# Evil Dead Pinball Featurette (Spooky Pinball, 2024)

**Source:** Straight Down the Middle  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2024-11-22  
**Duration:** 35m 11s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB0ccZZXvlI

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## Analysis

Spooky Pinball's Evil Dead pinball featurette showcases extensive behind-the-scenes development with creative director Jon Hey and artist Christopher Franchi discussing the game's design, Bruce Campbell voice work, mechanical innovations (trapdoor/lower playfield, sling flipper, severed hand mechanism, cabin toy), dual-movie mode structure, and commitment to theme integration. The game launched with 888-unit production run and represents Spooky's 2024 quality benchmark.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Over 100 pages of dialogue written for Ash character, voiced by Bruce Campbell, with extensive creative direction and riffing — _Jon Hey describes writing process and Bruce's improvisational contributions to the script_
- [HIGH] Evil Dead pinball features a functional trapdoor mechanism with lower playfield accessed via hidden orbit illusion ('magician trick') — _Jon Hey details the trapdoor design: ball enters trap, travels hidden orbit, drops from top to simulate basement descent_
- [HIGH] The game includes a motorized severed hand that moves back-and-forth on playfield with microsecond-level positioning control — _Jon Hey describes hand on stepper motor; Ben can control position down to microsecond for precise shot targeting_
- [HIGH] Sling flipper added to game as functional innovation after initially conceived as a joke design element — _Jon Hey recounts walking back into office to find sling plastic removed and flipper installed in its place_
- [HIGH] Game has four ramps including 'sneaky ramp' designed to be tight-fitting but smooth and fast-returning — _Jon Hey describes ramp count and praises sneaky ramp's design quality_
- [HIGH] Both Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 are separate licensors who agreed to work together on single pinball project — _Jon Hey states: 'between the two films here—Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn—these are two completely separate different licensers'_
- [MEDIUM] Dual-themed games format will not continue; Evil Dead will be last dual-theme Spooky release — _Jon Hey: 'we said we wouldn't be doing a dual theme, but, you know, that maybe that's not necessarily true' — contradictory statement suggesting format is ending_
- [HIGH] Christopher Franchi is 'technically good at pinball' artist who understands playfield aesthetics beyond general illustration — _Jon Hey praises Franchi's technical proficiency: 'he knows how to put things on there, and it just makes the whole game look more professional'_

### Notable Quotes

> "It's really hard for me to even nail down exactly what I am most excited about in this game, because I'm in a fortunate position where I get to be involved in all of the most fun parts of the process—from co-designing the layout with Spooky Pinball, remaking half the script on the machine, and being involved with the modes and the rules."
> — **Jon Hey**, early
> _Establishes Jon Hey's comprehensive creative role as de facto creative director across design, code, and rules_

> "The thing about it was, you know, you have all these lines you always hear him say, but what I picked up going through the recordings is like when we gave him these new silly lines, it seems like that's had the most enthusiasm."
> — **Jon Hey**, mid
> _Reveals Bruce Campbell's creative engagement and preference for new material over iconic catchphrase repetition_

> "My favorite line in the game, which is Ash saying, 'Oh, you've seen this one? It's called Two Deadites, One Chainsaw.'"
> — **Jon Hey**, mid
> _Example of custom script written specifically for pinball that references franchise memes_

> "One of my big pet peeves is if you're going to put something like the cabin in the game, you have to actually be able to get the ball into that cabin to do something."
> — **Jon Hey**, mid
> _Design philosophy statement: mechanical features must be functional and integrated into shot sequences, not cosmetic_

> "Right away, I pitched the shotgun to Ben Heck, and I was like, 'So I want the shell to actually go into the shotgun chamber, and then a jack to back out like it's shooting.' And he just looks at me and he goes, 'That's the only good idea you've ever had.'"
> — **Jon Hey**, mid
> _Demonstrates collaborative ideation between designer and programmer; shotgun loading mechanism is functional mechanical feature_

> "And I look down at it, and I look at Luke, and he's just got this dumb look on his face with his hands out. He's like, 'It's a sling flipper.' And I looked at it, and I looked at him, and I was like, 'Yeah, it's a sling flipper. We'll do that.'"
> — **Jon Hey**, mid
> _Serendipitous design moment; sling flipper evolved from unexpected modification into dynamic gameplay element_

> "Theme integration doesn't get any better than when you're actually doing what you say you're doing out loud. So when you're battling Ash's hand in this game, you're actually going to be shooting a ball at his roaming hand. It's not a plastic hand with a sticker."
> — **Jon Hey**, late-mid
> _Core design principle: mechanical authenticity over visual representation; functional interactivity = immersion_

> "One of the most iconic scenes from the entire franchise comes from the second movie, where the cabin starts to come alive and laugh at Ash. This is an experience that I really wanted to make sure we put into the machine because it is the most Evil Dead thing to me."
> — **Jon Hey**, late-mid
> _Design justification for 'machine comes alive' mechanics and Insanity mode; franchise authenticity drives feature decisions_

