Song of the Week

This week it's zzzahara — "Speedracer." I've been bopping my head to it for a few weeks now, and frankly, it felt right for this issue. The reasons will click later on. I like the video, too — a sort of DIY bootleg Speed Racer cartoon. The song's off zzzahara's latest album, Distant Lands, which, coincidentally, is also out today.

Pinball News of the Week

Aussie Goes Viral for Space Cadet Project; We Got the Interview

CNCDan Is Building Space Cadet Pinball in Real Life

https://www.kineticist.com/news/cncdan-space-cadet-interview

A few weeks back, Australian maker Daniel McKenzie went surprisingly viral after posting a video of his work-in-progress, custom-built Space Cadet pinball project. Ars Technica and The Verge both covered it (thanks to Ars for linking an old TWIP write-up of ours), and for a bit, it was everywhere. Chris Krentz seized the opportunity and reached out to Dan for an interview about the project, even getting his thoughts on the old deeproot whitewood for a Space Cadet–inspired pin. The full interview is on Kineticist. Best of luck with the project, Dan!

Interview with Rush Fan Pinball

Interview with Sam of Rush Fan Pinball about Pinball Repair and Restoration Projects

https://www.kineticist.com/news/rush-fan-interview

The latest entry in Michael Swanson's Nutter's Pinball Restoration Spotlight series is an interview with Sam, aka Rush Fan Pinball — another prolific pinball restorer and YouTuber. Learn how Sam got into pinball restoration, why he started his channel, and some of the lessons he's learned along the way in this excellent interview.

Top Ten BEST Video Modes of the 1990s

The Best Pinball Video Modes of the 1990s

https://www.kineticist.com/news/best-90s-video-modes

Well, we said we might do it after taking a controversial look at the worst video modes, and we followed through. solar_espeon looks at the other end of the spectrum with a ranking of the best video modes of the 1990s. This one was controversial too — but that's what makes subjective lists fun, right?

We Rebuilt Kineticist — And Paid TWIP Members Get Ad-Free Browsing

The new Kineticist has been live for a few weeks, and one of the features we shipped in the rebuild is ad-free browsing for paid TWIP subscribers. Every article, every page, no ads.

If you've been paying for TWIP, you already earned this. Here's how to turn it on:

1. Create a free account on kineticist.com

2. Link it to your TWIP subscription from your profile

3. Browse ad-free for as long as your subscription is active

Not a paid member yet? TWIP is free to read but not free to write — a paid subscription starts at $25/year, unlocks ad-free Kineticist, exclusive content, our Discord, and helps keep an independent pinball publication running. Most people join at $60/year.

Sonic Watch

Like most of pinball, we're officially on Sonic watch — the supposed upcoming release from Jersey Jack Pinball. I say "supposed" only because nothing official or public has confirmed the title, even if it's been hinted at and leaked ad nauseam. A few interesting things have happened since our last update, and I'm basically pulling these from the notes we'd put in our eventual launch article.

First, the playfield leaked. There's still a chance it's very well-done AI, but it's probably legit — and it confirms two of the bigger rumors: the fan layout, and that this is a game-focused Sonic, not a movie tie-in.

The leaked playfield, which has been circulating online.

Second, Jersey Jack has a sense of humor. Their site serves up two different 404 pages: the normal one, and a custom version living at /pages/new-game-2026 that just reads "TILT — NICE TRY DETECTIVE." I cracked up when I found it. It's dumb, sure, but it's the kind of small touch you only bother with if you're paying attention — a playful wink aimed at the people who crawl manufacturer websites for clues (which, yes, includes me) and occasionally turn something up when a page slips through.

The custom 404 at /pages/new-game-2026.

Their standard 404, for comparison.

Third, word is that a bunch of creators double-dipped at the recent Transformers media day and walked down the street to JJP to playtest Sonic under NDA. To be clear, none of that is unusual; quiet NDA playtesting is a normal part of how these games come together. The interesting part is the lockdown around it — either Jersey Jack has one heck of a launch campaign loading, or there's a licensing hangup keeping things quiet — like, say, not being cleared to put the name in any public marketing yet.

Surprise Update on Resident Evil Pinball

A Surprising Update on Resident Evil Pinball

https://twip.kineticist.com/p/resident-evil-surprise

This one went out to paid subscribers last night: an update on World Pinball's upcoming Resident Evil game. I'd actually been chasing it for a few weeks, and it ties a bow on some confusing rumors that came out of a YouTuber's floor walk at the 2026 Licensing Expo (more on that next — it's genuinely interesting stuff). What I learned was surprising, though probably not that unusual for pinball. That's all I'll say here. Paid subscribers have the full story.

Rumor Roundup: A Haunted-House Guy Walks the Licensing Expo

The 2026 Licensing Expo hit Las Vegas in late May, and the most useful floor report came from a source I did not have on my bingo card. Hauntworld is mostly a haunted-attraction channel that usually only pops up in my feed for the occasional Stern rant — but this time, he turned up with a full walkthrough of the Licensing Expo, a show that's long been on my radar to attend for this very reason. Over the 46-minute walk, he name-drops a lot of interesting rumors, some of which the broader community already knew about, and others that are brand new. He's no pinball reporter, so take it all with a grain of salt — but a few track with crumbs we've already verified (like Resident Evil), so that's a plus for him.

On the film and TV side, he came away with: Terminator 1 & 2 and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure; Rocky Horror Picture Show in negotiations; and Legendary's Monsterverse — Godzilla, King Kong and company — licensed to an unnamed manufacturer. The Terminator thread isn't new to us — we covered it for paid subscribers back in April.

Then there's Speed Racer, which I'll admit is on my mind this week. The rights holder reportedly told him they'd already talked to Barrels of Fun about it, and he spent a while making the case for it as a perfect small-batch theme. Go, Speed Racer.

On the music side, the headline is a new AC/DC with "new songs," attributed to Stern, with KISS in the mix too. He also heard Grateful Dead is licensed — another one we covered for subscribers back in January. The more interesting read was on which acts actually want a machine: Pink Floyd, Mötley Crüe, and Def Leppard are all reportedly into it, while Green Day was approached and passed.

(He also stopped at Capcom to ask about that Resident Evil machine — see the block above for what we found there.)

A Note on the Next Moving Units

It's been a while since our last Moving Units update, and if you're a paid subscriber looking for the next one, know that it's on my radar. One of the problems, honestly, is that pinball in 2026 has been kind of boring — at least from the perspective of a sales-tracker series. It's mostly been dominated by one new release (Pokémon) and holdovers from 2025 (Harry Potter). Maybe I'll dust off some production estimates I've been working on instead. Stay tuned.

Meme of the Week

Meme of the Week has been dead and buried for a while, but I'm digging it up for one issue: I made this, and people seemed to get a kick out of it.

Links of the Week

• IFPA Quarter Drop – 2026 2Q — The IFPA's second quarterly look behind the curtain. Mostly housekeeping but also: potential TGP reductions, a possible Hybrid rules tweak, and early talk of Women's Majors.

• Pinball Profile #439: Emily Reilhan — Speaking of the IFPA, the B.C. competitor who swept the women's circuit this year — Canadian, North American, and World titles — talks through the run, the mental game, and a hidden talent.

• IFPA21 World Championship — weekend stream schedule — Happening as you read this: Fox Cities Pinball is carrying the IFPA World Championship all weekend, starting at 10 am CT Friday.

• Dirty Pool Podcast #33: Steve Bowden — A two-hour-plus sit-down with one of the hobby's great ambassadors — tournament competitor, broadcaster, rules analyst, and a manufacturer alum.

• The 24 Hour Final Battle is retiring — After twelve years, The Sanctum is hanging up its 24-hour marathon.

• Pinball-playing police detective finds pleasure in the paddles — Headline of the week, no contest.

Poll of the Week

Last Week’s Poll Results

Thank you for reading!

More ways to connect:

• We’re active on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and sometimes YouTube.

• We have a Pinball Memes group on Facebook.

• We have regularly updated Song of the Week playlists on Spotify and YouTube.

Weekly Feedback

Your feedback helps us improve our work. All notes are appreciated!

Song of the Week

Keep an eye out for Melbourne-based Ecca Vandal, because she's on track to be a star. I've spent the last week going down an Ecca Vandal rabbit hole after being captivated by this week's Song of the Week pick, SORRY! CRASH! off her just-released sophomore album, Looking for People to Unfollow. Turns out, she's already been playing opening gigs for the likes of Deftones and Interpol, hitting the festival circuit, making appearances on late-night shows, and having tea with Flea.

Pinball News of the Week

Stern Launches Transformers: More than Meets the Eye

Stern Pinball Launches Transformers: More than Meets the Eye Pinball Machine

https://www.kineticist.com/news/stern-transformers-reveal

The big news this week… Stern's official reveal of Transformers: More than Meets the Eye. We've got all the details in our launch article, including key features, rules, storylines, and more. Full coverage on Kineticist.

A few follow-ups we're tracking since publishing:

• According to lead programmer Elizabeth Gieske, the game is tracking to launch with 0.85 code. Without the various challenge modes, she says she’d be launching at .97.

• Speaking of Gieske, pinball historians can correct me if I'm wrong, but she might be the first woman in pinball to be a lead programmer for a commercial machine.

• Is this the version of The Touch that will be in the game?

We Rebuilt Kineticist — And Paid TWIP Members Get Ad-Free Browsing

The new Kineticist has been live for a few weeks, and one of the features we shipped in the rebuild is ad-free browsing for paid TWIP subscribers. Every article, every page, no ads.

If you've been paying for TWIP, you already earned this. Here's how to turn it on:

1. Create a free account on kineticist.com

2. Link it to your TWIP subscription from your profile

3. Browse ad-free for as long as your subscription is active

Not a paid member yet? TWIP is free to read but not free to write — a paid subscription starts at $25/year, unlocks ad-free Kineticist, exclusive content, our Discord, and helps keep an independent pinball publication running. Most people join at $60/year.

Jersey Jack Teases Sonic the Hedgehog; Coming June

So technically, Jersey Jack has not confirmed the theme of their next game yet, due in just a few weeks, but they've been hinting heavily at it. Sonic the Hedgehog has long been rumored as JJP and Steve Ritchie's next game. The biggest open question at the moment is which Sonic IP will they use?

The first teaser image borrows heavily from the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog movie teaser poster, suggesting it's the film IP JJP has rights to. Which would make sense. How else are you going to supply all the content needed for callouts and screen assets? But scan any enthusiast conversation about the game, and you'll see that all anyone actually wants is the 1990s SEGA game IP. A supposedly leaked image from the game that made the rounds last week suggested a game-based adaptation, but it turned out to be a clever AI ruse (remember when I said this was going to keep being an issue?).

Another AI “leak”

So who knows at this point (other than the few people who've seen the game, of course). I wouldn't put it past JJP to secure assets from as many sources as possible — games, movies, cartoons, whatever.

