067: Can't Believe It

Punk Rock Pinball discusses 11 surprising missing pinball themes and proposes designer/manufacturer pairings for each.

In Punk Rock Pinball Podcast episode 67, hosts Stephanie and Mike discuss 11 pinball machine themes that surprisingly don't exist yet, including Gundam, The Slash, Dragon Ball Z, The Office, Columbo, Law & Order, Spaceballs, Karate Kid, Minecraft, Blade Runner, and Planet of the Apes. The episode opens with updates from Mike's birthday tournament (41 players, won by CJ), includes music recommendations, and features crowdsourced suggestions from community members. Notable claims include rumors that Planet of the Apes is in Spooky's pipeline for 2029-2030 with artist Ben Swartz, and specific designer pairings proposed for hypothetical future machines.

Highlights

• Planet of the Apes pinball is likely in Spooky's pipeline for 2029 or 2030
• Ben Swartz is the artist working on Planet of the Apes and is a rising star doing his first big commercial release
• The Slash has 14 million Spotify listeners compared to Rush's 4 million
• Mike's birthday tournament had 41 players and was the second largest tournament they've hosted
• The tournament ran 7-8 hours (3 PM to 10-11 PM) including finals and a three-strikes playoff
• CJ won the tournament, Josh Slonwhite got second, Joe Sharp third, and Matt Kirkpatrick fourth
• They are planning to trade Munsters for Turtles with their friend Jeff
• Spaceballs 2 is coming out soon, which might prompt Stern to develop a Spaceballs pinball machine
• There is no official mass-produced Blade Runner pinball machine, though a fan-made virtual one exists
• Gremlins is a worse pinball theme choice than Planet of the Apes or Goonies