The Fall of Heighway Pinball

Last week we learned that Heighway Pinball will be liquidated on May 4th.

TIMELINE

2012

Andrew Heighway announces Heighway Pinball will produce games, with their first game being Circe’s Animal House, which was later re-themed to Full Throttle. The initial plan was to make cabinets with swappable playfields and artwork.

2013

Dennis Nordman joins Heighway Pinball.

Heighway shares their business model requires them to release 3 games a year, and that their company is backed by “a mixture of personal and outside investment”.

Oct 2014 (Expo)

Heighway announces their second game, Alien. They state the game has been designed by Dennis Nordman and it is due for production in April of 2015.

Dec 10, 2014

Dennis Nordman announces he is leaving Heighway Pinball, stating:

“I have decided to end my relationship with Heighway Pinball. I am not the game designer on the Alien project. I made the initial playfield drawing and created concepts for 4 new playfield toys. The drawing can change drastically as the game develops. Andrew announced that the game would be ready in April and I can’t possibly agree with this. I’ve seen the video that he submitted to FOX and if the game turns out anything like this it will be great.”

Heighway responds:

“Just to clarify our position – Dennis has indeed designed the playfield layout of Alien Pinball, and development of the game continues, even though Dennis has now moved on from our company. Although Dennis has indeed left us, we still consider his work to be complete with us and development continues with our team. Dennis’s announcement is unfortunate but it is his prerogative to move onto other projects. Are we behind schedule at the moment? By approximately 1 1/2 weeks, yes. The prototype playfield gets cut next week and ball guides either just before or after Christmas. Testing of the prototype is weeks, not months away. As for April production? We have a fully playable version of the game, complete with rules, on a digital platform already. I apologise to our customers for having to give an update his way, but it was not our choice that this post appeared in this way. We will always be grateful to Dennis for his contribution to this game and continue to have the utmost respect for his work as one of Pinball’s design legends”

Dennis responds:

“People are making deposits based on Andrew’s statement that I was the game designer and the game would be ready in April. Andrew did not consult with me before he made that statement. I was losing sleep over people making deposits as in my opinion the April date is not possible. Maybe he can do it, I don’t know what he has going on in Wales. I just know that I couldn’t get a game done to my standards anywhere near April, and people should know that. This was not a rash decision on my part. I gave it a lot of thought. By the way, since it was announced that I worked on the game for a year I feel obligated to correct that statement. I worked on the Alien game for way less than a year. A playfield drawing is a long way from a whitewood and a whitewood is a long, long way from a finished game. It is not my intention to hurt Andrew’s business. It is my own conscience that I have to live with. As I said, Andrew’s team did a great job on the video and if the finished game is anything like that it will be fine.”

Heighway responds:

“Hi everyone, We understand that there are a lot of people asking questions and that there are a lot of rumours floating around. Regarding Dennis specifically, neither he nor us can, or will, be commenting on any contractual matters. Please understand, though, that there are always two sides to every story and there are many things that happen in a company that most people never get to hear about. But as I stated before, we are very happy with the input Dennis has had on this game, and development continues, as planned. In every pinball game ever built, there is a ‘team’ behind the end product. With many games in history, there are more than one pinball designer accredited to the game design … in other games, multiple designers had a direct influence in a game but were never credited at all. What we can tell you is this. Dennis was involved from the beginning of this game. Dennis designed the playfield layout, the game toy concepts, the game-specific mechanism concepts and was involved in aspects of rules development. The game has been tested virtually, and the shots play very well. We will, no doubt, need to make changes between the whitewood and the first proper prototype, but we have other designers involved in this project now and this is all part of the development process. Dennis may not be listed as the actual ‘game designer’ but he will have played a big part in the final game and we are very grateful for his contribution to this game. We have true Alien fans within our company, and everybody at Heighway Pinball is determined to make the best ‘Alien Pinball’ game that it is possible to make.”

To view the full thread, click here.

Dec 19, 2014

Heighway announces they have hired Barry Oursler.

March 30, 2015

Heighway announces full production begins on Full Throttle.

June 26, 2015

The first Full Throttle games ship to customers.

Oct 2015 (Expo)

Alien cabinet and translate artwork revealed.

