Wooooo this ended up being quite the New Year's Eve day. It started out with me professing my love for the Dungeons & Dragons IP.
We followed that up by me being a little surprised that Stern dropped the teaser for the game today rather than on Thursday or Friday. Weeks ago I said that I thought that D&D would be teased in late 2024 and revealed in early 2025, but I went against my earlier guess. Oh well. I was actually right in the middle of building a bookshelf that my family gave me for Christmas to store all of my pinball and arcade books when the teaser broke.
All the while, little pieces of interesting news have been dropping all over the place. First up, we have Stern Pinball again. A friend who wishes to remain anonymous sent me a screen cap of an Instagram Reel that someone at Stern shared showing the highlights of 2024. The reel contained lots of really cool pictures of games that we all know were on the production line at Stern this year...and one part from a game that wasn't - Ghostbusters.
There's been rumors for many years, that actually have started to flare up again very recently that Stern Pinball has a Ghostbusters Vault in the works. Could we be busting ghosts with a new and improved Ghostbusters in 2025? We'll see, but it appears to be becoming increasingly likely.
Next up we have Jersey Jack Pinball. Right after Stern Pinball launched its teaser for Dungeons and Dragons, Jersey Jack shared the below post and pictures on its Facebook page.
Now I've shared this picture before, back when we all were talking about industry veteran Joe Kaminkow letting the cat out of the bag that Jersey Jack Pinball had secured the license to Harry Potter, but I don't recall JJP sharing it with such a big hint along side.
I've been saying that Harry Potter is the next game from Jersey Jack for a while now. This adds further fuel to that rumor's fire. When I spoke with the fine folks at Jersey Jack on my visit for the Avatar reveal a few months ago, they gave me the impression that their next game was dropping sooner than I expected - this Spring, possibly as soon as March.
"On the eve of the 14th anniversary of the founding of Jersey Jack Pinball, we wish you all a very happy, healthy and magical 2025.
Sometimes, all of your dreams do come true!"
One of the first news items to drop today was actually from the small Taiwanese pinball manufacturer Homepin. They announced early this morning that they have shipped the first unit of their new game Blues Brothers to a customer in the United Kingdom.
"The very first Blues Brothers machine being shipped out today to a UK customer (not the first built but the first actually leaving the factory). We were a little late getting to finished, shipping machines but still managed to just make it for 2024!😄
Happy New Year to all of our valued customers and followers."
I'm afraid to look around any more because I may find even more news out there. So I leave you with this..
UPDATE. I knew it! A few minutes ago Pedretti Gaming shared the following message on Facebook…
Is this a hint that Pedretti’s next game after its FunHouse Remake is going to be a remake of the 1995 Bally game Theatre of Magic? I sure hope so. Man I love that game.
OK, back to my previous article conclusion haha…
Here’s a picture of the aforementioned bookshelf that my son and I put together when the Stern announcement dropped haha. Notice my copy of the "Making of Original Dungeons and Dragons" coffee table book right on top :). An even better book on the history of D&D for anyone who wants to find out more is "Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: A Visual History." I have that one too. It includes a ton of awesome D&D art. I have really high hopes for the art on Stern's game.
Once again, I hope that everyone has a happy and safe Happy New Year's Eve and a great 2025. Thanks for hanging out here and talking about the hobbies that we all love.
it's a TOTAN 2.0 kit and remake
great newsletter. Happy Magical New Year
Cool bookshelf! What ate some of these books we can't quite make out?