Video of Stern Pinball's Pokémon on the Line; Pokémon Topper Coming Soon?; Bally World Cup Soccer Comes & Goes; Friday the 13th Pinball

Knapp Arcade·article·analyzed·Mar 13, 2026

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.020

TL;DR

Pokémon production underway; topper rumor; American Pinball reimagined games in pipeline.

Summary

Stern Pinball's Pokémon machine is now on the production line with video evidence; an early orbit drain issue has been resolved per George Gomez. Rumors suggest the topper features a Magikarp-like fish Pokémon inspired by Williams' Fish Tales. American Pinball is rumored to be working on Bally/Williams Reimagined titles including Cirqus Voltaire, Fish Tales, and World Cup Soccer. Kyle Smet's homebrew Friday the 13th and Big Trouble in Little China machines will be playable at Texas Pinball Festival.

Key Claims

Stern Pinball shared production line images and video of Pokémon Pro machines on March 13, 2026
high confidence · Knapp Arcade news report citing direct observation
Early Pokémon machines experienced an orbit drain issue that has been resolved per George Gomez
high confidence · George Gomez comment on Stern Army Facebook group, cited in article
Stern's Pokémon topper is rumored to feature a fish Pokémon (possibly Magikarp) similar to Williams Fish Tales topper
medium confidence · Rumor cited in article; speculative comparison to Big Mouth Billy Bass
American Pinball's next two Bally/Williams Reimagined games after Cirqus Voltaire are rumored to be Fish Tales and World Cup Soccer
medium confidence · Cale Hernandez on JBS Pinball Roundtable YouTube episode, cited by Knapp Arcade
Zen Pinball has lost rights to sell its digital World Cup Soccer version; deadline to purchase is April 30th
high confidence · Official Zen Studios announcement linked in article
Kyle Smet's homebrew Friday the 13th and Big Trouble in Little China machines will be playable at Texas Pinball Festival
high confidence · Marco Pinball social media post and Kyle Smet's announcement cited in article

Notable Quotes

“The first machines out of the factory at Stern were experiencing an issue with balls that are shot into the orbit draining right down the middle. According to a comment by Stern Pinball's George Gomez...the issue has been resolved”
Knapp Arcade (reporting George Gomez's comment) @ March 13, 2026 — Confirms early production issue and resolution for Pokémon Pro machines
“Word on the street is that Stern's official topper for Pokémon is pretty awesome. According to what I have heard, it is a fish Pokémon creature that looks a lot like the famous topper for Williams' 1992 game Fish Tales.”
Knapp Arcade @ March 13, 2026 — Introduces topper rumor and draws historical comparison to iconic Williams machine
“Cale also stated a rumor that American Pinball's next two Bally / Williams Reimagined games after the rumored first one, Cirqus Voltaire, are the aforementioned Fish Tales and Bally's 1994 pinball machine World Cup Soccer.”
Knapp Arcade (reporting Cale Hernandez) @ March 13, 2026 — Reveals pipeline rumor for American Pinball's upcoming reimagined classic titles

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyGeorge Gomezperson American PinballcompanyPokémongameCale HernandezpersonZen PinballcompanyKyle SmetpersonFish Talesgame World Cup Soccer

Signals

?
product_launch: Pokémon pinball machines now on production line with video documentation; Pro version confirmed shipping
high · Stern Pinball shared production line images and video on March 13, 2026
?
product_concern: Early Pokémon machines experienced orbit drain issue in play testing that has been resolved per George Gomez
high · George Gomez comment on Stern Army Facebook group regarding ball drain in orbit
?
machine_intel: Pokémon official topper rumored to feature fish Pokémon (possibly Magikarp) inspired by Williams Fish Tales iconic topper
medium · Rumor attribution in article; speculative identification based on visual comparison to Big Mouth Billy Bass design
?
machine_intel: American Pinball rumored to develop Bally/Williams Reimagined series with Cirqus Voltaire, Fish Tales, and World Cup Soccer
medium · Cale Hernandez statement on JBS Pinball Roundtable YouTube episode cited by Knapp Arcade
?
licensing_signal: Zen Pinball losing rights to digital World Cup Soccer; purchase deadline April 30, 2026; possible connection to American Pinball physical reimagined version
high · Official Zen Studios announcement; timing coincidence with American Pinball World Cup Soccer rumor
?
event_signal: Texas Pinball Festival upcoming; rumored location for Pokémon topper reveal; hosting Kyle Smet homebrew machines

Topics

Pokémon production and manufacturingprimaryPokémon topper design and reveal timingprimaryAmerican Pinball Bally/Williams Reimagined pipelineprimaryHomebrew pinball machines at Texas Pinball FestivalsecondaryDigital pinball licensing (Zen Studios)secondaryProduction issues and quality controlsecondaryHistoric Williams game references and design inspirationmentioned