> "So he's just so technically good at pinball. It doesn't just—you can have a pin, you can have an artist, but it doesn't mean it's a pinball artist. Chris is actually a technically good pinball artist."
> — **Jon Hey**, late
> _Distinguishes between general illustration and pinball-specific art expertise; validates Franchi's technical mastery_

> "Yeah, mood on a pinball machine is an interesting thing because you want people to feel the license that you're working with. But at the same time, you can't make like, you know, Evil Dead takes place at night, takes place in the forest. I can't just have a dark forest all over the playfield, you know? It has to be colorful and exciting."
> — **Christopher Franchi**, late
> _Articulates the artistic tension in pinball: thematic fidelity vs. visual legibility and player engagement_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Jon Hey | person | Creative director for Evil Dead pinball; lead designer, script writer, rules co-producer; also programmed Texas Chainsaw Massacre for Spooky |
| Bruce Campbell | person | Voice actor for Ash Williams character; recorded over 100 pages of custom dialogue; from Michigan with prior relationship to Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert |
| Christopher Franchi | person | Artist and lead illustrator for Evil Dead pinball; noted for technical proficiency in pinball-specific artwork; previously worked with Bruce Campbell on Crime Wave film |
| Ben Heck | person | Programmer/code developer for Evil Dead pinball; collaborator with Jon Hey on rules and mechanics; maintains microsecond-level control of motorized hand positioning |
| Luke | person | Lead mechanical designer at Spooky Pinball for Evil Dead; designed playfield layout and innovations including sling flipper, trapdoor, and ramp configurations |
| Bug | person | Son of Spooky Pinball CEO Charlie Emery; involved in production decisions and design direction alongside Jon Hey |
| Hilton Jones | person | Rules co-producer with Jon Hey; previously collaborated on Texas Chainsaw Massacre; worked on mode design and rules integration |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Wisconsin-based boutique pinball manufacturer; produced Evil Dead with 888-unit production run; known for quality, theme integration, and mechanical innovation |
| Evil Dead | game | 2024/2025 Spooky Pinball widebody release; based on dual-licensed Evil Dead (1981) and Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987); features mechanically-loaded design with trapdoor lower playfield, motorized hand, sling flipper, cabin toy, shotgun loading mechanism, four ramps |
| Texas Chainsaw Massacre | game | Previous Spooky Pinball game (2023); shared dual-theme format with Looney Tunes; programmed by Jon Hey; served as proof-of-concept for Evil Dead design direction |
| Evil Dead (film franchise) | product | Original Evil Dead (1981) and Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987); separate licensors who agreed to collaborate on pinball project; sources for modes, mechanics, and thematic elements |
| Sam Raimi | person | Director of Evil Dead films; from Michigan; worked with Christopher Franchi on Crime Wave film prior to pinball project |
| Robert Tapert | person | Producer of Evil Dead films; from Michigan; worked with Christopher Franchi on Crime Wave film prior to pinball project |
| Charlie Emery | person | CEO of Spooky Pinball; oversaw Evil Dead project direction with Jon Hey; father of Bug |
| Straight Down the Middle | organization | YouTube content channel that produced this featurette video about Evil Dead pinball development |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Voice acting and dialogue writing for pinball games, Mechanical innovation in pinball design (trapdoor, sling flipper, motorized hand), Theme integration and licensing in modern pinball, Playfield layout and shot design, Rules design and mode structure
- **Secondary:** Artwork and visual design for pinball, Collaborative development process across design, code, and art, Dual-movie mode structure and mode selection mechanics

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.92) — Jon Hey and Christopher Franchi express genuine enthusiasm for the Evil Dead project, emphasizing collaborative success, creative solutions, and quality outcomes. Tone is celebratory of technical achievements and thematic authenticity. No criticism or negative sentiment expressed about the game, manufacturer, or development process.