Oct 2016 (Expo)

Alien is revealed in full.

March 2017 (Texas Pinball Festival)

Heighway announces games 3 and 4 will be licensed and designed by Barry Oursler.

April 26, 2017 (Alien Day)

Heighway reveals Limited Edition artwork and states that Fox had approved it that day.

May 28, 2017

Among much speculation, Heighway Pinball (Andrew Heighway) releases the following statement on Pinside hinting that a major announcement is coming:

“Thank you to those who have emailed me to let me know about the latest comments on Pinside. There has been a lack of communication on our side because a lot is going on behind the scenes – and we are hoping to make a significant announcement within days. We apologise for this lack of communication but everything will become clear shortly. You should know that there are some Pinsiders here with ulterior motives – with an interest in bringing our company down. We would ask for a little more patience please, until our announcement is made. Thanks for reading.”

June 2, 2017

The Heighway investors take over Heighway Pinball, and Andrew Heighway steps down as CEO of Heighway Pinball and is “no longer involved in any way with the company”.

A Pinsider representing the Heighway Pinball Investor Group made a post (their one and only post) on Pinside stating:

“Hello to all pinball enthusiasts out there, we are active investors in Heighway Pinball Ltd. There has been a lot of talk, and also silence, over the last few weeks. For this we are sorry but we have not been legally able to reach out to you before now. We are now happy to announce that we have reached an agreement on how to take over the business and move it forward. We are all pinball enthusiasts and professional business owners. We are fully committed to making your games and we have the plan and finance in place to make this happen. We have drawn up a detailed strategy to invest money into the company, both to ensure that machines are built to the highest quality and also to ensure that healthy numbers are shipped as quickly as possible. The company will have new management, new leadership and new funding to make sure that everyone, who has money at stake, will get their ordered pinball machines. The budget and business plan for how to make this a success has been carefully drawn up and is about to be put in place. The transaction is now in progress and legal papers are being drawn up as you read this. We hope you all will bear with us for the next couple of weeks as we get everything in place. We have had positive talks with our major distributors around the world and we thank them all for their patience and for believing in us. Together with our suppliers, distributors and you pinball enthusiasts, we can make this happen. Alien is a great game and there are more to follow. We will keep you updated and communication channels will be opened as soon as we are settled in. Thank you for your understanding and patience in advance. We understand your frustrations and concerns. All of us investors are in the same boat as you, waiting for their games to be shipped and, after much time spent at the factory, we have taken matters into our own hands to ensure that Heighway Pinball can survive and prosper. Regards Investor Group – Heighway Pinball Ltd”

June 16, 2017

Andrew Heighway releases this statement:

“Just over five years have passed since I started Heighway Pinball Limited in my home garage. Now, the company has grown to be a multinational business with customers spread throughout the globe. The company has faced many challenges along the way, which has culminated in our first game, Full Throttle, and our current game, Alien Pinball. I always strived to create a modern and relevant quality pinball product, with many exciting new ideas. I believe that we have fulfilled many of the goals I set for this company. I am extremely proud of the games that we have produced. In particular, Alien Pinball is the result of tireless work, over the last three years, from a team comprising of some of the most talented and passionate pinball people I could have ever have hoped to assemble. ‘Alien’ is personally my favourite movie of all time, closely followed by ‘Aliens’. I could not be happier with the finished product and how it represents both movies. The time has come for a change at Heighway Pinball. Substantial monies are being pumped immediately into this company by our existing investors to drive this company forward to producing hundreds of games every month within the coming months. These investors have not been actively involved in the running of the business up to this point but they bring a huge amount of pinball experience to the operating of this company. They are also very successful businessmen in their own rights. Their passion for pinball, business acumen and love of the company’s products will drive this company forwards. There are a lot of expectant customers out there who want delivery of this epic game as quickly as possible – and this is a commitment this company will now strive to deliver as soon as is possible. As of now, I have now left Heighway Pinball and am no longer involved in any way with the company. A new management structure is already in place at the company, that is committed to delivering games to all of its customers and building the company up into becoming an important market player within the coming years. The company is being left in good hands, with the investors bringing a wealth of pinball experience into this company and everyone is committed to delivering customer games as quickly as possible. I have not left pinball permanently – but am taking a break away from it as fresh finances and ideas drive the company forwards. I will likely still be seen at pinball/trade shows and look forward to meeting many of you again in the future. I will no longer be contactable at [email protected] and I will not be posting here, any other pinball forums, on Facebook or on Twitter as ‘Heighway Pinball’ from now onwards. I have met some amazing people over the last five years and would like to thank all of my customers, staff, contractors, investors, distributers and suppliers – who have shared my dream and supported myself and this company over the years. I step away from Heighway Pinball at an exciting time for the company and wish all those associated with the company all of the best for the future. Andrew Heighway Former CEO/Managing Director – Heighway Pinball”

