# Will a Completely New Pinball Manufacturer Produce a Significant Number of Games in 2H 2023?

**Source:** Knapp Arcade  
**Type:** article  
**Published:** 2023-04-17  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.knapparcade.org/will-a-completely-new-pinball-manufacturer-produce-a-significant-number-of-games-in-2h-2023

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## Analysis

Knapp Arcade examines whether any new pinball manufacturers will successfully produce 100+ units in H2 2023, identifying four contenders: Bitronic (rebuilding after factory fire with Super Hoop), Pinball Adventures (showing Punny Factory prototypes), Turner Pinball (launching Ninja Eclipse from Deeproot assets), and an unconfirmed mystery company per Eclectic Gamers Podcast rumors. The piece weighs historical failures against current production progress.

### Key Claims

- [MEDIUM] Bitronic experienced a significant factory fire in fall 2022 that delayed Super Hoop production — _Author reports this from hearsay; factory rebuild used to address quality issues_
- [MEDIUM] Turner Pinball acquired assets from defunct Deeproot Pinball in bankruptcy auction — _Author mentions Chris Turner acquiring assets but provides limited verification detail_
- [MEDIUM] Turner Pinball plans to produce 100 units of Ninja Eclipse before end of 2023 — _Turner stated this at Texas Pinball Festival seminar; author present or reporting secondhand_
- [MEDIUM] Pinball Adventures announced bringing 'latest machines' (Punny Factory and possibly Elements) to three H2 2023 shows — _Author cites announcement; first show is Northwest Pinball Show June 2_
- [HIGH] Dennis Kriesel (Eclectic Gamers Podcast) estimates 70-30 odds an unnamed new company will launch first game in H2 2023 — _Direct quote from podcast; Kriesel's confidence level explicitly stated_

### Notable Quotes

> "Pinball ain't easy."
> — **Knapp Arcade (author)**
> _Thematic summary of why new manufacturers struggle; context for skepticism about new entrants_

> "Another pinball company that we have not seen a game from, at all ever, is planning to actually launch their first game later this year."
> — **Dennis Kriesel, Eclectic Gamers Podcast**
> _Source of mystery company rumor; adds credibility through podcast platform rather than speculation_

> "That's pretty confident if you ask me. So blame him, not Knapp Arcade, if it doesn't happen lol."
> — **Knapp Arcade (author)**
> _Humorous deflection; shows author's awareness of speculative nature; acknowledges 30% failure risk_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Bitronic | company | Spanish pinball manufacturer attempting to launch Super Hoop; experienced factory fire fall 2022 |
| Pinball Adventures | company | Canadian startup showing prototypes of Punny Factory and Elements for years; planning H2 2023 show appearances |
| Turner Pinball | company | New company founded by Chris Turner (former Deeproot IT/programmer); acquired Deeproot assets; developing Ninja Eclipse |
| Deeproot Pinball | company | Defunct manufacturer; bankruptcy auction of assets to Turner Pinball; previously worked on RAZA and Food Truck |
| Quetzal Pinball | company | Designer/developer of Super Hoop for Bitronic; also worked on Tokyo Perfect Drift |
| Pinball Heaven | company | UK pinball distributor; uploaded promotional Super Hoop video; waiting on stock from Bitronic |
| Chris Turner | person | Founder of Turner Pinball; former IT head and programmer at Deeproot; designing Ninja Eclipse |
| Dennis Kriesel | person | Rumor Corner host, Eclectic Gamers Podcast; source of mystery company rumor; 70-30 confidence prediction |
| John Popadiuk | person | Designer of RAZA (Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland), a Deeproot project not being revived by Turner |
| Barry Oursler | person | Designer of Food Truck, a Deeproot project not being revived by Turner |
| Great Lakes Pinball | company | Startup manufacturer with unsuccessful pinball machine launch; cited as prior failure example |
| Circus Maximus | company | Startup manufacturer with unsuccessful pinball machine launch; cited as prior failure example |
| Super Hoop | game | Bitronic's first game; Quetzal Pinball design; factory fire delayed 2022; quality issues noted by early adopters |
| Tokyo Perfect Drift | game | Bitronic's supposed second game; Quetzal Pinball design; status unknown |
| Punny Factory | game | Pinball Adventures' first game; multiple years of prototype development; planned for H2 2023 shows |
| Elements | game | Pinball Adventures' supposed second game; possibly appearing at H2 2023 shows alongside Punny Factory |
| Ninja Eclipse | game | Turner Pinball's first game; original design; prototype shown at Texas Pinball Festival; 100-unit production target for 2023 |
| Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland (RAZA) | game | John Popadiuk design for Deeproot; assets acquired by Turner Pinball but not being pursued for first release |
| Food Truck | game | Barry Oursler design for Deeproot; assets acquired by Turner Pinball but not being pursued for first release |
| Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show | event | Tacoma, Washington; June 2, 2023; first of three H2 2023 shows Pinball Adventures plans to attend |
| Texas Pinball Festival | event | Recent event where Turner Pinball showcased Ninja Eclipse prototype and Turner held production seminar |
| Eclectic Gamers Podcast | organization | Podcast with Rumor Corner segment hosted by Dennis Kriesel; source of mystery company rumor |
| Knapp Arcade | person | Author/columnist analyzing new manufacturer prospects; has tracked Bitronic for 1+ year; contact: knapparcade@gmail.com |

