Make a Backstreet Boys Pinball Machine, You Cowards

Hi! I’m Alyssa, but you can call me Mrs. Kineticist. I’ve been playing pinball for over three decades, starting with a Joker Poker we had in my basement growing up. I love the pinball community and can usually be found at a NEPL league night, Boston Belles and Chimes tournament, or hanging on our couch with our Kineticist Pup, who is also a big pinball fan. 

While I love the game, pinball themes have largely felt like they were made for someone else - a different era, or at the very least, a male gaze that I don’t vibe with.

If we want to expand the world of pinball, what better way to start than by capitalizing on aging women millennials and our undying love for the boy bands of the late 90s? 

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With the recent slew of new pin announcements, it might have gone undernoticed that we have finally begun to move away from the Hair Band EraTM and into the brave new world of music that isn’t quite yet played on Oldies stations. Now that Stern’s Foo Fighters machine has made it out into the wild, it’s time to turn our attention forward and start irresponsibly spreading rumors about what’s next for music pins.

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I’m putting a stake in the ground right now that the next* music-themed pin is going to feature the Backstreet Boys. This is based on a ton of evidence, all of which are various videos featuring the Elvis pinball machine Brian Littrell has in his house. As evidenced by this video, he is clearly a Steve Richie fan and loves early-aughts Sterns, but he needs some help when it comes to transporting machines back to his house. (Warning for anyone watching that first video: there’s a very detailed description of a pin falling off the back of his truck, and it might cause you some emotional anguish). 

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*Or the one after that

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With this irrefutable argument in hand, we’d like to propose our ideal Backstreet Boys pinball playlist and some requested modes.

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Backstreet Boys Pinball Playlist

• I Want It That Way
• Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) - see below, this would make a great multiball 
• Quit Playin’ Games (With My Heart)
• The Call 
• Don’t Want You Back
• We’ve Got It Goin’ On
• Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely
• The One 
• Larger Than Life
• Spanish Eyes - as a throwback to another pin! 

Requested Modes:

• Total Request Live - escape rabid fans in Times Square by hitting lit shots while Carson Daly counts down on the video screen! 
• Haunted House Multiball - featuring the characters from the iconic Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) music video
• Comeback Wizard Mode - complete all the modes to unlock a BSBNKOTB (IYKYK) tour special featuring one of the songs from their definitely not ill-advised album with New Kids on The Block
• A Very Backstreet Christmas - it’s the most wonderful time of the year, and it’s time to cash in! Gather the boys and hit orbits to put out a requisite Christmas album

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On a personal note, given that Brian is going to be our way in for getting this licensing done, and because he was truly the love of my life in the late 90s, he should be featured prominently in the artwork and probably have his own standup targets. If there’s a way to show Kevin Richardson in his amazing skirt from 2001, all the better.

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This is the only photo that exists from an event apparently called “Men Strike Back”, but it is forever burned into my brain