Labyrinth Pinball Machine Review | Barrels of Fun’s Brutal Beauty Based on Jim Henson’s Classic

Gonzo's Pinball Flipperama·video·50m 50s·analyzed·Oct 2, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Labyrinth is flawed but charming—excellent build quality hampered by glitches, but rewarding for dedicated home players.

Summary

Gonzo provides an extensive review of Barrels of Fun's Labyrinth pinball machine, their debut title. He details significant technical issues (topper malfunction, flipper fade, ball sticking, volume imbalance, eject problems) and gameplay difficulty, but ultimately praises the machine's build quality, aesthetics, charm, and code depth. Despite requiring modifications (lane extenders, precision flippers) and acknowledging it wouldn't work on location, he concludes it's a well-made game that improves upon learning from June.

Key Claims

Labyrinth has been out for approximately one and a half years at the time of this review
high confidence · Gonzo opens: 'I'm a bit late to the party in reviewing this game because it's been out for the best part of a year and a half'
Barrels of Fun intended to build 1,000 units but fell short of that target for unspecified reasons
medium confidence · Gonzo states: 'I think they meant to build a thousand. I think they for one reason or another they couldn't quite build a thousand.'
Labyrinth requires significant player skill to enjoy—intermediate to advanced play is needed due to tight shots and lack of flow
high confidence · Gonzo: 'If you're going to start playing this game and constantly trying to hit the ball on the fly, you're likely to fail... you're going to need to be able to drop catch... bounce past... it's pretty bricky.'
The game suffers from flipper fade—the machine plays very differently after a long session than at the start
high confidence · Gonzo: 'the flippers are subject to a large degree of flipper fade, which means the game you end up playing after a long session on the game is very very different to the game you start playing'
Lane extenders (purchased from Etsy for £50) transformed the game's playability by fixing outlane drain and post entrapment issues
high confidence · Gonzo: 'I've paid 50 pounds for these two pieces of small plastic... They've made a lot of difference. In fact, I would go as far as to say they've transformed the game for me.'
David Bowie's singing volume in multiball is significantly lower than other sound levels and appears non-adjustable
high confidence · Gonzo: 'his singing is is far lower than the rest of the volume levels and I don't seem to be able to adjust it... the menu system is in no way intuitive'
Barrels of Fun fixed many issues between Labyrinth and their second game, June, which represents a significant improvement
high confidence · Gonzo: 'I can tell you now that the improvement from this game up to June is significant' and 'I think June is going to be a level up on that'

Notable Quotes

“Despite all of that, I have become addicted to this game. In fact, I would go as far as to say I love this game.”
Gonzo (Gonzo's Pinball Flipperama) @ ~13:30 — Pivotal moment where he pivots from extensive criticism to genuine endorsement, establishing the review's arc and his final verdict
“I think possibly the theme lends itself to a pinball machine more than it lends itself to a film.”
Gonzo @ ~14:20 — Unique perspective suggesting the IP works better as a pinball game than in its original film form
“You would never want this game on location. The ball gets stuck in all manner of places.”
Gonzo @ ~9:00 — Clear demarcation between home and commercial viability; critical operational concern
“Less than a thousand made. I do wonder if this game is going to stand the test of time quite well.”
Gonzo @ ~16:15 — Speculation about future collectibility and potential appreciation of the limited production run
“It's a tough pinball machine that you're going to have to make some tweaks to... if you can work your way through that, then you're going to find that you've got a game that's very immersive.”
Gonzo @ ~19:00 — Encapsulates the 'worth it if you're willing to tinker' proposition—targets DIY-oriented home players
“There's been a lot of detail that's gone into this and it's obvious that that's the case.”
Gonzo @ ~13:00 — Acknowledges craft and intentionality despite flaws; indicates the game was passion-driven
“Is it fun? Yes, this game is a lot of fun.”
Gonzo @ ~22:30 — Final verdict on core appeal; simple but definitive endorsement
“These companies are making good pinball machines. Really really good pinball machines... you're just not necessarily going to go and get the stern anymore.”
Gonzo — Broader industry commentary: boutique manufacturers now offering compelling alternatives to Stern

Entities

Barrels of Funcompany Labyrinthgame[name withheld pending review]gameGonzopersonJim Henson's LabyrinthproductJersey Jack PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanyDutch Pinballcompany