### Signals

- **[design_philosophy]** Christopher Franchi distinguished as pinball-specific artist with technical mastery beyond general illustration; understands playfield aesthetics and visual legibility constraints (confidence: high) — Jon Hey: 'you can have a pin, you can have an artist, but it doesn't mean it's a pinball artist. Chris is actually a technically good pinball artist'
- **[community_signal]** Spooky emphasizes accessibility via family and adult modes; humor positioned as core thematic element and market differentiator vs. 1990s pinball (confidence: high) — Jon Hey: 'I think a major thing missing from pinball versus the '90s is humor'; family/adult mode toggle discussed as design feature
- **[competitive_signal]** Evil Dead establishes Spooky Pinball as quality/innovation benchmark through mechanically-loaded design, Bruce Campbell voice work, and Christopher Franchi artwork vs. competitors (confidence: high) — Featurette emphasizes exclusive voice work, innovative trapdoor/hand mechanics, dual-license achievement, and artist expertise as differentiation factors
- **[design_philosophy]** Jon Hey emphasizes collaborative ideation with mechanical lead Luke; designer provides goofy initial concepts that experienced engineer transforms into functional mechanics (confidence: high) — Jon Hey: 'I usually stand there, I give him some goofy ideas, he actually does the hard part of making those things real'
- **[design_innovation]** Sling flipper mechanic emerged unexpectedly during development as successful innovation; now integral to hand shooting and ball control sequences (confidence: high) — Jon Hey describes Luke removing sling plastic and installing flipper as 'joke' that evolved into dynamic gameplay feature
- **[design_philosophy]** Spooky Pinball commits to mechanically-integrated theme design: all physical features must be functional and integrated into shot sequences, not purely cosmetic (confidence: high) — Jon Hey repeatedly emphasizes functional integration: cabin ball lock, trapdoor lower playfield, motorized hand as interactive feature, shotgun shell loading mechanic
- **[personnel_signal]** Jon Hey established as creative director with comprehensive authority over design, code, and rules across multiple Spooky projects; Ben Heck provides programming implementation (confidence: high) — Jon Hey describes co-designing layout, remaking script, involvement with modes/rules; characterizes Ben Heck as implementing ideas from initial pitch
- **[announcement]** Evil Dead pinball officially confirmed as Spooky Pinball 2024 release with detailed mechanical, code, and art features; 888-unit production run (confidence: high) — Comprehensive featurette showcasing completed game with full mechanical and artistic details
- **[product_strategy]** Evil Dead features dual-movie mode selection structure allowing players to choose Evil Dead 1 or Evil Dead 2 modes at game start; backbox design resembles jukebox (confidence: high) — Jon Hey describes mode selection via action button; backbox labeled with eight modes split between two movies
- **[product_concern]** Evil Dead positioned as 'best 2024 innovation title' for mechanical loading and theme integration; extensive mechanical complexity and weight acknowledged (confidence: high) — Jon Hey: 'Evil Dead is probably the best 2024 innovation title we've ever done for that—the mechs are so literal'; references inability to lift game due to weight
- **[business_signal]** Spooky Pinball formally ending dual-theme production format after Evil Dead; statement suggests previous commitment to single-theme exclusivity was revised for this project only (confidence: medium) — Jon Hey: 'we said we wouldn't be doing a dual theme, but, you know, that maybe that's not necessarily true' — implies format abandonment going forward
- **[licensing_signal]** Evil Dead dual-license negotiation between two separate film licensors (Evil Dead 1981 and Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn 1987) enabled single pinball product; Christopher Franchi has prior professional relationship with filmmakers (confidence: high) — Jon Hey: 'between the two films here—Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn—these are two completely separate different licensers'; Franchi did set design for Crime Wave with Raimi/Tapert

