Yesterday evening I wrote here about all of the awesome presentations that pinball manufacturers made at this weekend’s Texas Pinball Festival. One of those presentations was by the Texas-based pinball Company Barrels of Fun.
While watching it, I kept looking for Easter Eggs that may be clues about the identity of its next game. I didn’t pick up on this one until I saw the press release that they sent me about their Game 2 giveaway this morning.
Here’s the quote that is either a clue that the Barrels of Fun game is based on the book or film franchise Dune or means absolutely nothing 😂
“The 13th Hour is Near:
There are only 113 units of Labrynth remaining which can be purchased from one of our valued Distributors or directly from Barrels of Fun for any customers interested in getting in on entry into our Next Game Raffle, but beware, your new Labyrinth machine must be registered with us by WEDNESDAY APRIL 30, 2025 to receive a raffle entry!
When I got to that part of the press release, I said to myself, that’s an odd way to say that. So I hopped onto Google and searched for “13th hour dune.” Here’s the result:
Did Barrels just include a veiled reference to Dune in its press release about its upcoming game? Combine this with the fact that they gave out branded bottles of sand at the recent Pinball at the Beach event and to me, it seems to me to indicate that Game #2 is Dune.
If it is Dune, it is unclear, whether that means that the game is based specifically on Frank Herbert’s original novels, the 1984 film adaptation by David Lynch or the recent blockbuster films by Denis Villeneuve.
Of course, this could also just be Barrels of Fun messing with us. It also could just be a reference to the 13th hour from Barrels’ first game, Labyrinth.
I actually originally heard this Dune rumor in the late fall of 2024. As the time, I wasn’t sure that I believed it, so rather than just toss it out there I waited to write about it until it was out in the open again in January 2025 (see below).
At this point, I’m pretty sure that the next Barels of fun game is Dune. Of course, I could have also just been tricked by AI for the first of what likely will be many times over the coming years 😂
These Barrels folks are tricky, so we won’t know for sure until mid-April (my guess on the reveal date). I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us!
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That makes no sense. 13 =\= 14
Labyrinth has a 13 hour clock. And with 113 left, they're in the 13th hour of that game.
Nothing about this suggests Dune.
Jason, you rock, or should I say, sand?
Lynch version please! Visually amazing... He who controls the spice controls the universe!
Jason, 13th hour is a much stronger reference to Labyrinth than Dune. There is a 13 hour clock in Labyrinth and they used the 13th hour tease in the original reveal.