The Transformers Conspiracy Everyone’s Talking About

This is probably my favorite story that I've been tracking this week — the growing conspiracy behind the non-transforming Optimus Prime toy in Stern's Transformers. Last week, we talked about the rumors that Optimus wouldn't transform, and to Stern's credit, they haven't been shy about confirming that they did try to get Optimus to transform, but eventually had to pull it when it didn't meet quality standards.

But how recently did they decide to pull the mech?

Hints of an Optimus in truck form turn up across various promo materials. One shot from George Gomez's overview video in particular looks like additional playfield blurring on the LE was added in post-production.

If I put my tinfoil hat on, transforming Optimus was a part of the mix until very recently (recent enough to shoot a bunch of promo material with it in place), and possibly as an LE-only feature.

New High Speed Tutorial

High Speed Pinball Tutorial, Rules & Gameplay Strategy Guide

https://www.kineticist.com/news/high-speed-tutorial

With a new Steve Ritchie game imminent, we figured we'd take a look at one of his all-time classics, High Speed, as it celebrates its 40th anniversary. solar_espeon walks us through the rules and why the game is historically interesting for modern pinball. Full tutorial on Kineticist.

On Location: Meet the Team Behind Capital Pinball in New Hampshire

On Location: Interview with Capital Pinball in New Hampshire

https://www.kineticist.com/news/capital-pinball-interview

Excited to welcome Gerard and Nick of The Arcade Hunters to the contributing team. Their first piece is an interview with Courtney and Jeremy, founders of Capital Pinball in New Hampshire — plus an overview of their own backgrounds and long-time work on The Arcade Hunters project.

This article kicks off a new series called On Location, where they'll highlight arcades that offer a positive pinball experience and the people behind them.

Links of the Week

• Cooltoy's Transformers gameplay from Media Day — All three editions filmed on reveal day. (Pro · Premium · LE)

• Also, this official Transformers gameplay stream from Stern

• LoserKid interviews Elliot Eisman and Elizabeth Gieske on Transformers

• "Star Wars is the best new Stern" — Ian Jacoby at Nudge makes the case for Fall of the Empire as the best new Stern. (I've enjoyed it from day one!)

• Chinese arcade makers are taking a swing at redemption pinball — From AAA 2026: HY Technology's Pinball Blast (comes in both ticket and prize redemption versions).

• Wonderland Amusements opens TMNT pre-orders — Battle in the Sewer, the sub-$1k home follow-up to Alice Goes to Wonderland. Mateus Santolouco art, projected Nov 2026 ship.

• Spinner is Lit interviews Spooky's Bug Emery on Beetlejuice — Long-form Q&A recorded at the Golden State Pinball Festival.

• Rumor: LEGO ICONS Pinball Machine — Per Brick Tap: 2,274 pieces, $200, projected July 1 release, Classic Space theme — and reportedly "fully playable."

Poll of the Week

Last Week’s Poll Results

Thank you for reading!

More ways to connect:

• We’re active on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and sometimes YouTube.

• We have a Pinball Memes group on Facebook.

• We have regularly updated Song of the Week playlists on Spotify and YouTube.

Weekly Feedback

Your feedback helps us improve our work. All notes are appreciated!

Song of the Week

I've been vibing on a few different tracks from Brighton's Lime Garden. First, it was 23, a song I found hilarious for being all about the timeless feeling of losing your edge as you get older. Now it's Cross My Heart, a hooky pop song about breakups. Both come from Lime Garden's second full-length album, Maybe Not Tonight, which was released a little over a month ago (April 10). Catch them on tour stateside in late 2026.

Pinball News of the Week

Stern Teases (and Promptly Leaks) Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye

On Wednesday, Stern officially confirmed the heavily rumored Transformers pinball machine with a (mostly) standard teaser trailer. Like typical Stern teasers, we don't learn a whole lot beyond the theme and a few nuggets — in this case, that the game is based on the early Transformers cartoon (I'm gonna say G1, though I'm admittedly not up to snuff on my Transformers lore), and that Peter Cullen seems to be attached.

Separately, the "Buy for your Home" and "Play on Location" calls to action at the end of the clip caught my eye. They appear to be new for Stern.

Then, photos of the game promptly leaked. Unlike past Stern leaks, this wasn't sourced back to a loose-lipped distributor or employee. No, this was 100% a Stern goof. Not even an hour after the trailer dropped, people noticed playfield and translite photos were live on the Insider Connected app. Oops.

It's kind of easy from where I sit to speculate on how this probably happened. Last time I looked into it, Stern was updating web content across no fewer than four different platforms (yikes): SternPinball.com (Wordpress), shop.sternpinball.com (Shopify), Insider Connected (custom app), and a new landing page system (Webflow, which we used to use!). I'm sure there's other stuff too, like whatever CMS powers their email list. That's a lot of spinning plates, and when you're updating all of them multiple times (teaser, then full reveal) with the need to preview staged assets before flipping the switch… it's kind of amazing this hasn't happened before.

A few things we know post-leak:

• Soundwave physical ball lock — balls launch from his cassette door for multiball

• Optical "Energon" spinner

• Megatron cannon that shoots balls into the catch basin on the left side of the playfield

• Optimus Prime, despite looking like it could/should transform, apparently does not

• Design: Elliot Eisman

• Lead Programmer: Elizabeth Gieske (her first as lead coder)

• Lead Mechanical: Rob Blakeman

• Audio: Jerry Thompson

• Code: Mike Kyzivat

• Lead LCD Artist: Tom Kyzivat

• Producer: John Blakely

• Code name: Cheddar

Expect to see more next week. Dealers and distributors head to Stern on the 19th, media on the 20th. We'll have our own coverage from Media Day.

We Rebuilt Kineticist — And Paid TWIP Members Get Ad-Free Browsing

The new Kineticist has been live for a few weeks, and one of the features we shipped in the rebuild is ad-free browsing for paid TWIP subscribers. Every article, every page, no ads.

If you've been paying for TWIP, you already earned this. Here's how to turn it on:

1. Create a free account on kineticist.com

2. Link it to your TWIP subscription from your profile

3. Browse ad-free for as long as your subscription is active

Not a paid member yet? TWIP is free to read but not free to write — a paid subscription starts at $25/year, unlocks ad-free Kineticist, exclusive content, our Discord, and helps keep an independent pinball publication running. Most people join at $60/year.

More Details Surface on World Pinball’s Resident Evil

A Cryptic New Teaser for Resident Evil Pinball Appears

Colin Alsheimer

Since sharing a new teaser for the upcoming Resident Evil game from upstart Swiss manufacturer World Pinball, we've learned a few new details.

The big one is pricing. A 100-unit Collector's Edition clocks in at $22,353.64 USD (or 17,475 CHF), and the 400-unit Limited Edition runs $21,164.12 (or 16,545 CHF). Both prices exclude Swiss VAT and add-ons.

Speaking of add-ons, we also got a few tidbits about the planned features and upgrades.

For example, take this.

What is it, you may ask? A platform that players stand on. And not just any old platform. This one hooks up to the machine and vibrates at key moments, like a triggered explosion or something similar.

The game will also have an option for what I'm dubbing haptic-feedback flipper buttons, where the flipper controls vibrate for things like left- or right-side zombie bites. All together, it’s supposed to simulate a 3D vibration effect.

Finally, it sounds like there will be a mini-playfield (reading between the translated lines, probably a lower playfield) with a special video mode that involves an on-playfield camera.

So while the game is quite expensive (and it's always risky taking a chance on an unproven pinball manufacturer), World Pinball does seem to be taking some interesting swings with this title. I'm keeping an open mind, at least.

Pedretti Teases Rumored Tales of the Arabian Nights Remake Following Dust-up with Team Pinball

Pedretti Confirms Tales of the Arabian Nights Remake

Colin Alsheimer

Boy, it feels good to be talking about new games! On Tuesday, Pedretti officially confirmed their long-rumored Tales of the Arabian Nights remake. We have all the details in our write-up, but expect to see the game in two trim levels and priced around $10,000–$11,000. There are also rumors of one or more copies showing up at the Golden State Pinball Festival this weekend.

An Update on Team Pinball v. Pedretti

Speaking of Pedretti, last week we briefly mentioned the public spat between Pedretti and their former software/engineering vendors, Team Pinball. I was hoping to have a more detailed article this week following conversations with representatives from both companies. After those conversations, though, I really don't have enough concrete information for a full piece — both parties mostly declined to elaborate further. All told, it sounds like a fairly routine business dispute (and, currently, a one-sided account at that).

Homebrew and You

Pinforge and the Homebrew to Pro Pinball Pipeline

Paul Melio

Excited to welcome Paul Melio to the Kineticist team with his first piece — a banger of a feature on the homebrew collective Pinforge and how it ties into the broader homebrew-to-pro pipeline in pinball. Paul talks with the Pinforge crew, plus Aaron Davis (FAST Pinball), J Bryan Vincent (American Pinball), and Mark Seiden (Jersey Jack Pinball).

Links of the Week

• Mystery Pinball Theater 3000 Needs Our Help — Following an unfortunate hack of their YouTube channel, MPT3k lost all of their followers and some archived content. If you've enjoyed Manu's content over the years, be sure to re-subscribe (or subscribe for the first time if you didn't previously).

• First Look at Bootleggers Playfield Art — Speaking of Pinforge, the homebrew collective just shared the first renderings of playfield artwork for the game.

• NudgeCast Interviews Actor Rich Sommer (Mad Men)

• Ryan Adams Is Auctioning Off Some of His Pinball Collection 

• Dirty Pool Interviews Gerry Stellenberg

• Pinball Roundtable Interviews Christopher Franchi 

• Nolan Bushnell joins the RePlay Podcast 

Poll of the Week

Last Week’s Poll Results

Thank you for reading!

More ways to connect:

• We’re active on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and sometimes YouTube.

• We have a Pinball Memes group on Facebook.

• We have regularly updated Song of the Week playlists on Spotify and YouTube.

Weekly Feedback

Your feedback helps us improve our work. All notes are appreciated!

Song of the Week

Telehealth's Things I've Killed, off their upcoming Sub Pop debut, Green World Image, is on the surface a very Millennial-coded track. The premise: the band lists things they've killed — like baseball and mayonnaise — which, according to recent interviews, was inspired by a Reddit thread listing all the things Millennials are responsible for killing. As a fellow Millennial who has always been amused by the generational discourse, it spoke to me. But go a couple of layers deeper, and Things I've Killed is also very Gen-X coded — echoes of early Devo, and lyrics that are a noted play on REM's "End of the World as We Know It."

Their album drops next week, May 15. For the first time in the history of this newsletter, I had the chance to both see the band live (at my local combination pinball parlor/music venue/brewery/record shop, Deep Cuts) AND sample a pre-release copy of their full album before writing this. And let me tell you, reader, I enjoyed both immensely. So if you like danceable post-punk in sort of a modern Devo mold, give Telehealth a listen.

