This Week in Pinball, a lot of things aren't quite as dead as they seem.
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Song of the Week
Portland, Maine's Weakened Friends released their third studio album in October 2025. Despite the local proximity, the band wasn't on my radar until their single "Tough Luck (Bleed Me Out)" crossed my desk this week. I was immediately drawn to lead singer Sonia Sturino's vocal intonations—squint and you'll hear shades of early Gwen Stefani, like an alternate universe where Gwen forms a grunge/alt-rock band instead of a punk/ska one. Notably, Buckethead (I know some of you are fans) makes a guest appearance on album track "NPC".
Pinball News of the Week
American Pinball Revived; Now Under New Ownership
The big news of the last few weeks has been the purchase of American Pinball by J. Bryan Vincent and his family office. We covered the initial news and then did a follow-up Q&A with newly anointed President Ron Lindeman.
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In the meantime, new owner Bryan Vincent has been actively answering questions on Pinside and making the rounds on other podcasts. They all seem to be saying the right things, but as always, the proof is in the pudding.
Some readers were astute enough to question whether American Pinball would still be using Aimtron boards in its games moving forward. In follow-up discussions, it seems the answer is "yes."
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IFPA Announces Additions to Leadership Team & Mission Statement Changes
We published an update today on recently announced changes to the IFPA leadership team and revisions to its mission statement. We also asked the IFPA team some important clarifying questions about the news.
9 New Pinball Rumors!
Funny story with this piece. I shared it earlier in the week with paid subscribers. That very same day, someone registered kineticistpinball(dot)com alongside neverendingstorypinball.com and theneverendingstorypinball.com. I guess we struck a nerve.
Moving Units Update #5
Another paid subscriber exclusive—the fifth update of our Moving Units series, where we track the performance of all 2024/2025 commercial machine releases to see what's hot, what's not, and other takeaways from the numbers. We'll be adding 2026 releases as those come out and slowly retiring 2024 tracking as the sales cycle for those titles winds down.
Pokémon Watch Continues
I've lost track of how many times various pinball media outlets have proclaimed Stern's rumored Pokémon launch as "imminent"—but it feels like almost once a week for the last month or so. Obviously, nothing has come out yet, and this pinball media outlet has no clue when it's coming (or even if it is, in fact, Pokémon). I will say that if we don't see a teaser today, then we could see one next week. Or maybe the week after that. And if not that week, pencil in a week later.
Maybe we need a Polymarket for pinball releases.
TWIPY Voting Wraps Up; Show Coming Soon!
If you missed our email earlier this week, 2025 TWIPY voting is done. Thanks to everyone who participated. We hit about 90% of our vote goal, which I'm very pleased with.
Is it lower volume than past TWIPYs? Absolutely, but that was expected. Fewer categories means we're pulling from a smaller potential voting pool. It also means creators, mod makers, locations, homebrew designers, and others are far less incentivized to promote the show and its voting season to their own networks—audiences we wouldn't be able to reach on our own. This is just how these things work.
And since we moved to an independent, sponsor-less format, there's no longer an obligation to optimize for reach in order to help advertisers justify their spend with us.
I'm trying to keep my own expectations at bay, but I'm quietly excited for what the BASH Pinball team has planned for the awards reveal. I also had a chance to review the voting results this week, and even that felt more authentic and legitimate than years past. The final results feel more like a reflection of how the hardcore pinball enthusiast community really feels about where these games are. This year, you voted because you love pinball or because you're a fan of one or more of the games. That's it. I find that more than a little refreshing.
Keep an eye out for the debut of the 2025 TWIPY Awards video on February 7th at 7pm ET on the BASH Pinball Youtube channel.
Links of the Week
Experts say this “pinball technique” will help your sex life 🌶️
Nice to see fellow pinball writers at Nudge Magazine zoom out from arcade coverage and cast a momentary focus on the ongoing ICE strife in their home state (Minnesota). I’m thinking of them today.
Wild Dog Arcade unboxed a rare Winchester Mystery House.
Flip n Out Podcast interviewed American Pinball’s new owner Bryan Vincent.
Thanks to everyone who rolled through their TWIPY votes live, including Joel & Jared and the Pinball Nerds Podcast
Niel McRae unboxed a Walking Dead Remastered
PC Gamer discovered Pinball Map
LoserKid interviewed artist Randy Martinez
Poll of the Week
Last Week’s Poll Results
“It's an invaluable resource especially for technical schematics.”
“Unfortunately, IPDB is not my go-to anymore. The updates have been lacking for many years and the lack of information for modern games has led me to alternate sources. I primarily use Pinside now, but The Kineticist database has promise. I love how there are biographies for some key people. If you combine the two, you have a great database. The Open Pinball Database seems very comprehensive, but not a lot of detail.”
“Still the best site for older games!!!”
“I don’t know what it is.”
“Yes, but not as often as, say 5 years ago.”
“still don't want to see if disappear despite not using often”
“I don’t think I’ve ever visited that page. No one I know talks about it. For some reason, all pinball sites look like they were coded before 2010. If they want people to interact, they need to modernize and innovate.”
“I use it often to look up details and stuff. Game additions and updates are probably down because the older machines are populated. But, if the site goes down, a ton of extremely useful information will be lost. Hopefully this is just speculation on your part.”
“Yes. It's a fantastic resource, ESPECIALLY for downloading game code for manufacturers that allow it. It's unfortunate some manufacturers won't disclose information that helps contribute to IPDB information or won't allow them to host game code. It helps everyone in the hobby. A healthy hobby = better and more robust sales. Companies can be so short sighted in this regard. If IPDB shuts down that would be a huge loss to the community.”
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