News
Articles and updates about the latest pinball news in the pinball hobby. For more regular updates, be sure to check out our weekly newsletter, This Week in Pinball.
Pinball Capital Opens as Chicago’s Largest Public Pinball Location
James Fremont covers the grand opening of The Pinball Capital in Stone Park, Ill. — Chicago's largest public pinball location at 131 games. Roger Sharpe re-enacted his famous 1976 "called shot" demonstration on its 50th anniversary, and Brian Weisberg swept both opening weekend tournaments.
James Fremont
HEXA Pinball Launches The 3 Musketeers
Today, HEXA Pinball launched The 3 Musketeers, their second-ever title. Here's everything we know about the release.
Colin Alsheimer
Turner Pinball Launches Yukon Yeti
Turner Pinball's third game is a Dennis Nordman-designed spiritual successor to White Water, themed around the Klondike Gold Rush.
Colin Alsheimer
TEP's Rob Rath and Nick Neitzel Join American Pinball's Growing Team
TEP co-founder Rob Rath and product engineer Nick Neitzel are joining American Pinball as Product Director and Product Designer — the latest in a string of moves under new owner Bryan Vincent. TEP will continue independent operations while becoming a key AP vendor.
Colin Alsheimer
Get Ready for a Dungeon Crawler Carl Pinball Machine
Someone has the license for the massively popular LitRPG franchise. We don't know who — but we have thoughts.
Colin Alsheimer
How the Hype Index Got Smarter
We've been quietly rebuilding the Hype Index over the past few months. The scoring is smarter, the nostalgia model actually accounts for franchise eras, and your hype vote feeds directly into the rankings now.
Colin Alsheimer
The 2025 TWIPY Pinball Awards: Full Winners and Recap
The 2025 TWIPYs looked nothing like the eight shows before it. Seven categories, no sponsors, four arcades, and real conversations with the people who make the games. Here are the winners and what happened.
Colin Alsheimer
Melvin Williams Joins American Pinball as Creative Director
Melvin Williams has been named Creative Director of American Pinball, just over a week after splitting from Dutch Pinball. Here's what it means and why the history is wilder than you'd think.
Colin Alsheimer
Stern Pinball Reveals Pokemon Pinball
Stern Pinball has revealed their next cornerstone title, and it's the one everybody's been waiting for: Pokemon.
Colin Alsheimer
The Pinball Bet
The Pinball Capital of the World doesn't have a world-class place to play. Francis Wisniewski thinks he can fix that.
Colin Alsheimer
Dutch Pinball Exclusive (DPX) Is No More
DPX is shutting down and Melvin Williams is out at Dutch Pinball. Here's what we know and what it means for Alice owners.
Colin Alsheimer
American Pinball Partners with Planetary Pinball Supply to Produce Classic Williams and Bally Games
American Pinball is getting into the classics business—and they're not just doing straight remakes.
Colin Alsheimer
IFPA Announces Updates to Mission Statement & Leadership Team
Three new members join the IFPA leadership team, the mission statement gets a complete rewrite, and the organization commits to new TD resources and continuing the Women's Championship series.
Colin Alsheimer
14 Questions with American Pinball President Ron Lindeman
Ron Lindeman answers questions on the JB Vincent LP acquisition, what's next for product development, and how American Pinball plans to rebuild trust.
Colin Alsheimer
American Pinball Under New Ownership
American Pinball and Orbit Games were officially acquired by JB Vincent L.P. Here are all the details we know so far.
Colin Alsheimer
Is IPDB Dying? Visualizing the Slow Death of a Pinball Institution
IPDB.org has been the pinball community's go-to database for over two decades. But the data tells a troubling story: database updates are down 93% since 2020, 71% of major pinball releases since 2020 are missing entirely, and search visibility has collapsed.
Colin Alsheimer
The Score Card: Season's Endings
On this edition of The Score Card, we're recapping the final SPC tournaments of the year, jumping from Florida's biggest arcade expo to a cozy convention in Ohio, before crossing the finish at a beloved arcade in Illinois.
Matt Owen
A Resident Evil Pinball Rumor, and the Swiss Company Behind It
A new pinball rumor began circulating today via French pinball influencer Paris Pinball Addict, pointing to a potential Resident Evil–themed machine developed by a previously unknown European manufacturer based in Switzerland.
Colin Alsheimer
Walking Dead Remastered Shuffles Out of the Gate
Gameplay streams, cabinet changes, licensor delays, and a still-forming code roadmap point to a launch that still hasn’t fully settled.
Colin Alsheimer
IFPA Outlines Early Changes After OBX Fallout
Before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, the IFPA released new statements intended to clarify its internal structure, bathroom-access expectations for sanctioned events, and its next steps following the OBX Fall Flippers incident.
Colin Alsheimer
2025’s Best Black Friday & Cyber Monday Pinball Deals (Updated Live)
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are here, and we’re tracking every 2025 pinball-related deal we can find.
Colin Alsheimer
Marino Zaccaria, Co-Founder of Zaccaria Pinball, Has Died
Marino Zaccaria, one of the three brothers behind Italy’s most recognizable pinball brand, Zaccaria, has died at the age of 89.
Colin Alsheimer
IFPA Women's Advisory Board Resigns; Issues Statement
Last night, November 19th, in response to the ongoing controversy around the OBX Fall Flippers Tournament and the response to it by the IFPA, the remaining members of the Women's Advisory Board, Crystal Cory, Karyn Kiser, Kim Martinez, and Zoë Vrabel, officially resigned.
