Texas Pinball Festival 2025: What We Saw, What We Loved

Dirtypool Pinball·video·1m 25s·analyzed·Mar 25, 2025

Analysis

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TL;DR

TPF 2025: Evil Dead sellout, Franchi joins Spooky, Predator licensed, Merlin's Arcade announced.

Summary

Jeff from Dirty Pool Pinball reports on Texas Pinball Festival 2025, covering Spooky's Evil Dead sellout, Christopher Franchi's hire as full-time artist at Spooky, Pinball Brothers' acquisition of the Predator license, Barrels of Fun's near-sellout status with cryptic messaging about a potential future game, and Turner Pinball's announcement of Merlin's Arcade as an original IP title.

Key Claims

Spooky sold out of Evil Dead
high confidence · Direct observation from festival; reported as confirmed news
Spooky hired Christopher Franchi as a full-time artist
high confidence · Jeff explicitly states Franchi was hired as full-time artist; indicates confirmed personnel move
Pinball Brothers acquired the license to Predator
high confidence · Reported as definitive news from festival; stated with enthusiasm
Barrels of Fun has 113 units left of their current game
high confidence · Barrels of Fun sent out a PDF with this specific inventory number
Barrels of Fun's PDF contains cryptic messaging about '13th Hour' potentially referencing an upcoming game
medium confidence · Jeff notes it could reference Dune, the Labyrinth clock, or may not be a rumor; unclear intent
Turner Pinball announced Merlin's Arcade
high confidence · Stated as formal announcement; game described as original IP
Merlin's Arcade may derive from Deep Root assets acquired by Turner and other manufacturers
medium confidence · Jeff speculates on connection to Deep Root assets; phrased as potential connection

Notable Quotes

“Spooky they sold out of Evil Dead which is awesome it's a fun game if you haven't played it you should and congratulations to Spooky and the team for making an absolute banger”
Jeff (Dirty Pool Pinball) @ opening remarks — Confirms Evil Dead sold out at TPF 2025 and establishes positive sentiment toward the game and Spooky's execution
“they hired Franchi as a full-time artist which means that there's plenty of games in the mix and stuff coming out”
Jeff (Dirty Pool Pinball) @ early segment — Signals major personnel move and indicates optimism about Spooky's future pipeline based on this hire
“Pinball Brothers has acquired the license to Predator you son of a they're going down my childhood that's cool”
Jeff (Dirty Pool Pinball) @ mid-segment — Confirms Pinball Brothers' Predator license acquisition; reflects personal enthusiasm about the IP choice
“Barrels of Fun sent out a PDF talking about how their game is almost sold out with only 113 units left there's a cryptic message in there talking about the 13th Hour”
Jeff (Dirty Pool Pinball) @ mid-segment — Documents inventory status and hints at potential upcoming title from Barrels of Fun
“Turner Pinball has announced their next game Merlin's Arcade which looks like another interesting original IP”
Jeff (Dirty Pool Pinball) @ late segment — Official announcement of Turner Pinball's next title; establishes Merlin's Arcade as original IP strategy

Entities

Spooky PinballcompanyEvil Deadgame Christopher Franchiperson Pinball Brotherscompany Predatorgame Barrels of Funcompany Turner Pinballcompany

Signals

?
business_signal: Turner Pinball acquiring Deep Root assets for game development
medium · Jeff speculates that Merlin's Arcade may derive from Deep Root assets; notes Turner and other manufacturers acquired these assets
?
design_philosophy: Turner Pinball pursuing original IP strategy rather than licensed titles
high · Jeff notes Merlin's Arcade is 'original IP' and praises Turner for 'doing original IPs'; indicates strategic direction
?
licensing_signal: Pinball Brothers acquired Predator IP license for future pinball machine
high · Jeff reports 'Pinball Brothers has acquired the license to Predator' as confirmed news from festival
$
market_signal: Barrels of Fun's current game nearly sold out with only 113 units remaining
high · Barrels of Fun distributed PDF indicating 113 units remaining; suggests strong market uptake
$
market_signal: Evil Dead sold out at Texas Pinball Festival 2025
high · Spooky sold out of Evil Dead at TPF; indicates strong demand and successful release
?
personnel_signal: Christopher Franchi hired as full-time artist at Spooky Pinball
high · Jeff explicitly states 'they hired Franchi as a full-time artist' and connects this to expanded production pipeline

Topics

Manufacturer announcements and newsprimaryGame releases and selloutsprimaryPersonnel moves and hiringprimaryIP licensing acquisitionsprimaryConvention events and community gatheringsecondaryOriginal IP strategysecondaryContent creation and streamingmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Jeff expresses enthusiasm and optimism about the announcements and industry developments. Evil Dead's sellout is celebrated, Franchi's hire is framed positively for Spooky's future, and Turner's original IP strategy is praised. The tone is upbeat throughout.

Transcript

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what's going on everybody it's Jeff from Dirty poool pinball and it was Texas pinball Festival two days of amazing convention pinball Madness there's news let's talk about it first things up spooky they sold out of Evil Dead which is awesome it's a fun game if you haven't played it you should and congratulations to Spooky and the team for making an absolute Banger the future is bright for spooky they hired franie as a full-time artist which means that there's plenty of games in the mix and stuff coming out and I'm sure when we hear about it I'll tell you in other news pinball Brothers has acquired the licensed a predator you son of a they're going down my childhood that's cool barels a fun sent out a PDF talking about how their game is almost sold out with only 113 units left there's a cryptic message in there talking about the 13th Hour which could potentially be a reference to Dune but also could be a reference to the clock in Labyrinth and may not be a rumor at all Turner pinball has announced their next game Merlin's arcade which looks like another interesting original Ip potentially from the deep root assets that were acquired by Turner pinball and other manufacturers the game looks like a combination of its similar art style and wacky layout should be fun though whatever it's great that Turner is doing original IPS anyways check us out over at dirty poool pinball on Twitch hanging out doing stuff and putting together a bunch of promos uh like cool action shots of of pinball machines that's your thing it's over here or over here