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Dracula, Music, Music, Dungeon Crawler Carl...Rumored Pinball Machines for 2027

Knapp Arcade·article·held·Apr 14, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

2027 pinball rumors: JJP music pin, Stern Dracula/Bill & Ted, AP remakes, Spooky Goonies

Summary

Knapp Arcade publishes speculative coverage of rumored pinball machines for 2027 and beyond, drawing heavily on recent JBS Pinball Roundtable gossip. Key rumors include Jersey Jack's post-Sonic music pin (possibly Beastie Boys), Stern's Dracula and Bill & Ted by Brian Eddy and others, American Pinball's Bally/Williams remakes pipeline (Cirqus Voltaire confirmed, World Cup Soccer and Fish Tales rumored), Spooky's Goonies (2027) and potential Gremlins/South Park, and Barrels of Fun's mysterious slate including possible Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Key Claims

  • Sonic the Hedgehog is definitely next from Jersey Jack Pinball

    high confidence · Knapp Arcade article; cites yesterday's reporting on confirmed JJP pipeline

  • Jersey Jack Pinball's second new game of 2026 or first of 2027 will be a music pin by Mark Seiden, likely based on The Beastie Boys

    medium confidence · Knapp Arcade speculation; notes the Beastie Boys rumor has circulated for years without confirmation

  • Stern's pipeline includes cartoon Transformers by Elliot Eisman, Keith Elwin's Fallout, and remastered AC/DC or KISS

    medium confidence · Knapp Arcade; describes these as 'talked about many times here and elsewhere'

  • Stern's next game after those will be an unlicensed theme by Brian Eddy based on public domain Dracula

    low confidence · Knapp Arcade citing 'relatively new rumor from JBS Pinball Roundtable's Cale Hernandez'

  • Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is rumored as a future Stern theme

    low confidence · JBS Pinball Roundtable mentioned by Knapp Arcade

  • American Pinball has secured rights to Cirqus Voltaire as first of seven Bally/Williams remakes from Planetary Pinball

    high confidence · Knapp Arcade states 'AP recently let the cat out of the bag and revealed'

  • World Cup Soccer and Fish Tales are the two strongest rumors for American Pinball's next remakes

    medium confidence · JBS Pinball Roundtable's Cale Hernandez mentioned by Knapp Arcade

  • Pedretti Gaming has obtained rights to remake Theatre of Magic and Tales of the Arabian Nights

    medium confidence · Knapp Arcade citing 'rumor mill' and noting this may block American Pinball from those titles

  • Spooky's 2027 game after Beetlejuice will be based on the 1985 film The Goonies

    high confidence · Knapp Arcade states 'fairly widely known at this point'

Notable Quotes

  • “For years, JJP has been rumored to have the rights to or at least be interested in making a pinball machine based on the iconic hip-hop group The Beastie Boys. I have no idea if this rumor is true, but it's been around forever...so long that I didn't think it was going to happen.”

    Knapp Arcade author @ N/A — Frames the Beastie Boys rumor as longstanding but unconfirmed; expresses skepticism about its likelihood

  • “I wonder what that would be like? Scary like Williams' 1992 game Bram Stoker's Dracula, or campy like the fantastic Dracula lines from Williams' 1998 game Monster Bash?”

    Knapp Arcade author @ N/A — Shows community awareness of different design tones for Dracula; references Monster Bash's tone as precedent

  • “AP recently let the cat out of the bag and revealed that Cirqus Voltaire is the first of seven Bally/Williams remakes for which they have secured the rights from Planetary Pinball to 'reimagine,' as they put it.”

    Knapp Arcade author @ N/A — Confirms American Pinball's formal revelation of Cirqus Voltaire and broader remake strategy

  • “The Fish Tales one is interesting because Cardona Pinball just revealed a 2.0 kit for Fish Tales last week.”

