The Walking Dead – Code Update 1.24 and June Location Challenge

Stern Pinball’s The Walking Dead pinball is operated by Games People Play at the Bailey’s on West Broad Street here in Richmond.  Stern has been working on getting the code updated from the barebones code that was included with the original release.  Once the most recent code, version 1.24 was released, Games People Play was quick to get to the location and get the code updated.

To celebrate the new code release, The Walking Dead is the machine for the June location challenge.  To participate in the location challenge, take a photograph of your high score on The Walking Dead during June and post it on the RVAPinball Facebook page.  The high scorer for the month will receive a $25 gift card for Bailey’s.

Here is some gameplay video from the Bailey’s location.  The first update you notice in version 1.24 is the siren that goes off when the machine is warning you about a tilt hit.

Below the video is the full list of updates included in code 1.24 for The Walking Dead.

V1.24 - May 22, 2015
Added first pass HORDE wizard mode.
Horde "timers off" function modified to not include ball location
(pop bumpers).
HORDE is now lit by starting all of the multi-kill modes.
Reworked the HORDE rule so it is started by shooting the woodbury shot,
instead of automatically when the last multi-kill is started.
HORDE walkers are present on each shot -- left loop, left ramp, center
lane, right loop, and right ramp.  Each walker has a distance from the
player, 1-5.  Distance is shown in playfield lamp state on each shot
(the number of lights lit, except for #5, for which there is no light),
and in the display.  Walkers advance towards the player, and the player
can kill the walkers by shooting the appropriate shots.  Killing a HORDE
walker at distance = 1 scores 20% of the multi-kill value the player
brought with them to start HORDE.  Killing a HORDE walker at distance
5 scores 100% of the multi-kill value the player brought with them to
start HORDE.  HORDE ends when a walker advances past level 5 and bites
the player.  The flippers will turn off and any balls on the playfield
will be collected.
HORDE starts as a 2-ball and can be built up to 4-ball via add-a-ball
each time a level is cleared.  The first level requires 3 walker kills.
The second level requires 4 walker kills, etc.
Changed the rendering for the HORDE walkers.  If a HORDE walker is
advanced up to a distance where there are neighboring (adjacent) walkers
at the same distance, then the newly advanced walker is rendered before
(on top) of the adjacent walkers.
Changed the rendering for the HORDE walkers.  Walkers that are closer
to the player are rendered before walkers that are farther away from the
Horde scoring now incorporates previous multi-kill mode scores.
When horde is lit, it now leaves all of the multi-kill shots alone,
so the player can continue to score points from them.  When horde is
started, the multi-kill shots are reset.
Added the right ramp dome flasher to the horde ready background
lamp effect.
Fish tank heads now show for most lamp effects.
Fish tank head collected and fish tank completed priorities were too
high.  This has been corrected.
Changed display effect sequence processing to keep low-priority display
effects from displaying a quick frame before a higher priority effect
takes over.
Added head impact sounds to the TUNNEL mode award animations.
Added gunshot sounds to the BARN mode award animations.
Prison doors diverter test was opening the doors on (-) and closing
them on (+).  This has been swapped.
Previous multi-kill scores are now saved for each player when the
multi-kill modes are reset at the start of HORDE.  This way, score
progress for multi-kill only ever increases throughout the game as
each new multi-kill is started.  (Carry-over behavior is controlled
by an adjustment -- i.e. this can be turned off).
Generic walker kills (which light the return lane X feature) disabled
during HORDE (it interferes with the lamps that display the HORDE
walker progress).  The X lane WILL score properly during HORDE, but
there is no way to relight it once it has been used.
Shortened the match animation.  Re-synced music.
Cleaned up multi-kill animations, added sounds, added light shows.
Removed unused background effect.  Changed speech.  Made the intensity
of the speech reflect the scores being awarded.
Added lamp effects for BARN/CDC/RIOT/TUNNEL/ARENA mode totals.
Reworked the post super jackpot stage for prison multiball (victory
laps).  Because it's not much fun starting over from the beginning.
Implemented a better victory lap stage for well multiball.
Implemented well multiball state carryover from multiball to
multiball.  Got rid of fixed well multiball super jackpot (this is
cumulative now).
Added settings for prison/well multiball state carryover from