### Topics

- **Primary:** New manufacturer production prospects for H2 2023, Bitronic factory fire and production recovery, Startup pinball company failures and track record, Turner Pinball acquisition of Deeproot assets
- **Secondary:** Pinball Adventures multi-year development cycle, Industry rumors and mystery new entrants

### Sentiment

**Neutral** (0.45) — Author presents balanced analysis of four contenders with clear acknowledgment of historical failures. Skepticism tempered by specific production progress from each candidate. Humorous tone about mystery company rumor and attribution deflection maintains journalistic distance while engaging audience.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Deeproot Pinball bankruptcy and asset liquidation; games RAZA and Food Truck not being continued by successor Turner Pinball (confidence: high) — Turner Pinball acquired assets but chose original design path; RAZA and Food Truck explicitly identified as discontinued projects
- **[leak_detection]** Quetzal Pinball Tokyo Perfect Drift identified as Bitronic's supposed second game; status and timeline unconfirmed (confidence: low) — Author mentions it as 'supposed' second title without official confirmation; Bitronic has not responded to author inquiry
- **[personnel_signal]** Chris Turner transitioned from Deeproot Pinball (IT/programmer role) to founding Turner Pinball as designer/manufacturer (confidence: high) — Turner acquired Deeproot assets in bankruptcy auction; now leading original game design (Ninja Eclipse) rather than reviving Deeproot projects
- **[product_strategy]** Bitronic Super Hoop experienced production setback from factory fire fall 2022; timeline unclear despite distributor promotional activity (confidence: medium) — Pinball Heaven uploaded promotional video but UK distributor reports still waiting for stock; author's outreach to Bitronic unanswered
- **[rumor_hype]** Unconfirmed mystery company planning first game launch in H2 2023 per Dennis Kriesel/Eclectic Gamers Podcast (confidence: medium) — Dennis Kriesel stated on podcast that unnamed company with no prior game will launch; Kriesel estimates 70-30 confidence of actually happening
- **[business_signal]** Turner Pinball targeting 100-unit production milestone for Ninja Eclipse as achievable launch goal; contrasts with larger manufacturer volumes (confidence: high) — Turner stated at Texas Pinball Festival seminar that 100 units is target and he hopes full production before end 2023

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## Transcript

Now that all of the established pinball manufacturers have either announced or begun production on their next game, I've started wondering whether we will see a completely new pinball manufacturer produce a new game in significant quantities in the second half of 2023?

Now there's been rumors about mysterious new pinball manufacturers that are about to enter the market for years. I usually chalk such talk up as complete nonsense, but there has been a few companies that have made an unsuccessful run at bringing out their own new pinball machine, from larger endeavors like Deeproot to smaller ones such as Great Lakes Pinball and Circus Maximus. Pinball ain't easy.

