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Walkthrough of the New Pinball Pete’s in Ann Arbor, MI; More Info About This Week’s New Pinball Reveals

Knapp Arcade·article·analyzed·Jul 26, 2026
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 (batch) · $0.015

TL;DR

Multimorphic dual-theme P3 games confirmed; Barrels of Fun mystery title imminent.

Summary

Jason Knapp reports on Multimorphic's upcoming dual-theme P3 module release, confirming identical playfield layouts with distinct rules, audio, and artwork for two games—Dungeon Crawler Carl and a rumored Ender's Game adaptation. Knapp also speculates on Barrels of Fun's mystery new game (rumored Bon Jovi or Legendary Pictures IP) following their Reserve membership freeze, and provides a walkthrough of the newly relocated Pinball Pete's arcade in Ann Arbor with 47 machines on floor.

Key Claims

  • Multimorphic confirmed two new games will have identical playfield layouts and core components but distinct rules, audio, lightshows, and artwork

    high confidence · Jason Knapp reporting via email confirmation from Multimorphic

  • Both games will not be playable on the same module at launch, but Multimorphic is in discussions with licensors about enabling this

    high confidence · Multimorphic email cited by Knapp

  • One confirmed P3 module is Dungeon Crawler Carl; the sister module is rumored to be based on Ender's Game

    medium confidence · Knapp cites pictures from Matt Dinniman presentation at San Diego Comic-Con for DCC; Ender's Game described as 'rumored'

  • Spooky Pinball released Halloween/Ultraman and Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Looney Tunes as dual-theme games in 2021 and 2023, with Halloween and TCM outselling their sister games

    high confidence · Knapp's industry knowledge and attribution to Spooky claims

  • Barrels of Fun froze Reserve membership applications on Friday, signaling imminent new game announcement

    high confidence · Knapp states 'Barrels Reserve membership was frozen on Friday' following Barrels' stated policy

  • Strong rumor exists that Barrels of Fun's upcoming game is Bon Jovi-themed, but alternative theories cite Legendary Pictures IP

    low confidence · Knapp reporting community speculation; explicitly notes 'we definitely don't know that it is for certain'

  • Multimorphic game reveals scheduled for Noon this week with gameplay coverage on Tuesday and Wednesday

    high confidence · Knapp states 'We'll get a reveal of the games tomorrow at Noon'

  • Pinball Pete's (Ann Arbor) (Ann Arbor) has 47 pinball machines; most Sterns are Limited Edition games; pricing is $1 per play with generous Match/High Score free games

    high confidence · Knapp's direct observation during July 2026 visit

Notable Quotes

  • “On a personal level, I'm not wild about two themes sharing the same layout. The layout is usually designed with one of the themes in mind and it doesn't do the other theme justice.”

    Jason Knapp @ Article body — Expresses design critique of dual-theme strategy; relevant to designer philosophy debate

  • “Spooky claims that doing dual games is so much work that they never want to do it again lol.”

    [name withheld pending review] @ Article body — Reveals manufacturing/development friction with dual-game strategy; signals sentiment from major manufacturer

  • “I honestly don't know what it will be. Barrels of Fun folks sure are tricky.”

    Jason Knapp @ Article body — Transparency about speculation limits; indicates Barrels' secrecy strategy and community intrigue

  • “Multimorphic P3 module was absolutely groundbreaking for them. To me it felt as though it was designed absolutely perfectly for the theme.”