multiball to multiball.  Added a victory lap stage to prison multiball
that allows shot looping (left ramp, right ramp) with increasing values
for the remainder of the multiball.  The victory lap shots also count
prison walker kills for lighting SIEGE.
Lowered max. well walker hits to 9.  Added hit count left for well
walker multiball start.
Added a lamp effects the well walker.
Default # of spotted prison letters to open the prison doors for
bashing the prison walker head has been increased from 4 to 5.
Prison targets are now always allowed (as they were before, but a
dependency has been removed) such that if +X prison cannot be awarded,
the targets will still light the tower jackpot and light the 2X
playfield values.
Made a short version of the well hit sound that doesn't take so long
to finish up.  The short version is used for WELL letters 1-3, and the
long version is used for the last letter.
Added infrastructure for scoring with previous modes played.
Reworked scoring for tunnel mode.
Removed "prison letters qualify" nonsense, as this proved to be too
difficult and confusing, even for seasoned players.
Added a setting for blood bath multiball add-a-ball autofire time.
Blood bath multiball is some work to get, and should have a somewhat
reasonably long autofire time.  The add-a-ball, however, is relatively
easy to get, and should have a shorter autofire time.  Otherwise, we
are going to spend all day playing blood bath multiball.
Added speech limiter to CDC mode.  Some shots can be made repeatedly
(i.e. - the left ramp) and there was too much speech.
Fixed the priorities for blood bath multiball and crossbow multiball.
These were lower than the modes.
Added art to multi-kill totals.
Added speech for supplies.  Speech for specific, more valuable awards
(modes lit, blood bath lit, crossbow lit, etc.) have priority.  Added
art for first aid, weapons, and food.  Supplies are rendered in the
lower left corner of the left target bank display (this provides more
space for text).  Changed left target bank completed text so everything
fits more cleanly on the display.  Added lamp effects for collecting
supplies, lighting modes, and lighting blood bath multiball.
Removed "advance prison" from the set of woodbury skill shot awards.
Despite there being multiple animations for weapons and food, only one
was being used for each.  This has been corrected.
Reworked the generic walker kill speech such that the requested speech
is more appropriate for the type of generic walker kill animation that
is played.
Added new adjustments for multi-kill, to make some of the requirements
easier.  This still needs tweaking.
Added bonus score for killing all 115 zombies.
Reworked generic zombie kills.  Changed scoring so scores increase
with each new zombie killed.  Added a large score bonus for every 10
zombies killed.  2nd extra ball awarded once instead of multiple times.
Hooked in last man standing (light).  Added HSTD for last man standing.
Added missing sounds to generic walker kill animations.
Reworked the walker killed display effect to show a larger number
(like the type on the playfield) and the information more clearly.
Cleaned up score blinking, where the score would be missing from the
frame when the display effect would exit.
Added art to tunnel champion display in the attract mode.
Target bank adds more time to the BARN/CDC/RIOT/TUNNEL/ARENA modes.
Added a setting to clear woodbury lit count at ball start.  Added new
woodbury skill shot awards.
Added art to CDC attract mode HSTD display.
Added a setting to allow woodbury skill shots to stack -- i.e. more
than one good award may be lit at a time.
Return lanes now disabled when the shot multiplier is active or in
the grace period.  This keeps a new lane award (say, during multiball)
from stomping all over an existing (extended) multiplier.
Pop bumper jackpot, tunnel mode start, tunnel mode awards, and right
loop combos are now awarded from the full right loop, instead of the
right loop switch.
Reworked the shot multipliers and the shot multiplier HSTD total
sequence logic such that there can be continuation (i.e. left loop
switch -> left loop, center lane rollover -> center lane (tower)
standup target, right loop switch -> right loop), instead of the
sequence being killed after the first group of awards.
Fixed multi-kill total initialization problem that was causing the
total to display as garbage if no shots were made that ball.
Woodbury skill shot was allowed during blood bath multiball and
crossbow multiball.  This has been corrected.
Woodbury skill shot "active" has been added to the criteria for
"timers off".  Added "timers off" logic to the star rollovers, the
second shooter lane switch, and the top lane rollovers.
Cleaned up skill shot text (now uses game-specific fonts).  Cleaned
up blinking -- starts with the title/score on the screen, ends with
the title/score on the screen.