Pinball News of the Week

To Flip and Tilt in LA — A Guide to Pinball in Los Angeles

Pinball in Los Angeles: A Local's Guide to the LA Scene

Benjamin Plotkin

Welcoming another new contributor to the Kineticist team! Benjamin Plotkin makes his debut with the most thorough guide to the Los Angeles pinball scene I've ever read. With an assist from Jeff Dodson and others on photos, Benjamin covers LA pinball past and present, and talks to a number of the people who help the scene thrive.

We Rebuilt Kineticist — And Paid TWIP Members Get Ad-Free Browsing

The new Kineticist has been live for a few weeks, and one of the features we shipped in the rebuild is ad-free browsing for paid TWIP subscribers. Every article, every page, no ads.

If you've been paying for TWIP, you already earned this. Here's how to turn it on:

1. Create a free account on kineticist.com

2. Link it to your TWIP subscription from your profile

3. Browse ad-free for as long as your subscription is active

Not a paid member yet? TWIP is free to read but not free to write — a paid subscription starts at $25/year, unlocks ad-free Kineticist, exclusive content, our Discord, and helps keep an independent pinball publication running. Most people join at $60/year.

Pokémon by Stern: A Pokéfessional's Take

Pokémon by Stern: A Pokéfessional's Take

Chris Krentz

Fellow newcomer Chris Krentz is a true Pokéfessional, having played every variation of the game and maintaining a living Pokédex. We rushed to publish his take on the current state of Pokémon's release code ahead of what we expected to be a substantial code update. Turns out we could have waited: Stern seemingly punted on major updates, releasing a marginal .01 step (0.81 to 0.82) focused on smaller items and polish over anything substantial (cough IC integration cough). We still recommend reading our piece, of course… Chris has some fun ideas and added an update with his thoughts on the new code.

Top Ten WORST Video Modes of the 1990s

Top Ten: Worst Pinball Video Modes of the 90s

solar_espeon

solar_espeon returns for her second piece with a look at the worst video modes of the 90s. Turns out some of her picks were controversial. Maybe next time we'll do a "best video modes" piece — but where's the fun in that?

Nutter's Pinball Restoration Spotlight: mrm_4

Nutter's Pinball Restoration Spotlight: Matt (mrm_4)

Michael Swanson

Michael Swanson puts the spotlight on prolific pinball restorer Matt (mrm_4) in the second edition of his restoration series. I don't know that I've ever heard anyone describe themselves as addicted to being overwhelmed like Matt does here, but it's pretty cool. Kind of interesting, too — for a guy who puts so much effort into publicly documenting his projects, just so others don't have to feel that way in theirs.

The Score Card 14: Europe's Champion and April Intensity

The Score Card 14: Europe's Champion and April Intensity

Matt Owen

Rounding out the past two weeks of Kineticist work: Matt Owen's latest entry in The Score Card series, covering major tournaments from Pintastic to the European Pinball Championship, plus a look at what's on the calendar ahead.

Team Pinball Goes Public on Pedretti Dispute

Late last night, Team Pinball published a lengthy Facebook post going public on a long-simmering dispute over a now-defunct Big Bang Bar remake project. In their telling: Team Pinball bought one of Melvin Williams' original BBB prototypes in October 2024 with Pedretti's knowledge, shipped it to Italy to be finished, and watched communication go dark. When they asked for the prototype back, Pedretti's answer shifted from "yes, if you cover the modifications" to "no, it's our property." Team Pinball estimates ~€90,000 in losses, won't pursue legal action, and is out of all future Pedretti-branded projects.

We won't have a more complete Kineticist writeup ready before this newsletter goes out — but we hope to publish one pending discussions with both Team Pinball and Pedretti.

PAPA 23 Returns September 10-13 — Tickets May 15

The PAPA 23 World Pinball Championships is set for September 10-13 at The Pinball Capital in Stone Park, Illinois. The event also serves as the 3rd annual Memorial for Suicide Awareness in memory of Lyman F. Sheats, Jr. Proceeds benefit mental health charities. Capacity is capped at 250 players. Tickets go on sale May 15 at noon Central — early buyers in the first week get a free raffle entry. Past memorials have raised nearly $100,000 for charity and given out over $80,000 in prizes.

IFPA Event Counts are Back on Trend

I've been tracking a few data points on the IFPA and the organization's health. After a few slower-than-normal months (Dec, Jan, Feb), a recovery seems to be unfolding. Looking at my numbers, that recovery started in earnest in March and continued through April, which had the highest number of IFPA events since October 2025. If the trends hold, 2026 will show YoY growth in the number of events held compared to 2025.

Related (maybe in more ways than one), the IFPA keeps adding to its leadership team — three additions this week: Leslie Ruckman, Stephanie Traub, and Claire Lickman.

Two Goodbyes

Saddened to learn of the passing of homebrew creator Robert Kieronski. We profiled Robert and his project, Create Life Pinball, back in 2024, after a showing at the 2023 Pinball Expo. Word is that some local friends are looking into preserving the game.

In venue news: Toronto's Antisocial Pinball, a 65-machine free-play spot that opened in late 2024, is set to close. Last day is June 14 — if you're local, plan accordingly.

Links of the Week

• Stern Announced the Spike 3 Speaker Lighting System — Stern dropped expression speaker lights for Spike 3 games. If I had a Star Wars FoTE, Walking Dead Remastered, or Pokémon by Stern, I'd want these. $199.

• Stemage on the History of Pinball Music (VGMCon 2026) — Pinball recording artist Stemage gave a talk on the history of pinball music.

• Dirty Pool Podcast: Kaite Martin on NYC Pinball and Stern’s Raymond Davidson — Back-to-back episodes from Dirty Pool worth your ears: Kaite on the NYC scene, Raymond on the move from competing to coding for Stern.

• The Pinball Minority Report, Ep 2: From Golden State to Reddit — Erika's Pinball Journey and Manu are back with episode two of their podcast.

• Dispatch from a Pinball Lover's Paradise in Massachusetts — Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism's recap of Pintastic New England. A very enjoyable read.

Poll of the Week

Last Week’s Poll Results

Thank you for reading!

More ways to connect:

• We’re active on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and sometimes YouTube.

• We have a Pinball Memes group on Facebook.

• We have regularly updated Song of the Week playlists on Spotify and YouTube.

Weekly Feedback

Your feedback helps us improve our work. All notes are appreciated!

Song of the Week

Mountain Sized by Eaves Wilder, from North London. Her debut album Little Miss Sunshine came out April 17, and this is the second track off it that's caught my ear — the first was Everybody Talks a few months back.

It’s very early-to-mid '90s influenced. In a recent Rolling Stone interview, she talks about writing riffs on Pearl Jam and Mazzy Star songs, which shows. Anyway, I keep coming back to it. The chorus is straight addictive, and I love the parallelism between youthful malaise (I want a house but no one pays me) and confident optimism (in my mind, I'm taller than the highest mountain sides) in the lyrics.

Pinball News of the Week

A Peculiar Clue in Every Beetlejuice Release

Spooky Pinball's Beetlejuice Code Contains a Goonies Logo

Colin Alsheimer

A French Facebook post tipped us off to some peculiarities buried in Spooky's Beetlejuice code. Turns out there's been a potential clue in every code release since launch. We've since exchanged messages with the person who did the initial investigation; they are currently working with Spooky to address any potential security vulnerabilities found before publishing their findings on their blog, which I can’t wait to read.

We Rebuilt Kineticist — And Paid TWIP Members Get Ad-Free Browsing

The new Kineticist has been live for a few weeks, and one of the features we shipped in the rebuild is ad-free browsing for paid TWIP subscribers. Every article, every page, no ads.

If you've been paying for TWIP, you already earned this. Here's how to turn it on:

1. Create a free account on kineticist.com

2. Link it to your TWIP subscription from your profile

3. Browse ad-free for as long as your subscription is active

Not a paid member yet? TWIP is free to read but not free to write — a paid subscription starts at $25/year, unlocks ad-free Kineticist, exclusive content, our Discord, and helps keep an independent pinball publication running. Most people join at $60/year.

Rumor Flotsam

How do you know it's slow in pinball content land? All the creators turn to rumor roundups. These last few weeks were a veritable smorgasbord of rumors as everyone figures out what the hell to feed the content pipeline when 2026 has mostly been Pokémon with a side of Pokémon.

Smart readers already know most of these rumors thanks to our handy-dandy notebook… err, rumor tracker (updated regularly since 2022).

In no particular order, themes that got a name drop: Transformers, G.I. Joe, He-Man, AC/DC, Fallout, Van Halen, Sonic the Hedgehog, Dracula, Godzilla Gold, Goonies, Gremlins, KISS, Big Trouble in Little China, Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Of these, I'm probably most excited for Fallout, Sonic, Dracula (if it's truly unlicensed), and DCC. Everything else is kinda meh, but I'm not the target demographic for most of these themes either.

Oh, and speaking of word of mouth, I’m hearing new whispers of a “Summer surprise”.

Every Dennis Nordman Machine, Ranked

Dennis Nordman's Pinball Machines, Ranked Worst to Best

Chris Krentz

Chris Krentz joined the team and led with a big one: a definitive ranking of every Dennis Nordman machine. Judging by the Facebook comments, he made a few controversial decisions!

Chris Granner Returns to Pinball for Yukon Yeti

Speaking of Nordman, Turner Pinball announced that Chris Granner is leading sound design on Yukon Yeti, working alongside Adam Gubman. Granner worked on the original White Water too, which makes this hire especially fitting. The rest of his credits? Bangers. Addams Family, Twilight Zone, Lord of the Rings, among many others. He hasn't done pinball work since 2013. Nice get, Turner.

And speaking of Turner, founder Chris Turner spent some time chatting with the LoserKids on their latest.

New Tutorial for Theatre of Magic

Theatre of Magic Pinball Tutorial, Rules & Strategy Guide + 2.0 ROM Notes

solar_espeon

solar_espeon (The Pinball Primer) also joined the team with a complete tutorial for Bally's 1995 classic. While she was at it, she broke down Soren's 2.0 community code update, which, as far as I can tell, has never been covered like this elsewhere. If you've ever wondered what changes a community ROM update brings (or why you should care), this's a good entry point.

Full guide on Kineticist.

We Launched an API and Stuff

In the name of building cool things for fun and seeing if y'all use it, we launched an official API a few weeks ago, along with what could be pinball's first CLI and MCP server. Right now, it's mostly focused on our games database and some of the new features we've been working on, like play logs, lists, and collections. People are already using it to build fun projects, like Pinventory (a tool for operators by Ed Giardina) and Silverball Labs (an experimental platform by Will Oetting). The plan is to keep iterating on it as people use it (and share feedback!), so check it out.