Signals

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product_concern: Labyrinth exhibits multiple interconnected quality issues: topper servo malfunction, flipper fade, inconsistent eject power, ball sticking in sculpts, guide misalignment, volume menu problems, and frequent air balls.
high · Gonzo catalogs: topper heads don't turn, David Bowie volume non-adjustable, VUKs too powerful/weak, ball stuck in eject loop, guide hits sling randomly, menu 'not intuitive', frequent ball sticking requiring glass removal
?
product_concern: Machine unsuitable for location/commercial play due to frequent ball sticking and high maintenance demands.
high · Gonzo: 'You would never want this game on location... constantly being approached by somebody saying the ball's stuck... would be a bit of a nightmare on location'
?
design_philosophy: Labyrinth prioritizes depth and challenge over casual accessibility; requires intermediate-to-advanced skill and makes deliberate design choices (tight shots, no flow, clunky feel) that exclude casual players.
high · Gonzo: 'it's too hard for her to play and she can play pinball... this game is not for everyone... you're going to need to know when to trap up... constantly trying to hit the ball on the fly you're likely to fail'
$
market_signal: Inventory concern: 75+ unsold Labyrinth units remain on secondary market; production target (1000 units) not achieved; availability dwindling but sales stagnant.
medium · Gonzo uncertain about remaining inventory: 'I'm not sure you could even get any more of these... you'd have to check with Barrels of Fun themselves if there are any left' and KB notes 75+ unsold units remain
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Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

