This Week in Pinball, we’re keeping things short for the holiday week.
Programming note: With the upcoming holiday season, you may see a reduced publishing cadence in this newsletter through the end of the year.
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Song of the Week
In the name of brevity, here’s a quick Song of the Week pick that you can play over pints with friends and family at the pub. It’s a live version of Vicar Street Days, one of my favorite tracks from Scottish folk-punk band Brògeal’s debut album, Tuesday Paper Club.
Pinball News of the Week
RIP Marino Zaccaria
Marino Zaccaria, a European coin-op industry titan and one of the co-founders of Zaccaria pinball, passed away at the age of 89.
Black Friday Weekend Only! 20% off TWIP Subscriptions
Unlock a full year of This Week in Pinball at a special rate. For one long weekend, annual Supporter and Friend of the Newsletter plans are 20% off. It’s the best price you’ll see all year — and the easiest way to keep independent pinball journalism thriving.
2025 Pinball Black Friday / Cyber Monday Deals Tracker
We're tracking deals from nearly 50 different companies in our Pinball Black Friday deals tracker! Updating it regularly as we come across more hot deals.
Links of the Week
NYC Pin Pod discussed OBX a second time
Pinball Nerds Podcast also discussed OBX in a Patreon-exclusive episode
Pinball Profile interviewed Stern’s Kyle Spiteri
Gary Stern & Jack Danger spoke at the Dutch Pinball Open
Cool Toy reviewed the Pin-Level
BASH Pinball interviewed Brad Albright
Buffalo Pinball streamed Portal
Poll of the Week
White meat or dark meat?
Last Week’s Poll Results

“New in box are usually out of my reach financially and I don’t want any game that badly. I would rather wait a while for any glitches to be ironed out and buy second hand. That said, while the game does look cool, the theme doesn’t do it for me”
“Am I allowed to read this newsletter when I'm only buying 80s Gottlieb for around $2000? :)”
“I'll go with no, but wow, there was a lot of hype for this game. Beetlejuice is not a theme for me, but neither was Evil Dead. Evil Dead was great and I'm sure Beetlejuice will be even better. I'm just low on room and funds, and it has to hit on all points for me to buy one. Winchester did that for me.”
“It certainly is a well executed clown puke show. Deeply integrated in color scheme, lights, design and theme. Uh, no thanks.”
“I wish I had money like these people who are pre-buying these machines. I have never purchased a machine without playing it first. I look at it as a savings plan. Every time a game sells out I save myself 10k plus. There are a lot of other machines to love than those I’ve never played.”
“Spooky are doing and giving us consumers what some others (guess who) are wilfully negligent in providing. Give us what we want or suffer the consequences. Just a pity it's such a small run”
“Tried repeatedly minutes after orders opened and was unable to get through until after the game was sold out. I don't buy a game every year and did not have the clout to be prioritized on any distributor's interest list.”
“Spooky may be rounding a corner, but reliability problems historically, lack of code updates, and sparse documentation keep me spooked.”
“The movie was barely "ok"… and what happened was a simple "Fomo", that topper is too big, that’s too much, I don’t why they decided to do that abomination, something nice not necessarily has to be that opulent, that’s guaranteed that eventually it will look boring. If Beetlejuice were unlimited and the price was $8,000, I wouldn't even be interested at all. I must add that unfortunately I missed that impressive "Winchester Mystery House", that’s a title that definitely I MUST find one for Me! no matter what, that’s what we need in Pinball, that’s the one that I wish that BoF decides to build more than those 525.”
“I wanted more Beetlejuice character in the game. The big toy being the snake just didn't sell me on the game. Maybe once I play it I might feel differently.”
“Looks amazing but not a theme I that speaks to me. It shows beautifully in a large collection for guests, but I play my games and think all the colors / movement could get annoying.”
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice I’ve died and gone to Pinball Hellven! This game has everything and more! You’ve been selected and you will never sleep again or die. But that okay because Beetlejuice pinball is there along with Jackan the Devil. The Devil went down to Chicago with his fiddle, flinging fire and flame to challenge that man dressed in white with his fiddle of gold! My name's is Gary and it might be a sin But I'm gon' take your bet and you're gonna regret I'm the best there's ever been" Fire on the mountain, run, boys, run The Devil's in the house of the risin' sun The pinball’s in the bread-pan flip in ' out dough Granny, does your dog bite? No, child, no”
“I am not even a big fan of the movie, but the game just looks so good ”
“Not really a theme I want. Will definitely play it if I see it in the wild tho.”
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