Links of the Week

• Why Do We Learn Rules Like This? — Nudge talks about the unique way some pinball players learn game rules.

• Midwest Gaming Classic opens today — MGC's 25th anniversary, Baird Center in Milwaukee, April 24–26. 10,000+ playable games and 35,000+ attendees expected. If you're in driving range, go.

• Pinball Map app 5.4.0 is a big one — Zoom limits removed (you can now see the whole world), five new filters, score tracking revamp, global activity feed. Biggest release in a while.

• "Same Player Shoots Again" reviewed in the WSJ — Andreas Bernard's slim 112-page memoir on a Munich youth spent in arcades, framed as Proust-meets-pinball. I ordered a copy!

• World Cup Soccer '94 is leaving Pinball FX on April 30 — Apparently, Zen's license expired. Could that mean someone (AP?) has a remake in mind?

• The Shadow, turned into a real-time sound experiment — Really cool audio experiment by Dirty Pool.

• Pinball Profile sits down with David Morris of Phantom Amusement — Manitoba arcade owner, league/championship organizer, and, unexpectedly, a source of pinball machines for major movies.

• Triple Drain Pinball isn't dead — The hosts return after a two-month gap to talk Beetlejuice, Pokémon, and more.

• Dune's final wizard mode, in full — IE Pinball puts it on camera.

• Wedgehead on Pokémon from the operator's perspective — Hosts switch gears to talk Pokémon after its first weeks on location.

Poll of the Week

Last Week’s Poll Results

Thank you for reading!

More ways to connect:

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Your feedback helps us improve our work. All notes are appreciated!

Song of the Week

Three years ago, New Constellations put a song called "Hot Blooded" on YouTube. It now sits at 21 million views and counting. "Dandelion" is their new single, off their upcoming debut album, It Comes in Waves, due May 15.

I'll let you in on a little secret. These days, in my wildly exciting old-man era, most Friday nights are reserved for catching up on music videos (or more honestly, straight binging them). Sometimes I'll even venture into archival real-time streams of MTV footage from the 90s. What I'd give for an MTV equivalent in 2026. In its absence, I create my own and play pretend VJ for a night. A lot of what ends up here started in one of those sessions.

Take "Dandelion." I've had it on rotation almost every Friday VJ session since its Feb 20 debut. Catchy, with hints of 80s synth-pop and 2010s indie, and lead singer Harlee Case can belt it with the best of them. A fresh voice for a week that's all about fresh voices.

Roger Sharpe Called His Shot Again

Pinball Capital Opens as Chicago's Largest Public Pinball Location

James Fremont

Fifty years after Roger Sharpe stood in a New York courtroom and made the shot that helped legalize pinball, he stood over a Bank Shot machine in Stone Park, Illinois, and got ready to do it again. The occasion: the grand opening of The Pinball Capital, Francis Wisniewski's new 131-game outside Chicago. James Fremont was there with a write-up and photos for his first Kineticist byline.

Read James's full writeup on Kineticist

We Rebuilt Kineticist — And Paid TWIP Members Get Ad-Free Browsing

The new Kineticist has been live for a few weeks, and one of the features we shipped in the rebuild is ad-free browsing for paid TWIP subscribers. Every article, every page, no ads.

If you've been paying for TWIP, you already earned this. Here's how to turn it on:

1. Create a free account on kineticist.com

2. Link it to your TWIP subscription from your profile

3. Browse ad-free for as long as your subscription is active

Not a paid member yet? TWIP is free to read but not free to write — a paid subscription starts at $25/year, unlocks ad-free Kineticist, exclusive content, our Discord, and helps keep an independent pinball publication running. Most people join at $60/year.

Meet Leebo's Pinball

Nutter’s Pinball Restoration Spotlight: Leebo’s Pinball

Michael Swanson

Leebo is a mechanical engineer who's been quietly building one of the most useful pinball restoration channels on YouTube. Each machine he takes on gets broken into a series of task-specific videos — flipper rebuilds, cabinet stencils, connector swaps — with the exact tools named so you can replicate the work. Michael Swanson profiles him in his first Kineticist piece; he's on the restoration beat for us going forward.

Read Michael's full spotlight

The Score Card #13: A Historic Run

The Score Card #13: Women's Championships & March Tournament Recap

Matt Owen

Matt Owen's thirteenth Score Card catches up on one of the competitive season's great runs. Emily Reilhan stacked three Women's championships in two months (with a historic first tucked in there), plus Sterling Mitoska's first Stern Pro Circuit title at Steel Valley and the Texas Wizards results out of TPF.

Read The Score Card #13

Golden Girls Pinball?

Golden Girls Pinball?

This Week in Pinball • Colin Alsheimer

Maybe. A few new pinball domain registrations landed this month, and when I went back through the data, I found more I'd missed from a source whose hit rate is starting to look less like coincidence. Paid subscribers get the full rundown.

Read the full rumor roundup (paid subscribers)

Links of the Week

• Scorbit turned on real-money tournaments at 13 connected pinball and arcade locations across 9 states — $4K in inaugural jackpots through April 22, expanding to 30+ venues by month's end. We covered their relaunch last year; this is what that positioning was for.

• Pinball Brothers asked Facebook what they should make next. Predictable mix of wish lists and jokes, but current rumors point to The Thing, which makes the timing either a branding exercise or a genuine fishing trip. Comments are worth a scroll.

• HEXA dropped a longer gameplay video for The 3 Musketeers. The TPF reveal deserved more than a sizzle reel, and this is a proper look at the game.

• A new pinball podcast just launched: The Pinball Minority Report. Erika (Erika's Pinball Journey) and Manu (Mystery Pinball Theater 3k) are teaming up, and the teaser is live.

• Pinball Junk Drawer Episode 95. Craft Brew Sally and Foghorn Leghorn on TPF, Beetlejuice, and assorted pinball bits. Creeping toward episode 100 — and speaking of fresh ink, Foghorn might be filing for us before long.

• Weezer posted a reel with pinball in it and pinball social media lost its mind.

• The Nudgecast talked Python Anghelo with Joe Ciaravino. Stories about one of pinball's most eccentric designers.

• Pete Davidson is selling his North Salem house for $2.275M and the listing photos include a Sopranos pinball machine in the game room. No word on whether the machine comes with it.

Poll of the Week

Last Week’s Poll Results

Thank you for reading!

More ways to connect:

• We’re active on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and sometimes YouTube.

• We have a Pinball Memes group on Facebook.

• We have regularly updated Song of the Week playlists on Spotify and YouTube.

Weekly Feedback

Your feedback helps us improve our work. All notes are appreciated!

Song of the Week

This week it's The Bobby Lees — "New Self." If you took the rage of Zach de la Rocha, ran it through therapy, and came out the other side with self-compassion and some very funny memories of a night with Shaun White, you'd land somewhere close to this track. Sam Quartin's vocals are jagged and huge, but the lyrics are unexpectedly tender — a diary entry set to late-90s nu-metal and garage punk.

The Bobby Lees are from Woodstock, NY. They went on indefinite hiatus in late 2023 after burning out on touring economics, and would've stayed gone if not for Jason Momoa, who funded the new record. New Self is their fourth studio album and their Epitaph Records debut, produced by Dave Sardy, out June 12.

Pinball News of the Week

One More Dollar: Inside Project Pinball with Daniel Spolar

One More Dollar, One More Game: Inside Project Pinball with Daniel Spolar

www.kineticist.com/news/project-pinball-interview

Every few months, someone in the pinball community pulls up Project Pinball's 990 filings, sees $600,000 in net assets and a 3-star Charity Navigator rating, and starts asking questions. Where does the money go? Why does the founder take a salary? Why no independent audit?

We sat down with Daniel Spolar for nearly three hours to get answers.

The conversation covered everything — the origin story, how the raffles actually work, what the $600,000 is made of, why he took zero salary for eight years, and the stories behind the placements that the public rarely hears.

There were no bombshells. No red flags. No moments where the math didn't add up. What there was, mostly, was a guy in a hotel room in Phoenix, bike wedged against the bed, somewhere between dedications, answering for a charity that's grown faster than the community's understanding of it.

Read the full piece — One More Dollar, One More Game.

Hey! Don’t Skip This!

The This Week in Pinball Friday newsletter is free for all to read — but that doesn’t mean it’s free to write.

We rely on just 120 paying members that make it possible to curate the best pinball content each week, do original reporting, produce regular columns, and more.

If you enjoy the work we do here, and you haven’t upgraded your subscription yet, it starts at $25/year, but most people join at $60/year. Get exclusive content, access to our Discord, ad-free viewing on Kineticist, and the self-satisfaction of supporting an independent pinball publication.

Turner Pinball Reveals Yukon Yeti

Yukon Yeti Pinball: Turner Pinball Reveals Pricing, Features, and More

www.kineticist.com/news/turner-reveals-yukon-yeti

Dennis Nordman's spiritual successor to White Water is real, and it had its public debut at the Texas Pinball Festival last weekend.

Klondike Gold Rush-themed, built around a 5-ball avalanche lock and four flippers. It's $9,999 for a single 500-unit run, and word is Turner has already sold at least half. Could take up to two years to produce all 500 — a reminder of what "small batch" actually means at this scale.

Audio took some heat at the show and Turner is bringing on more help to address it. Art has split opinion too. The audio is fixable. The art is what it is. Either way, there's a lot of mechanical ambition here. Full breakdown with rules, pricing, and design history on Kineticist.

HEXA's 3 Musketeers Reveal — Minus the Machine

Three Musketeers Pinball by HEXA Pinball Revealed

www.kineticist.com/news/hexa-3-musketeers-pinball

HEXA Pinball planned to unveil its second title, The 3 Musketeers, simultaneously in Bordeaux and at the Texas Pinball Festival. There was just one problem: customs held up the TPF demo units, so attendees couldn't actually play it.

Tough break for a French manufacturer trying to prove itself with unlicensed IP.

Designed by Luis Dos Santos, themed around Alexandre Dumas's classic novel (public domain — no licensing fees). Classic Edition runs €7,890, Elegance Edition €10,390. First shipments targeted for June. HEXA also announced AdaptiveFlip, an accessibility program they said was "quite easy to do on a technical point of view".

Full breakdown on Kineticist.

American Pinball at TPF: Houdini, Cirqus Voltaire, and an AI Flyer

American Pinball came to Texas with two announcements.

First, a Houdini 100th Anniversary Edition — new cabinet artwork by Christopher Franchi and a new topper. They had units on the floor at the fest. Second, and bigger: the Cirqus Voltaire remake is confirmed and scheduled for 2026. For anyone who caught our TPF preview a couple weeks ago, the rumor mill was right on this one.

There was also a small dust-up over a promotional flyer that was pretty clearly AI-generated — it still had the Gemini watermark on it. Similar vibes to the Harry Potter AI art situation from earlier this year. I don't think using AI for promo materials is inherently a problem, but you've gotta check the details before you send it out.

