Awesome Leisure

AtGames teamed up with developer Zen Studios to create a home pinball machine with a 32″ 4K playfield, a 24″ digital backglass, and an 8″ scoreboard. It’s got a plunger, tilt and nudge sensor, and optional SSF. The Addams Family machine drops first, with 15 games and access to a download store. Pre-orders start 9.22.23 with a deep early-bird discount.

W&M Levsha shows how they made a cool gizmo that takes the place of a 6-sided die. The brass gadget is about the size of a pocket watch and has a lever that spins a flywheel that’s engraved with six dice faces. When the lever pops up place, a mechanism stops the wheel to reveal a random number.

Hot on the heels of Asteroid City, Wes Anderson is back with a 39-minute short film based on a Roald Dahl story. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar follows a wealthy man (Benedict Cumberbatch) who masters a unique skill after hearing about a guru who can see without using his eyes. Coming to Netflix 9.27.2023.

The Tumbler from The Dark Knight trilogy is our favorite Batmobile. After making a version of Tim Burton’s Batmobile, Minimaus Crafts shows us how he cut up soda cans, folded them, and glued them together to form a metal model of Bruce Wayne’s awesome Bat-vehicle. You can download a free template to build your own if you’re up for the challenge.

Blender Studio shows off more of what’s possible with their CG software with a slapstick animated short film. Combining 2D and 3D techniques, Rik Schutte’s Wing It! introduces us to a brilliant inventor (who happens to be a cat) and the dopey dog who might ruin his hard work. As a Blender Open Movie, you can download the production assets used to create the film.

Filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, The Lobster) applies his offbeat style to this movie about a mad scientist (Willem Dafoe) who brings a young woman back to life. But Bella (Emma Stone) is anything but the well-mannered lady of the times and runs off on a wild adventure with a slick and rakish lawyer (Mark Ruffalo). We’re getting a Tim Burton vibe here.

Hexcup is a beer pong set that uses hexagonal cups, reducing gaps and making it easier to set up oddly shaped racks. The cups are top-shelf dishwasher safe, have reinforced corners, and have grooves on their base so they won’t slide around on a wet surface. Each set comes with 22 cups and three balls.

The guys at Airportag sell some of the best gifts for travelers. Among their wares is an extensive collection of travel journals. The hardcover journals feature imagery inspired by baggage tags, boarding passes, airport codes, diagrams, passport stamps, and some humorous designs. Available in 4″ x 6″ and 6″ x 8.5″ sizes.

Chickity China, the Chinese chicken. Postmodern Jukebox and vocalist Emma Smith take on the Barenaked Ladies’ 1998 track One Week, revamping the fast-talking pop hit in the jazzy style of a 1940s lounge act. It’s another brilliant performance from Scott Bradlee’s retro cover band.

Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, and Norm Reedus star in this fictional movie about the members of a 1960s motorcycle club and the drama that ensues as the club becomes increasingly violent. Written and directed by Jeff Nichols (Midnight Special, Mud), The Bikeriders rolls into theaters on 12.1.2023.

Singer, engineer, and Indian Idol contestant Nachiket Lele has incredible vocal skills. While his performances aren’t traditional, to begin with, they’re not exactly metal. Musician Andre Antunes amped things up to 11 by adding a System of a Down-inspired guitar track. For comparison, here’s Nachiket’s original, unedited performance.

Can a ukulele really make heavy metal music? Well, in the hands of Charles Berthoud, this ukulele bass sure can. Bored with the standard instrumentation in metal tracks, the musician decided to create a multi-layered song that uses the uke bass for every one of its sounds, including drums, synth, and even lead guitar with a bit of pitch shifting.

Cedar Point’s Magnum XL-200 is one of the world’s most beloved roller coasters. CoasterWriter shows off a backyard replica of the thrill ride, built using K’nex construction toys, and dubbed the “Magnum XL-300.” Johnny from 3D Coaster created the detailed 3D-printed coaster car replica. Be sure to take the POV ride too.

Love the music of the 1980s? Then, put on your headphones, crank up the volume, and hit play on this double feature. Musician Martin Miller and his bandmates performed this stellar two-part medley featuring tracks from Van Halen, A-Ha, Tears for Fears, Europe, Depeche Mode, Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson, U2, and more.

The Galactic Senate scenes in the Star Wars prequels weren’t always the most captivating, but the Senate chamber was an impressive set piece. A team of LEGO builders created this incredible Minifig-scale replica of the chamber. Christoph, Tobias, Hendrik, René, and Markus built the main structure, while attendees of a LEGO conference each made a pod.

Love colors and design? Hues and Cues is a great party game that challenges you to pinpoint a specific color based on one- or two-word clues from other players. The closer you get to guessing the exact color from the 480-hue grid, the more points you earn. It’s a fun, family-friendly game for 3 to 10 players.

There’s more to Greek spirits than anise-forward ouzo. Metaxa 12 Stars is a classic Greek liqueur made of muscat wine, fine wine distillates, and Mediterranean botanicals. The sweet, amber elixir is the star of the My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 limited edition cocktail kit from Cocktail Courier, available until 9/28/23.

The LEGO How We Create deck was created by builders, designers, and other LEGO team members to help inspire creative thought. It includes 78 cards featuring images of LEGO bricks, quotes, and building prompts. The deck is divided into five categories – Motivation, Inspiration, Memories & Mentors, Challenges & Obstacles, and LEGO Core Values.

This October, the Rolling Stones will release Hackney Diamonds, their first original album since 2005 and without Charlie Watts on most tracks. The elder statesmen of rock and roll prove they still have it with the single Angry. The music video features a leather-clad Sydney Sweeney rolling through LA, dancing to a Stones retrospective on the billboards.

Florian “Venom” Kohler is one of the world’s best pool trick shot artists. As he’s perfected his craft, he has developed over 10,000 tricks and techniques to make billiard balls do his bidding. WIRED met with Florian to demonstrate some of his wildly inventive trick shots. His mastery of ball physics is truly something to behold.

Robotime’s ROKR division is showing off a flat-pack wood model that lets you build a replica of a Thompson M1928 submachine gun. The finished gun not only looks like the real deal, but it rapidly fires lightweight projectiles using a rubber band and spring firing mechanism. It’s even got a removable magazine.

We’ve seen guitars with lots of strings. This is the first time we’ve heard one where some strings are rubber bands. You might think they wouldn’t produce a very satisfying sound, but they play surprisingly well in the hands of a guitarist as talented as Bernth. It helps that he kept the original metal strings in the middle of his Ibanez acoustic guitar.

Imagine for a moment that Nirvana and Green Day did some kind of Freaky Friday thing and swapped bodies. Musician Steve Welsh imagines what it might have been like if Billie Joe and his bandmates performed Lithium in their trademark pop-punk style. It took a minute for us to remember this wasn’t an actual Green Day song.