    Jason Knapp @ Article body — Personal assessment of design excellence; establishes baseline expectation for new dual-theme modules

Entities

MultimorphiccompanyBarrels of FuncompanySpooky PinballcompanyJason KnapppersonMatt DinnimanpersonDungeon Crawler CarlgameEnder's GamegameOrson Scott CardpersonPortal (P3 module)game

Signals

  • ?

    announcement: Multimorphic confirmed two new P3 modules with Dungeon Crawler Carl officially revealed; sister module Ender's Game rumored; full reveals scheduled for Noon with gameplay Tuesday-Wednesday

    high · Knapp reports 'Multimorphic confirmed' via email; cites DCC pictures from Comic-Con presentation; states 'We'll get a reveal of the games tomorrow at Noon'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Multimorphic employing shared playfield layout strategy with distinct rules/audio/artwork for two themes, following Spooky's 2021-2023 precedent; both games initially incompatible on same module due to licensing

    high · Multimorphic email confirms 'identical playfield layouts and core components' with separate 'rules, audio and call-outs, lightshows, artwork and animations'; licensing prevents shared module at launch

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Knapp expresses critique that dual-theme shared layouts compromise design integrity; layouts typically designed for one theme at the expense of the other

    medium · Knapp states: 'The layout is usually designed with one of the themes in mind and it doesn't do the other theme justice'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Community actively speculating on Barrels of Fun's mystery game; Bon Jovi rumor prominent but contested; Legendary Pictures IP floated as alternative; no confirmation

    low · Knapp reports 'strong rumor that the game is based on Bon Jovi' but notes 'we definitely don't know that it is for certain'; mentions people claiming 'it's something from Legendary Pictures instead'

  • $

    market_signal: Barrels of Fun froze Reserve membership applications on Friday, following stated policy to cut off memberships before new game announcement; widely interpreted as imminent reveal signal

Transcript

web_scrape · $0.000

News Walkthrough of the New Pinball Pete’s in Ann Arbor, MI; More Info About This Week’s New Pinball Reveals k knapparcade July 26, 2026 Hey everyone. Day one of my college tour with my son is in the books. Today we were in Ann Arbor, Michigan checking out the University of Michigan. We have official tours of the school and engineering department tomorrow. That will likely interfere with me writing launch articles for Multimorphic’s new games. So, let’s talk about them a little right now. In an e-mail this afternoon, Multimorphic confirmed that its two new games will have identical playfield layouts and core components. This isn’t the first time that a pinball manufacturer has released a pinball machine with two themes. The most recent examples of this came from Spooky Pinball, which released Halloween and Ultraman with shared layouts in 2021 and Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Looney Tunes with shared layouts in 2023. Those games were moderately successful, with Halloween and Texas Chainsaw significantly outselling Ultraman and Looney Tunes. Spooky claims that doing dual games is so much work that they never want to do it again lol. On a personal level, I’m not wild about two themes sharing the same layout. The layout is usually designed with one of the themes in mind and it doesn’t do the other theme justice. Multimorphic’s Portal P3 module was absolutely groundbreaking for them. To me it felt as though it was designed absolutely perfectly for the theme. I’d hate to see one of the themes in its next launch get shortchanged. In their recent email, Multimorphic emphasized that while the two games have similar layouts each has has its own rules, audio and call-outs, lightshows, artwork and animations. As a result of this and licensing agreements, both games will not be playable on the same module at launch. Having said that, Multimorphic said that “discussions with the licensors around this topic are ongoing.” This morning, I shared pictures of one of the new P3 modules, Dungeon Crawler Carl (DCC), courtesy of a presentation by the series’ author Matt Dinniman at this weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con. We have not seen any pictures of DCC’s sister module, which is rumored to be based on the 1980a science fiction novel “Ender's Game” by Orson Scott Card. We’ll get a reveal of the games tomorrow at Noon and gameplay of them on Tuesday and Wednesday. As I mentioned, I may not have my article on the launch up right at Noon like I normally would but I will get it up here at some point. We know for sure that we are getting to see new games by Multimorphic this week, but we don’t know if we will get to see something from another Texas-based pinball company, Barrels of Fun. !Advertisement Ad 2 of 3 Barrels has stated that it will cut off membership applications for its Barrels Reserve program before any new game announcements. Well, Barrels Reserve membership was frozen on Friday. Maybe we will get to see a new game from Barrels of Fun this week? No one knows for sure and despite tons of public speculation, no one knows what the theme of Barrels’ upcoming game is. Obviously, there is a very strong rumor that the game is based on Bon Jovi as I mentioned in my article this morning. We definitely don’t know that it is for certain. I’ve had people reaching out to me as recently as this afternoon saying that they are positive that isn’t the theme and that it’s something from Legendary Pictures instead. I honestly don’t know what it will be. Those Barrels folks sure are tricky. Now on to today’s arcade visit. While checking out all of the cool shops, restaurants and bars in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan I convinced my wife and son to check out the new Pinball Pete’s location. I had visited the old Pinball Pete’s spot on my trip to check out the Ann Arbor Pinball Museum aka VFW last fall. Here’s video and pictures of the new Pinball Pete’s arcade. It’s only a couple of blocks from the old spot. The pins were all set to a dollar per play and the Match and High Score free games seemed to be pretty generous to me. I got a bunch of them in the short time that I was there. All told, I think that Pinball Pete’s currently has 47 pinball machines on the floor. Most of the Sterns are even Limited Edition games, which is kind of cool. Video Tour of Pinball Pete’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan - July 2026 - YouTube Tap to unmute Knapp Arcade Knapp Arcade New sponsor slot Your sponsored ad here Be the first to claim this placement. Contact knapparcade@gmail.com today Posted 14 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 Walkthrough of the New Pinball Pete’s in Ann Arbor, MI; More Info About This Week’s New Pinball Reveals 14 minutes ago Barrels of Fun’s Next Game May Be Bon Jovi & First Pics of Multimorphic Dungeon Crawler Carl about 3 hours ago Pinball Ducks; Transformers The Movie Code; Multimorphic Reveal Schedule; Atari Movies & More Rumors 2 days ago Subscribe to Updates Get the latest pinball news, blog posts, and event announcements delivered to your inbox Subscribe !Advertisement Ad 3 of 3 New sponsor slot Your sponsored ad here Be the first to claim this placement.
Pinball Pete's
venue
Ann Arbor Pinball Museumvenue
[name withheld pending review]event
University of Michiganorganization
Bon Joviproduct
Legendary Picturescompany