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## Transcript

let's [Music] go you ever dance with a deadite in the pale Moonlight shoot some ramps so we can get on with it only guarantees in life are death and taxes and I don't pay taxes so it's just death get this thing loaded daddy wants to play [Music] hey guns loaded wish I was son of a how about a double barrel breakfast huh gotcha didn't I you little sucker ah this is probably going to stain I'd have to soak that Ready Aim groy [ __ ] them [Music] up you bash that big ugly bit dead doesn't matter whatever you call it bash it for God's sake what happened to our eyes lady the years have not been kind look I've been locked down there before it ain't exactly Marty gr let's see us versus two dead [ __ ] in a book I like these odds now we have our darling Linder please please don't hurt me breakups are never easy cabin lock is lit I wouldn't go in there but you know knock yourself off shut it off shut it up [Applause] what are you waiting for you know you want a piece of [Music] this it's really hard for me to even nail down exactly what I am most excited about in this game because I I'm in a fortunate position where I get to be involved in all of the most fun parts of the process from co-designing the layout with spooky loot writing half the script on the machine to and being involved with the modes and the rules the r Ro of creative director I'm just tying all of the things that will best tell the story of the license to the pinball player through the game playay when people think of our company and our brand spooky pinball they think of many things not even necessarily just spooky they think of Comedy they think of Halloween they think of The Fall season they think of horror they think of all these different things that all combine to make this really special world that we really get to tell perfectly through the Evil Dead pinball machine so how did I get involved with Evil Dead pinball with spooky well I programmed one of their previous Games The Texas Chainsaw Massacre which is the finest cannibalism related pinball machine ever made so I I was already on that project they're like hey Ben would you like to do the next one and I'm like and they're like it's Evil Dead I'm like oh man I love Evil Dead it's like my 15th favorite movie ever and so I'm like yeah I would totally love to do this because not only is it a theme that I love but I also knew that we'd be able to like do custom speech with Bruce Campbell and it's always because it's so easy to think of speech for him because you know we grew up impersonating him or Duke Nukem who also impersonated him and so that part of it was really fun and it's also a franchise that I love so yeah I've i' I've been doing stuff with spooky for like over 10 years now so this was just kind of like a Natural Evolution spooky pinball very famous for our dual themes in the past and we said we wouldn't be doing a dual theme but you know that maybe that's not necessarily true many people may not realize this uh between the two films here but the Evil Dead and Evil Dead two dead by Dawn are two completely separate different licensers and we were very fortunate that both were willing to work together on this project so that we can give you the best possible Evil Dead experience that you could imagine there's many things about this game that I was excited about but the thing I'm hands down the most excited about was the opportunity to write the script for Ash's character in this machine done by none other than Bruce Campbell himself the biggest highlight of this game yeah it would be writing dialogue for Bruce Campbell how could it not be the thing about it was you know you you have all these lines you always hear him say but what I've picked up by going through the recordings is like when we gave him like these new silly lines to say it seems like that's had the most enthusiasm because think about it if you're Bruce you're like ah going to the recording studio groovy Hail to the King right right right so it was fun trying to give him new things to say but also that fit in the spirit of Evil Dead the stuff that I wrote I just completely went with that and you know he he he voiced it so I must be okay writing for Ashley Williams specifically the sarcastic sometimes dumb sometimes genius character that he is it just really spoke to me and I I could not wait to write his script it was over a 100 pages of dialogue for ash alone and Ben heck and I would have zoom calls where we would sit down and go through the modes and just think of the most ridiculous things that we could say like oh so this mode the deadites are popping up what do we want Ash to say we need 10 variations of things Ash can say when deadites pop up and it has my favorite line in the game which is Ash saying oh you've seen this one it's called two deadites one chainsaw my favorite line I think Corwin wrote it was you must have been a slippery baby did you WR oh no my favorite stupid line that we gave him was you guys keep saying that I'm going to get you I'm going to get you well so far all the gens been gotten by me get it got it good that's in the game it's so great there's countless amounts of funny lines in this game that I'm very proud of I I hope people find it as humorous as I do uh some of it's pretty dark humor some of it's poking fun at himself poking fun at the player what the funny part is is I'm very passionate about how the script turned out but in actuality I didn't need to do that good of a job of writing it because I would the lines we would give Bruce he would riff upon it himself and really make it his own he just he brought the full character out into this game we of course always offer a family and adult mode in our gam so that if the little ones are around sensitive ears you can turn that off but for the full Evil Dead experience you got to let Ashley Williams be Ashley Williams so I I recommend turning on the adult mode on this game I mean I I like the humor that's in Evil Dead I think that's super important especially in that second film The the second film was a perfect balance of horror and humor and be able to incorporate you know through Bruce's call outs some of that humor into this this what is truly a horror theme sets Evil Dead apart from a lot of other horror films I think I think a major thing missing from pinball versus the 9s is humor that's what I think is great like to bring the humor back like just even if it's just it h me bringing the humor back I think is really great because at the end of the day it's like you want to be in a bar you want to be in your basement hanging out with your buddies hanging out with your girlfriend or your grandma and you want to have fun and humor is the best medicine them and a great has always been one of the most important things to us at spooky pinball and the best way to have good theme integration is get everything you possibly can from the licenses getting the actual actors from the film getting speech from those very notable actors for the game the best music to fit that the footage from the film the sound effects from the film uh sculpts to perfectly represent those deadites and characters from the film items objects from the film all of these things have to come together to give people the integration that they deserve on a title like this it's been nothing but an honor