Kineticist

What's new in pinball: "what's new in pinball this week?", "latest pinball news", "what's climbing the Hype Index?". The latest Kineticist news articles (headline, date, summary and link; `members_section` means part of the article is for members; `games` lists the machines an article covers, get_game_details with a game's slug returns its editions, prices and design team; a release announced in the last few days may not have its new editions in the database yet, so check the edition dates against the article before quoting prices), new videos, podcasts and posts from the pinball creators Kineticist follows (`from_creators`: title, creator, format, date, summary, link), and Kineticist's Hype Index ranking (the current top 10 and this week's biggest climbers; `change_this_week` and `up` are places moved on the index since a week ago, positive is up, and a missing change means there's no rank from a week ago). This covers the week in pinball; each article and creator item carries its link.

Where to play pinball, or a specific machine: "where can I play Godzilla near 97214?", "where can I play pinball in Chicago?", "pinball bars in Portland". Finds pinball venues near a place: a postal code ("60601", "SW1A 1AA" with country gb) or a city ("Chicago", "Portland, OR"). Pass `game` (name or slug) to find venues that have that machine. Returns up to 10 venues, nearest first, with city, distance in miles, machine count, venue kind (bar, arcade…) and `url`, the venue's page on kineticist.com (link it; it has the address and full machine list). `searched` says which place distances are measured from ("central Chicago, IL" is the city centre; "(middle of our venues there)" means a smaller city placed by its venues); `note` says when these are the nearest anywhere rather than nearby. Machine lists come from Pinball Map and can lag.

Read what Kineticist says about something: "what does Kineticist say about Logan Arcade?", or any www.kineticist.com link. Reads a Kineticist page by its link, as markdown: a game, Hype Index entry, place to play, manufacturer, person, mod or creator. News articles come back as headline, date, summary and link only; the full article is at the link. Use the `url` from search or another tool.

Who designed a pinball machine: "who designed Medieval Madness?", "who designed Attack from Mars?", "who did the art for Twilight Zone?". Returns the full credited team, not just the lead designer. The design team for a pinball game — designer, artist, programmer, mechanical engineer, sound designer, animator, etc. Each credit includes the person's name and role. Every row carries `role` (slug, e.g. "design"), `role_name` (display name, e.g. "Design"), and, only where several people share a role on the game, `is_lead: true` on the first chair (no is_lead means no ranking, not "not the lead"). Read `role_name` for human display; `role` is the stable slug for filtering. Each person carries `url`, their page on kineticist.com, and `game_url` is the game's page (link them when citing).

Price, production status and details of a pinball machine: "how much is the Godzilla Premium, and is it still made?", "how much is the Jurassic Park Premium?", "what is Godzilla pinball?". Includes each edition's list price (MSRP) and whether the machine is in production. Full details for one game including editions (Pro/Premium/LE with pricing), images, tags, description, and rules links. `url` is the game's page on kineticist.com (link it when citing); remakes carry their own `url`. Editions that belong to a remake are listed under that remake. `best_image` (when present) is the one picture to show for the game: its URL, what it shows (backglass, photo, cabinet, flyer or playfield) and its size. Accepts slug (godzilla-2021), OPDB group ID (weeP), or OPDB machine ID (GweeP-MW95j). Use ?include=credits to also get the design team. `newest_edition_year` is the year the newest edition came out, not the year production ended; `in_production` says whether the game is still made.

How big is the pinball world: "how many pinball machines are in production?", "how many pinball manufacturers are there?". Kineticist database statistics: total games, games in production, total manufacturers, total designers, average fun score, most rated game, and newest game.

Suggest a pinball machine: "surprise me", "pinball game of the day". A random pinball game with full details, including `best_image` (the one picture to show) when there is one. Different game every time.

Find a pinball manual or schematic: "where's the Firepower manual?", "schematics for Fish Tales". Lists a pinball game's downloadable files (manuals, ROMs, schematics, parts lists, bulletins) grouped by the machine each file is for. Each file line ends with a one-line description of what sets it apart (edition, print, language, format) when the title alone doesn't say. Use it to answer 'which file is for which machine' — e.g. Firepower's page also carries Taito's Fire Action files, and this tool tells them apart. Pass `machine` (trm_ id, slug, UUID or OPDB machine id) to narrow to one machine. Lists metadata only and ends with the game page's Documentation link; downloading a file needs a free Kineticist account on that page.

Look up anything pinball on Kineticist: "who is Steve Ritchie?", "tell me about Spooky Pinball", "Kineticist articles about Pinburgh". Searches everything on Kineticist: games, news articles, places to play, manufacturers, people, mods, Hype Index entries and creators. Returns up to 10 matches, best first, each with its type, title, a short subtitle and `url` (its page on kineticist.com). Pass `type` to look in one kind only. For game details use get_game_details; for any other result, pass its url to `get`.

Find pinball machines: "what Stern machines are in production right now?", "what pinball games has Stern made?", "pinball games from 1992". `in_production` filters to machines Kineticist lists as currently made. Searches and filters the Kineticist pinball game database. Supports text search, manufacturer filtering, year ranges, production status, and sorting. Returns game names, slugs, manufacturers, fun scores, edition counts, and each game's page URL on kineticist.com (link it when citing a game). `newest_edition_year` is the year the newest edition came out, not the year production ended; `in_production` says whether the game is still made.