Episode 30 - Throwback Games

Throwback pinball games without ramps: TNA, Beatles, Bond 60th, and Pulp Fiction compared.

Synopsis

Alan and Alex from the Wedgehead A Pinball Podcast discuss four modern throwback pinball games that eschew ramps in favor of simpler, faster-playing rule sets inspired by solid-state era machines. They analyze Total Nuclear Annihilation (Spooky), The Beatles (Stern), James Bond 60th Anniversary (Stern), and Pulp Fiction (Chicago Gaming), examining design philosophy, pricing strategies, and how manufacturers balance throwback aesthetics with modern technology.

Highlights

• Total Nuclear Annihilation was designed by Scott Densey starting in 2015 as a homebrew project and Spooky manufactured approximately 550 units in the original run, with an additional ~250 in a rerun.
• The Beatles pinball machine featured the most expensive license ever procured for a pinball machine at the time (2018) and was based on a modified 1980s Stern Sea Witch layout.
• The Beatles was limited to 1,964 gold edition units and priced starting at over $10,000, more than double the cost of a Stern Pro at the time.
• James Bond 60th Anniversary was the most expensive game Stern has made (outside of Elvira editions) at $20,000, featuring a mechanical scoring reel in the backbox.
• Bond 60th Anniversary secondary market prices have dropped to almost half of the new price ($20,000) due to community backlash over pricing and design execution.
• Pulp Fiction by Chicago Gaming costs between $8,000-$8,500, placing it closer to Stern Pro pricing while delivering superior fit and finish compared to Bond 60th.
• Pulp Fiction features real reverse screen-printed mirrored backglass (not translite), swing-out light door with magnetic closure, and was designed by Mark Ritchie with sound by David Thiel.
• George Gomez tweaked the Sea Witch layout for The Beatles, making the upper loop repeatable, adding a spinning disc, multiball magnet, and drop targets that weren't on the original.
• A later software update added a 'classic mode' to The Beatles that disables magnets, the spinning disc, and multiball to replicate original Sea Witch rule set.
• Scott Densey is a musician who created the electronic house music soundtrack for Total Nuclear Annihilation, which was a key factor in the game's popularity.

Entities

• Chicago Gaming· company
• Pinball Life· company
• Spooky Pinball· company
• Stern Pinball· company
• Iron Maiden· game
• James Bond 60th Anniversary· game
• Pulp Fiction· game
• Rick and Morty· game
• Sea Witch· game
• The Beatles· game
• Total Nuclear Annihilation· game
• Alan· person
• Alex the Waterboy· person
• David Thiel· person
• Franchi· person
• George Gomez· person
• Keith Elwin· person
• Mark Ritchie· person
• Scott Densey· person
• Portland Pinball Bar Wedgehead· venue