# News in Brief

**Source:** Pinball News Website  
**Type:** article  
**Published:** 2012-01-01  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.pinballnews.com/news/nib7.html

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## Analysis

Pinball News reports on three developments: Anna Newman's Pinball Donut Girl film successfully reached its $21,750 fundraising goal with a $5,000 donation from Kevin Martin of PAPA, enabling production to begin in November 2011. John Popadiuk and Benjamin Heckendorn announced Ben Heck's Zombie Adventureland, a limited-run zombie-themed pinball game with hand-drawn artwork and pre-orders planned for January 2012. Additionally, Kevin Strasser released an iPhone version of The Pinball Book app ($1.99) with video playback improvements, and a custom triple-Jungle Lord head-to-head machine was showcased as an engineering curiosity.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Anna Newman's Pinball Donut Girl fundraising campaign reached its $21,750 target following Pinball News coverage — _Direct report from Pinball News with specific funding details and timeline_
- [HIGH] Kevin Martin of PAPA donated $5,000 and earned an Executive Producer credit for Pinball Donut Girl — _Named individual with specific contribution amount and credit_
- [HIGH] Ben Heck's Zombie Adventureland is planned as a limited-run game with hand-drawn artwork and pre-orders starting January 2012 — _Official announcement with specific production details and timeline_
- [HIGH] The Pinball Book iPhone app includes video playback controls (pause, rewind, fast forward) and costs $1.99 — _Product release announcement with specific features and pricing_
- [HIGH] John Popadiuk has a history designing pinball games for Bally and is working on Magic Girl project — _Background information on game designer and current projects_

### Notable Quotes

> "Well, good news! Following our report, a flood of new donations came in and the target was reached, meaning shooting can now go ahead."
> — **Pinball News**, N/A
> _Confirms successful fundraising campaign and Pinball News' media influence on community support_

> "Answering the cry from many for a zombie-based game, Ben and John are to bring us Ben Heck's Zombie Adventureland."
> — **Pinball News**, N/A
> _Indicates market demand for zombie-themed pinball and identifies game designers responding to community interest_

> "Details are as sketchy as the backglass image, but this is expected to follow in Magic Girl's footsteps and be a limited run of pricey machines with hand-drawn artwork and some unique features under the glass."
> — **Pinball News**, N/A
> _Establishes design philosophy and market positioning for Ben Heck's Zombie Adventureland as boutique/limited production_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Anna Newman | person | Filmmaker raising funds for Pinball Donut Girl film set in a donut store |
| Kevin Martin | person | PAPA figure who donated $5,000 to Pinball Donut Girl and earned Executive Producer credit |
| John Popadiuk | person | Pinball game designer with history at Bally, working on Magic Girl and Ben Heck's Zombie Adventureland projects |
| Benjamin Heckendorn (Ben Heck) | person | Inventor and designer collaborating with Popadiuk on Zombie Adventureland; previously designed Bill Paxton and Lost machines |
| Kevin Strasser | person | Developer of The Pinball Book app for iPad and iPhone |
| Jane Wiedlin | person | Actress from Star Trek and The Go-Go's cast in Pinball Donut Girl film |
| Baily Hopkins | person | Actor cast in lead role of Matt in Pinball Donut Girl film |
| Brian J. Paterson | person | Actor cast in lead role of Julie in Pinball Donut Girl film |
| Pacific Pinball Museum | organization | Provided Gottlieb Slick Chick machine for Pinball Donut Girl filming at California Extreme |
| Pinball Donut Girl | product | Pinball-themed love film set in a donut store; successfully funded with $21,750 target |
| Ben Heck's Zombie Adventureland | game | Upcoming limited-run zombie-themed pinball machine with hand-drawn artwork; pre-orders planned for January 2012 |
| The Pinball Book | product | App for iPad and iPhone showcasing 32 pinball games with history, statistics, and video; iPhone version $1.99 |
| Magic Girl | game | John Popadiuk pinball project referenced as influence on Zombie Adventureland design philosophy |
| Pinball News | organization | Independent pinball media outlet reporting on industry news and events |
| PAPA | organization | Pinball tournament/community organization; Kevin Martin associated with this group |
| California Extreme | event | Gaming convention where one scene of Pinball Donut Girl was filmed |
| Triple Jungle Lord | product | Custom head-to-head machine merging three Jungle Lord cabinets with innovative scoring/backbox modifications |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Pinball-themed entertainment media, New pinball machine announcements
- **Secondary:** Pinball software/app development, Custom/enthusiast pinball machines, Boutique/limited-run game design, Pinball community support and fundraising