Colin Alsheimer
New Information and an IFPA Statement on the OBX Fall Flippers Incident
Internal IFPA Slack discussions reveal new details about the OBX Fall Flippers incident and the organization’s response.
Colin Alsheimer
An Update on the IFPA and the OBX Fall Flippers Event
Providing more information and context around the handling of the harassment incident at the OBX Fall Flippers tournament.
Colin Alsheimer
Spooky Pinball Reveals Beetlejuice Pinball
Everything we know so far about Spooky Pinball's latest pinball machine release.
Noah Crable
Developing: What’s Going on With the IFPA and the OBX Fall Flippers Event?
Tracking a developing story coming out of the recent OBX Fall Pinball Tournament held at Flippers Arcade in Grandy, NC.
Colin Alsheimer
Stern Pinball Reveals The Walking Dead Remastered
Everything we know so far about Stern Pinball's latest remastered pinball machine release.
Noah Crable
Over Ten Years in the Making, Scorbit is on the Verge of a Breakout
A conversation with Jay Adelson and Ron Richards of Scorbit on the latest iteration of their connected pinball platform.
Colin Alsheimer
Barrels of Fun Reveals Winchester Mystery House
Everything we know about the surprise new game reveal from Barrels of Fun.
Colin Alsheimer
Stern’s Fall of the Empire is the Definitive Star Wars Pinball Experience
Taking a detailed look at Stern's new Star Wars: Fall of the Empire pinball machine.
Colin Alsheimer
Stern Launches Star Wars Fall of the Empire Pinball
Everything we know so far about Stern Pinball’s latest game, Star Wars Fall of the Empire pinball.
Colin Alsheimer
Today is The First International Pinball Day
Celebrating the first International Pinball Day.
Joe Ciaravino
Jack Danger Accepts New Role at Stern Pinball; 8 Quick Thoughts on the Move
Yesterday, Stern Pinball officially announced that fan-favorite game designer and pinball personality, Jack Danger, will be taking on the new role of Head of Community for Stern Pinball. Our thoughts on the move and more.
Colin Alsheimer
An Update on Harry Potter and the Order of AI-Gate
A follow-up to the Harry Potter AI artwork controversy, plus new comments from Jack Guarnieri.
Colin Alsheimer
What’s Going on With JJP’s Harry Potter and the AI Art Controversy?
Just when it seemed the Harry Potter launch from Jersey Jack Pinball couldn’t get more controversial, on Sunday, a previously unknown pinball enthusiast broke open what could wind up being the biggest pinball scandal of the year.
Colin Alsheimer
Pinball Brothers Launch Predator Pinball
After what felt like an exceptionally long teaser campaign, today we're finally seeing the full reveal of Pinball Brothers' fourth title, Predator pinball.
Colin Alsheimer
Jersey Jack Launches Harry Potter Pinball
Everything we know so far about Jersey Jack's latest game, Harry Potter pinball.
Colin Alsheimer
![Predator Teased by Pinball Brothers; First Playfield Photo Revealed [Updated]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.kineticist.com%2Fposts%2Fpredator-teased-by-pinball-brothers-first-playfield-photo%2Fmain%2F683c9a5bc60275602cfc719b_Pinball_Brothers_Teases_Predator_Share_Playfield_Photo.webp&w=3840&q=75)
Predator Teased by Pinball Brothers; First Playfield Photo Revealed [Updated]
Earlier today, Sweden's Pinball Brothers put out the official teaser video for their upcoming game launch for Predator pinball, based on the 1987 action film of the same name.
Colin Alsheimer
Jersey Jack Drops Harry Potter Teaser Video
Not long ago, Jersey Jack Pinball released the official teaser trailer for its much-anticipated next release, Harry Potter Pinball.
Colin Alsheimer
Review: No Surprise, King Kong Is Another Great Keith Elwin Game
Keith Elwin’s King Kong delivers exactly what we’ve come to expect: pinball greatness so polished it feels routine. Learn more about Stern's latest release in our hands-on review.
Colin Alsheimer
Dune Pushes the Envelope for the Cinematic Pinball Experience
Our review of the latest release from Barrels of Fun, Dune.
Colin Alsheimer
Stern Launches King Kong: Myth of Terror Island
Everything we know about Stern's latest release.
Noah Crable
Barrels of Fun Reveals Dune Pinball as Game #2
Everything we know so far about Barrels of Fun's latest release, Dune Pinball.
Colin Alsheimer
Barrels of Updates from Barrels of Fun
Highlighting a few small updates from the Barrels of Fun team coming out of Texas Pinball Festival 2025.
Colin Alsheimer
A Tale of Two Launches: How Portal Upstaged Merlin and Revealed the Limits of Original Pinball Themes
Why did Multimorphic's Portal pinball gain mainstream attention, while Turner Pinball's original Merlin's Arcade stayed niche? We break down how licensed themes amplify coverage, audience reach, and marketing impact.
Colin Alsheimer
The Electric Playground Reveals Pulp Fiction “Double Tap” Topper (plus an interview with Rob Rath)
Learn more about the latest release from The Electric Playground, plus an interview with co-founder Rob Rath.
Colin Alsheimer
DPX Releases Early Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Rules
DPX published an early draft of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland code. Did you see it?
Colin Alsheimer