It is (an understatement to say) with great honor to have the opportunity to tell you (and indirectly the team if they read this): Thank You for making possibly one of the greatest Windows selling points ever, the inclusion of Space Cadet Pinball into its base offering.
SCP has had such a massive influence in my life up to the point of getting into the real world of pinball and becoming semi-professional (or the step prior as pro pinball doesn't exist in this part of the world, yet..).
I've been wanting to ask this forever and until this morning, would have thought I'd have brought this question to my grave:
Would you ever consider going back to the drawing board in an attempt to produce an official follow-up to Space Cadet Pinball?
There are a few generations of people who may be yearning for nostalgia in a world of enshittification, micro-transactions and even worse in the virtual pinball scenes, licensing bullshit that never favors the player.
Disclaimer: I've possibly put too much thought into this already, am willing to put everything I have into this if ever needed... but will need to let you comment first :)
> Would you ever consider going back to the drawing board in an attempt to produce an official follow-up to Space Cadet Pinball?
We reached out to Microsoft a few years ago and offered to create a new version at no charge if they would restore it to Windows but they turned us down. There appeared to be no interest on their part.
> We reached out to Microsoft a few years ago and offered to create a new version at no charge if they would restore it to Windows but they turned us down. There appeared to be no interest on their part.
Thanks for the prompt reasonse!
I'm inclined to think that the landscape a few years ago has changed drastically and today's world is a lot different: Microsoft is now one of the world's largest gaming houses with their purchases of Mojang, ZeniMax and Activision/Blizzard and the dust from those mergers (should) have settled. A vision for the immediate and near future would certainly be different.
Add the fact that Windows 11 currently has a very poor overall impression with its user base and have publicly pledged that they will work to improve their operating system offering.
There's also a new Xbox leader, Asha Sharma, who has decided to change how the Xbox division is being managed, leading to new ways on how to improve their overall share of the gaming market.
All of the above pertains only towards the initial conception of how Space Cadet was introduced to a generation of fans focused on Microsoft. And despite it being a unique opportunity, it may only be applicable back then. That is no longer necessary now in today's age as you already have an established name, product and reputation. And on the flip side, going the no-charge to previous benefactors may even be detrimental to the overall goal without considering existing gaming solutions like Steam or GoG.
I'd be bold to ask why would you even need their blessing to release an updated or new version but would be quick to dismiss the hurdle as unnecessary, when there are other options and people out there to support your brand and product and to see that your fans blessed are with another table after such a long time.
> I'd be bold to ask why would you even need their blessing to release an updated or new version
My Cinematronics co-founders and I do not own the rights to any of the games we created. Cinematronics was acquired by Maxis, and Maxis was later acquired by Electronic Arts (who are being acquired, as well.) The rights would have to be untangled which was, I suspect, part of the hesitation Microsoft had in moving forward.
Never say never but I think it's unlikely. Our motivation was to restore pinball to Windows (with modern updates) so every Windows user could enjoy it. Any other form of distribution wouldn't have the same coverage or impact. It would have been great to not only please the fans of the old game but to introduce a new generation to pinball just as Space Cadet once did.
Fellow pinball enthusiast here - I didn't get into it because of SCP, though, but rather grew up with the machines being regularly rotated and maintained in my Dads hamburger shop in the 70's .. halcyon days indeed!
What part of the world are you in that doesn't have a professional pinball tournament roster? Just curious ..
Good ol' days indeed! That picturesque glimpse of the past brings a smile to my face! I didn't get more than 1 chance to play physical machines back in the day and only started in the last decade with a machine popping up at my office, to which I became the defacto repairman after it needing maintenance regularly.
I'm located in Prague, Czechia. The pinball scene in the country is basically held by two groups of people: those previously working in the gambling scene changing up their ways and going into the arcade scene, overcharging for tables (3$ dollars and up for 1 game, bought by in-house credits) or the older pinball scene and owners who have been milking out old tables for years on very reduced maintenance cycles, which results in rarely fully working tables.
Despite there being 1 local tournament, one of these options offers anything near IFPA standards.
Geographically speaking and as seen on the pinside map[0], France and Spain have very little areas where there are no machines whileas Germany has barely none. The reason being is that Germany has introduced entertainment laws at require businesses to pay for any machines they may offer to their patrons, resulting in table operators operating at a loss most of the time. That also stops the scene from crossing the border as it virtually doesn't exist, Spanish and French tourists do not come here for pinball whatsoever.
