Pinfest is This Weekend; Pokémon is Hot; Even More Rumors

Knapp Arcade·article·analyzed·Apr 30, 2026

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.022

TL;DR

Pokémon smashes records; Pinfest this weekend; multiple game rumors emerge.

Summary

Knapp Arcade reports on Pinfest 2026 in Allentown this weekend, confirms Stern's Pokémon is the fastest-selling pinball machine in company history with exceptional location earnings (2.5x other pins). Multiple unverified rumors circulate: Barrels of Fun securing SpongeBob SquarePants license, a new pinball company launching at Golden State Pinball Festival, Pinball Brothers holding The Fifth Element license, potential new Lord of the Rings from Stern, and Stern sitting on Journey license. George Gomez hints at an imminent Stern announcement.

Key Claims

Pokémon is now the fastest-selling pinball machine in Stern Pinball's history
high confidence · Stern memo to operators, confirmed by George Gomez in direct conversation with author
Pokémon is earning 2.5x more than other pinball machines on location, making it the highest-returning pinball machine of the last 25 years
high confidence · Stern memo to operators, confirmed by George Gomez
All initial production of Pokémon is sold out
high confidence · Stern memo to operators
Pokémon has not yet received licensor approval for achievements or Pokédex features
high confidence · Author's direct statement based on Stern communications
George Gomez indicated an announcement from Stern is coming 'very soon'
high confidence · Direct quote from George Gomez to author during call
Barrels of Fun has secured the license for SpongeBob SquarePants
low confidence · Rumor from unidentified third party; author explicitly marks as unverified
A completely new pinball company may reveal a game at Golden State Pinball Festival (May 15-17)
low confidence · Rumor from unidentified third party; author explicitly marks as unverified
Pinball Brothers has the license for The Fifth Element (1997 film)
low confidence · Rumor from unidentified source; author explicitly marks as unverified
Stern may make a new Lord of the Rings pinball machine (not a remaster of the 2003 game)
low confidence · Rumor; author explicitly marks as unverified
Stern Pinball has held the Journey license for a while but has not yet acted on it
low confidence · Rumor; author explicitly marks as unverified

Notable Quotes

“The silence is deafening. We need some pinball and arcade news! lol.”
Jason Knapp (Knapp Arcade) @ opening — Sets context for slow news period driving rumor speculation
“I actually miss that game. It might be the best flowing widebody ever made. Shooting the combos and adding to your bonus is super addictive.”
Jason Knapp @ N/A — Personal pinball experience; Designer Moon Man reference (Demo Man is a widebody classic)
“Very soon you'll have something 😊.”
George Gomez (Stern Pinball) @ N/A — Teases imminent Stern announcement; builds hype for upcoming reveal
“All initial production of the game is sold out.”
Stern Pinball (memo to operators) @ N/A — Confirms Pokémon demand overwhelming; supply constraints signal
“earning 2.5x more than other pins on location, making it the highest-returning pinball machine of the last 25 years”
Stern Pinball (memo to operators) @ N/A — Exceptional location performance metric; benchmark for industry

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyGeorge GomezpersonPokémongamePinfesteventBarrels of Funcompany Pinball BrotherscompanyPinballSTAR AmusementscompanyTurner PinballcompanySpooky Pinball

Signals

?
product_launch: Pokémon confirmed as fastest-selling Stern pinball in company history; all initial production sold out
high · Stern memo to operators confirmed by George Gomez
$
market_signal: Pokémon earning 2.5x more than other pinball machines on location; highest-returning machine in 25 years
high · Stern memo and George Gomez confirmation
?
supply_chain_signal: All initial Pokémon production sold out; high demand exceeds supply
high · Stern operator memo
?
licensing_signal: Pokémon still awaiting Pokémon Company approval for achievements and Pokédex features
high · Author's statement based on Stern communications
?
rumor_hype: Multiple unconfirmed rumors about game licenses: SpongeBob SquarePants (Barrels of Fun), The Fifth Element (Pinball Brothers), new Lord of the Rings (Stern), Journey (Stern sitting on license)
low · Third-party rumors explicitly marked as unverified by author
?
announcement: George Gomez hints at imminent Stern announcement in near future
high · Direct quote: 'Very soon you'll have something 😊'
?