    Knapp Arcade author @ N/A — Notes overlap between aftermarket kit and potential official remake; raises questions about licensing/redundancy

  • “Spooky's 2027 game after Beetlejuice will be based on the 1985 film The Goonies. Spooky typically only builds one game per year, so anything beyond that takes us into 2028 and beyond (man, that sounds like the future, doesn't it?).”

    Knapp Arcade author @ N/A — High-confidence confirmation of Spooky's Goonies for 2027; establishes timeline for future Spooky releases

Entities

Jersey Jack PinballcompanyMark SeidenpersonThe Beastie BoysproductStern PinballcompanyElliot EismanpersonKeith ElwinpersonBrian EddypersonJBS Pinball RoundtableorganizationCale Hernandezperson

Signals

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Knapp Arcade aggregates speculative rumors about 2027+ pinball machines, drawing heavily on JBS Pinball Roundtable chatter; high volume of unconfirmed intel with varying confidence levels

    high · Article explicitly sourced to JBS Pinball Roundtable and describes rumors as 'rumor mill' and 'chatter for a while now'

  • ?

    machine_intel: American Pinball formally confirmed Cirqus Voltaire as first of seven Bally/Williams remakes; represents significant strategic commitment to remake market

    high · 'AP recently let the cat out of the bag and revealed that Cirqus Voltaire is the first of seven Bally/Williams remakes'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Pedretti Gaming's rumored ownership of Theatre of Magic and Tales of the Arabian Nights remake rights may block American Pinball from accessing these popular Bally/Williams titles

    medium · 'Unless something has changed with that, I don't think AP can make either of those'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern rumored to pursue unlicensed/public domain themes (Dracula) to avoid licensing costs and delays

    medium · Brian Eddy's rumored Dracula game described as 'unlicensed theme' from 'public domain'

  • $

    market_signal: Cardona Pinball's Fish Tales 2.0 kit release creates potential market confusion/competition with rumored American Pinball official remake

    medium · 'The Fish Tales one is interesting because Cardona Pinball just revealed a 2.0 kit for Fish Tales last week'