Changed multiball stacking.  Prison and well and crossbow are no
longer allowed together.  Blood bath is the only one allowed to stack
with something else.
Added a HSTD for the most walkers killed.
Cleaned up the pop bumper jackpot increased award display effect.
Fixed vertical spacing.  Jackpot value now updates dynamically each
render, instead of the value being passed as an argument and rendered
Well walker multiball -- Added more information to the background
display effect.  Switch hits were not being added to the well letter
value.  This has been corrected.  Fixed the adjustment for well
walker so it is not so brutal to start it a second time.  Fixed
well scoring (the values were adding an extra increment that they
should not have been).  Fixed post-super jackpot scoring.
Blood bath switch hit score goes up by 1K each time the drop target
bank is completed.  Blood bath lamp turned on solid when blood bath is
active.  Blood bath jackpot and super jackpot were not adding their
scored points to the total.  This has been corrected.  Blood bath
jackpot was not being added to the super jackpot when scored.  This
has been corrected.  Add-as-balls awarded for completing the bank and
collecting all of the supplies (controlled by adjustments).
Added instructions and transitions to multi-kill mode start display
Added sounds for game start start button and player added.  Removed
weak sounds from the skill shot background.
Added tilt warning and tilt sounds.
Added an adjustment to control how the multi-kill shot moves around
after it has been collected (RANDOM, LEFT-TO-RIGHT, RIGHT-TO-LEFT).
Competition mode installs the LEFT TO RIGHT setting.
Changed up multi-kill modes.  Scoring is based on the achievements
earned to start the modes.  Only one shot is ever lit, no matter how
many are started.  Each start indicates which shot should be lit, so
there will be a connection to the achievement and the shot lit.
(For example, completing bicycle girl lights the left ramp multi-kill
Changed multi-kill scoring to be based on the points scored during the
mode that started the multi-kill.
Fixed issues with the background music and display being updated/run at
the proper time.
Fixed up CDC scoring.  When the mode starts, the left ramp is the only
shot that is available and it may be looped any number of times to build
up the value and light additional shots on the playfield (red arrows).
Shooting one of the red arrow shots enables the left ramp for mode
completion (2 shots).  Completing the mode (1 left ramp shot, followed by
1 to 4 red arrow shots, followed by 2 left ramp shots) starts one of the
multi-kill modes (adjustable).
Cleaned up attract mode display effects for blood bath HSTD and bicycle
girl HSTD.
Added art for for the combo champion display in the attract mode.
Match speech was running past the end of the display effect.  This has
been corrected.
Fixed up shot multiplier X champion to record the scores for each
individual feature that contributes to the total.  Added logic to record
the X champion for HSTD.
Fixed modules that weren't multiplying their scores by the shot
multiplier.  This included combos and bicycle girl.
Added flipper button speech to the attract mode.
Reworked bonus so it counts up instead of counting down.  Reworked the
bonus effect to show the number of walker kills while the zombie pile
animation runs.  Added sounds and a lamp effect.  Added left/right side
pile based on the last walker killed.  The lamp effect shows the lights
in the order in which the walkers were killed.  Fixed bonus scoring so
it only scores for walkers killed.  This means it is possible to receive
no bonus if no walkers are killed.  If that is the case, then the bonus
effect will not run.
Food increases a shot multiplier for the well.  The multiplier is
awarded for any hit to the well (letter, well, well multiball), then
First Aid increases a shot multiplier for the prison.  The multiplier
is awarded for any hit to the prison (letter, prison, prison multiball,
siege), then reset.
Removed animals from the crossbow mode, per AMC request.
Art changed for skill shot walker.
Removed walker kills that AMC does not like (lawnmower, trident,
chainsaw attached to stump).
Added art/sounds for BARN mode.  Changed scoring.  Barn walker types
(6) now added to a history list.  When a walker is started the list is
checked and another walker is chosen if the walker has been started
recently.  Added sorted rendering based on priority so the barn walkers
show up on the correct layers.  Larger walkers move faster and are
rendered last.  Smaller walkers move slower and are rendered first.
Changed the barn walker kill selection algorithm to kill the walker
that is the farthest away from the barn.
Off-screen prison walkers were making sounds when it appeared that all
of the on-screen walkers had been killed.  This has been corrected.