Transcript

web_scrape · $0.000

News Pinfest is This Weekend; Pokémon is Hot; Even More Rumors k knapparcade April 30, 2026 The silence is deafening. We need some pinball and arcade news! lol. It pains me not to write, so I'm not going to let a week go by without talking with everyone, so here's what I got. We're in the middle of a huge run of great pinball shows. Pintastic New England and the Midwest Gaming Classic just happened and Pinfest in Allentown, Pennsylvania is this weekend. I've been to Pinfest a number of times over the years. Unfortunately, I absolutely have to work tomorrow so no Pinfest for me. Pinfest is a really interesting show. It's much different than a lot of current shows in that there's no fancy presentations and seminars from manufacturers, but what Pinfest has that a lot of other shows don't anymore is a good old-fashioned swap meet. People always bring a ton of games, parts, and all sorts of other old school stuff to sell. I bought a Williams Demo Man pin at Pinfest one year. I actually miss that game. It might be the best flowing widebody ever made. Shooting the combos and adding to your bonus is super addictive. I digress. Not only is there lots of stuff to buy, there's always tons of games at the show. Several distributors, including Knapp Arcade sponsor PinballSTAR Amusements, always bring the latest and greatest games. Last year Joe with PinballSTAR had both Barrels of Fun's Dune and Turner Pinball's Merlin's Arcade in his booth. Beyond the distros, the pinball community brings hundreds of games for the public to play. So Pinfest is being held on Friday, May 1st, and Saturday, May 2nd at the the Allentown Fair Grounds in Allentown, PA. Below are a bunch of pictures that I've taken at the event over the years. https://www.pinfestival.com !Advertisement Ad 2 of 2 Next up we have Stern Pinball's Pokémon. Despite still not receiving licensor approval to add achievements or the Pokédex to the game (come on Pokémon Company, approve that stuff), according to a memo sent out by Stern Pinball to operators, the game is now the fastest-selling pinball machine in its history. All initial production of the game is sold out. The memo went on to add that Pokémon is currently "earning 2.5x" more than other pins on location, making it the highest-returning pinball machine of the last 25 years. I reached out to Stern Pinball's George Gomez this week and he confirmed those statistics. While we were speaking, I begged George to have Stern announce something for me to talk about lol. His reply was "Very soon you’ll have something 😊." Onto the rumors. The lack of real news has lead to a lot of rumor talk lately. Here's a bunch of quick hits on things that I have heard over the past week or two. Keep in mind that these fall very much in the "rumor" category. I have absolutely no idea if they're true, but they are fun to talk about. \- Someone reached out to me to tell me that Barrels of Fun has secured the license for SpongeBob SquarePants New sponsor slot Your sponsored ad here Be the first to claim this placement. Contact knapparcade@gmail.com today \- Someone reached out to me saying that we may see a new game from a completely new pinball company at the upcoming Golden State Pinball Festival, which takes place in Lodi, California from May 15th through the 17th Pinball Brothers has the license for the 1997 Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich film The Fifth Element \- Stern Pinball may actually do another Lord of the Rings pinball machine, but if they do, it will be all-new — not a remaster of its 2003 game \- Stern Pinball has had the license to make a Journey pinball machine for a while but has been sitting on it. To me, that seems like it would make a great theme for someone like John Borg. Speaking of Stern, Stern Pinball designer Keith Elwin and his team recently filed a patent for the magnetic Newton ball mech from Godzilla. When I first found this patent, it had a published date of April 21st. As I was reading it I saw the drawing of the playfield that I used for the cover image of this article and said to myself "Oh sh\\!" thinking that it was a new game...until I realized that it was a drawing of Godzilla lol. That Godzilla playfield patent drawing would actually make for really cool pinball art if someone framed it and hung it on their arcade wall IMHO. Here's a cool video of Spooky Pinball's setup at the recent Midwest Gaming Classic: Your browser doesn't support HTML5 video. Download the video instead. * Last up, I have a cool new YouTube video by the "Tested Team" channel that shows off "Pre-War" pinball machines as seen at last year's Pinball Expo. I actually have a bunch of pictures of games from this era from my trip to the VFW arcade last Fall that I still need to share. The Decade that Transformed Pinball! - YouTube Tap to unmute The Decade that Transformed Pinball! Tested Team Tested Team Posted 17 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 Pinfest is This Weekend; Pokémon is Hot; Even More Rumors 17 minutes ago The Midwest Gaming Classic is This Weekend; Are we Really Finally Getting Masters of the Universe Pinball?; Neo Geo is Back 7 days ago An All-New AC/DC? Spooky to Up Production? No Addams Family? Turner & American Pinball Production Updates 13 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.