So who are the contenders that might actually be able to accomplish the difficult task of successfully bringing a new pinball machine to market in significant numbers? The word "significant" is somewhat ambiguous, so for the purpose of this exercise let's call it 100 games, which is far from significant to the Sterns and Jersey Jacks of the world, but still noticeable.

First up we have a company that I have been writing about for well over a year, Bitronic. This established Spanish manufacturer is attempting to build and sell the Quetzal Pinball-designed game "Super Hoop." Bitronic actually seemed to be succeeding in launching production of Super Hoop until last fall when a significant fire at the company's factory set those efforts back. According to what I've heard, Bitronic used the time that it took to rebuild their factory to address some of the initial quality issues that early adopters of Super Hoop noticed. I hadn't thought much about Super Hoop lately, until last week when a UK pinball distributor named Pinball Heaven uploaded a promotional video for Super Hoop to YouTube. As soon as I saw that, I reached out to them asking if they actually had the game in stock. They informed me that the machine that they used in the video was a promotional unit and that they are still waiting for Bitronic to send them games to sell. I also sent an e-mail to Bitronic themselves to see if they would be willing to give us a status update on Super Hoop or their supposed second game Tokyo Perfect Drift. I have not heard back yet, but I will let you all know if I do.

Candidate number two to produce a new pin this year is Pinball Adventures. This Canadian company has been showing off pictures prototypes of its first pinball machine, Punny Factory, for several years. After a number of delays, Pinball Adventures announced that it is bringing its "latest machines," which likely means at least Punny factory and possibly its supposed second game Elements, to three pinball shows in the second half of 2023, the first of which is the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show (https://www.nwpinballshow.com/), scheduled to take place in Tacoma Washington starting on June 2nd.

Candidate number three to launch a new game this year is Turner Pinball. Chris Turner, former head of IT and programmer for Deeproot Pinball, scooped up a number of the defunct company's assets in a bankruptcy auction. Rather than attempting to bring out a game that Deeproot was working on as its first title, such as John Popadiuk's Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland aka RAZA or Barry Oursler's Food Truck, Chris Turner's new Company, Turner Pinball, has decided to design its own pinball machine from scratch. The name of that game is Ninja Eclipse. Turner brought an early prototype of the machine to the recent Texas Pinball Festival. During a seminar that he held at the event, Turner stated that he and his company plan to sell 100 units of Ninja Eclipse and that he hopes to have it in full production before the end of 2023.

The last candidate to produce its first game in a significant quantity during the second half of 2023 is a brand new Mystery company. Yeah I know we've all heard rumors about a mysterious new player in the pinball industry for years without anything significant ever coming to fruition, but this rumor doesn't come from me. It comes from the critically acclaimed (OK well at least self-acclaimed) Rumor Corner segment of the Eclectic Gamers Podcast. The show's keeper of rumors, Dennis Kriesel, stated the following in the podcast's latest episode:

Another pinball company that we have not seen a game from, at all ever, is planning to actually launch their first game later this year.

So will another mystery company throw its hat into the pinball arena? When I reached out to him for comment, Dennis said that he thinks it's 70-30 that it will happen. That's pretty confident if you ask me. So blame him, not Knapp Arcade, if it doesn't happen lol.

So what do you all think? Will any of these companies actually produce and sell 100 pinball machines during the second half of 2023? Have you heard any rumors about new games that you want to share? Let everyone know in the comments below, on Facebook or by e-mailing knapparcade@gmail.com .

Link to the latest episode of the Eclectic Gamers Podcast:

https://eclecticgamerspodcast.wordpress.com/2023/04/16/episode-191-peaches/

The new Pinball Heaven video of Super Hoop:

Bitronic's Super Hoop:

Quetzal Pinball's Tokyo Perfect Drift, Bitronic's supposed second title:

Pinball Adventures' Punny Factory:

Pinball Adventures' Elements:

Turner Pinball's Ninja Eclipse:

_(Acquisition: raw_text, Enrichment: v1)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: f987c071-f3fb-48bd-9d15-4e378002998a*