Isley Brewing Co. Three Strike Tournament Recap

The results of both tournaments have been submitted to  I will update once they have been posted with the assigned WPPR points.

Thank you to everyone who participated.  We raised over $700 and have more to raise if we end up printing more shirts.  We need to have pre-orders of at least 13 to do another run. If you would like a shirt, please find the post-tournament t-shirt order thread on and post there with your size.  Once we go over 13 orders, we will send you a paypal invoice.

Main Tournament Results:

1. Bayless Rutherford
2. Andrew Pancoast
3. Rod Cordoba
4. Clark Fraley
5. Malik Berger
5. Scott Durfee
8. Michael Deaner
8. Jim Johns
8. Dan Purdy
8. Joe Cummins
12. Madmike Richardson
12. Nicholas Baldridge
12. Robert Brooks
12. Kevin Kuntz
16. Dave Keene
16. Mike Ogilvie
16. Trey Peterson
16. Raymond Fauber
21. Harry Stewart
21. Jeff McElhannon
21. Ryan Rose
21. Dave Weaver
21. Shane Russell
21. Dale Geiger
26. Katie Rosier
26. Jack McHale
26. Diane Gunter

Side Tournament Results

1. Malik Berger
2. Dale Gieger
3. Daniel Purdy
4. Raymond Fauber
5. Katie Rosier
6. Scott Durfee
7. Chris Booberg
8. Bayless Rutherford
9. Stephanie Lutz
10. Mike Ogilvie
11. Jason Elliott
12. Jeff McElhannon
13. Andrew Pancoast
14. Scott McIntyre
15. Michael Deaner
16. Kevin Kuntz
17. Rod Cordoba
18. John Hughes
19. Allen Fogloshe
20. Thomas Booberg
21. Ayla Russell
22. Zack Wish
23. Taylor Reese
24. Patrick McHugh
25. Michelle Vance

Isley Brewing Company Triple Strike Tournament

We had 26 players in the main and over 70 entries in the side tournament.  The response and the turn out was great!  Isley were great hosts and the member of River City Flippers worked very hard and donated lots of time to make this happen.

More to come on a longer post, but for now, enjoy this video of the quarterfinals on Iron Man with Rod Cordoba against eventual Champion Bayless Rutherford.

Allentown Pinfest

This past Friday, I made the trip to my second Allentown Pinfest.  It was a fantastic and well run show.

The main reason that I went to the show was to pick up an Evel Knievel machine that I had bought on pinside with the agreement that  I would pick it up at the show.  The machine was as described.  When I got it home, it fired right up and is working very well.  I’ve been wanting one for a while and it was good to bring this one home.

FullSizeRender (1)

There were hundreds of machines at the show and booths featuring various vendors.  I was most excited about the chance to play new machines that I had read about, but not been able to play.

The Big Lebowski from Dutch Pinball was the first machine I saw when I entered the exhibit hall.  The machine is running a very early version of the code and none of the modes could be activated.  The lower bowling lane playfield and the flip out car on the upper playfield were both working.  I was never able to get the ball into the lower playfield.  This turned out to be a good thing because the ball repeatedly got stuck in the lower playfield mechanic requiring a re-start of the machine.

The machine looks and plays very well.  The flippers are powerful and feel like later Bally/Williams flippers.  The playfield and cabinet art looks great and looks like it is made of high quality materials.  The sound system was very clear and loud with both music and call outs that sounded like they were clips from the movie.  The machine is expensive and we have to wait to see how the code turns out, but it was impressive.

Just down from The Big Lebowski was the Marco booth which had two of Stern Pinball’s Whoa Nellie Big Juicy Melons.  This machine was originally a kit that was used to convert an existing eletro-mechanical machine with new art.  There were only four copies of the original machine produced and playfields and back glasses were sold to collectors.  To the surprise of many, Stern Pinball decided to produce Whoa Nelly in volume.

The first thing that you notice is that it is propped up on a wooden crate instead of being supported on legs.  The machines also ship with legs for those who prefer legs.  The lockdown bar and side rails are also made of wood which gives it the machine a solid, smooth feeling as you play it.  The game had lots of call outs and nice bright LEDs and is much more fun than I expected.  The game has the 2″ inch flippers that were common on electro-mechanical machines and they increase the challenge of the game.  I enjoy EMs and this was a nice modern update that is really fun to play.  The price is way too high at this point, but it is fun.

More to come in the next post.

Isley Brewing Company Triple Strike Tournament 5/17

t-shirt-back-12 and River City Flippers are working to prepare for our first tournament in a public location.  This tournament is going to have privately owned machines moved into the Isley Brewing Company, a fantastic local brewery, that has generously agreed to host our tournament.  The tournament format is three strike Swiss Brackelope.  On the day of the tournament, you will be able to follow the tournament by going to and searching for Isley.

The tentative machine lineup is:  No Fear, Pinbot, F-14, Indy 500, Whirlwind, World Cup Soccer, Flash Gordon and Iron Man.