Some people are really into pinball mods, and until recently, I haven’t really spent much time considering their use and value beyond pure looks. My uptick interest in pinball, both real mechanical machines and virtual pinball has driven me to experience some pinball modifications. Perhaps one that subtly to not-so-subtly makes a difference, both in the game and the experience are, yes, shooter rods.
All sizes, shapes and feel are not created equal. Take the one in the picture below. It’s the Stern Jurassic Park shooter rod. This might possibly the best shooter rod, feel-wise I’ve experienced to date. It just feels smooth and good in your hand for the shots. And looks-wise with the light-up bug inside the egg? Ooo, very cool.
Marco Specialties sells this Stern Jurassic Park shooter rod for $189.99 here: https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/502-7101-00:
Went over to Pinside and did a search for “shooter rods” and came up with this post from yzfguy about a realistic eyeball shooter rod he purchased from an Etsy seller Resinheads:
Even when we owned an Eight Ball machine for 10 years, never thought about a custom shooter rod. Now, I look and find this one from PoolShark that would have looked, and probably felt, really good:
There are a bunch of different custom shooter rods out there. Some are more about cosmetics than how they feel in your hand and can be used to shoot the ball to a desired locations. Can you recommend other creative and useful in gameplay shooter rods? The comments below await.