PINBALL COLLECTION DVD SET


Article by Chris Williams (a.k.a. Poibug)

Step back in time a few weeks, and I see a post on R.G.P. by Chris Bucci, stating he will sell his “online” series as a 3-piece DVD.

The cost isn't much.  For me, being in the UK, it's only about £11 including delivery, 10 bucks plus delivery in the 'States.

Bargain!  A 'no-brainer', I thought.  It's not like it's going to break the bank.

Like most pinheads, I have a bit of a fascination/obsession with most things related to the silver ball, so buy many of these kinds of DVDs, such as Pinrepair, Pinball 101, Pins and Vids, Tilt!, etc.  Plus, I feel as though I'm helping the hobby in a small way by buying things like this.  After all, if no one bought any of them, I doubt others would do similar things.

I have seen some of the Chris Bucci series and found them enjoyable and informative. In fact, after playing a few games of Family Guy, his feature on the pin well over a year ago helped me to decide to get one (which I did, from the Editor of Pinball News!  : )

So what do you get for your money?

  • One cover/case
  • Three discs
  • Your own individual serial number.  Mine was #109
  Chris Bucci's My Pinball Collection DVD set
Chris Bucci's My Pinball Collection DVD set

The track listing is as follows.

Disc 1:
  • The Addams Family
  • Medieval Madness
  • Earthshaker
  • Fish Tales
  • Johnny Mnemonic
  • The Shadow
  • Whirlwind
  • Safe Cracker
  • Scared Stiff

Disc 2:
  • Terminator 3
  • No Good Gofers
  • Out-take Part One
  • Taxi
  • High Speed 2 - The Getaway
  • Whitewater
  • Funhouse

Disc 3
  • Misc Final Episode
  • Out-takes Part Two
  • The Pinball Party
  • Family Guy
  • Big Bang Bar

Plus a few 'easter eggs', but I’ll leave you to find them : )

The different features were recorded over a number of years - all the way back to when Chris was a young teenager, with VHS footage of Chris and friends playing pins in various places around town, right up to the modern day.

The overriding thing you see in each part of the content is Chris’s passion for pinball, which, to me at least, helps make the DVDs more enjoyable to watch. Much like at a music gig; if the band are enjoying themselves, it tends to filter through to the crowd.

Chris goes through each of the listed games, basically offering his own overview and showing some of the features and rules of the game, but also offering snippets of his own history with the game, such as when he got it, teardown pictures, memories of game, and the good and bad bits of his own machine, all of which help to personalise it.

This to to me makes it more appealing than just a 'normal' pinball review, although others may prefer a straight review – I guess it’s all down to personal taste.

Whilst  production values are obviously not mega high-tech, it is certainly not ultra lo-fi either. Camera angles and quality are all fine, so a more-than-acceptable job is done of that.

You also have the option to either hear the audio commentaries or to watch each feature with just music and no voice. Quite why this is done is beyond me, as it seems kind of pointless unless you just want to hear the music! Sometimes the music ends before the end of the commentary, so you get a few mintutes of silence with just the video present.

Incidently, if you do want to play each feature with music only, just click on the “note” symbol next to each feature.

The out-takes are also amusing (sump pump!) and worth watching.

So, overall it’s a good DVD set and is definitely worth the money, as it is sooooo cheap.

Well done.  Thumbs up!


Editor's note:  At the time of writing there are just a couple of copies of the DVD set from the initial run remaining to purchase.  Once these have been sold, a waiting list will be created and Chris may decide to re-run the collection for those on the list.  Check out Chris's website for more details.


Back to the Learn page Like this page? Share it with your Facebook friends:
Back to the front page

© Pinball News 2011