Pinball news has been hitting the wires like never before over the past year and for now, it seems that will continue. Not all makers of new pinball machines are looking for mass production numbers however,creating a niche within the pinball niche known as ’boutique pinball’.
Before getting into the game itself, some quick background on the companies involved: The Pinball Company is a game distributor who covers more than just pinball machines; Spooky Pinball is a manufacturer who has created Rob Zombie’s Spookshow International and Domino’s Spectacular Pinball Adventure. Both of those games were produced in small numbers; Spooky’s has another game well into development that will be unveiled soon to boot.
The Jetsons Pinball
With those two companies joining forces, they are working to produce 300 units for The Jetsons, based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon from the 1960s of the same name. To quote the product page: “This is an action packed, easy to learn, full featured pinball machine for the whole family!” That page lists three different prices, each applying to which of the 300 you get (cheapest for the first 100 at $5999, then it goes up by $500 with each 100 units to hit $6999).
For that price, there is already ample discussion online about the design, which was created to provide something that is “family friendly” and “easy to understand”. With one ramp and no playfield toys, that is certainly the case – with the artwork it certainly has a ‘retro’ pinball machine feel to it. It does have three pop bumpers, a scoop target, full LED lighting, a 15″ color LCD ‘dot matrix’ screen, three multiball modes and various other playfield targets. That also likely means it will be ripe for mods as long as the power connections are there. Spooky did state that the pictures showing the playfield are prototype but with the machine to debut in March, it is probably quite close to the final design.
What are your thoughts about this limited edition machine?
