Weekend Pinball Update: The Last of the Aliens; A Peek at Back to the Future?; Dune is on Its Way
- Jason
- 20 hours ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
I have a couple of things that popped up on my radar that I wanted to share with everyone between my son's high school lacrosse game and me going out to the movies with my wife and friends.
First up we have Pinball Brothers. This morning the European pinball manufacturer shared an update stating that it only has nine units left of the newest Ellen Ripley version of its Alien pinball machine. It added that it is not going to do any additional runs of the game, so once these machines are gone, that's it.
I actually just played Alien again for the first time in a while at Pintastic New England. It definitely is an impressive game. It has a great vibe and theme integration and one of the best mechs in pinball, the Xenomorph that eats the ball.
"Alien Day Alert! Last-Ever Alien Ripley Pinballs Available Now!
After a successful run, the Collector’s Edition of our award-winning Alien pinball — the Ellen Ripley Version — is reaching its final chapter. Only nine units remain. This is it. No re-runs. No second chances. If you've been thinking about it, now’s the moment.
Secure your Alien Ripley pinball before it disappears forever.
This is Ripley’s final transmission.
The final Ripley games are available with special Alien Day pricing, and the possibility to add the exclusive custom Alien topper at a discounted rate.
Email sales@pinballbrothers.com, and we’ll build your package and connect you with your nearest distributor."
Someone sent me this one earlier this morning, apparently a post popped up in a Back to the Future Pinball group claiming to have a "leaked photo" of an upcoming Back to the Future Pinball machine. This looks vaguely familiar to me for some reason. Have we seen this before? I've seen so much pinball stuff over the last several years that sometimes it all blurs together lol.
In any event, the post was taken down soon after, but it was captured for posterity and I have shared it below.
Yesterday, the Texas-based pinball manufacturer Barrels of Fun shared a picture of the first of its upcoming Dune pinball machine leaving the factory. As we have been discussing here, this game is headed for the PinballSTAR Amusements booth at the upcoming Pinfest pinball show in Allentown, Pennsylvania next week.
Speaking of Barrels, the local newspaper the Houston Chronicle ran a cool feature on the company this weekend. It talked about the new game Dune, but it also had some general information about the company and its first game, Labyrinth.
According to the story, only 90 of the 1,004 Labyrinth machine that The Company is making are left. The article also reiterates what I said here about Barrels a week or two ago:
"Barrels of Fun has its sights on more games. Van Es said he has acquired the intellectual property rights to six different titles, but won’t yet say what they are."
Houston pinball machine maker readies new 'Dune'-themed machine
I'll wrap things up with a link to a cool article about the pinball scene in Portland, Oregon. I recall reading somewhere once that the Portland area has more pinball machines per capita than anywhere else in the world. I don't know if that's true, but there definitely is a ton of great pinball places there. Next Level Pinball Shop & Museum is at the very top of locations that I have to take a trip to.
Portland, where the pinball never rests
A late-aughts pinball revival here, led by a so-called pinball gang, made Portland, Oregon, the world’s foremost city for this arcade game. The momentum hasn’t let up since.