Rumor: CGC Considering Another Attack from Mars Remake Run

Word out of TPF is that Chicago Gaming Company may do another production run of the Attack from Mars Remake. About time — demand for AfM has consistently been strong. Like Medieval Madness, AfM is another game CGC could probably run in perpetuity.

The Score Card: Major Moves

The Score Card: Major Moves

www.kineticist.com/news/major-moves

The latest Score Card covers three major tournaments from competitive pinball's spring season.

Daniele Acciari won INDISC for his fifth lifetime major. Jason Zahler took the IFPA North American Pinball Championship with a 4-0 finals sweep. Keith Elwin won Pin-Masters at ORD Pinball, clinching it on NBA Fastbreak. And Dalton Ely quietly showed up in the top four at both NAPC and Pin-Masters — watch that name.

Noah Crable on His Surprise NAPC Run

Noah Crable on His Surprise Run to the 2026 IFPA National Championship Final

www.kineticist.com/news/noah-crable-interview

We also interviewed Noah Crable about his run to the NAPC finals. Noah writes rulesheet guides for us at Kineticist and isn't really on the national tournament circuit — he qualified through state competitions, knocked out Eric Stone in the semis, then ran into Jason Zahler in the final. Fun interview. He talks about learning games through location play, why he kept picking X-Men (short version: he knew it cold and everyone else didn't), and his VHS tape collecting hobby, which is somehow the perfect parallel to writing rulesheets.

Read the full interview — Noah Crable on His Surprise Run.

Moving Units #6 Is Live

Moving Units: Pinball Sales Tracker (#6)

twip.kineticist.com/p/moving-units-6

New Moving Units tracker is up for paid subscribers. JAWS crossed 3,000 units in market, Harry Potter hit a milestone, and Pokémon posted the fastest start we've ever tracked. Read Moving Units #6.

Kineticist Updates

A few things from our end.

The site got a ground-up rebuild. If you've visited kineticist.com recently, you may have noticed it's faster and works better. We rebuilt the entire site on a new custom stack, replacing the hodgepodge of subscription services we'd been using. Already live: game reviews, comments on articles, custom lists for games and locations, and the ability to save your game ratings and hype ratings to your profile. More features coming — we'll do a proper write-up once we're further along.

Your TWIP sub just got an upgrade. First feature we built on the new stack: paid TWIP subscribers can now browse kineticist.com completely ad-free. Create a Kineticist account, link your subscription, takes about a minute. Your sub now gets you ad-free browsing on top of Moving Units, subscriber-only articles, and everything else.

We're still looking for writers. The response to our call a couple weeks ago was way better than I expected — we're in talks with a bunch of potential new contributors and have some new things in the works. But it's an open call, and it stays open. If you're interested in covering pinball, arcade culture, or adjacent beats with a business lens, reach out anytime: colin@kineticist.com.

Links of the Week

• Stumblor CardBlaster — Automatic card dispenser for Pokémon Pinball machines. Dispenses a trading card when you hit a configurable in-game trigger. $327 and already sold out.

• Nudge Pinball: Free Photo Library for Tournament Directors — Tired of seeing AI slop on tournament flyers, Nudge put their money where their mouth is — six years of photos plus Canva templates, free for TDs to use. "Weird, sexy, fun stuff created by humans."

• Silverball Chronicles: Game Plan — Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em — Ron and Dave dig into Game Plan's 1970s cocktail pins, bad marketing decisions, and John Trudeau's entry into pinball manufacturing.

• Punk Rock Pinball: What Kind of Player Are You? — Mike and Stephanie discuss player archetypes and community reactions to AI art in pinball. Timely.

• Slam Tilt Podcast covers the TWIPYs — They didn't tear us to shreds, which we consider a win.

• Turner Pinball: Yukon Yeti Stream — Extended gameplay footage if you want to see the avalanche lock in action.

• MGC Homebrew Pinball 2K26 — The Midwest Gaming Classic turns 25, and Homebrew Pinball and Arcade Games 2K26 (presented by Flairrcade) is calling for submissions. April 24-26 at the Baird Center in Milwaukee. For submissions or more information, contact Christopher Wells Graham at homebrewpinballgames@gmail.com. Deadline is April 20.

Poll of the Week

Last Week’s Poll Results

Thank you for reading!

More ways to connect:

• We’re active on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and sometimes YouTube.

• We have a Pinball Memes group on Facebook.

• We have regularly updated Song of the Week playlists on Spotify and YouTube.

Weekly Feedback

Your feedback helps us improve our work. All notes are appreciated!

Song of the Week

We featured Lip Critic last year for "Mirror Match" — the one with the pinball-inspired music video and interactive site. I flagged them as a band to watch, and I'm doubling down this week. Their new album Theft World drops May 1 on Partisan Records, and based on the few tracks I've heard, this could be their breakout year.

The backstory on this record is kinda nuts too — frontman Bret Kaser got his identity stolen by a fan while touring Hex Dealer, and somehow that ended up reshaping the entire album. I'll let you read the Stereogum piece for the full story because it's genuinely unhinged and quite the story of turning lemons into lemonade.

"Legs in a Snare" rips. Catchy, high-energy, with a demonic music video that one YouTuber described as "the Babadook if it slayed." Hard to argue with that.

Pinball News of the Week

Is a Pinball Talent War Heating Up?

TEP's Rob Rath and Nick Neitzel Join American Pinball's Growing Team | Kineticist

www.kineticist.com/post/rob-rath-nick-neitzel-join-ap

Rob Rath and Nick Neitzel are joining American Pinball.

We published the full story earlier this week. The short version: Rath, co-founder of The Electric Playground, takes on a Product Director role while Neitzel — whose homebrew Tony Hawk's Pro Pinball won the 2024 TWIPY Homebrew Game of the Year — steps in as Product Designer. They'll work alongside Creative Director Melvin Williams on what AP describes as "a slate of remakes and original titles." Unusually, Rath also stays on as GM of TEP simultaneously, with TEP expanding to 4,000 square feet and doubling production lines to handle the increased workload.

But the AP news might be indicative of a bigger trend in the industry. Granted, AP is in startup mode, but there's a quiet war for talent happening at the fringes. Barrels of Fun recently brought on Kyle Smet, the creator of the Big Trouble in Little China homebrew. Multimorphic hired Kevin Manne from Buffalo Pinball. Homebrew has always been a solid pipeline into the industry, but the rate of hiring activity seems to be increasing — and we're seeing more people get pulled in from other areas, too, like mods, accessories, and content creators.

I'm way more networked than I used to be, but it sure does feel like a lot of people in my orbit are getting industry jobs lately. For anyone pushing the "pinball is dying" narrative (counter-narratives, right?), this looks a lot more like an industry that's ramping up. Who's next?

Hey! Don’t Skip This!

The This Week in Pinball Friday newsletter is free for all to read — but that doesn’t mean it’s free to write.

We rely on just 120 paying members that make it possible to curate the best pinball content each week, do original reporting, produce regular columns, and more.

If you enjoy the work we do here, and you haven’t upgraded your subscription yet, it starts at $25/year, but most people join at $60/year. Get exclusive content, access to our Discord, and the self-satisfaction of supporting an independent pinball publication.

What to Expect at Texas Pinball Festival

TPF runs March 20-22 in Frisco, and normally, this is where we see a wave of new reveals and announcements for the first part of the year. This year? Could be quiet.

Here's what I'm watching. HEXA is launching Three Musketeers — we got an invite to their release event in France, and I wish I could have made that work, but they will be stateside at TPF with their new game too. American Pinball has real energy heading into the fest, and if they're ready to announce their first title under new ownership (the rumor mill points to a Cirqus Voltaire remake), this is the stage for it. Could we see something from Turner? Maybe the rumored Whitewater sequel from Dennis Nordman? Jack Guarnieri loves a surprise reveal — he pulled it off with Harry Potter — and the Steve Ritchie / Sonic the Hedgehog rumors haven't died down. If Guarnieri has something up his sleeve, this is where we could hear about it.

On the other hand, World Pinball isn't on the exhibitor floor map, so I wouldn't expect their rumored Resident Evil game to be there. I don't think we'll get anything new from Barrels of Fun. I'd heard whispers of CGC trying to be ready with a Halo reveal at TPF, but I wouldn't put much weight on it. Pedretti is due for an announcement, but they're not on the exhibitor list either.

What might happen instead is a quieter TPF where people get quality time with the hyped new releases — Beetlejuice, Pokémon — rather than chasing a dozen new announcements.

Pokémon's Bulbasaur Lane Problem

Operators receiving Pokémon Pro models have been reporting a left feed issue — a misinstalled orbit ball guide on the Bulbasaur lane that protrudes into the lane itself. George Gomez has publicly stated that the issue has been addressed internally at Stern, but obviously, that fix hasn’t had time to get out into the market yet. If it's something that requires a more serious fix, look to recent history with Star Wars: Fall of the Empire and the Death Star shot fix for how things could play out.

New Pokémon Tutorial Is Live

I Choose You! The Pokémon Pinball Trainer's Survival Guide | Kineticist

www.kineticist.com/post/pokemon-pinball-tutorial

Not all Pokémon news is ball guides and production snafus. Noah Crable published a full tutorial over on Kineticist — skill shots, story modes, catching mechanics, Team Rocket multiball, the works. If you’re heading out to your local spot to play the game this weekend and want to know what to shoot for, start there.

TWIPY Behind the Scenes (and Nudge 6 Is Here)

I joined the BASH crew and Ian from Nudge on the BASH Pinball podcast this week to talk TWIPY behind the scenes and share some Pokémon impressions. Fun hang as always.

Speaking of Ian — Nudge 6 dropped this week. The limited edition ($40) comes signed and numbered with a screen-printed Bad Cats poster by Tanner Petch, a joke book from Ian, and a sticker pack. Pinball horoscopes, a travel piece on Dutch pinball, an Akira game feature, and the usual Nudge weirdness. I’ve already got my copy on order.

IFPA Adds Two New Team Members

The IFPA announced two new staff additions this week. Christina Capra, the North Carolina state representative for women's competitive pinball, comes from the Cape Fear Flipper club and Charlotte's Abari league. Emily Cosson is an Australian competitive player who hosts the Australian Pinball Open alongside her dad, John Cosson (and Kineticist contributor!), and started a Belles & Chimes league in Brisbane. More people doing the work of growing the competitive scene — fits the theme of the week.

A Note for Paid Subscribers

I'm hoping to have a new Moving Units update for you next week. I've been doing a ton of tech work behind the scenes — improving our data collection and tracking for the series — and I'm still getting on top of it. I'm also in the middle of migrating and rebuilding all of Kineticist onto a new platform and tech stack, which is eating a lot of my time, but I'm really excited about what it should enable. There are things I've always wanted to do with this site that technical limitations have held back. More soon (I hope — tech work rarely goes as planned).

