Playboy Pinball: Does Pinball Brothers Have Another Trick Up Its Sleeve?

Knapp Arcade·article·analyzed·Jul 29, 2022

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.018

TL;DR

Playboy pinball speculation: Will Pinball Brothers pursue another Heighway project after Queen?

Summary

An analyst speculates whether Pinball Brothers, having announced Queen pinball production after completing Alien, might develop a third machine from Heighway Pinball's abandoned projects, specifically considering Playboy as a candidate given its existence in Heighway's pipeline and a 2002 Stern precedent.

Key Claims

Pinball Brothers has created two pinball machines from Heighway Pinball assets: Alien and Queen
high confidence · Article explicitly states 'they have created two pinball machines by picking through the ashes of the defunct pinball manufacturer Heighway Pinball, first Alien and now a Barry Oursler designed Queen machine'
Queen pinball has been officially announced for production
high confidence · Author states 'now that they've officially announced that Queen pinball will go into production'
Heighway Pinball was working on at least four games: Alien, Queen, Full Throttle, and Playboy
high confidence · Article mentions 'what other game was Heighway working on beyond the two aforementioned ones and Full Throttle?' and later confirms Playboy as 'the other game that Heighway had in development'
Pinball Brothers outsources manufacturing to Pedretti Gaming, an Italian company
high confidence · Author states 'They outsource manufacturing to the excellent Italian company, Pedretti Gaming'
Stern made a Playboy pinball machine in 2002
high confidence · Author notes 'There hasn't been a Playboy pinball machine since Stern made one in 2002'
A virtual pinball table of Heighway's Playboy layout exists and gameplay video is on YouTube
high confidence · Author states 'someone actually took the initial Heighway Pinball layout for Playboy and created a virtual pinball table from it. A brief gameplay video of that table has been uploaded to YouTube'
Pedretti Gaming has recently begun manufacturing '2.0' remake games for Bally Williams with FunHouse 2.0 being their first
high confidence · Author notes 'it recently began manufacturing "2.0" games for Bally Williams as well, with FunHouse 2.0 "Rudy's Nightmare" being their first'

Notable Quotes

“now that they've officially announced that Queen pinball will go into production, is this the end of the line for Pinball Brothers, or so they have something else up their sleeve”
Author (Knapp Arcade) — Central speculation premise - exploring whether Queen is Pinball Brothers' final project or if more games are planned
“I know that this is jumping the gun because Pinball Brothers isn't even done making Alien machines yet and they haven't even shown gameplay of Queen”
Author (Knapp Arcade) — Contextualizes production timeline - Alien still in manufacturing, Queen not yet shown in gameplay
“They outsource manufacturing to the excellent Italian company, Pedretti Gaming”
Author (Knapp Arcade) — Identifies manufacturing partner and their capabilities
“Would that even be an acceptable license to use in today's society?”
Author (Knapp Arcade) — Raises cultural/market feasibility question about Playboy IP in contemporary context
“There hasn't been a Playboy pinball machine since Stern made one in 2002”
Author (Knapp Arcade) — Establishes historical precedent and indicates 23-year gap since last Playboy pinball release

Entities

Pinball Brotherscompany Heighway Pinballcompany Aliengame Queengame Playboygame Full Throttlegame

Signals

?
business_signal: Pinball Brothers' acquisition and completion of Heighway Pinball's abandoned projects demonstrates strategy of recovering failed manufacturer IP rather than organic game development
high · Author notes all Pinball Brothers games so far are from Heighway pipeline: 'Pinball Brothers has only produced games that Heighway started before it went away'
?
licensing_signal: Cultural/market viability question raised about Playboy license in contemporary pinball market; last Playboy pinball was 23 years ago (Stern 2002)
medium · Author asks 'Would that even be an acceptable license to use in today's society?' and notes the 2002 precedent
?
product_strategy: Pinball Brothers has publicly announced Queen pinball production after completing Alien, establishing a multi-year pipeline of Heighway-derived projects
high · Official announcement of Queen production; Alien still in manufacturing phase
?
technology_signal: Pedretti Gaming's transition from accessories/toppers to manufacturing full 2.0 remake games represents shift in aftermarket/boutique manufacturing capability
high · Author notes Pedretti 'recently began manufacturing "2.0" games for Bally Williams as well, with FunHouse 2.0 being their first'

Topics

Pinball Brothers' future product pipelineprimaryHeighway Pinball asset acquisition and completionprimaryPlayboy pinball licensing and cultural viabilityprimaryManufacturing outsourcing and Pedretti Gaming partnershipsecondaryBally Williams 2.0 remake marketsecondaryVirtual pinball and fan-made tablesmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.72)— Author expresses interest and enthusiasm about Pinball Brothers' potential future projects; praises Pedretti Gaming as 'excellent'; speculative tone is curious and friendly rather than critical. Some mild concern about Playboy cultural acceptance but framed as genuine question rather than objection.

Transcript

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I was sitting on the front porch of my cabin yesterday, thinking about pinball as I often do and I started wondering, now that they’ve officially announced that Queen pinball will go into production, is this the end of the line for Pinball Brothers, or so they have something else up their sleeve. I know that this is jumping the gun because Pinball Brothers isn’t even done making Alien machines yet and they haven’t even shown gameplay of Queen, let alone started manufacturing it, but I’m thinking about it anyhow :) . For those of you who aren’t familiar with Pinball Brothers, they have created two pinball machines by picking through the ashes of the defunct pinball manufacturer Heighway Pinball, first Alien and now a Barry Oursler designed Queen machine. A lot of the design for those machines was already very far along by the time that Pinball Brothers picked up the projects. They outsource manufacturing to the excellent Italian company, Pedretti Gaming. Pedretti has been making licensed toppers and other accessories for Bally Williams games for years and it recently began manufacturing “2.0” games for Bally Williams as well, with FunHouse 2.0 "Rudy's Nightmare" being their first. So far, Pinball Brothers has only produced games that Heighway started before it went away. So I began thinking to myself, what other game was Heighway working on beyond the two aforementioned ones and Full Throttle? I knew that there was another one, but I couldn't remember what it was. So I reached out to my friend Dennis Kriesel and he reminded me that the other game that Heighway had in development was Playboy. In fact, someone actually took the initial Heighway Pinball layout for Playboy and created a virtual pinball table from it. A brief gameplay video of that table has been uploaded to YouTube. I have embedded it below. So what do you think? Will Pinball Brothers attempt to make another game after Queen or will they ride off into the sunset? If they do attempt to produce a third machine, will it be Playboy? Would that even be an acceptable license to use in today’s society? There hasn't been a Playboy pinball machine since Stern made one in 2002. I’d love to hear your thoughts.