high · Knapp states: 'Barrels Reserve membership was frozen on Friday' and notes this follows Barrels' stated commitment to freeze memberships 'before any new game announcements'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Pinball Pete's relocated in Ann Arbor, MI; new location 2 blocks from previous spot; operates 47 pinball machines with heavy Limited Edition Stern inventory; pricing $1/play with generous free game thresholds

    high · Knapp confirms relocation with video tour; states 'currently has 47 pinball machines on the floor' with 'Most of the Sterns are even Limited Edition games'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Multimorphic's dual P3 modules cannot share same cartridge at launch due to licensing agreements; discussions with licensors ongoing to enable future cross-compatibility

    high · Multimorphic email states: 'both games will not be playable on the same module at launch' and 'discussions with the licensors around this topic are ongoing'

  • ?

    historical_signal: Spooky Pinball established dual-theme shared-layout precedent with Halloween/Ultraman (2021) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Looney Tunes (2023); sales showed asymmetric success with first theme outselling second in both cases

    high · Knapp documents: 'Halloween and Ultraman with shared layouts in 2021' and 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Looney Tunes with shared layouts in 2023' with 'Halloween and Texas Chainsaw significantly outselling Ultraman and Looney Tunes'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Spooky Pinball expresses strong reluctance to repeat dual-game strategy; claims process is exhausting and vows never to do it again

    medium · Knapp reports: 'Spooky claims that doing dual games is so much work that they never want to do it again lol'

  • ?

    leak_detection: Ender's Game novel confirmed as rumored second P3 module via community speculation; no official announcement but Knapp notes 'sister module, which is rumored to be based on the 1980a science fiction novel "Ender's Game"'

    medium · Knapp states 'We have not seen any pictures of DCC's sister module, which is rumored to be based on the 1980a science fiction novel "Ender's Game"' but notes this is unconfirmed