for with pinball manufacturers and I have (and never had) any intention of going 'head to head' with any of them for market share.

It is said time and again (and I'm sick of hearing it WITHOUT the person realising the FULL story) "America is the LARGEST pinball market in the world". Yes, it is and I'm well aware f that BUT Homepin isn't interested in conquering the world sales for pinball - we are VERY happy selling 25~50 machines a month thankyou very much. We don't need the additional issues selling to super fussy 'collectors' that large volume sales would bring. There are also negative issues for foreign owned factories in China when your staff level reaches 50 people. I won't detail them here but suffice to say I'm going to make 100% certain we stay under that threshold of 50.

Something that 'IS' to Homepins advantage with this machine is we are based in China and therefore best placed to expand (actually CREATE!) a market for pinball here.

Other brands being sold in China are asking over RMB60K and for that money Chinese arcades have a LOT of choice and pinball doesn't rate highly on their radar. The current trade war doesn't help their position in China adding about 20% to an already stupidly high price.

We can come into the local market with a simpler machine that NEW players (IE - people who have never even seen a pinball machine) can understand and at half the price of the imports. Being made in China also helps us immensely sales wise, naturally we can also offer far superior service than any imported machines.

This first theme is based on a Chinese folklore story of Hopping Zombies. Back in ancient times the dead were carried to burial sites on bamboo poles and, from a distance, it appeared as though they were 'hopping' - hence the legend of hopping zombies was born. Chinese Zombies is much like an Aesop's fable in the West. It is used in lots of Chinese movies as well as overlapping into many Kung Fu stories.

Whilst it isn't a licenced theme it is well known by every Chinese person, much like Oktoberfest is in the West.

This is a basic game with all Chinese on the DMD, callouts, music and sounds along with a simple, colourful graphics package that appeals - NO GORE, blood and guts or 'horror' in this machine. We have actually duplicated almost everything in English as well and, depending on how things go, might build some English versions for export but they will certainly come after the Chinese release.

This is the FIRST pinball machine made in Chinese, built in China and specifically targeting the Chinese market (but NOT to the exclusion of other markets).

Cheers,

Mike
 
Good!

I hope you make the themes unapologetically chinese and not something that's been bastardised of what westerners think are chinese.

You must know from your local team that there are a million themes that can come from this perspective.

Everything from classic novelists eg: Condor Heroes, The Water Margin, The 10 Brothers etc etc...

Classic board games, table games etc.

Given your approach of simple/ entry level game design for the uninitiated market, I hope you can also try new and different ideas in styles of gameplay, maybe things that you don't see in traditional pinball. Strip away and go back to the classic pinball machines when pretty much anything goes rather than the established modern game where you must have X and Y features to appeal to the mass market. Experiment. I know it must be a massive financial undertaking and risk management every time you put out a new machine, but I hope you have the room to do a bit of R&D, a bit of focus testing (just a bit. :D) and make something that is uniquely yours.

Best of luck.
 
Pick Holder said:
hmmm.. Good old DMD ! The only manufacturer not using an LCD in 2019/20.

Art is just as bad as Thunderbirds. Technology is years old. JJP/Stern/American Pinball etc are all moving forward with technology. HomePin is not.

Think he would be better off sticking to making copy PCBs.

Really pushing the boat out 'announcing it on facebook'. Do not think any HomePins will make it to the UK again.

Nice find @Big Phil - bought a smile to my face.
Click to expand...

bit harsh! Give the guy a chance. Very easy to put him down from your sofa... themes look cool to me and we know games get better as they learn more on how to build them. Also another company steering away from node boards is only a good thing.
 
For those not following the Homepin Facebook page I will give a quick update here. Homepin has moved countries!

For some time now we have been discussing moving and a family issue prompted the final decision to move. We were aware of rumors coming from the Wuhan area as a couple of our staff had family there. The China virus actually didn't prompt our move other factors did such as the family issue mentioned as well as the steeply rising costs in China. It simply wasn't worth the effort to continue there. As it turned out we were exceptionally lucky that we made the decision to move BEFORE Chinese New Year to try and contain the moving costs as much as possible. We have managed to avoid most of the dramas with the virus although it has held up the shipping of our plant and parts.

Then the new journey began to set up company structures, bank accounts, import/export licences, buying a vehicle, find suitable premises and fit the place out. As I type this we are also doing the paperwork for customs clearance of our final container with pinball parts to clear them into Taiwan.

We hope to be up and running within the next month as things are very normal here in Taiwan, it is pretty much "things as usual" with nothing closed and no restrictions anywhere.

A couple of pictures with this post but those interested in keeping up we usually update the Facebook page with new info when we have something to share. Our contact emails remain the same - sales@homepin.com and support@homepin.com

We will have some updated pics of Ride The Wave and China Zombies pinball once all goods are here and we are back up and running.

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Cheers,

Mike
Homepin Taiwan Co. Ltd.
 
Mike - best of luck with the Big Move as well as Chinese Zombies. Hopefully the move will mean less hassle with the authorities and more time making pins ;)

Please, please stay away from LCDs and keep with DMDs - or maybe hark back a bit to alphanumerics or even score reels? Could be interesting... Anyway - enough keyboard based advice from me - looking forward to seeing the next update. Hope you don't miss DongGuan too much and the supply chains and partners are equally strong in Taiwan.
 
Best of luck at your new premises Mike, I managed to play a Thunderbirds a few months back and even though the theme doesn't do much for me I really enjoyed it, the game had some unique shots and just felt fun to play. Looked like a nice solidly built machine too.

Looking forward to seeing China Zombies some day too 👍
 
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