June 16, 2017

Pinball Brothers Limited is formed.  People listed are:

• Mats Daniel Janson

• Cato Paus Skrede

• Alexander Thomas Spohr

• Johan Patrik Tenn

July 9, 2017

After the change in ownership, refunds were requested by some customers. The new owners addressed the pinball community on Facebook:

“There has been a long silence from us here due to the change of ownership, but we are happy to announce that we are in the final phase of the transition and we are now able to focus more or less entirely on the way forward. A lot of work has been done during the past weeks to prepare for the big step up in the manufacturing of games. While we have in fact been building games all the time it has – so far – been at a slow rate (the picture was taken Friday). As parts are now arriving in bigger volumes, we expect this to change shortly and will keep you posted on progress. In the meantime, we would like to thank everyone that is patiently waiting for their games to be shipped. As soon as we can, we will reach out and let you know when you should expect your game(s) to be ready. To those of you who have asked for a refund, most should have been contacted by now and, of those who have, many have received their refund already. Some are still to be contacted however to have your situation sorted. We believe we may have failed to get back to some of you in a timely manner, for which we do apologize, but we are trying our best. There were many payment options used previously and therefore a variety of different solutions required! It has taken a great deal of time to get on top of each one. We aim to have everybody’s situation sorted as soon as possible. If you do feel left out, or want to ask anything, please don’t hesitate to contact us via e-mail (send to [email protected]) or by phone (+44 (0)1495 305634). In general, it has been exceptionally hectic during the transition period as you would expect. While trying our very best to respond to all of you who have contacted us, we may have failed to get back to each and everyone. If you have an unanswered e-mail, please it send again since it is possible that your e-mail has simply got lost in the sheer mass of e-mails received in the past weeks. We also want to thank our distributors, who are showing great patience and understanding, believing in the potential and quality of our products and us. More information to follow shortly… stay tuned!”

July 2017-April 2018

Alien machines ship, albeit at a slow rate.  While some customers are happy, there are several issues are reported with the game.  Many buyers are waiting on parts, manuals, etc.

January 25, 2018

It is revealed that Barry Oursler has left Heighway Pinball.

April 2018

Helmut Langenbruch leaves Heighway Pinball.  Helmut provided Technical Customer Support and was widely regarded as one of the most responsive employees at Heighway as customers have had many complaints about Heighway’s communication.

April 20, 2018

It is learned that CoinTaker will not pay in full for the Heighway Pinball shipment as they are concerned about the availability of parts and manuals, and want to protect their customers.

As reported by This Week in Pinball:

“There are currently 35-40 Alien machines ready to ship over to the U.S.  However, Coin Taker would need to pay in full for these machines to have them shipped and is not comfortable doing so at this time.  Heighway is having issues providing parts and manuals to troubleshoot any problems with machines.  Melissa stressed that Coin Taker wants to provide their customers with only the best products and services, and wants to assure that every machine meets those high standards.  Coin Taker wants to protect its customers.  Thus the delay of receiving said machines may be a reflection on those standards that must be met.”

April 20, 2018

Heighway employees are informed of their termination.

April 25, 2018

It is leaked to the pinball community that Heighway Pinball will be liquidated on May 4th.

April 26, 2018 (Alien Day)

A Pinside post by SLAMT1LT states:

“Happy Alien Day! I was hoping the investors would’ve made an official announcement but no, the story leaked. Yes the doors are closed and no one is employed at Heighway Pinball anymore. The company is done. Quite frankly, I would’ve plugged the plug a year ago. But at least some people got their games. If it makes you feel any better, the investors were bullshitted by Andrew just as much as you guys were and they too fell for it hook, line and sinker. And those guys lost a serious amount of money. Ouch. I lost my job but whatever, I can get another one.”