to be a part of this team over the last four or 5 years especially working with my friend spooky Luke on every single layout but I really want to give him the largest props for this one yet as he is the lead designer on this game I've said it many times I usually stand there I give him some goofy ideas he actually does the hard part of making those things real and this game is just a master class on his ability to do so I I guess I can't emphasize enough that people supported us hugely over the years and when we take that really seriously when we go out and get these themes we want to bring them the themes that they're asking for um we want to bring them the mechanisms they're asking for and a big Trend right now is like we want Mech loaded theme integrated games um and I have to make sure too that we get everything we need and me and Bug work really closely on that too it's like we have to make sure they get Bruce Campbell we have to make sure they get all these things taking all of the most important things from the film and being able to turn those into a physical playable thing so then we start to look right away at what physical objects do we have to have in the game and Evil Dead is probably the easiest title we've ever done for that is the mechs are so literal a literal shotgun an actual cabin one of my big pet peeves is if you're going to put something like the cabin in the game you have to actually be able to get the ball into that cabin to do something and that's the the really cool thing about this is you're going to be able to lock the balls in the cabin they come up they're sitting right on the front porch and then you have the little porch swing just lets it go my favorite thing is is kind of a dumb thing but it's it's the swing going back and forth I mean Super you know iconic seeing that cabin in the woods and having that swing rocking back and forth I think was uh you know just such a cool little moment but it helps us to bring the player into that uh the movie and into the franchise you have the actual shotgun that you're loading the shells into that was one of the the funniest parts right away actually I pitched the the shotgun to Ben heck and I was like so I want the shell to actually go into the shotgun chamber and then a jack back out like is shooting and he just looks at me and he goes That's the only good idea you've ever had when I first started getting involved with the Evil Dead pinball project I was really pushing for two main things I was like it has to have a trapo that the ball goes into and then the trapdoor eats the ball you got to have things eating balls and the other thing was like I you have to have a lower play field it's Evil Dead there has to be a basement the very first layout aspect that I was begging and pleading spooky Luke to put in this game was the Cellar Door to get to the basement but I I I had to emphasize I don't want just a Cellar door that opens that you shoot into we have to make it super Dynamic Cheryl has to also be an option there so I can be battling Cheryl underneath that Cellar Door or just going into there like you don't know which one you're going to get when it comes up one of the first things a bug actually brought to me is like hey we have to shoot the ball into the trap door you can't have an evil dead game and not have an actual trap door on the Playfield I'm like yeah I think I think we can make that happen you also have a drop Bank in front of it so Cheryl can come up you're going to be able to hit the targets knock her down and then actually shoot behind her physically into the Cellar Door which is can't beat that but we did like this magician trick so I was like okay the trap door opens and the ball goes into the trap door and isn't the same ball that goes into lower Playfield sorry guys spoiler warning but what what it does is it has the ball down at the bottom in the drain part of the lower Playfield and then it's kicked up around this outside hidden orbit and then it drops in from the top so it looks like trapdoor lower Playfield Ash boom boom boom boom down the stairs evil dad was a great game to work on because it is absolutely jam-packed with mechs and being able to incorporate those all into the rules was fantastic so shooting the ball into the trap door seeing Ash and seeing the ball fall into the basement there it was just an iconic moment that we wanted to capture in the game theme igration doesn't get any better than when you're actually doing what you say you're doing out loud so when you're battling Ash's hand in this game you're actually going to be shooting a ball at his roaming hand it's not a plastic of a hand with a sticker it's nothing it's a hand it's a severed hand running back and forth on the Playfield which there's nothing more satisfying than saying to Luke out loud I I want a hand that runs back and forth that we can shoot at and then boom it exists we put it on a stepper motor we have that thing cruising back and forth Ben can actually control that where it is he can move it back and forth down to like the micr second so he knows what Target it's in front of it you can shoot it with the right flipper but you also have this sling flipper under the sling plastic which is going to be the big kicker like oh God they did a sling flipper right and which Speaking of the hand I remember the day you know he had it mocked up it was in there we're shooting at it and we're like man it's it's pretty low on that lower right flipper it's a big problem usually it's like you put a feature all the way on the left side of the game it's like you're right at the end of The Flipper all the time we can't drop this feature it's too cool we have to hit it and I I took a small break for a second I stepped out of the office I hit the bathroom and I came back into the office and the right sling plastic was off and there was a flipper sitting where a sling normally goes and I look down at it and I look at Luke and he's just got this dumb look on his face with his hands out he's like it's a sling flipper and I looked at it and I looked at him and I was like yeah it's a sling flipper we'll do that so even though it kind of starts out almost as a joke this sling flipper turns out to be so much more Dynamic than we ever expected it would have been so we actually put it on an additional flipper button on the right side so you can individually control it or you can set it in the menu settings to just be on both you know the same button when you shoot the right ramp the ball comes down that habit Trail if you hold it up before it falls the ball will sit on top of that sling flipper and you can drop it for a nice controlled shot over to those drop targets to the hand and also the left orbit which also is the 180 ramp that goes to the pop bumpers one thing we have to talk about is like we put an actual pop bumper in a game and I don't know if that's a secret or if if bug let that out earlier but we put a real there's three of them there's three pop Pumpers in the game in a normal configuration but getting them as far from normal cuz you can hit them from a sling flipper because we weren't just going to just put three pop ppers in and not do something weird we can't do that you're going to shoot it up hit a 180 ramp it right into those three pops the shotgun is super important to this film and we didn't just have the shotgun loading Mech