We're Looking for More Writers

So in the years I’ve been running Kineticist, I’ve never actually put out a formal call for contributors like this. Usually, they come in through friends or general word of mouth. That said, we're looking to expand our writer pool at Kineticist. We love our current team of contributors, but there's always an opportunity to do more, and it’s always good to know who is out there and interested in these things.

What we're looking for: pinball and arcade culture coverage with a business lens. Location pinball, homebrew, the mod scene, interviews. We're also open to new beats in adjacent spaces — toys, gaming, music, movies, pop culture. If you've got a creative pitch, we want to hear it.

This is paid work — we start at a flat rate of $50 per post, and we're open to discussing custom arrangements as needed. We prefer writers who can commit to a regular schedule over one-offs, though we'll consider those too.

If any of this sounds like you, email colin@kineticist.com (prior writing samples appreciated).

Links of the Week

• The Vergecast: Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks — Really enjoyed this one. Nilay Patel interviews Chris Cocks on AI in toy design, licensed IP strategy, tariffs, and the trend of adults buying toys. Some pinball overlap — Stern's D&D license ladders up to Hasbro, and there's interesting thinking on location-based entertainment and market dynamics in a very similar space as pinball. The Verge

• 5 Minutes to Tilt: Greg Freres and Mark Ritchie — Great series from the Dutch Pinball Museum. Two recent episodes feature legends Freres and Ritchie. Short, well-produced, and worth your time. Greg Freres | Mark Ritchie

• Wedgehead Podcast: Whitewater Is the Best Game Ever — The Wedgehead crew makes the case for Dennis Nordman's 1993 Williams classic as the GOAT. Timely, given Whitewater sequel rumors heading into TPF. Wedgehead ep113

• Pinball Profile: Cassie Begay — The 2026 INDISC Women's champ from Colorado talks about the victory and seeing the world through pinball. Pinball Profile ep435

• Pinball Studio: Imoto Harney of Marco Specialties — Imoto talks TPF involvement and her path into the hobby. Pinball Studio ep18

• Abe Flips on the Dirtypool Podcast — Talks about his new instructional series, Mastering Pinball, and pinball education more broadly. Dirtypool

Poll of the Week

Last Week’s Poll Results

Thank you for reading!

More ways to connect:

• We’re active on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and sometimes YouTube.

• We have a Pinball Memes group on Facebook.

• We have regularly updated Song of the Week playlists on Spotify and YouTube.

Weekly Feedback

Your feedback helps us improve our work. All notes are appreciated!

Song of the Week

Taking a break from our normal cadence to highlight a submission that came to us from Stemage (you may remember him as the audio/music guy for Jersey Jack's Avatar: The Battle for Pandora). It's a recording of one of his bands (The Arkadian) doing an 80s metal rendition of the theme to Banzai Run at MAGFest 2026, and it's arguably the best version of the song I've ever heard. Stemage leads on guitar, and he wails.

They're looking for other songs to cover (they've also done Monster Bash and Swords of Fury) in hopes of putting together a full set one day. If you have a classic pinball song you'd like to see done up in 80s metal fashion, send me a note, and I'll pass it along!

And if you want a more traditional Song of the Week pick — here's Silversun Pickups, "The Wreckage", another I've had on repeat for a few weeks (and scope the Jack Black cameo), but that I don't know if I'll get to feature here.

Pinball News of the Week

Get Ready for Dungeon Crawler Carl

Get Ready for a Dungeon Crawler Carl Pinball Machine | Kineticist

www.kineticist.com/post/dungeon-crawler-carl-pinball

Last week, we published our piece on the possibility of a Dungeon Crawler Carl pinball machine, and since then, the pinball community seems to have caught DCC fever. People are discovering the books (and audiobooks), connecting over existing fandom, and getting genuinely excited about a DCC pin. Even outside of pinball fan communities, I see people fired up about this one.

And it's a rare kind of excitement. This isn't Pokémon fans learning how much a modern pinball machine costs and backing off. This is book nerds who know what a pin costs and want one anyway, because it's a theme that speaks to them. I don't know if I've ever seen this kind of nearly universal positive reaction to a rumored pinball IP. I've also seen a lot of people expressing real purchase intent — not the "I'd buy that" passing internet comment kind, but the "how do I get on a list for this" and "I just contacted my distributor" kind. I even put myself on an interest list with Mad Pinball, just in case.

Whoever has this IP, every signal I can see (our own website traffic included) says it has a ton of potential.

Dungeon Crawler Karl, coincidence?

Most people seem to agree it feels like a Barrels of Fun pick. Lending some fuel to the fire are multiple photos of Barrels game designer Karl DeAngelo dressed up as the main character from the books for Halloween. I do want to stress that there's been no confirmation that Barrels has the IP. In fact, I received an anonymous tip that DCC is not Barrels — but the tipster didn't respond when I tried to get more information.

What's most exciting to me about a DCC pin (besides genuinely enjoying my read of the first book) is that it challenges the predominant story of what makes good pinball IP. DCC isn't a nostalgia property. It doesn't have a movie or a TV show (yet). In the grand scheme of licensable franchise entertainment, it's barely a blip on the radar. But if the pinball community can get this excited about a theme like this, what else would they get excited about that we're not even considering — because our collective frame of reference is so narrow? Between DCC and the early success of Pokémon, what this tells me is there's room in pinball for new ideas and non-traditional buyers. We don't have to live in the nostalgia cycle forever.

Hey! Don’t Skip This!

The This Week in Pinball Friday newsletter is free for all to read — but that doesn’t mean it’s free to write.

We rely on just 120 paying members that make it possible to curate the best pinball content each week, do original reporting, produce regular columns, and more.

If you enjoy the work we do here, and you haven’t upgraded your subscription yet, it starts at $25/year, but most people join at $60/year. Get exclusive content, access to our Discord, and the self-satisfaction of supporting an independent pinball publication.

More Insight Into the DPX / Dutch Pinball Fallout

Buried in the latest Pinball Magazine & Pinball News PinCast was a detailed look at Dutch Pinball's decision to part ways with Melvin Williams and wind down the DPX entity.

As the podcast hosts put it, the split was mostly driven by Dutch Pinball's new investors. After meeting with Melvin, they weren't interested in producing RAZA — nor in splitting profits with him under existing agreements. The tariff situation on US-bound games added further uncertainty. Melvin was given an ultimatum: accept new terms or leave. So he left.

In conversations with the PinCast team, Melvin said he was "blindsided" by how it happened. He'd known about the new investors and welcomed the capital injection, but the new terms were so unfavorable, he couldn't accept them. He said he'd "never forgive the way he was forced out." The DPX brand, which Melvin and Barry created together, appears to be finished — Melvin said he wouldn't allow another game to be produced under it.

The American Pinball offer came fast. Brian Vincent reached out just 16 minutes after Melvin posted his departure announcement. Melvin was keen to stress he didn't leave DPX because of American Pinball — the offer came after. As creative director, he'll oversee all game designs (his own and from other designers), working mostly remotely but traveling to the Palatine, Illinois, factory as needed. He and Brian plan to do a seminar at the Texas Pinball Festival to talk about the new American Pinball.

Meanwhile, Dutch Pinball says existing Alice's Adventures in Wonderland machines will continue shipping, though toppers face an additional delay of up to three months due to a supplier issue with the display board used for the Cheshire Cat's eyes.

Multimorphic Says No New Game for TPF

Multimorphic has established a bit of a pattern for announcing new releases at the Texas Pinball Festival. Not this year, according to their latest official update:

They're plenty busy otherwise — batch 4 of Portal game kits is underway, and a new code update (v1.2.3.0) brings enhanced multiball and jackpot mechanics, adjusted scoring, and bug fixes. They'll have a more relaxed TPF presence this year, showcasing existing P3 games and taking pre-orders for their PinGlass+ anti-reflective glass.

Pokemon Keeps Rolling

Speaking of counter-narratives — remember all the people who said Pokémon wouldn't work? That it's just a kids theme? Seems like it's working just fine.

The game is rumored to be sold through well into later this year, with Stern already committed to multiple production runs. Pros are starting to hit locations now (I'm already seeing four in our location tracker), and we've seen a noisy spike in secondary market prices for the LE, with talk of prices hitting $30,000+ for a single game.

About those secondary LE prices — it's really hard to tell what's real and what's podcaster/distributor hype. I see a lot of people talking about crazy numbers, but I don't see a ton of receipts. The closest I've found is a confirmed eBay sale for $20,102.01. On Pinside, the median asking price for an LE has already dropped from a high of $32,000 to $15,500 (not far above MSRP), and there's been only one confirmed sale — the seller was asking about $21,000 OBO, but the final amount wasn't disclosed.

With the exception of a few one-offs in the Pokémon collector space, I have a hard time seeing LE secondary prices reaching the heights of some early predictions. Maybe for very specific numbered machines tied to very specific characters (after all, it only takes one buyer to make a market). Otherwise, it seems a bit suspect.

The Pinball Music Video Leaderboard

The Pinball Music Video Leaderboard | Kineticist

www.kineticist.com/post/pinball-music-videos

One of our original writers, Brian Saa, is back with a fun one — a ranking of music videos that prominently feature pinball machines. Brian scores each video arcade-style and crowns a Grand Champion (spoiler: it's Plastilina Mosh's "Human Disco Ball," a video about the emotional bond between a player and their favorite pin). Along the way he surfaces some surprising picks, including a Blackstreet video that's somehow tied for the 29th most expensive music video of all time, and a Yello video that gets disqualified for committing crimes against a Williams machine. A perfect rabbit hole for your Friday.

A Couple of Quick IFPA Updates

Congrats to Daniele Acciari for his fifth major championship win at INDISC, and to Jason Zahler for taking the 2025-26 North American Pinball Championship. Big kudos to our own Noah Crable, who seemingly came from nowhere to finish second at NAPC, knocking out the vaunted Eric Stone in the semifinals. We'll have more complete write-ups from Matt Owen soon.

Links of the Week

• Neil Druckmann digs Nudge Magazine: The Last of Us creator showing love to the pinball hobby. That's a nice endorsement.

• Pinball Pete's in East Lansing sued for refusing to hire petite woman: Not the kind of headline you want associated with your arcade.

• Dirty Pool interviews Ron Richards of Scorbit

• JJP trademarks a potential connected system name

• Nudgecast interviews David Van Es; hints at BoF's next game: Speaking of Barrels, the Nudgecast drops some hints about their next game — and it’s probably not DCC.

• John Borg already working on his next game: Borg says he's already into his next design, with another starting soon. The man does not rest.

• IFPA launches the Quarter Drop: The IFPA now has a quarterly newsletter. I like this for them.

• Indie Arcade Wave chats with Pinball Hans about Hyper Beer Co: Pinball Hans (TM) talks about opening his arcade in Anaheim.