Move further east to Czechia and you have a very small population where most people do not know of the game or even less its local name of "Flipper". Businesses that have went into the pinball scene recently have failed miserably for various reasons but mainly due to pricing/bad business models and lack of international advertising.
Despite the grim situation over here, I'm aware that some efforts are persisting into getting another place set up so the dream of getting an IFPA chapter here is not dead!
Ah, very interesting! Here in Austria, we have a number of great tournaments being put on by various private clubs and enthusiast groups - but yes, machines are hard to find, if you don't join these clubs. I recently joined one (FlipperAsyl.at) and have had a lot of fun rejuvenating my youthful interest in this subject, joining tournaments, leasing a machine for my apartment to practice on, designing my own table, and so on. ;)
I have a plan to visit the Pinball Museum in Krakow (Poland) some time this summer .. perhaps similar jaunts are worth the effort? I know for a fact you could come to Vienna for the weekend and get quite satiated, if only at the Prater .. ;)
This site was quite underwhelming (or blocked 3rd party connections disabled major functionality) as it shows but 3 pages of the book and a link to an instagram account.
You could alternatively borrow a copy from your local* digital library[0] in order to admire the full beauty captured in this work, both art and creative recipes.
>Small amounts of water extract made by boiling
the leaves, blossoms or seed pods of datura
stramonium might be mixed with the basic Ma joon,
or even the White Cooky recipe. Then the effect
would be to make the victim suggestible to what¬
ever is desired. The grated skin of a dried
desert lizard can be used instead of canthar-
ides beetles.
...interesting! I wonder what the trial and error process looked like.
Thanks for the recommendation, also worth checking out RetroAchievements[0] to power up your retro gaming and keep track of your accomplishments (hardcore or not:))
Initially assumed it was due to some sort of contamination or production defect.
Turns out people leave perishable and fermenting foods in the thermos, and after a while when opened, the pressure lifts the lid of the thermos at quasi-unimaginable speeds, striking the curiously unsuspecting humans straight in the face, with some instances causing permanent damage to vision.
Coffee is hot, but a pressure release system is cool too..
I really hope we get a video out of this to see how bad it actually is and how much "pressure" is needed for this.
> Incidents/Injuries:
Thermos has received 27 reports of consumers who were struck by a stopper that forcefully ejected from these containers upon opening, including complaints of impact and laceration injuries requiring medical attention. Three consumers suffered permanent vision loss after being struck in the eye.
That's an awefully large amount of reports about this. I wonder what about the design makes it a rocket compared to what I would assume is a pretty standard design?
> The Stainless King™ 470ml Vacuum Insulated Food Jar is the ultimate day to day companion to keep your food at optimal temperatures. Keep fruit fresh and vegetables cool for up to 14 hours while you take on the day. For your favourite soups, pastas or stir fry, they’ll stay warm for up to 9 hours – ideal for taking last nights left overs. You can be sure that your food will be perfect for consumption at lunchtime after you pack it in the morning. The wide mouth makes it easy to fill and clean, and comes crowned with a stainless steel lid that doubles as a serving bowl. Plus, it comes with a handy stainless steel spoon that fits neatly into the lid compartment.
It's meant for storing food, for anyone who is confused why someone would be.
> I wonder what about the design makes it a rocket compared to what I would assume is a pretty standard design?
Injuries nonwithstanding, the quality of the seal means it was an exceptionally well designed item for the purpose of storing 99% water.
side note: there's a reason you get a visit from the FBI if you buy ten pressure cookers (e.g. if you find a great Black Friday deal and have a large family and plan Christmas gifts...)
You can make bombs out of pressure cookers. Since they are so good at holding pressure, you seal off the over-pressure release valves and then pressurize them until they burst (usually via some stupid or illegal means to begin with) then when they burst there is a ton of excess pressure. Big pressure = big boom.
But if you're not working with cutting torches and welding equipment, there's no easy way to open a propane tank enough to put an explosive in it (assuming purely amateur equipment) and then seal it up again good enough to hold high pressure. A pressure cooker on the other hand is ready made to have a big opening to put lots of stuff inside and then seal it up again.
The pressure build up can be quite a lot from fermentation. I’ve accidentally fermented drinks in glass swing top bottles. And upon attempting to open the bottle the pressure ripped the stopper and the metal parts right off the bottle at high speed.
If you were purposely fermenting something, you could build enough pressure to pop the bottle.