What Happened

TWIP reached out to many people that were involved with Heighway.  Employees, investors, even Andrew Heighway himself.  People wanted to stay anonymous, but we had several people share their thoughts.  Not surprisingly, people were very critical of Andrew Heighway’s management of the company.

One person told TWIP:

“So what went wrong? Mr Andrew Sebastian Heighway (quite appropriate that his initials spell ASH because that’s all that remains of his ‘successful’ company) and a catalogue of catastrophic business decisions. Andrew just couldn’t stop spending money on completely unnecessary and useless things – a CNC machine (never used), packing machines (hardly used), injection moulding machine (never used), 2 commercial ice drink machines from the US (never used), a flat bed printer (hardly used). He wanted everything done in-house against the advice of everyone. And he leased brand new pinball games – WOZ, Whoa Nellie and the Walking Dead, that were later sold but the leases not paid off. He also leased ridiculously expensive office equipment and a brand new VW van (a cheap 2nd hand van would’ve been more than adequate).  He hired more staff at a time when we didn’t have enough work for them to do, so they sat around getting paid to do nothing. He then decided to move to a much larger factory (only a third of it was ever used). Later we found out he’d not paid the rent on the previous property. And then again when we moved for a third time to Ebbw Value – leaving behind a mountain of unpaid bills. When the money pot was getting low he would call the investors with an ultimatum each time: “Give me more money or I close the business and you lose everything”. Foolishly they did, over and over. And when each investor was bled dry and refused to pay any more, Andrew would get new investors. In the end I have no idea how many investors there were. Eventually his out of control spending emptied the account for staff salaries and there was a period of 2 months were no one was getting paid. He even asked members of staff for money to help save the company, from their personal savings.  Many people left the company because of the wages situation. Money was nearly always paid in late or only half would go into staff accounts with a promise that the other half would follow. Moral in the company as far back as late 2013 was low. And it was clear at this point that the company had absolutely no chance of being a success while Andrew Heighway was in charge. He had to go. The investors were desperate to get him out a year before he eventually left. Andrew always made sure he was ok. He moved from a rented villa (with headed indoor pool) to a lavish 6 bedroom detached house. He bought a Porsche and always paid himself a very generous salary…with additional benefits. Then there were the licenses. We had issues with our first game Full Throttle. It had technical issues and incomplete code but Andrew wanted it out the door, with no manual, and no testing. Just get it out the door was his mentality. And before a single Full Throttle left the factory, he announced that he’d secured licences (at considerable expence) for Alien, Queen and Playboy. Which floored everyone at the company.  Then he announced Alien publicly soon after, with the clear intention of getting pre-order money to keep the company and his personal lifestyle going. Not a single penny of Alien pre-order money was ever spent on an Alien machine.  Sales for Full Throttle were immediately effected by the Alien announcement as orders were cancelled and transferred to Alien instead, a game that Andrew promised would be ready in April 2015 – an insane timeline which pissed off Dennis Nordman and so he walked. Andrew was also completely clueless when it came to dealing with licenses. Alien for example was a complete cluster fuck from start to finish. Andrew had no idea what assets we could use from the film. We asked him can we use the actors? Signourney? Can we use the music, sound fx? He came back with I don’t know. And so a lot of time was wasted developing a game with assets we later couldn’t use. The US team – Aurich, Brian, Joe, Kelly and David, picked up the ball that the Wales team fumbled and ran with it. The success of Alien is entirely down to the US team. We all hated Playboy and absolutely no one, including the investors, wanted to make that game. A terrible idea but Andrew insisted and so 2 years were wasted developing that game. Which was later dropped with a significant loss of money.  Barry Oursler was hired to work on the design of Playboy, Queen and a 3rd game. He was employed by the company and paid a monthly retaining fee. But for 2 years he did very little and eventually left. Another unnecessary drain on the companies finances. Andrew also hired the cheapest people he could find for the company. No one, with the exception of Dennis Nordman and Barry Oursler, had any previous experience of building pinball machines. In fact most of the staff had no interest in pinball at all, including our Mechanical Engineer. There was no passion to drive the company forward. It was just a job for most of the employees. And that makes a big difference when compared to Stern or JJP were the entire team are passionate and driven. The cheapest possible parts were used in our games to increase the profit margin. Reliability was never a concern for Andrew, it was all about the money and raising his own profile. He just couldn’t see any further than the end of each week. He didn’t even consider the issues we’d have later when the machines were with customers and faults were being reported. This all seemed like a surprise to him and he was quick to blame his staff for everything that went wrong. Believing in his own crazy mind that our machines were perfect, no manuals were ever created or even planned. There was no support structure in the company at all, so calls and emails were mostly ignored. Communication with costumers was always appalling. We had no sales team, no customer service department. Andrew had no interest in customers once they paid their money. Staff actually stepped up once Andrew was out to try and fix this but poor communication continued because the new investors didn’t put a Manager in place. Instead they tried to manage the business themselves from overseas, part time. Without a Manager, the company was leaderless and spiralling out of control. When the new investors took over they had a clear plan – to make 100 machines a month. What they didn’t know, because of Andrew’s bullshit, was that Alien wasn’t fit to be sold, it still needed months of development to fix all the issues. They were also hit with refund requests which drained all the the money they had set aside to manufacture Alien. At this point, they knew they had been duped but it was too late.  Andrew was paid a substantial amount of money for selling a worthless company, heavily in debt. He was gone, laughing all the way to the bank. He wanted to prove something, maybe to make up for all his past failures (this isn’t Andrew’s only failed business and it won’t be his last). It’s clear to me he was only in it for the short term. His intention was to build up the company as fast as possible then sell it and walk away with some decent cash in his back pocket.  Of course, the pinball community only ever saw the cheerful and passionate salesman and were happy to hand over their money.  I have to give him credit for his skill as a salesman; he sold a lemon to everyone – customers, staff, investors, distributors. A lesson learned by everyone: never, ever trust a salesman. On Friday 20th April, all staff were called in to work and officially made redundant. The week prior to this, all remaining staff had been packing up the factory in Ebbw Vale for closure. A handful of Alien machines were also finished and packed up in this time. The factory in Ebbw Vale is now empty. Assets (not owned by Heighway Pinball) have been moved to a new location. Heighway Pinball will be liquidated on 4th May. The new investors are planning to start a new company under a new name. What exactly they plan to do isn’t clear.”

