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Getting Clues
Jamie Reacts to Multimorphic’s Next Game | Alice Kickstarter Launch | New Series on Competitive Pinball | Inclusive GameWerks Review | Links | More!
Colin Alsheimer
March 14, 2025 • Time to Read: 15 minutes
This Week in Pinball, we’re starting to piece together the spring game release cycle and getting new clues from Houston’s finest.
A couple things to note at the top:
We’re catching up after a week off, so this is a long one! It’ll probably get cut off in your inbox, so pull up the link in your browser for a better experience and access to this week’s poll…
Which you’ll need to respond to for a chance to win a Barrels of Fun t-shirt.
This Week's Pinball Agenda
Song of the Week
This week, we’re vibing with one of the latest releases from Brooklyn’s Momma off their upcoming album, Welcome to My Blue, which releases on April 4th. Admittedly, I don’t know much about this band other than what I could pick up from a few cursory Google searches. What stood out to me (and the reason I’m highlighting the song here) was their sound, which has a strong early-90s alt-rock vibe (Veruca Salt, in particular) but with a slightly more refined pop sensibility and less emphasis on the fuzzy grunge guitar aesthetic of that period.
In a recent interview with Fader, they talked about how “We don’t have to sound like the ‘90s grunge band everyone thinks we are,” but I find that to be part of the appeal. It’s familiar packaging, to be clear, almost like comfort food in music form for those of a certain age. Still, they do enough to keep the sound feeling fresh, modern, and infinitely repeatable.
Pinball News of the Week
Early Reactions to Multimorphic’s Next Game
If you haven’t heard yet, Multimorphic has a new major P3 game release just around the corner. While it hasn’t been officially announced, the strongest rumors point to it being based on the video game franchise Portal. Time will tell if that rumor proves to be true. However, friend of the newsletter Jamie Burchell was recently at the Multimorphic factory for an early preview of the game and was able to answer a few questions for us about his experience.
Alice Goes to Wonderland Launches Kickstarter; Hits Goal
Congrats to Wonderland Amusements on the success of their recently launched Kickstarter campaign for Alice Goes to Wonderland, the new mini-pinball concept for home arcades. The campaign met its goal of $100k within a few minutes of launch, and as of writing, it sits at well over $500k with 27 days to go.
Of course, there’s always risk involved in crowdfunding schemes like this one, however, having talked with the team and observing their actions in the community to date (not to mention the wealth of related experience the team has with Arcade1Up ventures), I’m reasonably confident backers will receive their games. Time will tell if the game winds up being fun, but if you come at it from the perspective of it being a pinball-flavored toy and not a replacement for the commercial-grade machines most of us enjoy today, then you might have a better time.
New Series: Competitive Pinball Roundup
We’ve had some requests from the community to expand our coverage of the competitive pinball scene, so I’d like to introduce a brand new series to Kineticist, where we’ll regularly recap highlights from the scene. Matt Owen kicks it off this week with a look at the end of the 2024-2025 season and the first few months of the 2025-2026 season, including a recap of last weekend’s IFPA NACS and Pin-Masters tournaments at the Rochester Pinball Collective. Maybe we’ll even give the series a fun name at some point. The possibilities are endless!
Inclusive GameWerks’ Controller Review
We’ve covered Inclusive GameWerk’s Adaptive Flipper Controller a few times in this space but we were tickled to have a new contribution from reader David Hutchinson with our first detailed, hands-on review of the product. David puts the controller through its paces and gives us the nitty-gritty on installation, product design, limitations, and more.
Weekend Watch: The Pinball Degenerate Awards
This weekend (Saturday, 8 PM ET, to be precise), we hope you’ll join us live in watching The 4th Annual Pinball Degenerate Awards on YouTube. It’s long been a highlight of the annual pinball awards season, but you have to watch it to truly appreciate the greatness at play. Check out our article for more details, including watch links and award categories.
Barrels of Fun is at it Again!
Okay, so I wasn’t planning to run with this nugget this week. But then PDubs Arcade Loft dropped this video, which changed my thinking.
In it, Patrick shows off a special goodie he received from Barrels of Fun following a recent service request. Specifically, he received a 3D-printed pinball ramp, presumably a prototype part from BoF’s upcoming release. This is curious because somehow, a different 3D-printed pinball ramp also found its way into my luggage following a pre-flight stop at the BoF HQ after The TWIPYs.
A mystery ramp
I’m not quite sure what to make of it or where it’s leading us, but I’m expecting more clues to emerge over the coming weeks, and maybe we’ll be able to puzzle it out together. Before PDub released his video, I was going to run a giveaway for this part, but now I think I’ll hold onto it until we know more.
BUT, I won’t leave you hanging on the giveaway front. I also happen to have a stack of BoF tees and will give a few away to random readers who answer this week’s poll question (below).
Pinball Map Location of the Week
Ryan and Scott from Pinball Map run a regular series that highlights one new or interesting pinball location each week. This week, Scott writes about Belfast International Airport.