0:11

You don't need to have an expert eye to know what you see before you here is a labyrinth pinball machine from Barrels of Fun. Now, I'm a bit late to the party in reviewing this game because it's been out for the best part of a year and a half, and I'm going to do this review slightly differently to the way I would do a lot of the others because I'm going to start this review by telling you what's wrong with this game. Then we're going to get on to the other stuff in a second part of the video because there's a significant number of glitches with this pinball machine, which is Barrels of Fun's first offering. And I know Barrels of Fun themselves would admit that they found this to be a big learning experience. And having also played June, I can tell you now that the improvement from this game up to June is significant. But there's a few things I think I need to explain before we go into any detail on this game. For some reason, this game, this film, should I say, Labyrinth, had completely escaped me. Even though I love David Bowie, I've got three David Bowie albums. I never watched the film when it was out, which is strange because I love Jim Henson. I used to watch The Muppets. It was released at a time when I should have been watching it. I watched The Dark Crystal for instance, but I never actually watched this. Well, not until this game was released because when this game was announced, it transpired that it was something of a dream theme for a lot of people. There's a lot of people very, very excited about Labyrinth. So, I thought, I'm going to have to go and watch it now. So, I did. I sat down with with my then nine-year-old daughter. We sat down in this very room and we watched Labyrinth. Despite the Jim Henson puppets, despite David Bowie featuring in it, despite some quite catchy songs, I thought it was rubbish. I possibly would have felt differently had I have watched it as a child, but I didn't. I watched it as a 49y old man at the time, and I wasn't impressed. But let's be honest, a lot of the stuff that you watch back doesn't always age particularly well. I used to enjoy Star Trek Voyager. I'm quite sure if I watched it now, it would look pretty dated. So, I was relieved in many respects because there was nothing for me within the theme. I didn't feel the urge to go and and try and test this machine, which is in stark contrast to June, which is very much a dream theme for me, having read the Frank Frank Herbert books when I was younger, having enjoyed the more recent incarnations of the movies. That's very much a theme for me. This isn't. I could take it. I could leave it. Then when the game was released, you started to read about the issues online. First of all, it was brutal. Everybody said, "This game is really, really hard." I'm not a great player. Far from it. I would say I'm an intermediate player. And um certainly a poor a tough game, a game that's hard is not something that necessarily appeals to me. So there was no allure for the theme and there was no real drive for me to try and play the game. The first time I ever played it was at a uh at the expo. Uh so it was very very busy conference center. I had one game on. It was very noisy, very brightly lit, very loud. And also at the same convention was Pop Fiction and Jaws. And that was really the first time I'd played them. And also at that we also had um Elton John which I'd had in this house first. So there were some really really big hitting games there. Some very good games and and actually all of those three games, Pulp Fiction, Jaws and Elton John. I've been lucky enough to have them here in this house. Uh and well actually actually have two of those games and I think they're all magnificent. So this if you want was going to always have to be at best a slow burner. So, we fast forward to now and now I've got my hands on one of these games and I can really give it the once over. I think it's fair to say that the game has had long enough for Where's the girl? What girl? You know Where's the girl? What girl? You know the girl? Oh, that girl. She's already been through it once. Why would she go through that again? Well, before I was uh before I was interrupted by what is or what should be a magnificent topper, I was about to say we've had long enough for Barrels of Fun to have ironed out a lot of the glitches on this game, and I'm sure they have, but the timing was perfect there because you've just seen one of them, and that is that this topper on this machine is not working. Uh the eyes light up, or at least sometimes they do. uh the two heads uh either side of of this main dude here, they're meant to turn when they speak. They don't turn. Um that's the least of my problems. I still think sitting at top of there, it looks really really cool. And by the way, it's a really cool looking machine, but we'll get to that later on in a video. There will be some gameplay later on, and I will be giving you a closeup um of this game and showing you the playfield. Uh first of all, this game is it is tough. It's clunky. Really clunky. Bricky, clunky. There's a lot of shots on this that fall between the margins. This game has pretty much no flow at all. If you're going to start playing this game and and constantly trying to hit the ball on the fly, you're likely to fail. You're going to need to know when to trap up. You're going to have to have at least some sort of pinball skills. You're going to need to be able to drop catch. you're probably going to be able to need to be able to bounce past and get the ball under some level of control. It it's it's pretty bricky. Uh the flippers, whilst they feel good, the flippers are subject to uh a large degree of flipper fade, which means the game you end up playing after a a long session on the game is very very different to the game you start playing at the beginning. But it's no by no means on its own in that. So, I think with this, this would certainly be a game would lend itself to um to some um flipper fan cooling kits or which will be my my choice on this will be the the precision the at least the precision bushings um and some probably some precision flippers. The game doesn't always work as it should. Uh it it's prone to crashing sometimes. The volume levels are all seem to be out of kilter. So there's there's a multiball which you you get on here which is the most easy ball multiball uh to get a David Bowie will start singing. Um and his song and his singing is is far lower than the rest of the volume levels and I don't seem to be able to adjust it. If you are able to adjust it, I'd certainly say that the menu system is in no way intuitive and I figured out how to do so. Having also been on pin side, I'm far from the only person that's having this problem. The the ejects, the VUKs, the scoops, um they either seem to be too powerful or not powerful enough. Trying to get the settings on here is a laborious task and I have spent a lot of time doing so. There is an eject just to the right of the upper right ramp. I sometimes the ball can just get stuck there. It's trying to eject it out. It ejects it out and it hits the guide and then the guide pops it back straight back in. So, I've spent a long, long time trying to get that out of there. Another thing that happens all too frequently is the ball gets stuck. You would never want this game on location. Um, the ball gets stuck in all manner of places. There are some wonderful sculpts on here. Um, there are a a lot of air balls, a lot of air balls on this game. Um, and the ball will just get stuck anywhere and everywhere, which will result in you having to take the glass off. I I would think it would be a bit of a nightmare on location actually because I just think you'd constantly be being approached by somebody saying, "Excuse me, um, the ball's stuck." Um, that I don't mind it. Let me say that. in a home environment. I don't mind that the ball does drain a lot because one of the things that they didn't put on this game, which I know they fixed for June, is on the outlanes. There's no adjust on the post. So, you can't close up the gap at all. And in many respects, it it reminds me of Star Trek the Next Generation, which you have the lane extenders. Now, I'm actually going to hopefully be able to show you one here. Actually, I'm trying to take it off. I can't take it off. It's It's actually well stuck on there. I'll show you when when I do the uh when I do the playfield tour. I've actually purchased some lane extenders for it. I got them I got them off Etsy actually, and I had to buy them in the States. So, they are two pieces of plastic, two pieces of either molded or printed plastic. They can't have cost more than a dollar to produce by the time I had to pay import tax. I've paid50 pounds for these two pieces of small plastic, which was painful to do. They've made a lot of difference. In fact, I would go as far as to say they've transformed the game for me. On the left hand side is a post that blocks the outline. out of the box. It doesn't really work because again the ball can get trapped between the post for the out lane and this blocking post which rises up out of the playfield. This modification has fixed that completely. Now clearly Barrels of Fun noticed after this game was produced that it was a problem that it was a problem and they coded in a solution. So if the and they coded in a solution. So if the ball does drain down that out lane, you will get your ball back. And there's a lot of coded solutions in this game where you get your ball back.