Another person told TWIP:

“The single biggest loser after the investors would have to be the company game designer [Dave Sanders], who was never properly contracted by Andrew, never made clear what he was supposed to get, and stuck in a unique predicament watching two products being made from work that was never paid for, but unable to do much about it because his ’employment’ hadn’t gone through proper channels. The last part was being addressed once the investors took over and responsibilities were taken on board, but factoring in initial expenses and five years’ lack of renumeration, out by many tens of thousands – as well as all that time, unable to simply walk away and write it off – and the toll on his own physical and mental health was plain for all to see.”

Yet another:

If you look at how [another pinball company] have started out, I’m guessing it was start slowly building and designing stuff at home on a relative shoestring, plan to make small batches of ten maybe, then scale it up slowly till now where they’re selling hundreds of a single title – that’s how you do it, and I bet…these guys had other jobs and were not expecting to draw income until well in profit – well that’s basically the opposite of [Andrew’s] strategy.  …with zero income from machine sales obviously [Andrew] took a wage…he then decided to get a building the size of an aircraft hangar to be his hq, despite the fact this was still early r&d stage and there wasn’t much to be built and the space was not required, and again the common theme – no real sales income coming in. Then he thought a great plan would be a car to reflect his managing director ‘status’ – so he goes and gets a used Porsche Cayenne turbo on finance, and guess what, the company pays the finance. Still no sales income coming in. Then they’ve launched this nice website…with photos of people in heighway uniform, most of them apparently managers. Managing what exactly? There’s no real production yet. [And Andrew has a personal assistant.]