you know you can push the shells in but we also have it kind of tied back to the shooter Lane so you're going to be able to have that dual shooter Lane you have a diverter in the middle it'll shift to the middle you can load two balls in the shooter Lane you're going to have Ash sitting there he's going to be telling you wait wait wait and then he's going to tell you going to fire and you're going to have two balls simultaneously fire out of the shooter Lane right at the hand you have things like the the evil Linda and then the good side Linda so she can help you she can hurt you and the the toy can actually flip back and forth so you're controlling that as a player in the game you you can turn her evil and she's going to be working against you you can turn her good and she's going to be helping you as usual we we have to put the apron in the game right but we're not just going to put a normal apron in the game cuz we we can't do that we have to do something else so we we actually added the tape recorder on the top of the apron when you have some of these multiball buildups that thing's going to be going off flashing The Reel the little reels actually spin it's cool everything from top to bottom is just really integrated in the game somehow there's actually four ramps in this game which I just had to count them out in my head there to be able to get to that uh on the right you have a lift ramp we have the sneaky ramp we call it the best ramp we've ever made right next to right to the right of the Newton ball there's a small ramp and it doesn't you know it looks like it's going to be too tight to be able to shoot but it just slides right in there and it's so smooth it's coming right back to the flipper it's really fast then I was like oh my God now you guys are adding all sorts of stuff to the game I can't even lift this game look at my noodle arms so them sitting there and they're like Ben you have to do a firmware Flash update I'm like but you as the customer look at all the value you're getting hundreds of pounds of it so after we've tied in all of the music the sound effects these amazing mechanism designs with wonderful shots in between them we have to get down to the modes that interact with all these shots all these mechanisms and I had an absolutely wonderful time co-writing many of the rules for this game with Hilton Jones who also worked with us on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre very fond memories of sitting on Bends cat hair covered couch together starting at the top of the modes and working our way down through many of them just wonderful collaboration from everybody on the team as a whole so evil dead pinball is based on the first two movies in the Evil Dead franchise Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 colon dead by dawn so in the game you are playing as Ash although Ash will speak to you also in the third person he'll be like hey get the let out stuff like that we basically think that you are ash but then in the call outs what we're going to do is we're going to have the professor like the disembodied tape recorder voice like your salvation lies there up the left ramp you know the game will kind of tell you what to do then Ash usually reacts to what you did like hey get a move on or you know insulting deadites and whatnot so yeah you are ash but he also talks to you in the third person so the game kind of does break the fourth wall but it all seems to fit pretty well although it is important that you know like you know who is the player everybody has their favorite movie from the Evil Dead franchise mine happens to be the first one I like that real scary stuff but uh at the start of the game you have the choice to select which movies modes you wish to play evil Dead one Evil Dead two and then you hit the action button to select and then on the backbox which kind of looks like a juke box I think it's kind of cool with like the the eight modes the ones on the left are from the first movie and the four on the right are from the second movie and so once you lock into one you need to complete those four modes and then once you do complete the four modes of one movie then it will switch to the next movie on top of that though we still have all these very Dynamic multi balls that can stack on top of that you know deadite attacks and Boomstick multiball and the cabin multiball so then for the modes themselves divided up into the two movies we need to think of okay what are the key points of the movies what are things that people remember ashin and his hand chopped off people running through the woods olds mobiles driving through the woods like we wanted to base it off the main things one of the most important things to me in this game is having all of the different elements come together to really make it feel like the machine is actually alive just how the items in the Evil Dead universe come alive one of the most iconic scenes from the entire franchise comes from the second movie where the cabin starts to come alive and laugh at at Ash this is an experience that I really wanted to make sure we got into the machine because it is the most evil dead thing to me it just perfectly encapsulates everything that's going on in the series of Ash losing his mind so when the cabin's coming alive you know that deer head looks at him it's laughing the lamp is bobbing up and down we wanted the pinball machine to do this too the lift ramp is going to start opening and laughing at you saying things to you as well as the Cellar Door the pop bumpers are going off the hand is moving the game is really becoming alive while you're playing it and holding it and in the insanity mode as you interact with the Necronomicon you're going insane you hit that Insanity mode the game comes alive you have to shut it all off you have to calm it all down and get it to stop by hitting those items to get them to stop laughing and doing things to you my favorite mode currently in the game is deadite multiball where we have these two awesome deadites that are popping up and essentially blocking your path at the jackpot so you are trying to constantly knock them down and collect the jackpots behind them and they're going to keep rising up from the grave and keep blocking your path super interactive and a good use of the mechs and how we're able to incorporate those awesome mechs that are in this game into the rules deadites the Evil Dead they're all very tricky and Linda in the game she's going to be trying to trick the player all the time you have Ash there to help you but she'll be saying things like ash the ball save is on the ball save is going to turn on it's not on if you drain they got you so the deadites are going to be tricking you the Necronomicon is going to be tricking you everything in this game's coming alive and giving you that full Insanity experience of the evil dead but then we also have other sub Wizards based off some of the larger moments in the movie so like an Evil Dead 2 when he fights Henrietta in the basement that's its own dedicated multiball there's also a dedicated multiball for when his sister gets possessed in the first movie and then after that we have like candarian demon sub Wizards and then of course the wizard wizard mode but who knows what that is you have multiple wizard modes mini wizard modes movie modes multiballs specific to objects in the game