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Whoa Nellie! Big Juicy Melons $6,499

Nedreud

Nedreud

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Joined
Feb 12, 2013
Messages
3,092
Location
Aldershot, UK
As posted by Pinball News (no way I'm stealing his thunder ;)) Stern have announced that Whoa Nellie! Big Juicy Melons, designed by pinball veterans Dennis Norman and Greg Freres is available to buy:
https://www.facebook.com/sternpinball/posts/10153146355239244

WNBJM.jpg

Unfortunately the official Stern website page is throwing a .Net error, but eventually it'll be here: http://www.sternpinball.com/games/whoa-nellie/whoa

With recent discussions about independent pinball projects (Predator, Big Lebowski, etc.) I find it very interesting that it still took two legends of pinball since 2009 to bring this to fruition. Imagine how many people they know in the business, how many people would place their trust in such well-known names, yet it still took 6 years from start to finish.

I think this is an awesome project. I love the version with the crate base! Hope one makes it's way to the UK so I can play it one day. Nice to see a return to fun, an original theme and classic pinball gameplay. I hope it does well.
 
Woah! Nellie's not getting a lot of love here so far :( It's based on an old EM but uses Stern's new controller. Has 10 tracks of music plus loads of speech and sounds. Although it only has a single score reel it's 4-player. I really like the art ;) and it's such a refreshing changed to see something original that isn't a TV series, film, franchise or rock band.

C'mon guys! It's got a gorgeous girl with fantastic melons! Literally!!! :p
 
I think it looks great - expect it will play well (Nordman) and like that they've tried something different. 5k great though? Don't think so.
 
Released about an hour ago on the official Stern YouTube channel, the first WNBJM off the production line.


Have to admit the first couple of balls don't exactly excite but it has just been built and the guy's probably never played it before!
 
Wow......... it's , er, well, a pinball machine. It isn't an em, some sort of hybrid really.
Decent, dialled in em's are just sooooooo much better.
Ok, it's different but really? Really?
 
It's not quite my cup of tea either and I'm more old school than most (generally SS rather than EM) but I am impressed that that they actually got their sh*t together, designed a game and got it into production. The IP is original and theirs alone so no back and forth with licensing unlike several other bespoke pins. I love that it's a nod back to the golden age of pinball with cool artwork instead of photoshop graphics designed by a committee. If, and that is a super-massive hypothetical IF, but if I had $6,500 I'd easily buy this over Wrestlemania, Mustang or The Walking Dead.
 
It better have a wizard more. A 3rd big juicy melon, like in Total Recall.

But seriously, it's great to see sexual euphamism being used to sell luxury products in the pinball world. What will they come up with next...
 
It's really hard to imagine how they come to that price, no ramps, no multi-level playfield, no expensive motorised toys, magnets or cannons. Just a flat playfield, with pop bumpers, slings and 2 flippers. Unless the score reels add about 3k to price o_O
 
kevlar said:
It's really hard to imagine how they come to that price, no ramps, no multi-level playfield, no expensive motorised toys, magnets or cannons. Just a flat playfield, with pop bumpers, slings and 2 flippers. Unless the score reels add about 3k to price o_O
Click to expand...

It's very easy actually. The designers want their wad of cash (say 1k each), the parts suppliers want their wad of cash (say 1k), the manufacturers want their wad of cash (say 2.5k), the remaining 2k is profit to make it worth while doing the venture in the first place (which in this case goes to the designers) probably straight in to their pension pot...

I think there's enough collectors AND investors out there (worldwide) that will buy it.
 
The official Stern page has finally been fixed. Just noticed that the "crate" version isn't like an
LE or PRO version, it's standard but you also get a standard set of legs too! And you even get crushed WNBJM cans to prop to cabinet up at th right angle as shown in the image! That's a bit mental.
 
I can see what they are trying to do - nostalgia fest/ reliable simplicity etc but this thing is a fail IMHO
 
Not for me, I am a ramp man.
Plus the theme is too much of a middle age male cliche.
 
I don't get this fascination with drawings of sexy things, we are not school boys, if we want to see female body parts we can probably get to see them live rather than use our imagination whilst playing pinball.
 
Calimori said:
I don't get this fascination with drawings of sexy things, we are not school boys, if we want to see female body parts we can probably get to see them live rather than use our imagination whilst playing pinball.
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I think it's an outdated theme too.
 
JT. said:
I think it's an outdated theme too.
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Probably. It's clearly a nostalgic rehash. But looking at recent pins themes of zombies, rock bands, muscle cars, muscly men, aliens, robots and super-heroes aren't exactly breaking any stereotypical male-targeted marketing moulds :p
 
Nedreud said:
zombies, rock bands, muscle cars, muscly men, aliens, robots and super-heroes aren't exactly breaking any stereotypical male-targeted marketing moulds
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Scantily clad women. That's whats missing from the list... BBB was close... surely they are missing a trick here...

(and I'm starting to sound like @cooldan now.. oh man...) :D
 
I played the King of Diamonds remake at Pinball Hall Of Fame and thought that was pretty cool, but that was much cheaper when it was new in 2010. $6.5K (of £6.5K+ once you add rip-off Britain concessions is far too much)
 
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