Poll of the Week

Last Week’s Poll Results

Thank you for reading!

More ways to connect:

• We’re active on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and sometimes YouTube.

• We have a Pinball Memes group on Facebook.

• We have regularly updated Song of the Week playlists on Spotify and YouTube.

Weekly Feedback

Your feedback helps us improve our work. All notes are appreciated!

Song of the Week

One of those songs I'm not entirely sure how I found, but I've been obsessed with it since I did. Haute & Freddy are an LA-based duo — Michelle Buzz and Lance Shipp — who just signed with Atlantic Records, with a debut album (Big Disgrace) dropping March 13. This is pure 80s new wave energy run through a modern filter, and the band described it perfectly: "That bustling street, grime of the city, crowded dance floor, ready to forget the world kind of feeling." Someone in the YouTube comments nailed it: "The singer is like if Cyndi Lauper and Columbia from Rocky Horror had a kid." That's exactly right. I haven't been able to get it out of my head.

Pinball News of the Week

The TWIPYs Were Really, Really Good

The 2025 TWIPY Pinball Awards: Full Winners and Recap | Kineticist

www.kineticist.com/post/twipys-2025-recap

The 2025 TWIPYs came together, and I'm proud of what we made. We co-produced it with BASH Pinball, filmed across five North Carolina arcades, and deliberately stripped the show down to seven categories focused entirely on games and the people who make them. No sponsorship segments, no ancillary categories, no bloat. We wanted a show that was creative and fun, and that's what we built.

Evil Dead swept three awards (Best Theme Integration, Best Art Package, Best Sound), Harry Potter took Game of the Year, and King Kong claimed Best Rules and Best Playfield Layout. The interviews were the real highlight — genuine conversations about craft with the designers and artists behind these games.

I'd rather make something weird and specific that we believe in than something safe that checks every box.

That's the creative energy this year. If you missed it, go watch it.

Hey! Don’t Skip This!

The This Week in Pinball Friday newsletter is free for all to read — but that doesn’t mean it’s free to write.

We rely on just 120 paying members that make it possible to curate the best pinball content each week, do original reporting, produce regular columns, and more.

If you enjoy the work we do here, and you haven’t upgraded your subscription yet, it starts at $25/year, but most people join at $60/year. Get exclusive content, access to our Discord, and the self-satisfaction of supporting an independent pinball publication.

Melvin Williams Lands at American Pinball

Melvin Williams Joins American Pinball as Creative Director | Kineticist

www.kineticist.com/post/melvin-williams-american-pinball

Melvin Williams has been named Creative Director at American Pinball, and we wrote up the full story this week. The short version: Melvin left DPX after disputes with new investors, and now he's leading the design team and creative vision for AP under new owner J. Bryan Vincent. His actual mandate is leading AP's remastered Bally Williams games and new licensed titles. But Melvin also still holds the IP rights to RAZA — the game he was reportedly near-complete on when DPX folded — and other JPop designs like Magic Girl and Space Mission X. AP's owner has said they have no plans to build it, but I don't know why you hire the guy who was working on revisions and holds the rights if it's not at least being entertained. The full piece traces the whole arc.

The Hype Index Got an Upgrade

How the Hype Index Got Smarter | Kineticist

www.kineticist.com/post/how-the-hype-index-got-smarter

Something I've been working on quietly for the past few months: the Hype Index has been rebuilt from the ground up. New composite scoring that weighs multiple signals together, era-based nostalgia modeling (Star Wars rates "Multi-gen" for a reason), cultural pulse tracking, and your user vote is finally a real component of the rankings. The catalog is up to 2,300+ tracked IPs with over 90,000 community mentions processed. Still a work in progress, but the rankings are meaningfully smarter than what we started with. Wrote up the full story of what changed and why. Go vote on something.

Links of the Week

• Will Malone's pinball postcards — Photographer Will Malone is running a year-long daily postcard project and Day 46 is pinball-themed. Beautiful work. Originals available for $5. Double Negative Dispatch

• Engadget on Pokemon Pinball — Mainstream coverage of the Stern Pokemon reveal, leading with the animatronic Pikachu and Master Ball plunger. The $6,999-to-$12,999 price range showing up in Engadget is interesting exposure for the hobby. Engadget

• "So You Want To Be A Stern Dealer" — Lock Is Lit Pinball on the TiltTrek channel breaking down what it takes to become a Stern dealer. YouTube

• Pokemon at NY Toy Fair — Knapp Arcade's hands-on report from the first public showing of Stern's Pokemon at the Javits Center. Knapp Arcade

• TWD Remastered Premium added to Stern Rewards — The Walking Dead Remastered Premium is now available through the Stern Rewards Program. IFPA

• Winchester Mystery House patch — The latest update adds the 13ths Wizard Mode, unlocked after completing all 13ths progression objectives. Also adds map trails showing visited paths, new Wildcard mementos, and a bunch of bug fixes. Barrels of Fun

• Erika's Pinball Journey x Erin Winick Anthony on Pokemon — Erika and Erin Winick Anthony talk through their experience with Stern's Pokemon. YouTube

• Five Minutes to Tilt: Eric Meunier — The Dutch Pinball Museum's timed interview series sits down with JJP's Eric Meunier. He talks about navigating secrecy in game development — including keeping things from his kids — and reveals the codename behind Harry Potter. YouTube

Poll of the Week

Last Week’s Poll Results

Thank you for reading!

More ways to connect:

• We’re active on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and sometimes YouTube.

• We have regularly updated Song of the Week playlists on Spotify and YouTube.

Weekly Feedback

Your feedback helps us improve our work. All notes are appreciated!

Song of the Week

A boxing match in an arena, set to music. Felt right for Pokémon week. "Death Punch" is a bonus track from the upcoming deluxe edition of Surgery And Pleasure, the 2025 release from Boston-area band Vundabar. Dropped about three weeks ago and I’ve been looping it ever since.

Pinball News of the Week

Stern Reveals Pokémon Pinball

Stern Pinball Reveals Pokémon Pinball | Kineticist

www.kineticist.com/post/stern-pinball-reveals-pokemon-pinball

It's official. Stern Pinball has revealed Pokémon Pinball — a Jack Danger and George Gomez collaboration, based on the '90s animated series, with every visual asset supplied directly by The Pokémon Company. Pricing remains unchanged from prior cornerstones, there's an animatronic Pikachu, and you can catch 180+ Pokémon. Nintendo's first pinball license in 34 years is a big deal. We've got the full breakdown — design team, pricing, hype cycle, Betson leaks, AI fakes, and what it all means — in our launch article.

Hey! Don’t Skip This!

The This Week in Pinball Friday newsletter is free for all to read — but that doesn’t mean it’s free to write.

We rely on just 120 paying members that make it possible to curate the best pinball content each week, do original reporting, produce regular columns, and more.

If you enjoy the work we do here, and you haven’t upgraded your subscription yet, it starts at $25/year, but most people join at $60/year. Get exclusive content, access to our Discord, and the self-satisfaction of supporting an independent pinball publication.

Dutch Pinball Exclusive (DPX) Is No More

Dutch Pinball Exclusive (DPX) Is No More | Kineticist

www.kineticist.com/post/dpx-is-no-more

Dutch Pinball Exclusive is officially done. Founder Melvin Williams is out at Dutch Pinball after new investors entered with a different vision for the company. Melvin says Alice and his other designs are his own IP, and he's looking for potential US manufacturing partners to continue his pinball journey. More details in the article.

RUMOR: Dutch / Stern Team-up for BTTF?

RUMOR: Dutch Pinball Partnering with Stern Pinball to Produce Back to the Future | Kineticist

www.kineticist.com/post/dutch-pinball-partnering-with-stern

Related to the DPX news — we reported on a rumor Wednesday night tying Dutch Pinball to Stern Pinball in a potential partnership to produce the long-rumored Back to the Future game. The rumor stemmed from comments by CoinTaker owner Melissa Marquette — CoinTaker being a key Dutch Pinball distributor — who confirmed the claim on Dutch Pinball's Facebook page before deleting her comments and issuing a denial to another outlet. Dutch Pinball hasn't commented in either direction. Make of that what you will.

The Pinball Bet

The Pinball Bet | Kineticist

www.kineticist.com/post/the-pinball-bet

I really enjoyed getting to know Francis Wisniewski while working on this profile. He's making a seven-figure bet that the Pinball Capital of the World deserves a world-class place to play — and he's building it. 120+ games, grand opening set for April 2nd in Stone Park, just outside Chicago. We talked about his background, his vision, and why a gap this obvious has gone unfilled for so long.

TWIPYs Debut Tomorrow!

Instagram post

Good news, everyone — we found Matt! The 2025 TWIPYs debut tomorrow (Saturday) at 7 pm ET on the BASH Pinball Podcast YouTube channel. It's everything I've ever dreamed of for the TWIPYs and then some. Get ready.

Links of the Week

Chances are, most of your favorite pinball creators have Pokémon reveal content out today. I haven't been able to watch 'em all (see what I did there), but here are a few of my usual faves:

• LoserKid interviews Pokémon’s design team

• Cooltoy has a review (and some gameplay videos in his channel)

• Fox Cities Pinball captured the game demo from media day

• Travis Murie gives an overview for The Pinball Company

• Nudge Magazine has their review plus a smattering of fun pics from media day

Poll of the Week

Last Week’s Poll Results

Thank you for reading!

More ways to connect:

• We’re active on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and sometimes YouTube.

• We have regularly updated Song of the Week playlists on Spotify and YouTube.

• If you create content, products, or other things for the pinball community, join our Pinball Media & Creators Discord group.

Weekly Feedback

Your feedback helps us improve our work. All notes are appreciated!

Song of the Week

I've been sitting on Wet Leg's "pokemon" for too long, trying to time its hatching just right. Turns out the timing worked itself out — Stern dropped a Pokémon teaser just as this newsletter was coming together (more on that below). "pokemon" is off Wet Leg's well-reviewed sophomore album Moisturizer, and besides the thematically perfect title, the video imagines an absurd take on incubating a human-sized Pokémon egg. It's a shiny evolution of Wet Leg's already impressive music video catalogue.

Pinball News of the Week

WE LOST MATT

So we were gearing up for the TWIPYs on Saturday. Our regularly scheduled date. But uhhh, we lost one of our co-hosts, Matt. Like, straight up disappeared. Fellow co-host Don is out looking for him now.

We think he'll show up, but just in case, we're moving the TWIPYs to next Saturday, February 14th. More in the video.

Hey! Don’t Skip This!

The This Week in Pinball Friday newsletter is free for all to read — but that doesn’t mean it’s free to write.

We rely on just 120 paying members that make it possible to curate the best pinball content each week, do original reporting, produce regular columns, and more.

If you enjoy the work we do here, and you haven’t upgraded your subscription yet, it starts at $25/year, but most people join at $60/year. Get exclusive content, access to our Discord, and the self-satisfaction of supporting an independent pinball publication.