character m balls Insanity modes there's there's a lot to be doing in this game so the first thing you see when you walk up to a pinball machine is the artwork of course and this game has some very eye grabbing artwork done by none other than Christopher franie himself well my experience with Evil Dead uh actually is interesting because Bruce Campbell the star of the movie and Sam Remy the director and Robert Tapper the producer are all from Michigan and I worked with them before and a movie they did right after Evil Dead called crime wave I did some set design and set construction for them uh here in Michigan as well as far as art directing this project I've been in licensing for probably 25 30 years not specifically with pinball but U so when we sat down and we talked about it I talked about it with bug and we talked about a direction uh I knew exactly where to go one thing that's really cool too is just the elevated ability of Christopher franie so he he's just so technically good at pinball doesn't just you can have a pin you can have an artist but it doesn't mean it's a pinball artist Chris is actually a technically good pinball artist he knows how to put on there and it just makes the whole game look more professional and more well done physically what a great over-the-top property to work for for pinball I mean it's so much fun to draw all of these creatures and things uh monsters and the settings and the you know creating a mood obviously you have to create a mood with artwork and um Evil Dead was just uh yeah it was everything I hoped it would be when I placed it in my dream theme list yeah mood on a pinball machine is an interesting thing because you want people to feel the license that you're working with but at the same time you can't make like you know Evil Dead takes place at night takes place in the forest I can't just have a black forest all over the Playfield you know it has to be colorful and exciting how do you handle that what colors do you choose like I said I want to set a mood it can't just you can't just rely on the sound you can't rely on the visuals as they say world underglass so yeah I want you to really feel Evil Dead when you're playing this game but I want it to be exciting I want it to be dramatic I want it to be colorful but at the same time you know you got to follow rules you got to you got to fit this in that little Notch that says Evil Dead so as far as what's appropriate for Evil Dead you can't just bring like an air of realism to it uh you just drawing video captures from the movie and you know let's face it the Evil Dead color palette is boring brown black dark red old crunchy leaves dead wood that doesn't make for a good pinball machine not an exciting pinball machine but you have to keep that you have to hang on to that and then you have to exaggerate that my style while people would say is just flat out realism is not um there is a lot of stylization that goes in if you look really close you can see it sometimes you don't have to look real hard you know sometimes I make it a little more obvious but I have to bring in a sense of action and excitement and color so a lot of times I could take a you know I've got a photo reference of a shot of ash from Evil Dead part one and add sort of like maybe a light blue or a shark truce or a hot pink backlight that's just lighting up the edges of his hair and all that brings color in keeps the main image true but it also allows me to expand the color pette in ways that aren't as obvious a little more subtle Chris's knowledge and love for the Evil Dead license really shines through this game the Easter eggs that he finds to down to the most minute details that unless somebody came up and told you that that's why that's there you would have no idea why that's there he did not leave a single Stone Unturned on this game he made sure everything had a purpose and a very specific reason for being there just hands down the perfect artist for this machine let's talk about the models of this game so I should say model so there's a big change coming here we're doing one model of this game it's going to be a limited number still we loved offering all the models and everything but it just seemed to get everybody loved buying that Top Model any our CE was such a good value our CE is still under $110,000 um we're bringing all of those add-ons we're bringing add-ons that other companies don't even do into into the CE and we're just including it with us going to one model and one model only a big part is people are like are you still going to include the topper you're still going to get that beautiful multiple layer topper with with the custom on it and everything like that that will be included in our C package as well but there's a change this time around we have an optional accessory topper that you can purchase for your game as well it's a huge sculpted Masterpiece you can see it right behind me it's right there it's looking at us so when you purchase your Evil Dead pinball machine and I know you will you have two options uh in your cart after you make your purchase you have the direct print butter cabinet which we've become very famous for and of course the additional topper we're going to have that avail ailable at launch so you're going to be able to get that option right away it's going to ship with your game you're going to get it right away you don't have to wait for it it's not coming lat or anything like that you're going to be able to pick that out as an option and have it so we were very fortunate to work with horror special makeup effects artist Gary tunac Cliffe very notable for the Hellraiser Series in the 90s and a ton of horror movies throughout the 2000s and he designed this Cheryl topper I Pro proposed this concept to him of Cheryl on top of the actual game with the Cellar Door above her head and she's sitting up there and she's yelling and screaming things at you and moving and popping it up and down and I honestly thought I was overdoing it I thought I was like asking for too much it would be too crazy too expensive all these things and he sent the sketch back he thought he could do it pretty easy and on top of that he's a really damn good effects artist there's never been a Topper quite like this in pinball the convincing effect that it has where it really does look like she is hidden in that Cellar and crawling out of the top of your game she's doing it she's doing the thing right now it's kind of making me nervous from the detail of the the dirt under the fingernails the the glossy eyes the bent Nails in the wood boards on this topper it has to be the most detailed topper that there has ever been and you really need to get up close and personal with it to experience that for yourself the the the topper is terrifying by the way it's actually terrifying like it it scares me oh man this is this is always the hardest part now I have to list all the options and we're going to sit here and do 10 takes of this while I try to list them in order so we got the powder coated legs as usual the whole armor package I should say is just totally powder coated we got the custom cut side rails like we always have we got lighted flipper buttons uh lighted action button to go with that every everything's lighted in these games lighted speaker grills we got with the custom laser cut cutouts on that the knocker and Shaker in the game