Andrew Heighway stated on Pinside:

“I am truly sorry to hear about the turn of events announced today.  In June 2017 I sold my controlling stake in Heighway Pinball Limited – including its commitments and liabilities – to a group of investors who claimed to want to put significant funds into the company, achieve mass production and deliver part-paid and fully-paid games to customers, as well as new machine sales. Throughout the five years that I ran the company, we developed and sold games up until the time of my departure. This was never a ponzi scheme, as some have suggested. A mix of technical problems, supplier quality problems and unrealistic timeframes resulted in delays that financially crippled the company. We were all committed to delivering games to all paying customers. I personally apologise for the unrealistic timeframes.  There have been suggestions that I stole or diverted company funds for my own ventures. These are very serious accusations and never once have I been interviewed by the police for any alleged wrongdoings. The company’s accountants have never suggested any wrongdoings by me. It can be proven that the company owed me significant monies and not the other way round. I would therefore advise people to refrain from making any libellous or slanderous statements about me – as I will defend myself and my integrity. I very much regret that the company’s owners have closed the company without honouring its commitments to all paying customers and I wish everyone the best in pursuing their claims against the investors or via the insolvency practitioners.  This situation has appalled me and I am extremely sorry for the anguish that it will inevitably cause.  Andrew Heighway”

Note: Andrew’s post was not well received:

The Pinball Machines

Heighway Pinball had released or been working on at least five pinball machines:

Full Throttle

Designed by Dave Sanders

Alien

Designed by Dave Sanders

Queen

Designed by Barry Oursler

Playboy

Designed by Barry Oursler

Barry Oursler Original Theme

This unlicensed theme was in the same vein as Oursler’s Cyclone and Hurricane

What Else We’re Hearing

Alien is Done

From what we’ve heard, Alien is 100% dead.  There will be no more machines and no refunds.  We’re also hearing the license is not transferable.

How Much Money?

Estimations are that investors provided over £1million gbp to Heighway Pinball over the last several years.  That does not include any of the customer pre-order money, which is estimated to be in six figures.

Did the License Expire?

There are rumors that the Alien license ran out in December, and that there was an option to extend it but it is not clear if it was actually extended.  We should hear more about this soon.

What is “Pinball Brothers”?

Pinball Brothers is a company that was formed very shortly after the investors took over control of the company.  The investors put a lot of security in place for themselves.  What we don’t know right now is why exactly Pinball Brothers was formed or what it’s role will be going forward.

Will Pinball Brothers produce machines?

We are hearing yes and we’re hearing no.  From what we can piece together, it sounds like the initial intent may have been for Pinball Brothers to produce at least Queen, if not Playboy and Barry’s game.

deeproot Pinball also posted on Pinside they had been in talks to possibly purchase these titles as recently as this past Monday:

“We did open dialogue to buy Barry’s three games with them on Monday. They refused to sell Queen. Playboy we didn’t want. The third unlicensed game we can recreate under US laws without a problem. We never asked about Alien, but I have been shocked (for some time) that the studio hadn’t already pulled the license after all the breaches of contracts and failure to perform. But will most surely do so now. It also makes me wonder whether they were selling without license rights. Regardless, I doubt very highly we will see Alien produced ever again because the lack of license rights.”

Given that money and/or games are still owed to Heighway customers, there would likely be a lot of backlash if the investors started producing Queen under a new company. If Pinball Brothers does produce machines, it sounds like the Heighway Platform would likely be discontinued.

We will keep you posted as we learn more and as this mess develops.

Iron Maiden: LE Revealed, Code Updates, More

Lets move on to some more positive news, shall we?  Iron Maiden LE was revealed last week!  In additional to the reveal, we learned:

• Iron Maiden Limited Edition will be streamed by Dead Flip tomorrow (Tuesday, 5/1) at 4:00 Central Time.  Tune in here!

• Every single song in the game (12) has a mode associated with it (from Tim Sexton on Slam Tilt Podcast)

• New Code 0.93 was released for the Pro model – check out the details here!

• When will we see the Premium?  We have been told “early May”, so it shouldn’t be long now!

• And now for some pics of the Limited Edition!

X-MEN PINBALL WOLVERINE BRACKET

Protect your Wolverine from ball hits with this simple to install X-Men Wolverine bracket!  The bracket surrounds the Wolverine and only adds a few millimeters to each side so not to block any shots.  Also includes an “X” decal – check it out!

Click here for more info and to purchase this mod!

