The amazing Don Bluth animation for the classic arcade game Dragon's Lair is beloved by many arcade collectors (including myself) and I think that a pinball machine featuring the theme would probably do fairly well if it had a good layout. An officially licensed full-sized Dragon's Lair pinball machine has been rumored to be in development in Italy for several years. At one point I actually thought that the project might be dead, but updates have been much more frequent in 2022. One thing that I have always wondered about this project though is where would the money to produce the game come from? That question seems to have recently been answered.
The individual who is working on the project posted a poll in the "Dragon's Lair Pinball" Facebook Group about an upcoming Kickstarter for the game. Beyond the funding information, the post also talks about the showing of three versions of the game, Standard, Limited and Premium, "after the official expo." I wonder if this means the upcoming Pinball Expo that is scheduled to take place in Chicago from October 19th through the 22nd of this year? I vaguely remember talk about that event and this project in the past, so probably. If the project funds the post stated that production of the game will begin in 2023.
I never do Kickstarters. I've seen too many of them not work out in the past. Not to mention the world of pinball has a number of horror stories of people paying pre-order money for pinball machines that never ended up being built. I personally have a policy of not making large deposits on or paying in full for pinball machines that do not exist yet and I don't see that changing in the future, regardless of how awesome I expect a game to be.
I think that the pictures of the prototype of the game look absolutely amazing, and I wish the project well. If it is indeed going to be at Expo, I can't wait to see how it plays. I'll share an update with everyone when the Kickstarter goes live. For now, here's a link to the Facebook group for the project:
