I’ve installed a couple of new mods on Twilight Zone: the Masudaya “Robby the Robot” and the Camera Mod.
I’ve been after the Masudaya Robby for quite some time. I’d even considered creating the mod myself, but I could never source the right model. In the end, I finally went for it and bought both mods fully completed from Mezel Mods.
They’re two brilliant additions which have connections to the original TV series.
The camera is, of course, inspired by the episode A Most Unusual Camera, in which a seemingly ordinary camera takes photographs showing events a few minutes into the future. It’s also represented in the game by the Camera shot, which reveals your award before you collect it.
Robby the Robot—originally made famous by the film Forbidden Planet—appeared in several episodes of The Twilight Zone, most notably Uncle Simon and The Brain Center at Whipple’s. He can already be spotted in the machine’s playfield artwork and animations, so adding the model brings that reference to life.
Both mods are illuminated and look fantastic on the playfield. Two really iconic additions that feel completely at home on one of the most brilliantly themed pinball machines ever made.
Today I installed a few new mods on my Stern Jurassic Park, all from Mezel Mods:
Raptor Pen mod
Barbasol Can mod
10,000 Volts sign set
I’ve taken my time deciding what to add, as I wanted everything to look like it had always been part of the game—almost factory-fitted if you didn’t know otherwise. I absolutely love this pinball machine, so I really didn’t want to go overboard or clutter up the playfield with too many extras. For me, mods should enhance the theme without taking attention away from the game itself.
I’m really happy with how these have turned out. They add some lovely extra detail and bring a few familiar Jurassic Park elements to the playfield, while still keeping everything looking clean and not too over-the-top.
Exactly the look I was going for. Great work from Mezel Mods!
This year was our third UK Pinfest, Luke and I were there from Thursday through to Monday, but this year we decided to do something a little different — we took two of our own pinball machines with us: World Cup Soccer and Lethal Weapon 3.
It was the first time we’d ever taken machines to an event. In fact, it was the first time I’d ever transported a pinball machine anywhere! We hired a van, loaded up the two pins and headed to Pinfest, feeling excited but also slightly nervous about whether they would survive the journey and a full weekend of constant play.
When we arrived at the event, we had some much-needed help unloading the machines, which was an absolute lifesaver and massively appreciated!
Our machines at Pinfest
Both machines held up brilliantly and seemed really popular. They were switched on from 10am until midnight, and nearly every time I walked past, somebody was playing them. It was especially funny hearing groups getting completely carried away with the matches on World Cup Soccer. There were some truly epic footy battles taking place throughout the weekend! ⚽️
On Sunday morning, WCS developed a problem with its ramp diverter sticking. Paul and I had a go at fixing it and managed to improve it a little, but with so many members of the public playing the machine, it needed to be right.
We submitted a repair ticket, and one of the brilliant Pinfest engineers came over and sorted it for us. The machine was down for around 60 minutes, but as soon as it came back online, people jumped straight onto it again. Apart from that short spell, WCS ran throughout the event without any further problems. Lethal Weapon 3 was an absolute workhorse and played all weekend without missing a beat!
Watching so many people enjoying our machines was a brilliant feeling and made all the effort of transporting them completely worthwhile.
Taking part in the competitions
As well as playing all the machines on the main show floor, Luke and I entered both the Classics Competition and the Open Competition. We did okay and even managed to pick up some IFPA points — International Flipper Pinball Association ranking points — so we were both really pleased with that!
Luke also volunteered to help with the Classics Competition and completed several scoring slots. I was really proud of him, especially when he volunteered to do even more to help out.
So many great games
There was an awesome selection of machines at Pinfest this year. Pinball Heaven and Retro brought along loads of the latest games, including Transformers, Pokémon, Sonic, Harry Potter and Bon Jovi.
There was also Beetlejuice and the new Star Wars machine, alongside a huge selection of older games and classics. There was always something different to discover or another machine demanding “just one more game.”
For the first time, lots of the Stern machines were also online through Insider Connected. It was brilliant being able to log in and have our games recorded while playing at the event. It seemed to be a massive success and was really popular throughout the weekend. Seeing so many connected machines together added something extra to the experience and made the whole event feel even more interactive.
Luke’s top three games of the weekend were:
Pokémon
Rollergames — which Paul ended up buying!
Bally’s Night Rider
My favourites were:
The Shadow — there was an amazing example on the show floor, and it played better than any Shadow I’ve ever played.
Pokémon — mainly because Luke and I played it together so much.
Alien Star — a machine I’d never seen or played before. I discovered it during the Sunday-night after-hours session and absolutely loved it.
Total Nuclear Annihilation, it was set up in its own tent, which made the whole experience even better. With the lighting, music and incredible sound, you could really get into the zone and become completely immersed in the game. Watching Luke battle his way to multiball was great fun! ☢️
Andy B joined us on Sunday afternoon, and we had a good wander around the show floor together, playing plenty of machines along the way.
The people make Pinfest
As much as we loved playing the machines, the best part of the whole weekend was the people.
It was brilliant catching up with so many friends from the pinball community. We had loads of great chats, shared plenty of laughs and spent far too much time talking about machines, repairs, new releases and everything else pinball-related!
We also met lots of new people throughout the weekend. Whether we were playing together, chatting beside a machine, helping each other out or just having a drink, everyone was so friendly.
The after-hours sessions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights were some of my favourite parts of the event. The atmosphere was fantastic, and it gave us even more time to play, relax and properly catch up with everyone.
There was lots of flipping, drinking and laughing, but it was those conversations, catch-ups and new friendships that really made the weekend special.
The machines are obviously a massive part of Pinfest, but it’s the people and the community around them that make us want to keep coming back.
I finally bought a Jaws!