Do you want to sell your mod on Mezel Mods?  Click Here to email them for more info!

Elvira 3 New Info

Last week Pinsider 30FathomDave posted that he and some other Pinsiders had spoke to Cassandra Peterson (AKA Elvira) April 14th at Monsterpalooza.  For the full post, click here.  They were told the following:

1. Yes, the game is happening.

2. The artwork is gorgeous.

3. The LCD screen will feature vintage clips from Elvira’s Movie Macabre.

4. She is doing all of the callouts.

5. She said it’s looking like the game will be out either late 2018 or early 2019.

As far as the “late 2018 or early 2019” timeline…well let’s not get carried away!  The game still needs a programmer assigned to it, so there is no timeline or timetable currently on the release time.  But it is happening!  George Gomez also confirmed this at the Texas Pinball Festival.  We’ll keep you posted as we learn more!

Victory Laps – End of Post Bonus

• What does actor Neil Patrick Harris want for his birthday?  A Houdini pinball machine, check out this tweet!

• Zach and Greg from Straight Down the MIddle: a pinball show review Lethal Weapon 3 on their most current video – check it out!

• Is deeproot promised the Harry Potter pinball license if it ever happens?  According to this post from deeproot on Pinside, yes…

• New Guardians of the Galaxy Code (v0.95) – check out the details here!

• Baywatch ColorDMD video teaser released, the target release date is May 5th.  Check out the video teaser here!

• The Pinball News & Pinball Magazine Podcast interviewed Jack Guarnieri on their most recent podcast – check it out here!

• Does Dutch Pinball have a new investor?  We’re hearing yes but trying to confirm…

• Two shows this weekend to check out – Pinfest in Allentown, PA and the Ann Arbor, MI Pinball Show!

MATCH! – Next Game…What is Coming Up on This Week in Pinball

• So many irons in the fire…

Disclaimer: Any articles, interviews, or mentions of pinball manufacturers or pinball products is NOT an endorsement.

Have a scoop or anonymous rumor?  Email us at [email protected]

Stern Pinball

Most Recent Titles

Aerosmith  |  AC/DC Vault Edition  |  Star Wars  |  Guardians of the Galaxy  |  AC/DC Luci Vault Edition  |  Iron Maiden

Announced/Confirmed

Elvira 3

Rumors of Future Titles

Deadpool?  |  The Munsters?  |  The Beatles?  |  Jurassic World?  |  Pulp Fiction?  |  New Ka-Pow Title?  |  Steve Ritchie Black Knight 3000?

Jersey Jack Pinball

Most Recent Titles

Wizard of Oz  |  The Hobbit  |  Dialed In  |  Pirates of the Caribbean

Rumors of Future Titles

Toy Story?  |  Willy Wonka?  |  The Muppets?

Chicago Gaming/Planetary Pinball

Most Recent Titles

Medieval Madness Remake  |  Attack From Mars Remake

Rumors of Future Titles

Monster Bash Remake?  |  Cactus Canyon Remake?  |  Big Bang Bar Remake?  |  Theatre of Magic?

Spooky Pinball

Most Recent Titles

Rob Zombie’s Spookshow International  |  Dominos (*contract game)  |  Jetsons (*contract game)  |  Total Nuclear Annihilation (*contract/house game)  |  Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle

American Pinball

Most Recent Titles

Houdini

Rumors of Future Titles

Oktoberfest?

P3 (Multimorphic)

Lexy Lightspeed  |  Cannon Lagoon  |  Cosmic Cart Racing

Heighway Pinball <-New

Most Recent Titles

Full Throttle  |  Alien (shipping)

Rumors of Future Titles <-New

Queen? <-New

Dutch Pinball

Most Recent Titles

Bride of Pinbot 2.0  |  Bride of Pinbot 3.0 (on hold)  |  The Big Lebowski (production issues)

 Circus Maximus

The Pinball Circus Remake  |  Kingpin

Homepin

Thunderbirds (coming soon)

 deeproot Pinball

Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland?  |  Alice in Wonderland?  |  Magic Girl?  |  Original Houdini design?

Announced/Confirmed

Fire and Brimstone

Silver Castle Pinball

Timeshock (coming soon)

Phénix Pinball

Olympic Goblin