I also found this the hard way, once you open a bottle of kefir or yogurt and then close it again to drink/eat later, the fermentation process speeds up due to the additional oxygen, building up pressure until you open it the next time. Fortunately no one got hurt.
Found a comical video of the situation which required no intervention from the user[0].
Needless to say, storing food in a thermos as advertised is different than coffee is hot and should have been foreseen by the team who supervised the approval of "Oh we need more sales.. Oh right, let's double down on our market and tell customers to put food in their Thermoses!"
Thermos jars have interior threads for an inner plug and an exterior thread(singular) for the cosmetic cap that doubles as a drinking cup. Maybe there's a condition where the external cup would be holding the inner plug from releasing, and then upon removing the cap, the entire lip starts tapering outward and lets go of the plug without gradually relieving pressure.
(to be fair, I don't think an externally threaded cap will solve this problem. If the thread held to a higher pressure, then the core part of the plug will eventually blow out even more energetically. An overpressure vent port is still necessary)
Thats all? What happens if the jar is turned upside down in this case? What if something is set on the lid? What if the jar is with someone heading to a camp site in a 4 wheeler and it is vibrated a lot?
The cap is rigid. Either the threads constrain movement or they don't. A section of threads that allow for movement would still find the overall system constrained by other threading.
The pitch stays the same. The simplest way is tapered threading with a sufficiently deep groove to retain when only the first few threads are engaged. Less simple is a custom male profile that transitions into a squared ACME like profile to let gas leak by.
Yes, the article seems to be not detailed enough. They show the pictures, and it is evident what the pressure release valve is, but I agree that by this logic any container or any steel water bottle is dangerous. Maybe there is some other additional feature that makes it particularly dangerous compared to other models (like, the new seal keeps higher pressure, or the lid needs fewer rotations to disengage, etc.) that is not explained here and makes all the difference. Older models didn't even have a pressure relief valve, did they?
The bottles were sold as "drink and food" bottles, but expiring/fermenting food turns the food bottle into a pressure vessel.
I was initially surprised too, because I mostly know Thermos from their coffee/water/etc bottles, but apparently they're also selling these with the intention of storing perishable goods, and in that case a pressure relief system of some kind is a necessity.
Often bottles have special threads with holes in them to let out the pressure when you twist them open, but it appears they didn't do that here.
It's trivial to design a cap that leaks before it becomes mechanically free, and most lids are so designed. If this one becomes mechanically free at or before the seal allows any pressure differential to equalize, then it's an avoidable design defect that fails to meet current minimum standards.
No. If we're recalling a product for a safety issue, it is not user error. There is an engineering error, or a design error, or a manufacturing error. Whatever the product is doing it should not be doing.
I've never seen a thermos-style container with a pressure relief in my life. However, I'm European, it appears that in the US (a country where you have to write disclaimers on microwaves that you shouldn't dry hamsters in them) common sense has been going down the toilet.
Frankly, I'm all for a bit of darwinism here. It's bewildering that there are people who think it's a good idea to open a thermos that has been fermenting for days if not weeks without a lot of caution!
Most lids you've ever used have pressure relief. It's not an extra part or valve or anything, it's just the simple geometry to ensure that the seal opens before the lid becomes mechanically free.
Thermos has only been producing flasks since 1904. There shouldn't be an expectation that they already have this on a checklist of things to watch out for in new designs. /s
But all your last statement really does is make the problem someone else's, and more dangerously, because the design doesnt help even with caution.
If I have made an accidental kimchi bomb then I will want to defuse it safely before I dispose of it. If I put it in the trash and leave it for the refuse collector there is risk that it blows up in their face without any warning. That's a much worse outcome. The root issue here is that this thermos design doesnt have a way to safely defuse it.
I bet you actually have. Its those gaps in the threads for screwing on the lid. The pressure get escape through these gaps while the lid still stays on the bottle.
I said "given it should be there" because Thermos have just issued a recall notice where they openly admit liability and they openly state it should be there (see side by side photos in the recall).
I was never seeking to pass judgement on the factual element of whether "it should be there" in the pure definition of the term.
I was just saying "it should be there on THAT product because Thermos says so".
Everyone who knows what a microwave is knows microwaving a dog kills it.
How many people do you think realize that pressure can build up in a thermos if leftover food or drink ferments in it?
And even if you know the danger, how do you know if the thermals bottle you are holding is dangerous or not? Should people call the bomb squad every time they see a thermos with unknown contents inside?
