Back to the '90s

"Receive" by NYC's youbet, off their self-titled album from early May. This one's been stashed on my "maybe for TWIP" list for a while, and two things finally pushed it over: the record keeps turning up on best-of-2026-so-far lists — Stereogum put it at #11 — and its 90s-alt-rock streak feels right for a week when we're covering a bunch of 90s-era stuff like a remade Tales of the Arabian Nights (1996), World Cup Soccer (1994), and new Sonic the Hedgehog IP (1991). The video's simple but rewards repeat viewing.

Pedretti Gaming revealed its Tales of the Arabian Nights remake earlier this week, bringing back the 1996 Williams/John Popadiuk classic in two editions: a $10,999 Legacy (500 units, though really 500 in 2026, a soft cap rather than a hard one) and an $11,999 30th Anniversary with new Brian Allen artwork, capped at 399 worldwide. It's one of two announced 2026 remakes of Popadiuk games — Cirqus Voltaire, from a revamped American Pinball, is the other — and Pedretti's second swing at a remake after Funhouse.

There's already a fair amount of content out about it, including light gameplay footage with top-ranked Daniele Acciari. I'll admit some of the promo material gave me a real twinge of nostalgia for the original. You're waiting for the 'but' — it's just the obvious one: we'll see how it actually plays.

One small slip, though: the 30th Anniversary launch art appears to misspell the Lightning Lamp insert as "Lighting Lamp" — a missing n. Womp. Sometimes these early prototype games have mistakes that don't make it to production, so hopefully this gets fixed.

It's confirmed: JJP's next game is Sonic the Hedgehog. The reveal came as a "staged" phone recording between Pinball Magazine and JJP founder Jack Guarnieri, locking in a batch of previously-rumored details — the Sonic title, that it's based on the video games rather than the movies, and that JJP now has two lines running (Harry Potter on one, Sonic on the other). The genuinely new-ish bit: games are already being built and shipping to distributors, the same playbook JJP ran for the Harry Potter launch. The full reveal lands Tuesday, June 23 — Sonic's birthday.

JJP's also been dropping micro-teasers all week. The most interesting arrived by email — a quick GIF that appears to confirm the leaked unpopulated playfield, with inline drops, what might be an upper playfield, and possibly a looping mechanism.

Barrels of Fun rolled out Barrels Reserve, a $75/year collectors' club, and the hook is interesting: if a machine sells out in its first week, members get a second window to order, and Barrels builds beyond the edition cap to fill them. Exclusive, but uncapped. I got the mechanics from CBO Brian Savage ahead of launch. There are other perks, too — access to special events, store discounts, and some to-be-announced custom merch I'm excited to see. I joined!

Pinventory keeps everything about your machines in one place.

Operators track collections, revenue, and audits across their locations, including public QR codes that link to online issue reporting with no app needed.

Collectors catalog their whole lineup with full maintenance history, parts, and manuals on hand.

Every machine, repair, and number lives in one place instead of scattered notes and spreadsheets.

Your data stays private and secure, visible only to you and the people you invite.

Built by Ed Giardina, creator of the IFPA Companion App. Free to use.

Matt Owen dropped in with a quick Score Card to cover the latest major: the IFPA21 World Championship and the 2026 Epstein Cup. Jason Zahler won his historic third straight world title, beating Daniele Acciari in the final of the 80-player field in Wisconsin, while Team Europe took the Cup.

Hilton Jones has done a bit of everything in pinball: competitive player, Madison operator running 40-plus machines, and rules designer on Spooky's Evil Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Now he's built his own arcade game. Matt Owen, working overtime this issue, talked to him about Aliens of Destruction, his now award-winning (Best New Arcade Game at MGC '26) project — plus the four tenets he designs by and why he wanted a social bar game in the vein of Killer Queen.

We promised paid subscribers a fresh Moving Units, and here it is — a big one. Moving Units has always been about how well recent games are actually selling. But #7 debuts a super-preview of something we've never shown publicly: our production-estimation model, which chases a completely different number: how many of each game were ever built. That's a figure few manufacturers print. It's Stern-only for now, with more makers to come. Where does JAWS land among modern Stern's biggest runs? How big is the Pokémon build, really? Has Godzilla surpassed The Addams Family yet?

Benjamin Plotkin talked to Bruce Sheldon about Pinball Frenzine, the free, hand-made zine he makes to teach pinball rules one machine at a time. Physical copies, a half-letter format, only a few issues in. Here's what gets me: Sheldon's young — well past the era when zines were part of the culture — and when the default move is a TikTok or YouTube account, he's out here printing free paper zines. That's wild, but I love it.

With the World Cup back in North America this summer, it's the right moment to revisit a classic everybody knows: Bally's 1994 World Cup Soccer — "Dog Soccer," with mascot Striker and some memorable callouts from NBA Jam's Tim Kitzrow. solar_espeon's tutorial walks the Cities progression, multiball, and the road to the Final Match. It's also one of my all-time favorites — the machine in the tutorial photos is literally ours, and it used to live at the Sanctum. There's even a little easter egg hidden in those shots if you know where to look.

After a bit of a false start — a chunk of it leaked early this week in an unlisted YouTube video before getting pulled — we finally have official Pokémon accessories. Honestly, the Magikarp topper looks awesome, and if I were in the market for one, I'd definitely be considering it. It comes with an exclusive Magikarp Multiball.

Related: there's also a small code bump (up to 0.83), but it still misses Insider Connected integration and Pokédex tracking.

Last issue we noted in our links section that the Sanctum's Final Battle — the brutal 24-hour endurance tournament that ran for a decade — was calling it quits, with the Sanctum stepping away from the considerable effort of running it. Turns out the format isn't going anywhere. At least two different groups are keeping it alive, albeit in different ways.

First, the direct heir: Final Battle 10x veterans, teaming with the New England Pinball League and Funspot, are reviving it as The Final Stand 24h Pinball Tournament — same format, same rules, new home. It runs 10 AM November 7 to 10 AM November 8 in Laconia, New Hampshire, with the American Classic Arcade Museum open between rounds. A hundred open spots, cash, and your name on the Swain Cup if you outlast everyone. Registration opens July 11 at 11 AM ET; full details on the NEPL site.

And a few months earlier, Steel Valley Pinball runs its own 24 HR Pinball-A-Thon — a full noon-to-noon haul on August 8–9 at Past Times Arcade in Girard, Ohio. Different organizers, different state, same appeal — if non-stop pinball and no sleep are your things. Tickets on Eventbrite.

One last thing before you go. This past weekend, Slash — yes, that Slash — was inducted into the U.K. Pinball Hall of Fame, which is a little unusual for what amounts to a side hustle. But his pinball roots run deeper than most people realize: more than 30 years, going back to the original Data East Guns N' Roses and running through JJP's take on Guns N' Roses, The Godfather, and maybe more. Hall of Fame Chairman and friend of the newsletter Gary Flower presented Slash with the award, and we hope to have more from him soon.

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