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Article celebrates successful community fundraising, new game announcements, and software releases. Tone is enthusiastic and forward-looking with no critical commentary. Custom triple-Jungle Lord is presented as engineering achievement worthy of attention.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Pinball News media coverage directly influenced community fundraising success for Pinball Donut Girl film (confidence: high) — Article explicitly states 'Following our report, a flood of new donations came in and the target was reached'
- **[market_signal]** Growing interest in zombie-themed pinball content responding to community demand (confidence: medium) — Article notes designers are 'Answering the cry from many for a zombie-based game'
- **[market_signal]** Boutique/limited-run pinball game market evidenced by both Magic Girl and Zombie Adventureland positioning as pricey, hand-crafted machines (confidence: high) — Ben Heck's game explicitly described as 'limited run of pricey machines' following Magic Girl model
- **[announcement]** Ben Heck's Zombie Adventureland officially announced as limited-run machine with hand-drawn artwork and January 2012 pre-orders (confidence: high) — Official announcement with designer names, production details, and timeline
- **[technology_signal]** Mobile pinball reference content expanding beyond iPad to iPhone with video playback enhancements (confidence: medium) — The Pinball Book iPhone release with improved video controls (pause, rewind, fast forward)

---

## Transcript

Date: 1st November, 2011

PINBALL MOVIE

Two weeks ago we featured Anna Newman, who was hoping to raise enough money to start shooting her pinball-based love movie set in a donut store, Pinball Donut Girl.

At the time, the fund stood at a little over $7,000 and raising the required $21,750 needed to pay the crew and hire the equipment before the end of the month seemed a daunting prospect.

Anna already funded the shooting of one of the scenes at California Extreme, using a Gottlieb Slick Chick supplied as part of a display by the Pacific Pinball Museum.  If the remainder of the film was to be made, the donations would need to ramp up in the last two weeks.

Shooting one of the scenes from Pinball Donut Girl at California Extreme

(photo by Melanie Nelson)

Well, good news!  Following our report, a flood of new donations came in and the target was reached, meaning shooting can now go ahead.

Kevin Martin of PAPA fame was instrumental in ensuring the goal was reached with a $5,000 donation, earning himself an Executive Producer credit in the process.

Anna has already begun casting, with Baily Hopkins and Brian J. Paterson in the lead roles of Julie and Matt, teaming up with Jane Wiedlin (Star Trek, The Go-Go's).

Production is slated to begin in the second week of November and of course Pinball News will keep you updated on the movie's progress and release date.

NEW PINBALL MACHINE

Not content with his Magic Girl project, game designer John Popadiuk has now teamed up with inventor and designer Benjamin Heckendorn (a.k.a Ben Heck) to launch a new zombie-themed game.

Ben Heck and John Popadiuk

John's history designing pinball games for Bally is well-known, and Ben has created a couple of notable machines with his Bill Paxton game and his recent second game based on the TV series Lost.

Answering the cry from many for a zombie-based game, Ben and John are to bring us Ben Heck's Zombie Adventureland.

Backglass sketch by John Popadiuk

(picture from Engadget)

Details are as sketchy as the backglass image, but this is expected to follow in Magic Girl's footsteps and be a limited run of pricey machines with hand-drawn artwork and some unique features under the glass.

Pre-orders are planned to start in January 2012 and we'll be sure to bring you all details just as soon as they're available.

PINBALL BOOK NOW FOR IPHONE

Back in February we reported the release of a new pinball app for the Apple iPad by Kevin Strasser.

The Pinball Book took full advantage of the iPad's extended screen area to showcase 32 popular pinball games with a summary of the design and history, statistics about the game and pictures of the playfield features, followed by links to videos of the game in action.

The Pinball Book on the iPad

Now Kevin has released a version for the iPhone.

The iPhone version

The iPhone version includes a number of improvements rolled out to the iPad version since our initial review, including the ability to pause, rewind and fast forward the video clips.  Kevin has also re-formatted the book for the smaller iPhone screen to make navigation easier.

The iPhone version is now available from the iTunes App Store for a mere $1.99.

HEAD-TO-HEAD...-TO-HEAD

Our final report in this News in Brief looks at one of the wilder custom games made by an enthusiast while hovering over that fine line between madness and genius.

There have been a few head-to-head pinball machines.  Williams' Joust was one such, as was Alvin G's Soccer Ball (and the football version too), with perhaps the most eccentric being the conjoined Total Recall game which never went into production.

Now, a machine to top that had been built, merging three Jungle Lords to produce one behemoth of a game.

The triple Jungle Lord

The ball can be flipper to the upper playfield and then into an opponents game for them to play with it, or to create an instant multiball.

Instead of a backbox, the game has a marquee mounted above the centre of the three machines.

The illuminated marquee

To overcome the lack of a backbox, the score and credit displays have been moved down to the apron and the backbox mini-bagatelle game relocated to a separate steel case attached to the side of the cabinet.

The score and credit/match displays

The Jungle Lord backbox game

It's an amazing engineering feat, not doubt.  How the game plays, and whether it is enhanced by having three machines connected together, we wait to see.

In the meantime, here's a video of the triple-play machine in action.

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_(Acquisition: raw_text, Enrichment: v1)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 403fe541-1b47-44eb-a2ca-0d5347405b9d*