like we always do we include a real knocker still oh yeah we have the the custom start and launch Button as well franie did art for even the start and launch button on your powder coded coind door you have that that magnet that's on there we just include art for everything because needs to be art on every every surface you know we have the interior Graphics speaking of art we always include those with our games we've added magnetic art to the apron and the speaker panel uh we got that c plaque up there always do a nice custom C plaque for the games we print a real back glass in our games it it it feels real it has a full quality on the back you don't have some kind of wrinkle or weird translat or anything like that you got a real back glass another thing we've really improved is our Motors so the hand is actually running on a stepper motor we brought in a nice big beefy stepper motor and uh that thing is going to be really robust for everyone I think that it also allows really B to do really precise controls of what that hand is doing just revers them back and forth do all kinds of crazy things and that actually transfers to the topper as well we went with like a full gearbox motor super robust it's quiet too it's even quiet it's huge but it's quiet unlike me but we've kind of refined almost like spooky phase three we're kind of saying so it's like we we've upgraded so much more of our equipment and our capabilities are just getting higher and higher in the engineering department uh physically the game is just it's it's so nice all of our previous games have felt like they really had a Central Focus whether that was flow or sculpts like the spectacle of it what I really feel strongly about with the Evil Dead is this feels like the culmination of all of those things together it feels like every time we've had a central Focus all of those things have been combined now to make the actual perfect spooky pinball experience on a machine we we've just gained so much experience over the last four or five years here and I feel like this game is just such a culmination of tying together we've upgraded our equipment we've upgraded our engineering we have these great people in that we work with and we're kind of all putting it together and this just really feels like we're we've put it together like this is kind of just that next phase where it all came together and it's just our best work yet you know when everybody's happy and everybody's at the top of their game and everybody's doing what they're supposed to be doing and happy to be doing it it shows in the end result you know you look at one of their pinball machines and all you see is perfection from top to bottom and Care uh and effort and like it it's it's all there it speaks for itself it's just a fantastic game I I'm sitting here I keep looking over my shoulder at all the different features I'm I could talk about it for hours it does not feel like I'm ever going to have enough time to talk about all the different things in this game so at this point the game's going to have to just speak for itself which it metaphorically and literally does speak for itself yeah she's yes yes well like anything at the end of the day it's night well at the end of the day you know so much love and care has gone into this game that there's no way you can't love this game it is packed don't be afraid I know the Topper's kind of scary there's a scare and a thrill around every corner of this game it is so much fun to play there's so much going on it it's just it's so perfect for Evil Dead we are obviously working on these games well in advance and uh you know it's all in secret and finally being able to talk about Evil Dead and that it we are bringing it to the pinball world is just crazy exciting and I can't wait for everyone to play it it's just the best overall game we've ever made it just is it's really the best overall game we've made the experience and the time and the people I think the talents they've all just come together and it's just the best freaking thing we've ever done man I'm really looking forward to people getting a chance to play Evil Dead pinball from spooky it's been a blast working on it and I hope people enjoy playing it as much as I've enjoyed making it I'm to a point where I I don't know how to express further our love and pride that we have in this game other than by saying this is our love letter to pinball this is what pinball means to us this is spooky pinball as a machine and when you get your hands on it for yourself dude it's a Boomstick that is absolutely going to blow you away and you will understand exactly what I'm saying here so thank you [Music] everybody I I saw the outakes last time you guys you guys did me dirty hi I'm Ben I work from home so I don't have to deal with these guys most of the time and also can pick kick my nose and no one can see it he the stone cold crazy do I look beautiful a Monster yeah so that's the thing I'm not a small man wait not your hot mom his mom is really hot there did you get that on tape I bet Benjamin J Heckendorn hereby decree that Lucas castner's mom is hot with this angle you will die like the others before you one by one we will take you hey so I'm spooky Luke I'm the chief operating officer at spooky pinball that that was it I guess I thought you were on your fourth stepdad oh wait no dad stepdad stepdad stepdad I meme out all day every day and people pay me for it you don't have to apologize for unfettered capitalism to me well thank you hey um I'm spooky lop and this going to take me a second that's what she said yes do the featurette I'm not like other girls inside that physical sculpted hand there there's a switch in there um I feel bad for how much you have to edit mine oh I never feel like I say the wrong thing people might think I did but I don't dude look at that spider do you see how big that thing is dude don't kill it he's fine he not hurting anybody that's someone's mother join us Lucas I will be a Stern but fair stepdad yeah so I should say that's good that's actually good and and done had to break the fourth wall there they I I I was looking in the lens too much can I start over Okay yeah I felt I was being a little too fourth Wally like I'm a t evangelist I will save your soul like I feel like I'm in a recording studio and you're like in your little booth y you know cuz I can't hear you I don't know if you mute your micro up but I just see you laughing and moving around and all that it feel I feel like Davey Jones on the you know girl look what you've done is that good guys am I to some good a huge smile on your oh no don't bite your finger okay let's be done yeah I just I just do that for every page that's how I map things out and then when it's done I'll give this to bug here aw I mailed this to my son Junior Jun what are you doing here junior what's it like word the Ben heck um well mostly listening to Ben do voices and sound effects and I'm kind of rambling on don't wait to buy gold buy gold and wait especially now you guys bring up some pot and oh wait not just recording there you go FBI it's on tape oh I love raining night I love the rain night I love to hear the Vipers okay we can't let this fall into Jersey Jack's hands the stern armies of Darkness will march across the planet [Music]

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 5510753b-013e-43bd-9590-35a1d0bc2516*