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Who STOLE the Show at Texas Pinball Festival?! 👀 + American Pinball Is BACK!
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Who STOLE the Show at Texas Pinball Festival?! 👀 + American Pinball Is BACK!
Texas Pinball Festival 2026 is in the books… and wow, there’s a LOT to unpack. In this episode of The Flipside, we break down: 👉 Who really stole the show at TPF 👉 The biggest surprises and...
Highlights
- Beetlejuice was the main draw at TPF with 19-20 machines on display in a giant inflatable tent setup
- Pokémon has achieved significant commercial success and Retro Ralph recently upgraded his order from Pro to Premium with shipment on March 23rd
- Yukon Yeti had over 250 units sold before the show began and was approaching 300+ by the show's end, with potential sellout coming very quickly
- Pokémon achievements feature was pending licensure approval at the time of TPF and could not be enabled for the show
- JJP's next game is Sonic with 99% certainty, designed by Steve Ritchie, and is described as a 'worst kept secret'
- Barrels of Fun is rumored to be making Never Ending Story, though Retro Ralph expresses uncertainty about this
- Stern's next game after Pokémon is Transformers G1 designed by Elliot Iseman, described as a heavily packed game with multiple cool mechanisms
- Stern has a remaster planned that will be either AC/DC or KISS, with AC/DC or KISS being the leading candidates
- Turner Pinball engineering approach significantly simplifies the underplayfield wiring, eliminating about 90% of traditional wiring found in pinball machines
- TPF's carpeted flooring and dim lighting create a better gameplay experience compared to Pinball Expo cement floors and bright lighting
Notable quotes
“pinball to me is the whole experience. It's everything. It's not just does it shoot well and is the layout something you're interested in? It's everything. It's what's on the LCD. It's the callouts. It's the music.”
“I literally rebuilt a brand new UI for this game, you know, the LCD. He built all of that, all of that interface, like within two weeks before the show.”
“I'm open to the feedback on the music and the sound effects”
“It's like the worst kept secret in the world, right? And everyone knows that if it's not that, then we're all wrong. But I mean, it's pretty damn certain that's what it is with 99% accuracy.”
“Steve doesn't make bad games. Steve makes amazing games, fast games, right games we all enjoy playing.”
“I think Transformers G1 is going to be a very packed game with a lot of things in it, right? So there's gonna be a lot to like in that game. At least that's what I'm hearing.”
“They trusted us to do that. So if you did sit in the the JJP seminar, then you pretty much got the story of the featurette. I mean, I sat in there with Jamie for about 15 minutes.”
“I do think that that's finally putting some pressure on Stern.”
“You know, that's the one thing about these shows. People start drinking a little bit. They whisper a little bit. Hey, you know, there's gonna be cool mechanisms and transformers.”
“this year is going to be the hardest year to decide what you want to bring in because we don't have infinite space, we, none of us have infinite money.”
Entities
- Barrels of Fun· company
- Flip N Out Pinball· company
- Jersey Jack Pinball· company
- Spooky Pinball· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Pinball Expo· event
- Texas Pinball Festival· event
- Beetlejuice· game
- Pokémon· game
- Yukon Yeti· game
- Brian Savage· person
- Chris Turner· person
- David Van Ness· person
- Dirtypool Pinball· person
- Elliot Iseman· person
- Jamie Burchell· person
- Keith Elwin· person
- Retro Ralph· person
- Steve Ritchie· person
- Zach Sharpe· person
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