An airport is supposed to be a place you borrow. You are either there to head somewhere else, or you are road raging your way out of it and back to your home. In its ideal state, the airport is not something to be savored. My only notable memories of an airport are when things drifted from this ideal state. Severe food poisoning while heading back from India. Stomach pain from a week at Space Camp, deprived of proper bathroom breaks. Watching as my child was engulfed by a crowd, helplessly carried down an escalator. A man seated at the gate, quietly whispering threats to my family, which was on the verge of breaking apart. These are bad things that have happened to me at an airport.
So, you’ll understand when I say that playing a game of pinball in an airport is a clear sign something has gone awry. Your flight is delayed. You are traveling with someone who insists on being excessively early. Your luggage is missing. What’s the emotional state during such a game? Are you distracted? At peace? Do high scores lose their significance? For those who truly love pinball, could playing under these conditions be a form of dissociation? I don’t have answers to these questions, and that’s exactly why Belfast International Airport is my location of the week.
Belfast International Airport is located at Airport Rd, Crumlin, Northern Ireland BT29. It’s a 30-minute drive from historic downtown Belfast and an 18-hour plane ride from war-torn Portland, Oregon. They have a single pinball machine, AC/DC Pro Vault Edition, located by gate 18. I imagine that this machine has seen more stone-faced human drama than any other AC/DC Pro Vault Edition out there. On the final day of my life, maybe I will travel to it, play a single credit, and create my last airport memory. I suspect I’ll put up 3rd place.
Belfast International Airport
Airport Rd, Crumlin, Northern Ireland BT29
Links of the Week
Pinball Map pushed a sweet new update to the website; I love looking at the global map!
Don’s Pinball Podcast did the most epic pinball unboxing video ever.
The Ball is Wild interviewed composer Suzana Lașcu, part of the experimental group Ilinix that recorded Flipperen (we highlighted this release in a previous issue).
LoserKid Pinball Podcast interviewed Multimorphic’s Gerry Stellenberg. I can’t believe he went 10 years without taking a salary!
Speaking of The DeGenies, Wormhole Pinball interviewed its creator, Joe Ciaravino.
Stern Pinball filed a trademark for King Kong pinball, which seems like an odd move? They usually aren’t this overt about their game releases!
Nudge Magazine interviewed Scott Danesi.
I spoke with Pinball Expo’s Rob Berk recently - for those of you considering a trip to the show this year, note that the convention center hotel block is very nearly sold out, so book soon!
Poll of the Week
Answer this week’s poll for a chance to win a Barrels of Fun t-shirt! We’ll randomly select names next week and coordinate with the winners directly.
Which of the upcoming rumored game releases are you most excited to see? |
Last Week’s Poll Results
Great comments on the last poll! Keep ‘em coming.
“Um... Does this poll also serve to quantify the percentage of toxic people in the community, in that wouldn't those that voted 'no' be the toxic percentage? ;)”
“Maybe too many dramas around pinball these past 2 decades, but anytime a newcomer tries to establish a new business I am amazed by the amount of skepticism or toxic comments (think of Turner Pinball).”
“Yes of course, it consists of 95% bearded 40+ male beer-drinking nerds. Out of those 95% is cheerful lovely dudes, but there are also a lot jealousy, like dudes hanging around a Ferrari meet. Games are to expensive and the community is to homogeneous, sadly.”
“As a whole...no. But there are some people out there that do and need to keep their opinions and stupid remarks (and actions) to themselves.”
“While this is not an exclusively pinball problem being the close knit nature of our passion makes the spotlight shine on the problem a bit brighter. Often bad behavior is rewarded by more clicks because human nature makes it hard to turn away from the outlandish train wreck nature of those who partake. Which in turn perpetuates the problem more. We can and should all do better.”
“Just my opinion as a woman :) It's kind of a boy's club plus there are def snobby people in the community.”
“No toxicity problem. A portion of the community feels burned with the rising costs of everything, and being priced out of pinball, they are perhaps taking out their frustrations online. Online forums are places for discussion, positive and negative, whether for a brief time the pendulum swings into the more negative does not necessarily mean there is a “toxicity problem”. If anything I would argue there is an ingenuity problem, wherein people are not being honest because they fear they may be scrutinized or perhaps because they don’t want to hurt feelings. IMHO, honesty is always the best way. Sometimes that may be perceived as negative, then so be it. -ESA”
“Toxicity and fragility are common in our current culture at large. Hope springs eternal, the pendulum will swing.”
“Mo more of a toxic community than any other hobbies. To be clear, I think that every community has people that rage/harass/abuse, and this behavior is completely inappropriate. But sadly I dont think its just a pinball thing”
“I find it is pretty easy to just not engage with any of the personalities out there to make names for themselves by being dicks. Stick to LoserKid and Silverball Chronicles, for example. Intelligent pinball enthusiasts who are normal, kind people who talk like grown-ups. Then I go somewhere to play pinball. That's really all there is to it. If there is toxicity happening right now, I'm blissfully unaware!”
“The complaints enumerated in the article aren't particularly unique to the pinball community. At this point in history, we've got much bigger fish to fry. If anything, the generally toxic environment (political, socio-economic, et al) is simply spilling over elsewhere, including the pinball community.”
“Absolutely but show me any niche community that doesn't in these days. Passionate fans turn on each other so quickly, it's depressing.”
“Pinside and Tilt Forums should be shot into the sun.”
Thank you for reading!
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