Good morning everyone. My oldest son just went in for surgery, so I’m sitting here in the waiting room for the next several hours. I need something to take my mind off of things, so what better way than to hang out with everyone here.
I have a couple of items to discuss. First up, the sample machines of Pedretti Gaming’s new remake of Williams FunHouse began to arrive at distributors yesterday…the same day as the reveal. Great timing. The Nevada distributor, Pinball Traders, shared pictures of its two sample machines arriving on Pinside. They have one Limited Edition and one Classic machine. Pictures below:
Next up we have another European Pinball company, Pinball Brothers. They announced yesterday that their official topper for Aliens has begun shipping to customers.
Now onto Stern Pinball. Yesterday I posted on Facebook about how it seems very likely that Stern will Vault TRON at some point in the future. For those of you aren’t familiar with the term (someone asked this question on my Facebook page), it refers to when Stern Pinball puts an officially discontinued game back into production years later, usually with a few minor changes or enhancements.
The origin of this rumor came from a recent interview that Joel Engleberth conducted with Stern Pinball’s George Gomez on the Flip N Out YouTube channel. This is what I wrote about that here four days ago:
“Of the most requested vault games by consumers, Lord of the Rings is the toughest one for Stern to make because it is three generations of hardware ago - Whitestar. Also, that license would have to be renegotiated from scratch. Ghostbusters is “maybe doable.” TRON is also “maybe doable.” George said that he and a lot of other people at Stern would really love to do a TRON Vault. Maybe Spike 3 will give them the power to do it. To me, it sounds like the most likely old game to be vaulted.”
Since that article, I’ve spoken with two very plugged-in people who indicated to me that a TRON Vault is happening. I personally do not have any firsthand knowledge that is the case, but it makes a lot of sense. The question is when? I speculated yesterday that it could be sometime in 2025, but really that’s just an educated guess based upon what I have been told by the aforementioned people. It might not happen until 2026 if it does.
Time will tell, but I think that a Spike 3 TRON Vault with Insider Connected, EL wire ramps and a few other things would sell like hotcakes.
Last up I’m moving over to the arcade side of things. New Wave Toys, maker of the Replicade series of miniature yet surprisingly accurate reproductions of classic arcade games has a surprise announcement scheduled for 5:00 PM Eastern today. I got the below message sent to me via e-mail yesterday.
Since that teaser, people have been speculating on social media about what it could be. The number one guess seems to be some sort of either miniature or full size reproduction of IT Games’ classic Golden Tee.
I’m a big Golden Tee fan. Before I owned my current Golden Tee Go (upgraded to the Home Edition software and on a pedestal), I used to own one of the iconic Golden Tee commercial arcade cabinets. The look definitely is similar to the silhouette in the teaser. What do you think it will be? I’m definitely leaning towards a mini Golden Tee rather than some sort of full-size cabinet. I’m curious, so I’ll definitely tune in for the reveal.
Speaking of Replicade, I’m still waiting for my reproduction Zoltar that I ordered last year. It looks like it’s going to be amazing but they have run into some production issues that have caused delays.
As I mentioned at the beginning, I’m writing this on my phone in the hospital waiting room and my battery is starting to run low, so I gotta go. I’ll charge up and keep looking for cool Arcade and pinball news for everyone while I continue to wait. Bye for now
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Good news!! Thanks for the info! Who is actually manufacturing Funhouse? Need to know if the pin is a quality build. Also want to see some video and comments before I order.
Well, all news aside, please send our warmest of thoughts for your Son's recovery.
With regards to Tron, IMHO it seems like the most likely candidate, especially when 'Tron: Ares' (the sequal to Tron Legacy) just finished filming. EDIT*** no confirmation of filming complete, but confirmation of the film's release in Oct 2025.
all the best for your son ... its most important !
I hope everything goes ok with your son’s surgery. Will say prayers for him and your family.