On a planet where fermentation exists, such as planet Earth, the only planet on which we, humans, reside and therefore where these containers are made and used, that means pressure.
I own a vacuum-insulated flask that is not Thermos®. I purchased it with a one cap and immediately purchased an accessory cap.
The original cap from the store has no pressure-release mechanism, other than the breaking of the seal when unscrewing it. The cap has an integrated carrying handle, which can also help when turning the cap one way or another.
The accessory cap has a "sippy cup" feature along with a pressure-release valve. It is very common to have a second valve with any vessel that pours or dispenses liquid, even a lemonade tank, because that's how pouring works. When you remove liquid from the container, it must be replaced by a commensurate volume of air.
Isn't the point of a thermos to put "perishable and fermenting foods" in it, like coffee or tea? Like this could totally have been me, like make a thermos-full of coffee one day, then forget about it only to come back to in some weeks just to open it and have one of my eyes blown off
If you expect that it's rotted, you haven't really forgotten it. That's the whole point: they expected empty containers. Which could happen to you, being (presumably) a human.
Thermos bottles are relatively heavier to their contents than flimsier bottles. That goes double if they're only half full. I have a couple of the recalled bottles, so I just weighed one - 14 ounces empty.
You got a chuckle out of me for the novelty but that feeling faded quickly as you read that she smashes and overturns the hives she brought with her truck to aggravate the bees to swarm everyone.
> The incident also resulted in the deaths of thousands of bees.
...yeah, that's very unfortunate and the lack of compassion is quite sad. Hopefully there will be books to read about Entomology at the local jail!
> Video shows Woods getting into a physical altercation with a deputy on the back of the trailer before breaking open the hive. She smashed the lid with her hand and flipped one of the hives off of the flatbed.
> “The bees came out, unleashed and swarming, angry and they started stinging everybody there,” said Sheriff Nick Cocchi in an interview with WCVB.
> When told that some deputies had bee allergies, Woods allegedly replied, “Oh, you’re allergic? Good.”
> The video shows Woods then put on a beekeeper’s suit. According to officials, she then carried a tower of hives to the home’s front entrance, attempting to agitate the bees further.
> She smashed the lid with her hand and flipped one of the hives off of the flatbed.
Well... you could argue that she didn't by looking at the video. There's a struggle on the bed of thr truck and it looks like one of the deputies and her fight over the hive and the lid comes off a bit despite it being strapped down by a center strap.
..a few seconds after the struggle, the hive is then tipped over.
The officer was attempting to prevent her from tipping over the hive. You can see that the hive was tipping towards the camera and the officer's hands were on the side closest preventing her from flipping it. The officer attempts to replace the lid too. She was shoving on the hive as hard as she could until it tipped over.
A quick check at comment history shows a few replies with cancer as the main topic. My guess would be the nature of the topic being on top of op's mind; adding the worst-case scenario of how a city-wide power outage would affect them (painting a realistic picture of life that is not all song and dance and free drinks as laid out by the original op).
Thank you for your kind words. Sorry for the Captain's Obvious a bit rude comment. It just happened that me and my partner were battling traffic using rickety road through the hills above the Barcelona to get on time for a chemotherapy session. Just to be told that due to the blackout it must be postponed for a few days. Luckily nothing serious in the long run, but nevertheless rather annoying. Because of the traffic jams and lack of mobile coverage for many hours in various locations in Spain I am quite sure there were some extra fatalities.
Thinking about it, there is nothing wrong writing about unexpected pleasures of that day. Just that we keep in mind the fact that blackouts have this non-hipstery, rather serious aspects.
PS I am doing ok-eish, splendid even considering the initial diagnosis (pancreatic cancer 1b stage diagnosed in December 2024). Maybe still way too touchy about some topic apparently triggering me.
SCP has had such a massive influence in my life up to the point of getting into the real world of pinball and becoming semi-professional (or the step prior as pro pinball doesn't exist in this part of the world, yet..).
I've been wanting to ask this forever and until this morning, would have thought I'd have brought this question to my grave:
Would you ever consider going back to the drawing board in an attempt to produce an official follow-up to Space Cadet Pinball?
There are a few generations of people who may be yearning for nostalgia in a world of enshittification, micro-transactions and even worse in the virtual pinball scenes, licensing bullshit that never favors the player.
Disclaimer: I've possibly put too much thought into this already, am willing to put everything I have into this if ever needed... but will need to let you comment first :)
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