Sentiment

neutral(0)

Transcript

web_scrape · $0.000

News Video of Stern Pinball's Pokémon on the Line; Pokémon Topper Coming Soon?; Bally World Cup Soccer Comes & Goes; Friday the 13th Pinball k knapparcade March 13, 2026 It's a pinball news bonanza. We sure ended the week with a flurry! First up, we have Pokémon. I was hoping that we would see this today. Stern Pinball shared images of the Pro version of its latest game on the production line this afternoon (video and images below). The first machines out of the factory at Stern were experiencing an issue with balls that are shot into the orbit draining right down the middle. According to a comment by Stern Pinball's George Gomez on a post on the subject in the Stern Army Facebook group the issue has been resolved: Speaking of Pokémon. We have a rumor about the topper for the game. Word on the street is that Stern's official topper for Pokémon is pretty awesome. According to what I have heard, it is a fish Pokémon creature that looks a lot like the famous topper for Williams' 1992 game Fish Tales. For those of you who aren't familiar with that, imagine the Big Mouth Billy Bass thing from the late 1990s, early 2000s. I personally don't know the names of the Pokémon creatures well enough to know which one the topper might be, but after searching around the one called "Magikarp" looks like it fits the bill. On the latest episode of the JBS Show Pinball Roundtable on YouTube, Cale Hernandez speculated that the Stern might reveal the Pokémon topper at next week's Texas Pinball Festival. How cool would that be? This is what Magikarp looks like Williams Fish Tales Pinball - Fish Topper in Action - YouTube John Zuk Williams Fish Tales Pinball - Fish Topper in Action John Zuk Search Info Shopping 0:00 / •Live • Here's an ancient video of the Fish Tales topper in action And now for the Pokémon production stuff: Your browser doesn't support HTML5 video. Download the video instead. ![Advertisement](https://sternpinball.com/) Speaking of the JBS Pinball Roundtable (embedded below), Cale also stated a rumor that American Pinball's next two Bally / Williams Reimagined games after the rumored first one, Cirqus Voltaire, are the aforementioned Fish Tales and Bally's 1994 pinball machine World Cup Soccer. Zen Pinball coincidentally just announced that it has lost the rights to sell its digital version of World Cup Soccer (WCS) pinball. Change of rights for it perhaps? Anyone who wants to own the Zen digital pinball version of WCS, which is awesome BTW - digital pinball naysayers begone lol, must purchase it before April 30th. I currently own and play it on my Steam Deck. https://zenstudios.com/important-pinball-updates-faq/ Pinball Roundtable - Pokémon Pinball is Here...and American Pinball is Changing! - YouTube Tap to unmute Pinball Roundtable - Pokémon Pinball is Here...and American Pinball is Changing! The JBS Show with Jamie Burchell The JBS Show with Jamie Burchell Images of Zen's World Cup Soccer game As many of you may have realized by now, today is the spooky day Friday the 13th. As someone with the first name Jason, I am usually made aware of this multiple by others times on days that it happens lol. Marco Pinball shared a throwback video from 2024 of the cool Friday the 13th homebrew pinball machine by the talented Kyle Smet this morning. The pin as well as Kyla's next homebrew game Big Trouble in Little China will be available for the public to play at next week's Texas Pinball Festival. New sponsor slot Your sponsored ad here Be the first to claim this placement. Contact knapparcade@gmail.com today " Happy Friday the 13th! Come play Friday the 13th and Kyle's latest game Big Trouble in Little China at Texas Pinball Festival next weekend! \-\-\- If you've ever found yourself nervously glancing over your shoulder on a dark, foggy night, then Friday the 13th Pinball is the homebrew machine that will make your horror-loving heart race. Crafted by the talented Kyle Smet, aka MudFlaps, this custom pinball machine Slash its way into the spotlight at Texas Pinball Festival 2024 for PINDEVCON, bringing the chilling essence of Camp Crystal Lake right to your fingertips" Friday the 13th Homebrew Video Posted 30 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 Video of Stern Pinball's Pokémon on the Line; Pokémon Topper Coming Soon?; Bally World Cup Soccer Comes & Goes; Friday the 13th Pinball 30 minutes ago First Look at HEXA Pinball's Upcoming The Three Musketeers Pinball Machine (Sort Of) about 4 hours ago RUMORS! What Games Are in the Pipeline and When Will We See Them? about 7 hours ago Subscribe to Updates Get the latest pinball news, blog posts, and event announcements delivered to your inbox Subscribe ![Advertisement](https://sternpinball.com/) New sponsor slot Your sponsored ad here Be the first to claim this placement. Contact knapparcade@gmail.com today StripeM-Inner