I played all the new games, here's my take...
Summary
Ralph reviews Bon Jovi, Tales of the Arabian Nights and the Back to the Future deposit ahead of Expo.
Retro Ralph reviews recent pinball releases ahead of Pinball Expo, focusing on the Dutch Pinball Back to the Future deposit situation (with skepticism over delivery track record and tariffs) and in-hand impressions of Barrels of Fun's Bon Jovi and Pedretti's Tales of the Arabian Nights. He praises Bon Jovi gameplay and audio while reporting QC issues (wrong screws, a speaker light firmware bug, ball search and flipper bugs) that he resolved or saw addressed via a beta code. He is positive on Tales of the Arabian Nights, describing it as rock solid out of the box.
Highlights
- Dutch Pinball's Back to the Future has $3,000 deposits taken via Cointaker, with an estimated ~500 deposits sold, and shipping expected to begin Q2 2027.
- Dutch Pinball track record makes delivery confidence low; The Big Lebowski took about a decade to deliver roughly 1,500 games.
- Tariffs on European-made pinball will be rolled into the Back to the Future price, so final cost is unknown.
- Cointaker deposits come with a seven-day refund window after the game is revealed.
- Barrels of Fun Bon Jovi had a plunger issue caused by two wrong-size screws in the shooter lane fork, which he fixed by swapping in correct screws.
- Bon Jovi right speaker light failed due to a firmware issue; Barrels of Fun support resolved it quickly.
- The public Bon Jovi code has ball search bugs and flipper dropouts that a beta release reportedly fixes.
- Barrels of Fun has moved from Aaron's FAST system to its own proprietary board set for Bon Jovi.
- Bon Jovi is a very fun game with approachable yet challenging gameplay and a strong audio package.
- Tales of the Arabian Nights (Pedretti) has been rock solid out of the box, with no mechanical issues and smooth Wi-Fi code updates.
- Pedretti Tales of the Arabian Nights runs on the FAST architecture, the same as Funhaus 2, which had reliability complaints in the community.
It’s the last Flipside before Pinball Expo, and there is a LOT to talk about. I’m sharing my first impressions of Bon Jovi, Fallout, and Tales of the Arabian Nights Remake, including what surprised me, what disappointed me, and which game I can’t stop playing. We also get into Dutch Pinball’s Back to the Future announcement, the $3,000 deposit, production concerns, pricing unknowns…and whether I actually gave in to the FOMO and put money down. Plus, a look ahead at Pinball Expo 2026, Circus Voltaire, the growing homebrew scene, possible surprises, and why this might be one of the most interesting Expos yet. There is officially too much pinball right now. 😂 Let’s get into it.
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