Barrels of Fun Pinball

Barrels of Fun Pinball is an American pinball manufacturer founded in 2021 in Houston, Texas, by David van Es and Brian Savage. Van Es had spent seven years designing games at Spooky Pinball before becoming Barrels of Fun's CEO and lead game designer. Savage came from Fun Publications, the Texas company that ran Hasbro's official G.I. Joe and Transformers collectors' clubs and conventions, and took the title of chief business officer. The pair teased their first game under the placeholder name Mystery Pinball Company before confirming Barrels of Fun as their real identity in October 2023.

That reveal came with the company's debut machine, Jim Henson's Labyrinth, unveiled at Pinball Expo and limited to 1,100 units. The licensed title built its identity around a dual-screen layout, with LCD panels in both the backbox and the playfield's rear wall, alongside sculpted figures of characters like Hoggle and Ludo and all five David Bowie tracks pulled from the film. Barrels of Fun sold the game through its own Kollect Fun shop and the six distributors it had in place at launch.

Two more licensed runs followed in 2025: Dune, capped at 1,000 units, and Winchester Mystery House, designed by Karl DeAngelo of IE Pinball, limited to 525 units, and built around a Pepper's Ghost display effect. Winchester Mystery House sold out quickly enough that in mid-2026 Barrels of Fun launched Barrels Reserve, a membership club guaranteeing members a second ordering window whenever a future edition sells out within its first week. The company still operates out of its original Houston facility.