Transcript

web_scrape · $0.000

News Dracula, Music, Music, Dungeon Crawler Carl...Rumored Pinball Machines for 2027 k knapparcade April 14, 2026 The majority of my rumor articles lately have focused on what game we can expect to see next from manufacturers. Today, I want to talk about potential pinball machines much further down the road. I wrote yesterday about how Sonic the Hedgehog is definitely next from Jersey Jack Pinball. I also mentioned that the game after that is now rumored to be a music pin by Mark Seiden. The question is: what band or artist will it be based upon? For years, JJP has been rumored to have the rights to or at least be interested in making a pinball machine based on the iconic hip-hop group The Beastie Boys. I have no idea if this rumor is true, but it's been around forever...so long that I didn't think it was going to happen. That seems to be the most likely candidate for JJP's second new game of 2026 or first game of 2027, depending upon timing. If you've heard about any other potential bands, let me know. Stern Pinball's next several games have been talked about many times here and elsewhere; a cartoon Transformers game by Elliot Eisman is next, followed by Keith Elwin's Fallout and a remastered version of either AC/DC or KISS (probably both at some point). But what's after those? There has been chatter for a while now that it will be an unlicensed theme by Brian Eddy. Now, "unlicensed" does not necessarily mean an unknown or original theme. According to a relatively new rumor from the JBS Pinball Roundtable's Cale Hernandez, the theme for Eddy's game may be from the public domain... Dracula. I wonder what that would be like? Scary like Williams' 1992 game Bram Stoker's Dracula, or campy like the fantastic Dracula lines from Williams' 1998 game Monster Bash? The callouts from Monster Bash are some of my favorite in any pin ever, so something like that could work if it was done right. !Advertisement Beyond Dracula, the Roundtable folks mentioned the 1989 comedy film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure as a rumored future Stern theme. Next up is American Pinball. AP recently let the cat out of the bag and revealed that Cirqus Voltaire is the first of seven Bally/Williams remakes for which they have secured the rights from Planetary Pinball to "reimagine," as they put it. So, what's after that? Cale mentioned World Cup Soccer and Fish Tales as the two strongest rumors. The Fish Tales one is interesting because Cardona Pinball just revealed a 2.0 kit for Fish Tales last week. The Roundtable folks speculated that future American Pinball remakes beyond those three may include Theatre of Magic and Tales of the Arabian Nights. Last I heard through the rumor mill, the rights to remake both TOTAN and TOM had been obtained by Pedretti Gaming, maker of the Funhouse remake. Unless something has changed with that, I don't think AP can make either of those. What other Bally/Williams games do you folks think would make good "reimagined" pins? New sponsor slot Your sponsored ad here Be the first to claim this placement. Contact knapparcade@gmail.com today American also has at least two other licensed titles, one of which is a music pin. I don't know exactly what they are though. On to Spooky Pinball. It's fairly widely known at this point that Spooky's 2027 game after Beetlejuice will be based on the 1985 film The Goonies. Spooky typically only builds one game per year, so anything beyond that takes us into 2028 and beyond (man, that sounds like the future, doesn't it?). Other rumored titles in the Spooky queue include the 1984 film Gremlins and the television show South Park. Last up, let's talk about Barrels of Fun. These guys sure are good at keeping a secret. The rumor that they may be working on a pin based on the 1984 film The NeverEnding Story seems to have cooled off. That Dungeon Crawler Carl rumor is still out there, though. Beyond that, they've got me stumped. Anyone have any ideas? Posted 2 minutes ago k About knapparcade Site administrator Comments (0) Please sign in to join the conversation. No comments yet Be the first to share your thoughts on this post! Related Articles Dracula, Music, Music, Dungeon Crawler Carl...Rumored Pinball Machines for 2027 2 minutes ago Information on Jersey Jack Pinball's Next Two Games and more from Pintastic New England about 19 hours ago Fish Tales: Ultimate Fishing Challenge 2.0 Pinball Kit Revealed at Pintastic New England 5 days ago Subscribe to Updates Get the latest pinball news, blog posts, and event announcements delivered to your inbox Subscribe !Advertisement New sponsor slot Your sponsored ad here Be the first to claim this placement.
  • Spooky typically only builds one game per year

    high confidence · Knapp Arcade observational statement about Spooky's production pace

  • American Pinballcompany
    Planetary Pinballcompany
    Cirqus Voltairegame
    Cardona Pinballcompany
    Pedretti Gamingcompany
    Spooky Pinballcompany
    The Gooniesgame
    Gremlinsproduct
    South Parkproduct
    Barrels of Funcompany
    The NeverEnding Storyproduct
    Dungeon Crawler Carlproduct
    Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventureproduct
    Knapp Arcadeorganization
    ?

    community_signal: Knapp Arcade blog serves as rumor aggregator and gossip clearinghouse, explicitly sourcing to podcasts like JBS Pinball Roundtable; reflects community's appetite for speculative intel

    high · Multiple attribution to JBS Pinball Roundtable and Cale Hernandez; framed as authoritative but unconfirmed source

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Spooky Pinball confirmed to produce approximately one game per year; limits pipeline depth for 2027+ announcements

    high · 'Spooky typically only builds one game per year, so anything beyond that takes us into 2028 and beyond'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Specific designer names (Mark Seiden, Elliot Eisman, Keith Elwin, Brian Eddy) attached to rumored games; suggests credible insider knowledge rather than pure speculation

    medium · Named designers for multiple Stern and JJP rumors

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: NeverEnding Story rumor for Barrels of Fun described as having 'cooled off'; suggests shifting community expectations or changed insider intel

    medium · 'The rumor that they may be working on a pin based on the 1984 film The NeverEnding Story seems to have cooled off'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Both Jersey Jack and American Pinball pursuing music-themed machines; suggests IP availability and market appetite for musician/band-based themes

    medium · JJP rumored Beastie Boys music pin; American Pinball confirmed 'at least two other licensed titles, one of which is a music pin'