Stern Teases Pokémon Pinball

Literally breaking news, so adding this one in at the last minute. Stern dropped a teaser confirming their Pokémon pinball machine is coming soon. Not much to go on yet — it's about 18 seconds — but the egg has officially cracked, and we’ll get more next week.

The Score Card: States & Starfighters

The Score Card: States & Starfighters | Kineticist

www.kineticist.com/post/the-score-card-states-starfighters

Our first Score Card of 2026 recaps all the winners from the 2025-2026 IFPA State/Provincial Championships (no small feat to track down for author Matt Owen) plus a quick rundown of the first Stern Pro Circuit event of the year at Starfighters Arcade.

No More Opt-Outs for IFPA Tournaments

Update from the IFPA on opt-out policy - Update from the IFPA on opt-out policy

www.ifpapinball.com/update-from-the-ifpa-on-opt-out-policy

Some people wanted me to write a full article on this. I'm not — here's why.

I mostly see it as an administrative change. One of several since OBX. I get why some people seem upset, depending on where you look — opting out was a way to protest IFPA policy without giving up participation in events, and taking that option away stings. But the practice was starting to be abused by top-ranked players, and it was creating problems with event results well beyond the players doing it as a form of protest.

What's also worth noting is that new board members — people who are well-respected in the community themselves, like Travis Murie, Kaylee Campbell, and Ashley Weaver — all expressed support for the change. That context isn't as clear from the IFPA's own update, but was revealed in additional community discussions on Discord.

As someone who's made a number of, well, vaguely controversial decisions in a leadership position, I'm probably more inclined than most to zoom out here. And the bigger picture, in my view, shows an organization that is making an effort to adapt to player feedback — even if it's slower than some would prefer, and not fully aligned with any one camp. Change is a gradual process. If that process ends here, players will be right to question the IFPA more broadly. I don't get the sense that's how this plays out, though.

OBX Incident Makes National News

How a trans woman's removal from a restroom tore the world of competitive pinball apart

www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trans-bathroom-dispute-competitive-pinball-north-carolina-rcna255248

Speaking of the IFPA — the OBX Fall Flippers incident made national news with an article on NBCNews.com by Jo Yurcaba. It's great to see this story get more visibility, so let me get that out of the way first.

Now, let me rant for a small moment.

If you're a regular reader here, you know we've been covering this story extensively since day one back in November. So the proud-of-my-work guy in me is a little miffed that NBC can jump in three months later, call it an exclusive, and not even nod to the reporting that helped give the story legs in the first place.

But, you know, we're a bootstrapped pinball publication with not even a fraction of NBC's resources. So I guess it's validating all the same. /rant

Give it a read — it gets perspectives that only someone with a nationally recognized outlet in their title would've been able to secure.

New Code & Revamped Audio for Labyrinth

Excited to see Barrels of Fun's Labyrinth get some code polish, including a revamped audio treatment from sound designer Jeff Dodson. He streamed the game with all the new updates last night, too, if you're curious.

JJP Launches 3D Game Viewer

On January 31st, Jersey Jack Pinball launched a novel way to interact with a pinball machine prior to purchase: an interactive 3D Game Viewer. It's got an AR component, so you can theoretically use your phone to see how the game looks in a real physical environment (in my testing, I found it a little clunky).

Mostly, I think it's an interesting way to experience a machine pre-purchase, and I'm curious to see if the JJP team iterates on it — it's the kind of thing that would be easy to build on as they get user feedback. When I checked in with the JJP team, they said they aren't making forward-looking statements on future use but are actively collecting community feedback.

Camping Trip Kickstarter

Admittedly, this share is a bit of a curio, even for pinball. Camping Trip is a long-term (12+ year) transmedia storytelling project from Ithaca, NY resident Abel Sureshaw. What began as an "indie rock, Pee Wee Herman-inspired concept album" by their folk punk family band the Newman Brothers has since sprouted a fully illustrated children's book, a concept virtual pinball machine, an in-development homebrew machine (debuting at this year's Pintastic), and an in-development live musical theater production. What a concept.

Abel has about three weeks left on a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a vinyl pressing of the album and a physical copy of the children's book.

As an Ithaca College grad who loves pinball, music, cool art projects, and has a toddler at home… I backed the Kickstarter.

Links of the Week

• Dirty Pool interviewed Christopher Franchi

• Pinball News is on top of changes happening at repro playfield producer, CPR

• Check out this concept pirates-themed Lego pinball machine

• Pinball Studio Podcast interviewed Retro Ralph

• Jack Danger answered some more questions

• Abe Flips released the official trailer for his Mastering Pinball series

• Pokémon (not the pinball) is getting a Super Bowl ad

• Oft-rumored pinball theme He-Man is getting a new line of action figures ahead of an upcoming live-action Masters of the Universe movie

Poll of the Week

Last Week’s Poll Results

Thank you for reading!

More ways to connect:

• We’re active on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and sometimes YouTube.

• We have regularly updated Song of the Week playlists on Spotify and YouTube.

• If you create content, products, or other things for the pinball community, join our Pinball Media & Creators Discord group.

Weekly Feedback

Your feedback helps us improve our work. All notes are appreciated!

Song of the Week

Portland, Maine's Weakened Friends released their third studio album in October 2025. Despite the local proximity, the band wasn't on my radar until their single "Tough Luck (Bleed Me Out)" crossed my desk this week. I was immediately drawn to lead singer Sonia Sturino's vocal intonations—squint and you'll hear shades of early Gwen Stefani, like an alternate universe where Gwen forms a grunge/alt-rock band instead of a punk/ska one. Notably, Buckethead (I know some of you are fans) makes a guest appearance on album track "NPC".

Pinball News of the Week

American Pinball Revived; Now Under New Ownership

American Pinball Under New Ownership | Kineticist

www.kineticist.com/post/american-pinball-under-new-ownership

The big news of the last few weeks has been the purchase of American Pinball by J. Bryan Vincent and his family office. We covered the initial news and then did a follow-up Q&A with newly anointed President Ron Lindeman.

14 Questions with American Pinball President Ron Lindeman | Kineticist

www.kineticist.com/post/american-pinball-questions

In the meantime, new owner Bryan Vincent has been actively answering questions on Pinside and making the rounds on other podcasts. They all seem to be saying the right things, but as always, the proof is in the pudding.

Some readers were astute enough to question whether American Pinball would still be using Aimtron boards in its games moving forward. In follow-up discussions, it seems the answer is "yes."

Hey! Don’t Skip This!

The This Week in Pinball Friday newsletter is free for all to read — but that doesn’t mean it’s free to write.

We rely on just 100 paying members that make it possible for us to curate the best pinball content each week, do original reporting, produce regular columns, and more.

If you enjoy the work we do here, and you haven’t upgraded your subscription yet, it starts at $25/year, but most people join at $60/year. Get exclusive content, access to our Discord, and the self-satisfaction of supporting an independent pinball publication.

IFPA Announces Additions to Leadership Team & Mission Statement Changes

IFPA Announces Updates to Mission Statement & Leadership Team | Kineticist

www.kineticist.com/post/ifpa-new-team

We published an update today on recently announced changes to the IFPA leadership team and revisions to its mission statement. We also asked the IFPA team some important clarifying questions about the news.

9 New Pinball Rumors!

Roger Rabbit, Grateful Dead, and 7 More Rumors

twip.kineticist.com/p/roger-rabbit-grateful-dead-and-7-more-rumors

Funny story with this piece. I shared it earlier in the week with paid subscribers. That very same day, someone registered kineticistpinball(dot)com alongside neverendingstorypinball.com and theneverendingstorypinball.com. I guess we struck a nerve.

Moving Units Update #5

Moving Units: '24/'25 Sales Tracker (#5)

twip.kineticist.com/p/moving-units-24-25-sales-tracker-5

Another paid subscriber exclusive—the fifth update of our Moving Units series, where we track the performance of all 2024/2025 commercial machine releases to see what's hot, what's not, and other takeaways from the numbers. We'll be adding 2026 releases as those come out and slowly retiring 2024 tracking as the sales cycle for those titles winds down.

Pokémon Watch Continues

I've lost track of how many times various pinball media outlets have proclaimed Stern's rumored Pokémon launch as "imminent"—but it feels like almost once a week for the last month or so. Obviously, nothing has come out yet, and this pinball media outlet has no clue when it's coming (or even if it is, in fact, Pokémon). I will say that if we don't see a teaser today, then we could see one next week. Or maybe the week after that. And if not that week, pencil in a week later.

Maybe we need a Polymarket for pinball releases.

TWIPY Voting Wraps Up; Show Coming Soon!

If you missed our email earlier this week, 2025 TWIPY voting is done. Thanks to everyone who participated. We hit about 90% of our vote goal, which I'm very pleased with.

Is it lower volume than past TWIPYs? Absolutely, but that was expected. Fewer categories means we're pulling from a smaller potential voting pool. It also means creators, mod makers, locations, homebrew designers, and others are far less incentivized to promote the show and its voting season to their own networks—audiences we wouldn't be able to reach on our own. This is just how these things work.

And since we moved to an independent, sponsor-less format, there's no longer an obligation to optimize for reach in order to help advertisers justify their spend with us.

I'm trying to keep my own expectations at bay, but I'm quietly excited for what the BASH Pinball team has planned for the awards reveal. I also had a chance to review the voting results this week, and even that felt more authentic and legitimate than years past. The final results feel more like a reflection of how the hardcore pinball enthusiast community really feels about where these games are. This year, you voted because you love pinball or because you're a fan of one or more of the games. That's it. I find that more than a little refreshing.

Keep an eye out for the debut of the 2025 TWIPY Awards video on February 7th at 7pm ET on the BASH Pinball Youtube channel.

Links of the Week

• Experts say this “pinball technique” will help your sex life 🌶️

• Nice to see fellow pinball writers at Nudge Magazine zoom out from arcade coverage and cast a momentary focus on the ongoing ICE strife in their home state (Minnesota). I’m thinking of them today.

• Wild Dog Arcade unboxed a rare Winchester Mystery House.

• Flip n Out Podcast interviewed American Pinball’s new owner Bryan Vincent.

• Thanks to everyone who rolled through their TWIPY votes live, including Joel & Jared and the Pinball Nerds Podcast

• Niel McRae unboxed a Walking Dead Remastered

• PC Gamer discovered Pinball Map

• LoserKid interviewed artist Randy Martinez 

Poll of the Week

Last Week’s Poll Results

Thank you for reading!

More ways to connect:

• We’re active on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and sometimes YouTube.

• We have regularly updated Song of the Week playlists on Spotify and YouTube.

• If you create content, products, or other things for the pinball community, join our Pinball Media & Creators Discord group.

Weekly Feedback

Your feedback helps us improve our work. All notes are appreciated!