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Pinball Magazines

  • Thread starter Thread starter ChrisK
  • Start date Start date
C

ChrisK

Can anyone let me know if there are any UK based Pinball Magazines or any other pinball member subscriptions. (UK or Overseas)?

I already know of: Pinball News, Pingame Journal (Overseas).

Today I got notification that my Pinball Wizard magazine subscription was cancelled, several hours later a refund in payment for my annual subscription which I had paid in March 2016, with a covering note that read:
"Sorry we can no longer carry on with the magazine for a number of reasons, thank you for your long-standing support and your understanding in this, we have refunded your subscription".

So sadly it would seem Pinball Wizard (UK publication) have stopped producing the magazine, this is a sad day as I do love reading the magazine and all the news/private ads/restoration articles and other editorial that was in the magazine. Does anyone else here subscribe to Pinball Wizard magazine? One thing I have no knowledge of is the reader membership numbers.
 
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Oops - I meant to list that one, I bought #2 then #3, then waited for the reprint of #1 - love the magazine (almost a book!) - Looking forward now to getting #4 :):clap:
Thanks for the reminder though! - I even bought the 'PINBALL - Santiago Ciuffo" book - which is also great!

Also got all the Marco Rossignoli pinball books, which are also fascinating and well worth getting!
 
ChrisK said:
So sadly it would seem Pinball Wizard (UK publication) have stopped producing the magazine, this is a sad day as I do love reading the magazine and all the news/private ads/restoration articles and other editorial that was in the magazine. Does anyone else here subscribe to Pinball Wizard magazine? One thing I have no knowledge of is the reader membership numbers.
Click to expand...

So is that finally the end of anything still linked back to the old Pinball Owners Association?

Sad if so, it was invaluable to be a member back in the pre t'internet days......
 
Hi Andy

I assume so, I remember David Blake as the original secretary for spares and the magazine, I think I even have a few copies of that about somewhere.;)
The magazine was published as "Pinball Wizard" but trading as "Pinball Owners Association", it didn't sell spares or any parts, but was purely the magazine, although spares are readily available via loads of different sources and locations.

I am only basing this on the notification from Paypal (as I have a regular payment subscription to Pinball Wizard each March) to the magazines cancellation, I received a notification from Paypal about 3pm to notify me of my payment agreement cancellation, and then a refund of my payment from March 2016 with the above note several hours later. :(
I know that running a magazine depends on contributions from members - of which I admit I could have contributed something, although mine would be purely text and no images, plus when the Pinball Wizard magazine was launched it was in full colour which obviously must have some impact on printing costs. It was advertised as 4 issues p.a. however in the last year it was struggling to meet those targets and deadlines. I would be happy to continue to pay (maybe a lesser amount?) if the magazine continued to thrive but on a twice a year circulation, I totally understand that collating and editing the magazine takes up a lot of time and resources, so I do understand that other commitments and day to day life and things can impact on producing it. The last issue I received was the Winter 2015 edition, and on chatting to another subscriber he was sure we did not get that issue until early 2016, as far as I know there have been no editions since then, there was also no indication in that issue of any news about the magazine no longer being produced. The website which processes new subscriptions is currently still active and allowing new members to join, I will await to see if I hear any other news.
 
In the POA days I edited the magazine for a year in 1988. This was in the days of letraset and having to physically stick together the pages before sending it off to the printers.....makes me sound very old but I have to point out I was still at school at the time! :)

I have a fond memories of Pinball Player / Pinball Wizard, though I have to admit I let my membership / subscription lapse a fair few years ago now.
 
I am sure I will find your name in the pages of Pinball Player. :) I stayed with Pinball Wizard, as I love the magazine and love the read each time it drops through my mail box, I even look forward to it arriving, although if it is true that Pinball Wizard has stopped, then I suppose there is a market for another UK Pinball Magazine, however would the cost justify the work involved? and would it be practical to relaunch it / set up a new one with all the web based forums, web sites that now cover the topic?

I just tried the subscribe button on their magazine web site, and it is generating this message:
'PayPal cannot process this transaction because of a problem with the seller's website. Please contact the seller directly to resolve this problem.'
www.paypalobjects.com_en_US_i_scr_pixel.gif
so it looks like the paypal functionality to subscribe is not working, which does seem to confirm that it is not possible to become a member.
 
