For some time now, there has been quite a bit of ‘loose talk’ on the scene surrounding the state of American Pinball and their rumored releases. Following several personnel departures and a few absences at events, a lot of that has been based around the assumption that they would soon be shutting up shop and cancelling everything in the works.
However, the reports of American Pinball’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. The parent company that owns American is keeping them going, operating the same umbrella of a new company by the name of Orbit Games (with American a subsidiary of Orbit). After teasing it recently online, they are now revealing all, as Orbit will soon be debuting a game at Pinball Expo 2025, which we’ll get into below.
American Pinball’s Current Status
Before we get fully into Orbit, a quick word on American. I had posted something about them not long ago after having a conversation with Ron Lindeman, who is in charge of both American Pinball and Orbit Games. They do have a game #7 in the works, which is set to be revealed next year – but it won’t be what the rumors had been stating for a while.
It will instead involve a different IP, and it will not be at Pinball Expo. Instead, they have decided to hold that back in favor of promoting the Whirl-O-Ball, which we’ll get into now.
Orbit Games & Whirl-O-Ball
Orbit Games has had a little presence on social media for some time now, and they now are ready to debut at Pinball Expo 2025 with their very first game, Whirl-O-Ball. They also have some other items coming up, but let’s take a look at Whirl-O-Ball first.
Based upon a short-lived variation on Skeeball that existed back in the 1930s/40s, Orbit is bringing this back using modern technology. Where it differs from your typical alley bowler is that it doesn’t have targets with circular ramps. Instead, the ramp goes a way up and the targets are at the top. So it plays in a similar way, where you’re still rolling balls down an alley at targets, they just happen to be ‘over the hump.’ Two units will be available to play at Pinball Expo.
While it will work at FECs, they have their sights set on the brewery, arcade/bar scene.
The marquee is a 32″ HD screen, so it will show animations, scoring, and other info to engage with players, along with LED lighting along the sides and three beacon lights (two red, one blue). This comes with wider lanes than a typical alley bowler/Skeeball (which is what it is referring to as “wider”), and there are “mini-games” built into it so there’s more depth than just simply rolling balls into targets.
There are presently three mini-games built into it: One is where the player chases the blue light for 50 extra points (the score boxes under the monitor can change color); then the other two games are high score runs (one for 3, the other for 5 minutes). That is where for the length of time, it will just keep giving you balls until the clock hits zero. These are all designed to draw in repeat play, particularly at arcade/bars. They will include sign toppers that can advertise the modes the machine is running at the time.
Here are some features that the operator can disable or set:
-Points Multiplier for hitting the same 1-7 targets.
-Bonus round to continue your points if you clear all 7 targets…9 additional balls +100 additional points
-Blue light chase-a blue light runs across the 7 targets in 3 different patterns & if you hit it, you get a bonus of 50 points.
-High score run mode game releases balls for 3 minutes or 5 minutes.
-Price per player for 3-9 ball rounds
The Whirl-O-Ball will retail at “the same price as Skeeball, currently” (MSRP is $8999), and Orbit will begin taking orders at the show. They measure at: 10.5 FT x 4 FT and weigh 575 LBS.
Other Orbit Games
As mentioned above, “that’s not all!” – Orbit has a few other projects in the works.
Another game that falls within Orbit’s… well, orbit, is one we’ve covered for a long time – Polycade. This was being sold by American Pinball, but now they’re moving it over to Orbit’s purview. There is a new model called the “Polycade Tower” that will be debuting soon, although we don’t have details on that right now.
As well as Polycade, they are launching Flippit, a new digital pinball table that is promising to be a “new kind of pinball”, although at this point in time I haven’t seen what that will entail exactly. It will not be at Pinball Expo; Ron says “Flippit will only be on showcase at our factory for dealers with a couple other prototypes that are coming out next year”. It is aiming to hit the market early 2026 however.
Last but not least is something that is a bit unexpected. Orbit will be creating what sounds like a series of games that are based upon the Rock-afire Explosion animatronic band. What those are will be revealed at a future date, but Ron specifically pointed out that they are making games with the characters, not planning on building the animatronics. I know that some would want the latter, but there is a reason that such things don’t exist out there anymore (cost/maintenance being the principal factor).
We welcome Orbit Games to the industry family and look forward to seeing these games, and whatever else they debut in the future. It’s interesting that they are taking a little more of an Electro-Mechanical approach to things, which I think has a lot of merit – it’s a surefire way to stand out from the digital gaming crowd, which everyone has been saturated with at home in one form or another.
What do you think of Orbit Games and Whirl-O-Ball?