I also managed to pick up some cool pinball gear over the weekend…and treated myself to something slightly bigger! After thinking about it for a long time, I finally pulled the trigger on a Jaws Premium. I collected it after the show, loaded it into the van and brought it home with us.
I’m really happy with it. Jaws is an awesome game, and the particular machine I bought is so nicely dialled in. It plays brilliantly and was definitely a fantastic way to finish the weekend! 🦈
On Sunday night, Paul and Andy helped Luke and me load our pins back into the van. A massive thank you to them both — it was a big help and made the job so much easier after a long weekend!
We had an absolutely brilliant time and are already looking forward to UK Pinfest 2027! 😄
After spending the past two years sitting on the fence, I’ve finally pulled the trigger and bought one of my “must-have” pinball machines—a Jaws Premium!
I’ve always loved playing Jaws whenever I’ve come across one, but I deliberately held back from buying it because I already owned two machines designed by Keith Elwin. I thought it would be better to have more variety in my collection.
After giving it a lot more thought, though, I realised something quite simple: I like what I like—and I really like Keith Elwin’s games!
There are plenty of machines by other designers that I enjoy playing, but for me, they just don’t have quite the same feel or level of fun as an Elwin design.
That left me trying to choose between Jaws and King Kong. For the two weeks leading up to UK Pinfest, I kept going backwards and forwards and simply couldn’t decide between them. I went to Pinfest determined that I would come home having chosen one.
Thankfully, the pinball gods were smiling down on me!
Chris B had an absolutely stunning Jaws Premium for sale, and it was just too good an opportunity to miss. The machine is in amazing condition and plays incredibly well—it is completely dialled in. I’m not sure I’ve ever played another Jaws that feels as good as this one.
It also came with some brilliant upgrades, including mirrored backglass, powder-coated armour, Stern Expression Lighting and upgraded speakers.
It’s just… WOW!
I feel incredibly lucky to own it, especially as it’s a machine that both Luke and I really enjoy. I think this one is going to get played a lot!
Paul did manage to put a high score on it while it was at Pinfest, though—so my first mission is to blow that score off the board! 🙂
While enjoying a break in Northumberland with Kat and Solo—with plenty of dog walks and castles along the way—I took a trip to Sunderland on Thursday evening to meet up with Paul and visit SpaceBar Cocktails & Arcade.
What a place! All the machines were in top condition and clearly very well looked after. They have a fantastic selection of arcade games, including both classics and newer releases, but we were there for the pinball—and a few pints of Guinness! 🍺
SpaceBar’s pinball lineup is all modern Stern machines, which was exactly what I fancied playing. It was also my first chance to play Stern’s new Pokémon machine, which made the visit even more exciting. I particularly wanted to spend more time on Jaws and King Kong, as I was trying to decide which one I wanted to add to my own collection.
We had a brilliant evening, played loads of pinball, drank some Guinness and enjoyed a great catch-up.
One of the things I really love about SpaceBar is that all its pinball machines are online through Stern Insider Connected. The live leaderboards are shown on a massive screen above the machines, which adds a little friendly competition and makes the whole experience even better.
An amazing venue, great machines, good Guinness and a cracking night with Paul. I’ll definitely be back!
Roger and Diane came to visit us, and we had a wonderful day and evening catching up over some great food and drinks.
Of course, we couldn’t let the visit pass without sneaking into the pinball room for an hour! Roger soon found himself getting into the pinball zone, and I think he was genuinely impressed by just how good modern pinball machines have become.
A brilliant catch-up, plenty of laughs and perhaps another pinball convert in the making! 🙂
Today I installed new art blades on both my Lethal Weapon 3 and World Cup Soccer pinball machines.
I used the Windowlene technique to fit them, which made it much easier to position the blades correctly and smooth everything down without getting bubbles or creases.
I’m still a little undecided about the final results, if I’m honest. I really like how the World Cup Soccer blades look and think they suit the machine nicely. With Lethal Weapon 3, though, I’m wondering whether mirrored blades might have been the better choice.
Either way, both are a big improvement over looking at the plain painted wood inside the cabinets!
What a weekend! UKPinfest 2025 with Luke was an absolute blast—non-stop laughs, brilliant people, incredible pinball machines, and (maybe just a little too much) alcohol. Couldn’t have loved it more Didn’t exactly light up the leaderboards in either the Open or Classics comps, but loved every second of giving it a go! We’ve really got to stop picking machines we’ve never touched before mid-competition—it’s way too tempting to try them out on the fly. Still, nothing beats flipping on something new!
Had a blast hanging out with AsiaPinball—seriously need to steal some of his flipper skills! Huge respect to everyone who puts the graft in to make this event happen. It was brilliant meeting so many faces. Pretty sure I met a few people twice for the first time thanks to the IPA haze 😅. Scariest moment? When the bar ran out of IPA… thank the pinball gods Guinness was there to save the day!
Gameplay highlights for me: I kept gravitating back to Shadow, Black Knight, and Walking Dead—such flow and fun. Biggest surprises? Aliens, Hobbit, TOTAN, and Baywatch all turned out to be absolute crackers. And TNA… wow. That game is pure chaos, loud, brutal, and completely addictive. Loved the setup.
On the flip side, Blues Brothers was the true ‘what the hell?’ of the show—just didn’t click at all.New titles were strong across the board, but if I had to crown one, it’d be Dune (though I didn’t get nearly enough flips on it). Luke’s picks were Evil Dead, TNA, and Hobbit—solid choices! and rum and coke :-)
And the biggest shocker of the weekend? Not the fancy dress… 😀 but the food! Paul’s pub suggestion was spot on, and the Italian gem Alan & Clare uncovered was an absolute belter.
