Who STOLE the show at Texas Pinball Festival 2026?
Who STOLE the show at Texas Pinball Festival 2026?
Who STOLE the show at Texas Pinball Festival 2026? Let me give you a quick recap and share my first impressions of the new pinball games just revealed and those on display at @texaspinballfestival...
Highlights
- Spooky Pinball brought 20 Beetlejuice units to TPF and they still weren't enough to meet demand
- Turner Pinball's Yukon Yeti was announced as a surprise just days before TPF started
- Yukon Yeti is the spiritual successor to Dennis Nordman's Whitewater with expanded code and similar layout
- Pokémon is selling like crazy and operators report it's earning extremely well
- American Pinball nearly went out of business last year but is now under new ownership with a strong presence at TPF 2026
- Multimorphic/P3 had no new game announcement at TPF 2026, which is somewhat surprising
- Jersey Jack has rumored Sonic the Hedgehog as their next game after Harry Potter
- Chicago Gaming Company had a minimal footprint and no major announcements at TPF 2026
Notable quotes
“Spooky Pinball because it seems like they are again the bell of the ball, the winner if there is a winner or a loser of this beautiful event”
“20 machines still wasn't enough. There was a ton of people clamoring to play this game”
“This is the spiritual successor to Dennis Nordman's Whitewater. Everybody loves that game. You know, it's a classic through and through”
“I'm a huge fan of Brian Allen's artwork...I just I wish Brian Allen would have done the artwork there, but we all can't have what we want”
“Pokémon is selling like crazy. Operators are telling me it's earning like crazy”
“I couldn't tell you what I'm supposed to do because it gets a little too in the weeds...that's kind of good for home use”
“The only thing I don't like about it is the AI use of artwork on the playfield...I just that's the only thing that's kept me from buying it”
“American Pinball is back, and I mean that with an emphatic exclamation mark, cuz it feels like they're truly back from the dead”
“The homebrew guys are the star of the show. These guys are the most talented people in the room”
“It's no secret or shame why these bigger companies are poaching some of that talent because these guys do an amazing job”
Entities
- American Pinball· company
- Barrels of Fun· company
- Chicago Gaming Company· company
- Jersey Jack Pinball· company
- Marco Specialties· company
- Multimorphic· company
- Spooky Pinball· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Turner Pinball· company
- Texas Pinball Festival 2026· event
- Beetlejuice· game
- Harry Potter· game
- Hot Wheels· game
- Houdini· game
- Pokémon· game
- Portal· game
- Winchester Mystery House· game
- Yukon Yeti· game
- Brad Duke· person
- Chris Turner· person
- Christopher Franchi· person
- Cooltoy· person
- Dennis Nordman· person
- Jeff· person
- P3· product
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