The topper malfunction is likely a connection issue on the board rather than mechanical failure

medium confidence · Gonzo: 'I'm sure it is a relatively easy fix. I'm sure the mechanics haven't stopped working. I think it's something to do with the connections on the board.'

Labyrinth's build quality and materials are on par with Jersey Jack Pinball, not quite Dutch Pinball or Big Labowski level

high confidence · Gonzo: 'It's at JJP standard in terms of materials used and build quality... Not quite at the level of Dutch pinball. Not quite at the level of Big Labowski'

The game has six main modes, a mini wizard mode, and a wizard mode, plus side missions involving character collection

high confidence · Gonzo: 'There are six main modes. A mini wizard mode and a wizard mode... you basically collect your friends, which then leads to friend multiball. So, you do have little side missions as well.'

[name withheld pending review]game

business_signal: Barrels of Fun experienced significant learning curve from Labyrinth to June; improvements span build quality, lighting system, gameplay, and code. Gonzo confirms 'improvement from this game up to June is significant.'

high · Gonzo: 'they found this to be a big learning experience... they've got their internal lighting system which they put on June which is um well they've routed it in to the side of the cabinet... I think they've learned'

competitive_signal: Boutique pinball manufacturers (Dutch, Spooky, JJP, Barrels of Fun) now offer compelling alternatives to Stern; build quality previously questioned but now competitive at premium tier.

high · Gonzo: 'you're just not necessarily going to go and get the stern anymore... These these companies are making good pinball machines. Really really good pinball machines... I certainly felt for a while some of the some of the boutique manufacturers the quality was was less... [but] not anymore'

product_strategy: Labyrinth's home viability depends on aftermarket modifications: lane extenders (£50), precision bushings, precision flippers, and flipper fan cooling kits. Base product requires significant user investment post-purchase.

high · Gonzo: 'flipper fan cooling kits or precision bushings... precision flippers... they've made a lot of difference... transformed the game' and purchases £50 lane extenders from Etsy

collector_signal: Sub-1000 unit production run may establish Labyrinth as collectible/appreciating asset; Gonzo speculates on future desirability and 'standing the test of time quite well.'

medium · Gonzo: 'less than a thousand made. I do wonder if this game is is going to stand the test of time quite well... people are going to gradually discover this game and start to appreciate it'

community_signal: Labyrinth IP inspired strong community enthusiasm despite Gonzo's personal disinterest in the film; theme appeal highly subjective but game execution transcends source material quality.

high · Gonzo: 'a dream theme for a lot of people. There's a lot of people very, very excited about Labyrinth' but he watched film and thought it 'rubbish'... yet fell in love with the pinball machine

design_innovation: Barrels of Fun signature feature: lower back-playfield LCD screen (similar to Circus Volataire design) provides ambient storytelling without requiring player attention during active play. Identifies emerging design pattern across their titles.

high · Gonzo: 'it's got what I think is going to be Barrels of Fun signature feature, which is the screen lower down like Circus Voltater... the screen at the back of the playfield'

design_innovation: Speaker grills feature etched laser-cut labyrinth patterns; cabinet side art mirrors thematic detail (June uses sandworm mouth motif). Indicates intentional consistency in visual design language.

high · Gonzo: 'speaker panels are etched... laser cut out of the metal in a labyrinth... very much they've done the pattern as the sand worm as the mouth of the sandworm'

sentiment_shift: Gonzo's initial resistance (theme disinterest, difficulty reputation, competing new games) gradually reversed through extended play; now considers game 'exclusive' in his rotation. Suggests potential for delayed collector appreciation.

high · Gonzo: 'I'm pretty much playing this game exclusively at the moment... there's no allure for the theme... there was no real drive for me... I'm now addicted to this game'