Pinball FX2 Spotted On Test At Dave & Busters

[Thanks to Jdevy for the tip]

Well, it seems the news this season is all about the new game tests. I’ll throw out the reminder once again that what’s shown here may not release or may change significantly when it does. In this case, it’s a game we’ve seen almost three years ago and did appear to have been cancelled.

One aspect of Dave & Busters’ game make-up that they are known for is in NOT featuring pinball machines. But with the PinballFX2 virtual pinball platform, they might have found the solution that avoids the hassles of maintenance one gets with a mechanical game.

The case of Zen studios’ Pinball FX2 has been an odd one in terms of the arcade business. We first saw a commercialized version of the game back at IAAPA 2016, where the company was saying at the time that it was expected to launch in 2017 for both home and businesses. But 2017 came and went, and it seemed that the project lost steam. I’ve heard mentions of it still showing up at the occasional pinball event, but that’s it…until today.

A new design for the commercialized PinballFX2 machine has appeared on test at the Torrance, CA Dave & Busters. According to this thread on Reddit (and the picture below), it has been made as a redemption game where you choose from multiple tables and must beat a specific score to win the 1,000 ticket jackpot. The cabinet has changed a bit from what is seen in the video above, adding a bit more flash to the backbox area and at the base, where it appears to have an LED billboard that wraps around it for animations. You get 3 balls a play, although that can probably be adjusted in the operator menu (as it can with real pinball):

Whether or not this is another D&B exclusive, or it’s a harbinger of a mass-produced product, we’ll just have to wait and see. What do you think about it from the little known so far (or just the idea of a virtual pinball videmption game)?