Dutch Pinball's The Big Lebowski

EDIT. Not a huge shock but the hammer dropped on the video and now it's been claimed and can't be viewed in the US now. I may upload the video again with another narration but until then check out the impressions video.

Special Video Disclaimer, you may want to watch first. ----> TBL Disclaimer

Sorry to say this again, but just to let you know if you didn't watch the video disclaimer I linked above, I just want to let everybody know that I had no idea about the hostility going on over on Pinside about the game. I only found out about the whole controversy while I was on my way home via a private message on the Arcade Hunters Facebook page from a concerned fan who had pre-ordered the game wondering if I had heard anything. I know there's going to be a lot coming out of this and I'll try my best to stay on top to let you know.

This past weekend at Modern Pinball NYC they hosted a special pre-launch party event for Dutch Pinball's upcoming game, The Big Lebowski. The game had been rumored for a few months and they unveiled it at a special event in The Netherlands. The team then brought over three prototype machines to the annual Pinball Expo in Chicago where it got rave reviews and finally this weekend they brought two of the games with them for everybody to play as part of a special launch.

As the display says the game's code is a "Pre-Alpha" which means there's no modes in the game yet. While you can shoot all of the lanes and shoot the moving rug back in order to open the shot you can't start anything. There is three things you can do. There's a multiball mode for The Dude that works like Whitewater or Cirqus Voltire, where you shoot the two targets on the side and then you can shoot the ball up the ramp in order to lock it. The mini playfield on the top right has the bowling ally you can do a secret skill shot and it will also uncover the car bash target you can hit to score points. The final and most important thing on the prototype is the mini Brunswick bowling ally that you can roll another pinball down to score some points. It's really nice, I liked how they used warmer LED's in the mini playfield to give it an old worn look to it like the bowling ally was in the movie.

Some people online where worried due to some videos of air-balls and the games breaking down. I guess they missed the part of the machines being PROTOTYPES. Some of the team members told me it was really important that they had people play the game so they could see where they needed to fix some flaws before the game goes into production. The upper playfield had a lot of issues at the Pinball Expo in Chicago but they said they worked on a fix and for the most part, while I was there it worked fine. I have one air ball hit the plastic bowling ball return they have over the left return ramp, but it was quickly fixed.

Overall I look forward to seeing what the team is going to do with this. I'm very pleased with how the past few years have been shaping up for pinball as a whole. A lot of people where unhappy that Stern was the only game in town, now with Dutch Pinball, Highway Pinball, Spooky Pinball and all of the other independent guys popping up, the future looks bright. As they say, competition breads excellence and with more companies getting out there and trying to top one another can only mean better games for collectors, operators and players alike!