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I have heard confirmation from Martin Ayub (Pinball News) who contacted Sean, that the magazine is indeed closing/closed and this is the reason why the subscription was refunded.

It would be good for another paper based magazine to surface - although I do understand the time and effort it takes to edit and produce, and if I had the tools, printing and time available I would even try myself, I do love the web sites that host news and updates as well, plus Pingame Journal and Pinball Magazine (which I support and buy).
 
ChrisK said:
Hi Andy

I assume so, I remember David Blake as the original secretary for spares and the magazine, I think I even have a few copies of that about somewhere.;)
The magazine was published as "Pinball Wizard" but trading as "Pinball Owners Association", it didn't sell spares or any parts, but was purely the magazine, although spares are readily available via loads of different sources and locations.

I am only basing this on the notification from Paypal (as I have a regular payment subscription to Pinball Wizard each March) to the magazines cancellation, I received a notification from Paypal about 3pm to notify me of my payment agreement cancellation, and then a refund of my payment from March 2016 with the above note several hours later. :(
I know that running a magazine depends on contributions from members - of which I admit I could have contributed something, although mine would be purely text and no images, plus when the Pinball Wizard magazine was launched it was in full colour which obviously must have some impact on printing costs. It was advertised as 4 issues p.a. however in the last year it was struggling to meet those targets and deadlines. I would be happy to continue to pay (maybe a lesser amount?) if the magazine continued to thrive but on a twice a year circulation, I totally understand that collating and editing the magazine takes up a lot of time and resources, so I do understand that other commitments and day to day life and things can impact on producing it. The last issue I received was the Winter 2015 edition, and on chatting to another subscriber he was sure we did not get that issue until early 2016, as far as I know there have been no editions since then, there was also no indication in that issue of any news about the magazine no longer being produced. The website which processes new subscriptions is currently still active and allowing new members to join, I will await to see if I hear any other news.
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yep,the winter 2015 was the last one i received from the subscription too.
 
johng2611 said:
yep,the winter 2015 was the last one i received from the subscription too.
Click to expand...
Sad to hear it's finished. I edited the magazine from 1983 to 1986. When I started, I had to produce all the copy myself on a typewriter and there was no budget for printing, so we photocopied 250 for each of the first few issues, then managed to get it printed as we started getting more members again. I may still have the original documents somewhere so probably much better copies could be made now. I do have every issue from the start of the POA until I finished doing the magazine and when I get time, I will scan them all
 
timsharp03 said:
Sad to hear it's finished. I edited the magazine from 1983 to 1986....
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I edited the magazine in 1988 - yep it was printed by then, I remember lots of typing, letraset and pritstick laying out the pages to send to the printers. Each pair of pages was laid on A3 and it was vital to get the pairings the right way round....page 20 & 1, 2 & 19, 18 & 3, 4 & 17 and so on.

Bob Thompson took over from me. I can't remember the print run though, maybe 500 per issue?
 
JT. said:
@Paul could this go in the media section, or somewhere else? Are there any implications for storage?
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Thanks @JT.
We are really tight on storage at the moment (Waiting to get some capacity back around july when V2.3. of the form software is formally released and WEBP images come into play, hence why a little reserved about getting some more storage and then not needing it going forwards. However, i do agree that this is something that, whilst it isnt likely to be accessed reguarly, it is important for the archives. There is another option i have up my sleeve that i could use which is already part of the software, but that again would depend on storage....

@timsharp03 - is there any chance that I may be able to obtain a copy of these please so i can work out the best way of integration?

Thanks
Paul
 
I would have thought something like a free gmail or Live/Hotmail account would be best for storage away from the site as both can be setup to share files via a public link, and google drive also allows people to take a copy into their own google drives as well, and the only cost to the site would be the management of another account.
 
Fantazia2 said:
I would have thought something like a free gmail or Live/Hotmail account would be best for storage away from the site as both can be setup to share files via a public link, and google drive also allows people to take a copy into their own google drives as well, and the only cost to the site would be the management of another account.
Click to expand...
That's getting dangerously close to volunteering to do it Chris ;)
 
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